In Final Fantasy 7 (VII) Yuffie Intermission DLC you must beat all Shinra Box Buster Challenges for the Materia Maven trophy. These also reward you with 6 Materia.
The Shinra Box Challenges take place in Chapter 2, on Floor B14 where you activate the 2nd console to turn on some propellers. After using the console it will open up the Shinra Box console. This will be marked by a purple discovery quest icon on the map. The image below shows the starting point:
There are two Shinra Box Buster Challenges: BASIC & SOLDIER. In Basic Training you only need a score of 20,000 out of 30,000 possible. In Soldier Training you need a perfect score of 50,000 (must destroy all boxes).
Video Walkthrough
Basic Shinra Box Challenge – How to Get 20,000 Points
The first challenge is relatively easy, because you only need 20,000 points out of 30,000 possible. Use physical attacks with your shuriken against the orange boxes, just spam 
on them repeatedly. Use Ninjutsu against the purple boxes, for this you must throw away your shuriken and then keep hitting 
. For metal boxes (1500 points) you need to throw your shuriken once, then use the ability called “Windstorm” (1ATB charge) and it will instantly destroy those boxes. Do not use any other attacks on metal boxes, only 1 single shuriken throw and the Windstorm ability. If done correctly the shuriken will keep spinning at the box, do NOT attack those metal boxes with Ninjutsu (don’t press after throwing the Shuriken). Only use one Shuriken throw and Windstorm ability, nothing else, and they will instantly be destroyed. Save your ATB charges for the metal boxes.
There’s also a hidden time crate to the right of where you start, make that the first box you destroy for 10 seconds extra time.
Soldier Shinra Box Challenge – How to Get 50,000 Points
In this challenge you need a perfect score of 50,000 points which is the maximum and requires you to destroy all boxes. This will seem quite hard at first but once you know how to destroy each box type efficiently it’s just a matter of practicing it over and over again. Refer to the video guide above for a full demonstration.
Using the weapon “Steel Reaper” is mandatory. It was found during Chapter 1, Objective: Double Back, in a purple pod in plain sight. Basically no way to miss it, so you should have it by this point. This weapon has the most physical attack damage, and more importantly it has the ability “Banishment” which you’ll need to clear out the last room in 1 attack.
Like in the first challenge, the trick is to destroy the metal boxes using only a Shuriken throw followed by the Windstorm ability. This instantly destroys all metal boxes. Clear every room before moving on to the next one, you won’t have any time for backtracking (and remember you must destroy every single box, can’t miss any). There’s also a hidden box to the right of where you start which has a +10 seconds time box.
When you reach the last room where lots of metal boxes are close together, use the Banishment ability on the box in the center. This will instantly clear the entire room in 1 attack. Banishment is only available with the Steel Reaper weapon.
For everything else it’s the same strategy as described in the Basic Training strategy. Let’s quickly sum up each box type again:
- Orange Box: Either do combos to jump between stacks of orange boxes, or do physical combos with the shuriken in your hand.
- Purple Box: Throw your Shuriken and then press to use Ninjutsu attacks. When the stack of purple boxes is destroyed press once more to retrieve your shuriken.
- Red Box: These are time boxes, they will be destroyed in 1 hit or when you destroy the stack of boxes underneath. If you’re short on time do a quick throw from afar, but the targeting is sometimes a bit weird so it’s better you get close to them and focus on the stack of boxes instead.
- Metal Box: The only button you press here is one to throw your shuriken. No other attacks. Then use ability “Windstorm”. This destroys the metal boxes instantly. Do NOT press after throwing your shuriken, this can mess it up! If there are two together and only one gets destroyed by Windstorm, attack the remaining box a few more times and it should be destroyed in 1-3 hits. The beautiful thing about Windstorm is that it causes damage over an area so it damages other nearby boxes too.
Keep saving your ATB for the metal boxes. While your ATB is recharging you focus on the orange and purple boxes.
If you have a lot of trouble with this, beat Chapter 2 first, then you unlock a combat Simulator at the start of Chapter 2 (via Chapter Select) and can grind to level 50 in 1-2 hours. After this you can upgrade the weapon for more attack damage which lets you destroy boxes quicker. Return to the challenge with the upgraded weapon and you’ll have an easier time.
After getting the highscore in both Shinra Box Challenges you will earn the Materia Maven trophy.
Tiffany says
I am level 50 and have the steel reaper fully upgraded (besides hard mode manuscripts) and the “triangle once + windstorm” is not taking out a steel box on easy. Is this only possible with hard mode manuscripts? Is the challenge the same difficulty on hard mode?
PowerPyx says
I was playing on easy. I hadn’t started hard run yet, hadn’t collected any Manuscripts. My weapon was level 5.
I had grinded to level 50 on easy difficulty in the Chapter 2 Combat Simulator and bought all the +ATK weapon upgrades. Try equipping Supernatural Wristguard (Accessory that gives +10% ATK power), let me know if that fixes it for you. It can be bought from the vending machine at the start of Chapter 2 before the Combat Simulator.
Gizi says
I recomend First Strike Materia (Max) to get the solid start on the Soldier challenge. Simply use triangle and windstorm at the beggining to destroy all violet boxes. (2-3 sec spared)
Kalad says
Did this challenge on Hard at level 46 with the strats mentioned. Got it on 6th try at O sec left lol. Thank you for this guide
Brian says
Can you elaborate on why pressing Square “messes it up?” Does this make the Shuriken come back sooner or something? I’m finding the ins-and-outs of Yuffie’s combat mechanics really hard to understand.
PowerPyx says
The mechanic behind this doesn’t make much sense in the game to be honest. If you press
before using the Windstorm ability (on metal boxes) it almost never instantly destroys them. If you only do 
+ Windstorm it gets destroyed in 1 hit. So for some (illogical) reason doing an extra Ninjutsu hit from pressing 
actually reduces the damage done. I think it’s just the developers playing tricks with us and forcing us to ‘think outside the box’. That specific button sequence is the key to get the highscore.
Aztica says
I can confirm that you can get a perfect score in the SOLDIER training without fully upgrading Steel Reaper or being Level 50. I did this on Easy difficulty at Level 31, Steel Reaper with First Strike (Lv. 2) and Skill Master (Lv. 1) materia and Power Wristguards. Steel Reaper Attack power 66, total Attack 200. Followed the basis of the video guide provided (thank you for that by the way!)
The trick to clearing those steel boxes in one hit is to press Triangle to throw the shuriken, wait about a second for the shuriken to damage the box once or twice, and then use Windstorm. Using the ability too early will not clear the steel boxes in one hit. And always try to aim at the leftmost steel box when there are two next to each other so that the shuriken lands in the middle of the two boxes, allowing Windstorm to take out both at the same time.
On that note, during the times when you do not have enough ATB to use the Windstorm combo, it really helps to use Triangle every now and then to throw the shuriken at the steel boxes while attacking them with Square to output the most damage.
allan says
would you recommed me to do this challange after ive grinded to level 50 ? in chapter select