All right! It's time to put my skills to the ultimate test!
The Dragon's Neck Coliseum, also known as the Colosseum, is a location in Final Fantasy VI at the northwest corner of the World of Ruin, north of Kohlingen and Figaro Castle. The name is derived from the shape of the peninsula where the coliseum lies. The Dragon's Neck Coliseum is a battle arena where a party member can fight enemies by betting items. Before the cataclysm, it was just a small cabin called the Dragon's Neck Cabin.
In the SNES and PlayStation releases the location is named "Colosseum". The Game Boy Advance and subsequent releases, however, spell all instances of the name as "Coliseum".
Winning ten times in the mobile/Steam version earns the Gateway to the Top achievement.
Story[]
Ultros forced to work inside Coliseum.
In the World of Balance, the coliseum had yet to exist. The owner decided to build a coliseum, because he believes people are at their best when they are at war.
Shadow rejoins the party.
A year after the end of the world, the coliseum has been completed, with the owner pleased with Kefka for creating a world full of war. Due to his ongoing debts, Ultros was forced to act as the coliseum's receptionist by Siegfried, who also took residence within the newly built arena. At some point the lone surviving Imperial soldier inside the coliseum ran into Locke Cole and was told to pass on a message to his allies.
If Shadow survived the end of the world and was rescued from the Cave on the Veldt, he decides to leave from Thamasa shortly after the party had exit Strago's home and took up fighting in the coliseum. When the party had bet the Ichigeki in the coliseum, Shadow battles his old companions in a duel. After the match, Shadow decided to rejoin the remaining Returners in the battle against Kefka.
Gameplay[]
The player can fight in the coliseum at will. When the player chooses to fight, they must wager an item. They will see their opponent and the item they have wagered, and must choose a party member to do battle. The coliseum fights are one-on-one, and the player's character is AI-controlled and will use any command and spell they know. Nothing stops them from using acquired moves which injure or even kill themselves, such as Self-Destruct or Soul Spiral.
The coliseum inn (top) and Siegfried's room (bottom).
Monsters at the coliseum will not use their regular AI scripts; they instead use the abilities in Relm's Control options for that monster. The Control option has a maximum of four abilities, and one of the abilities will be picked at random when their turn comes up.
If the player wins, they will lose their wagered item and win the opponent's wagered item. If the player loses the battle, or if both the player's character and the opponent are killed simultaneously, the player loses their wagered item and wins nothing. If the player's character warps out of battle using Teleport or is thrown out of battle by an enemy move such as Snort, they will retain their wagered item.
The following battle commands are disabled within the coliseum battles: Items, Revert, Throw, Control, Slot, Leap, Defend, and Possess (even though the latter is not available at this point of the game by any normal means).
The coliseum removes KO, Invisible, Petrify, and Zombie statuses before a match, but not Imp, Float, or Poison, and restores HP and MP to their max before the match begins. There is no need to heal those statuses or restore HP/MP to prepare for the match, except if a status prevents the player from properly equipping a character.
If all party members are killed in the coliseum, the player can walk around with a party of dead people until they encounter a battle outside of the coliseum that turns into an instant Game Over.
Character setup[]
Overall setup[]
There are several good pieces of equipment to equip on the fighter. The Paladin's Shield negates/absorbs all elemental damage, and has the highest evasion of any shield. It can be obtained the easiest by fighting on the Solitary Island to dispel the Cursed Shield. Master's Scroll is another good choice, found in the Ancient Castle. Other good ones include the Merit Award and Miracle Shoes (both can be won in the coliseum), Ribbon, and Safety Bit/Memento Ring, depending on the situation. Weapons vary from character to character, but the Lightbringer paired with Merit Award is an excellent combo. Many coliseum opponents are vulnerable to Death attacks, which can be used through some weaponry.
Fighters[]
Choosing a character in the coliseum.
Shadow is a good character to fight with at the coliseum, as he will never use Throw during a coliseum match, and having him without any magic learned at this point is possible, since he temporarily joined the party only twice after they acquired magicite in the World of Balance: once on their way to Thamasa, and once on the Floating Continent. He has weaponry that can inflict instant death, such as Assassin's Dagger or Ichigeki, which has a 25% chance to kill an enemy in a single blow, but the player should not use these weapons when fighting an undead opponent. An alternate weapon is the Kagenui, that can randomly cast Stop on the attacked target. Shadow has 28% evasion, having the highest raw evasion out of the party, and being the second speediest character (tied with Gau). When evading an attack, there is a chance of Interceptor attacking the enemy without losing a turn, but this attack will miss floating opponents.
Setzer is another good choice, as he never uses his Slot command, but there is a good chance the player will have Setzer with more magic spells compared to Shadow, due to him having spent more time in the party. The Viper Darts can kill an enemy in one blow, much like some of Shadow's weaponry, with a 25% chance.
Celes battling Siegfried in the coliseum.
Gogo is another good choice, as the player can prepare them for any situation. The player can equip Gogo with nothing but Attack along with the Master's Scroll and Merit Award combo (only in versions prior to the GBA version), or with three Tools commands, where the player sells all tools except for the Drill, giving Gogo a 3/4 chance of using Drill. Six out of the eight tools can be bought back in Figaro Castle, Chainsaw can be stolen from Duel Armor, and Air Anchor from Gamma; both of these enemies are found in Kefka's Tower.
Umaro is another choice, who has 1/2 chance of either using Attack (four times in a row if equipped with Master's Scroll) or Tackle (a single unblockable attack that ignores defense) during battle. He is limited in the equipment department, being unable to equip any pieces of armor, leaving only the two relic slots to play with. Umaro can benefit from the Gauntlet relic, since he only holds a single Bone Club in his right hand and nothing in his left hand, making the Gauntlet and Master's Scroll a good combo. Umaro comes down to luck compared to the other characters mentioned above if Shadow and/or Setzer have no magic spells, and depends on who his opponent is. However, his raw strength can finish a battle quicker than most.
Umaro battling a Weredragon in the coliseum
Another alternative is to have Gogo as an Imp, fully equipped with the Imp equipment that comes with high Defense, Magic Defense, and Water absorption. Imp characters' special command is disabled, but they can still access the Magic command, meaning they may waste turns trying to cast spells that will fail and abort. The only available spell that will not abort is the Imp spell, and for this reason, Gogo is the obvious option. Since they will only use the Attack command every turn, this makes the Master's Scroll and Genji Glove a deadly combo.
The remaining characters are poor choices, since they likely have more spells/abilities compared to the characters mentioned above, making them more of a gamble. Nevertheless, a player can use a soft reset and reenter the coliseum if the character of their choosing has lost the match.
Betting list[]
The coliseum betting list.
If a wager does not appear in the following list, then typically the fight is with Typhon, and the reward is an Elixir. Typhon's first action is almost always Snort, which ejects the player from the battle without costing them their wager. If the player's character is fast and strong enough to defeat Typhon before being ejected, they will lose their wager and win the reward (in this case, an Elixir), as with the other battles. Typically, Typhon appears whenever the player bets a common or worthless item, which includes most (but not all) store-bought equipment pieces and items.
The battle against Shadow.
If Shadow has survived the Floating Continent and has been rescued from the Cave on the Veldt, betting the Ichigeki will result in a fight against Shadow, with the Ichigeki as the reward, after which Shadow will rejoin the party. Otherwise, betting Ichigeki will have the default Typhon/Elixir result.
In the Advance, 2014 mobile/Steam versions, betting Excalipoor will result in a fight with Onion Dasher, followed by a fight between Gilgamesh and the current party under the player's active control, with a Merit Award and the Gilgamesh esper as the reward.
The list is also available as a series of flowcharts that shows the paths of chains of consecutive bets, and their destinations.
Musical themes[]
"Johnny C. Bad" is the background theme that plays at the Dragon's Neck Coliseum. The name is likely a reference to "Johnny B. Goode", a 1958 rock and roll song written and originally performed by Chuck Berry.
"Johnny C. Bad" appears as an arranged theme on Cafe SQ album.
Other appearances[]
Final Fantasy XIV[]
The Dragon's Neck Coliseum appears as the arena where the players can fight Ultros and Typhon.
Pictlogica Final Fantasy[]
This section about a location in Pictlogica Final Fantasy is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.
Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade[]
This section about a location in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.
Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]
The Dragon's Neck Coliseum was the final dungeon in the Challenge Event, Assassin in Black. One battle with Siegfried was contained therein, and his defeat on the Classic track for the first time earned the player Shadow's Hero Record.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, which is featured in the myths of many cultures.
A colosseum or coliseum is a large stadium or theater, used for entertainments, sports, etc. The term is from Medieval Latin, from Colosseum, from neuter of colosseus ("gigantic"), from Ancient Greek κολοσσιαῖος (kolossiaîos), from κολοσσός (kolossós, "giant statue").