Every Gold Saucer Minigame in FF7 Rebirth, Ranked Least To Most Fun

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth might just have the most minigames of any entry in the series, but they’re most concentrated at the Gold Saucer. A veritable minigame paradise, the Gold Saucer is a returning location from the original FF7. It’s a glittering palace of entertainment on FF7 Rebirth‘s map, a monument to delight and debauchery, and the best place to take a break from endless combat encounters.

The Gold Saucer is first visited during Chapter Eight of FF7 Rebirth, at which point all its minigames are unlocked. They remain that way when the party revisits in Chapter 12, but with the added bonus of an opportunity for romance. The Gold Saucer is home to many recurring minigames from the original FF7, along with some brand-new ones that are just as wonderful as ever. While many of them have seen generational updates in the 27 intervening years, others remain almost entirely intact. Here’s every attraction at the Gold Saucer, ranked from the least to most fun.

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6 FF7 Rebirth’s Muscle Colosseum Is Just Regular Combat

A Revamped Version Of Battle Square

Building on FF7 Remake‘s Corneo Colosseum and the original FF7‘s Battle Square, the Musclehead Colosseum offers a gauntlet of battles against increasingly difficult enemies for fame, fortune, and fabulous prizes. Some of its battles have unique constraints and conditions, which makes it an excellent way to practice certain tactics ahead of FF7 Rebirth‘s hardest boss fights. It’s a great set of combat challenges, but doesn’t really hold water as a minigame: the Musclehead Colosseum doesn’t offer anything unique, and certainly isn’t a respite from regular gameplay.

5 FF7 Rebirth’s 3D Brawl Is Overly Simple

Punch-Out With Retro-Style Graphics

3D Brawl is the first minigame players have access to when they arrive at the Gold Saucer; it’s actually a mandatory part of the introductory cutscene. Players control one of two miniatures depicting FF7 characters, and duke it out in an oversimplified form of hand-to-hand combat. It’s basically Punch-Out with a little Final Fantasy flair: the only control options are to swing hooks, jabs, or uppercuts, block incoming punches, or dodge side-to-side. Players will need to read their opponents’ telegraphed attacks, and punch back when an opening presents itself. There’s also a Limit Break mechanic to unleash powerful blows.

It’s perfectly passable as a minigame, but very simple – mechanically, it’s scarcely changed from the original version in 1997. As a result, it’s worth a try once or twice, but doesn’t have a lot of replay value. It does, however, boast a wide variety of enemies and bosses for players to fight, up to FF7‘s biggest baddie, Sephiroth. Each opponent has unique attack patterns, so the trick is in learning how to read them. The ultimate prize is a Ribbon accessory, which blocks all status ailments and makes it harder to interrupt the wearer when they’re casting spells.

4 FF7 Rebirth’s Galactic Saviors Is Simple, But Enjoyable

A Decent, Uncomplicated Space Battle Sim

Available in the Gold Saucer’s Speed Square, Galactic Saviors is a space rail shooter in which the player character controls a small ship traveling through the vast reaches of space. Controls are simple: the ship can move along two axes, dodge with barrel rolls, fire automatic lasers, drop more powerful Proton Bombs, or heal with Restorative Charges – but the latter two take a while to recharge. Players fight against various waves of enemies, and receive points for each ship they take out, with bonuses for clearing entire waves. There’s also the occasional boss, usually a gargantuan mothership, sprinkled in.

Galactic Saviors is plenty of fun, but it’s held back slightly by its simplicity and slow pace. It doesn’t exactly deliver bullet hell chaos or speedy, procedurally generated action. Once players set a high score (and then do it all over again in expert mode), they’re not likely to play it again; there’s nothing, like power-ups, to make it worth revisiting. Still, it’s a good recreation of a typical arcade game staple, and is perfectly acceptable as a quick diversion.

3 FF7 Rebirth’s G-Bike Is Motorcycle Excitement, Reborn

Racing Games Meet Action Combat

Part racing game and part sword-swinging action, FF7 Rebirth’s G-Bike emulates the thrilling motorcycle escape sequence from FF7 Remake. This minigame also appeared in the original FF7, albeit in a simpler form: the remake trilogy adds ranged attacks, AoEs, dodges, and blocks akin to FF7 Rebirth‘s normal combat. G-Bike is a whole different animal, though. The fast-paced nature of these motorcycle races is always fun, and worth replaying until one’s trigger finger is sore.

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In FF7 Rebirth, G-Bike becomes a timed, high score-based affair. This adds an extra layer of challenge on top of its usual excitement. The goal is no longer simply to survive (or to get a kiss from Jessie), but to win. Demanding flexibility and lightning-quick reactions, G-Bike rounds out the top three Gold Saucer minigames, but a couple of others trump it easily.

2 Queen’s Blood Is FF7 Rebirth’s Revival Of Triple Triad

Collect Cards, Build Decks, Beat Rivals

Queen’s Blood is the most addicting minigame in FF7 Rebirth. It’s the latest in a long line of Final Fantasy card-based minigames, beginning with FF8‘s Triple Triad, later expanded into FF9’s Tetra Master. Queen’s Blood is a cross between Gwent and tic-tac-toe: players collect a variety of cards, build decks, then place them down on checkered boards with limited amounts of space. The objective is to control as much of the board as possible, which can be done by strategically blocking off points of access, or flipping an opponent’s cards to turn them into the player’s.

Queen’s Blood isn’t limited to the Gold Saucer – its players can be found in every corner of the world map. However, as a paradise for games of strategy and chance, the Gold Saucer is no stranger to Gaia’s favorite card game. Wonderment Square provides a few Queen’s Blood challenges with exclusive rules: reversed boards, or skill-enhancing support cards, for example. They’re not the toughest Queen’s Blood matches in the game, but they put an interesting twist on a familiar formula. They’re infinitely replayable, too, as it’s highly encouraged to experiment with different decks and strategies.

1 FF7 Rebirth Offers A Fresh Take On Chocobo Racing

FF7 Rebirth Has The Biggest & Best Version Of Speed Square

Chocobo Racing has always been the crown jewel of FF7 minigames, and it’s no different in Rebirth. The mechanics have changed a bit: where the original version of this minigame was focused on breeding the right bird for the right race, it now plays out like a typical kart racer. There are now item pickups, drifting speed bonuses, boost pads – everything a player needs to keep themselves busy while they wait for Mario Kart 9. And don’t worry, players can still pick their chocobo colors, with different variants having different stats.

With a greater focus on the race itself, rather than the preparation for it, Rebirth‘s take on Chocobo Racing is the most fun it’s ever been. It also greatly expands on the original FF7‘s scope, with nine tracks from the Carbuncle Classic to the Ultima Stakes. Add a couple more tracks and some more customization options, and Rebirth‘s Chocobo Racing could be a standalone game.

Those are all the minigames at FF7 Rebirth‘s Gold Saucer, but far from all the minigames in the entire campaign. Truthfully, these are just a fraction of the minigames available – things like Fort Condor, Piano Performance, and Pirate’s Rampage deserve honorable mention. Not every minigame from the original Gold Saucer made it in (Mog House fans, make some noise), but most of the greatest hits are here. All in all, these delightfully distracting minigames make the Gold Saucer Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‘s ultimate vacation destination – even better than Costa del Sol.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is the sequel to Final Fantasy 7 Remake and will see Cloud and his friends set off beyond the walls of Midgar to explore the world, stop Sephiroth’s machinations, and see the world outside their slum prison. Now that the whispers of fate no longer guide the characters along the pre-destined path set in the original PlayStation classic Final Fantasy 7, the heroes (and villains) will shape the future. The game will still visit prominent locales and revisit crucial story points, but it will be a more significant departure from the first game from the source material.

Franchise

Final Fantasy 7

Released

February 29, 2024

Developer(s)

Square Enix Business Division 1

Genre(s)

Action RPG , Adventure

Engine

Unreal Engine 4

ESRB

T