Sora and company's next stop is Olympus Coliseum, where Sora is amazed at the Greek architecture. When they first enter the Coliseum, they notice a satyr named Phil, who mistakes Sora for a hero named Hercules and has him move around a boulder. It's not until Sora complains about the boulder being too heavy that Phil realizes his mistake. Phil explains that he's getting ready for a big tournament and has Sora engage in a test involving a set of barrels. However, Phil isn't impressed because Sora and company are not heroes, and denies them entry into the games.
As Sora leaves the building, though, he runs into Hades, the Lord of the Dead and one of Maleficent's minions. Hades approaches the trio and offers Sora a ticket into the games, allowing them to compete, much to Phil's shock.
During the preliminaries, Hades decides to remove Sora from the equation by pitting him against the young warrior Cloud Strife. As Sora advances through the rounds, he eventually faces off against Cloud. However, Cloud fails to kill Sora, forcing Hades to sic his attack dog, Cerberus, on the two. Before Cerberus can kill Cloud, Hercules himself shows up to save the day and repel the beast, allowing Sora to make a getaway.
Phil is surprised at Cerberus's interference, but allows Sora and company to face the hound in battle. After they defeat Cerberus, Phil dubs the trio "junior heroes" and allows them to participate in the Coliseum's tournaments. Before they leave, Cloud explains to Sora that he joined Hades to search for someone, and encourages Sora to keep on searching. Meanwhile, Hades is furious that Hercules showed up to save the day, but he is certain that the new games he plans to create will be the end of both Sora and Herc. Maleficent shows up, but Hades rebuffs her, saying he doesn't need her help. She leaves, allowing him to do as he wishes.
As Sora and company continue their journey, several new cups open up, the first two of which are the Phil and Pegasus Cups. Later, a third cup, the Hercules Cup, also begins, with Herc himself as the final opponent. After beating all the other opponents in the tournament, Sora says that he wants to fight Hercules one-on-one, leaving Donald and Goofy out of it. Sora manages to defeat Hercules, who admits that he wasn't even holding back on him. Sora comes to the realization that his strength comes from his friends, wondering if that is was Phil meant by finding out what true heroism is. Phil says that isn't what he meant, but Hercules says that Sora has learned a valuable lesson. The trio gains the ability to push heavy objects with the yellow Trinity Mark, which they then use to move the heavy boulder. Moving it reveals the Keyhole, which Sora locks.
Later, after the final door has been opened, Sora and the gang return to Olympus Coliseum once again, where they find that Hades has finally put his plan into motion: he has started a final tournament called the Hades Cup. This tournament is more challenging than the other tournaments combined, and longer to boot. Nevertheless, Sora and his friends steel themselves, fighting their way through countless waves of Heartless, as well as facing off with Leon, Yuffie, Cloud, and Cerberus again. Soon Hades himself enters the tournament to personally dispose of Sora, but even he is defeated. The group fights their way to the final opponent, the Rock Titan, who is also defeated, much to Hades's chagrin.
After winning the Hades Cup, two more matches are revealed: the Gold and Platinum matches. The former contains the Ice Titan, another one of the monsters once sealed away by Zeus. Even this frosty opponent proves to be no match for Sora, however. The Platinum Match pits Sora against none other than Sephiroth, Cloud's arch-nemesis, the one Cloud made a deal with Hades to find. Sora manages to survive the match, but afterwards Sephiroth and Cloud confront each other. Cloud says that Sephiroth is the embodiment of his own inner darkness, meaning that he can't rest until he has defeated his nemesis. Sephiroth invites Cloud to join him in darkness, but he refuses, and the two engage in a mighty battle that leads them into the sky...
Tropes:
- Arc Villain: As in the film, Hades.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The Rock and Ice Titans.
- Boss-Arena Idiocy: During his battle, Herc has a godly aura which makes him invincible and can only be removed by chucking barrels at him, which conveniently spawn in the arena during the fight. Of course, he may be giving Sora a fighting chance, but why in the everlasting heck would barrels weaken him?
- Duel Boss: During the Hercules Cup, Sora will fight Hercules one-on-one regardless of circumstances.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: Herc admits to Phil that he'd already weakened Cerberus a bit before Sora intervened, explaining why Cerberus has less health in his first bout with Sora in comparison to their rematch in the Hades Cup.
- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Even if Sora loses to Cloud the first time they fight, Cloud Wouldn't Hurt a Child and finish Sora off. So Hades will still sic Cerberus on them.
- Hero of Another Story: Cloud is only at the Olympus Coliseum in search of Sephiroth. What he's been up to before then is unknown.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Hades seeks to invoke this by pitting Cloud against Sora.
- Marathon Level: The Hades Cup. At least you get checkpoints every tenth seed.
- Superboss: The Ice Titan and Sephiroth. Especially Sephiroth.
- Time Trial: Sora can choose to complete the cups within a time limit (three minutes for the Phil, Pegasus, and Hercules Cups, 20 for the Hades Cup) after completing them with his friends and by himself.
- Tournament Arc: One optional one at that.
