"All right! It's time to put my skills to the ultimate test!"

—Shadow

The Dragon's Neck Coliseum (竜の首コロシアム, Ryū no Kubi Koroshiamu^?), also known as the Colosseum, is a location in Final Fantasy VI located at the northwest corner of the World of Ruin, north of Kohlingen and Figaro Castle. The origin of the name comes from the fact that the peninsula is in the shape of a dragon's head. The Dragon's Neck Coliseum acts as a battle arena where a character can fight enemies. Before the end of the world, it was just a small cabin called the Dragon's Neck Cabin.

StoryEdit

In the World of Balance, the coliseum does not yet exist, but a small cabin stands in its future location. The owner of this cabin decides to build a coliseum, because he believes people are at their best when they are at war.

One year after the end of the world, the Coliseum has been completed, and the owner is very pleased with Kefka for creating a world full of war. Ultros acts as the coliseum's receptionist to pay off his debt. Other people who hang out at the coliseum include Siegfried and the lone surviving Imperial soldier.

BattlesEdit

Players 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 one of their party members to do battle. All the coliseum fights are one-on-one, and the player's character is AI-controlled and will use any commands and spells they know. To this end, nothing stops them from using acquired moves which injure or even kill themselves, (such as Self-Destruct or Soul Spiral).

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 at the same time, the player loses their wagered item and does not win anything. If the player's character warps out of battle using Teleport, they will retain their wagered item.

Something to remember is that the coliseum removes Vanish, KO, Petrify, and Zombie status after a match. But not Imp, Float, or Poison statuses, and restores HP and MP to their max before the match begins. There is no need to heal those statuses or restore HP/MP in order to prepare for the match, except if a status prevents the player from properly equipping a character of course.

Character SetupEdit

Overall SetupEdit

There are several good pieces of equipment to have equip on the character, the first would be the Paladin's Shield which will negate/absorb all elemental damage and it possesses the highest evasion percent of any shield. This shield can easily be gotten if the player fights on the Solitary Island to dispel the Cursed Shield. Master's Scroll is another good choice, it can be found in the Ancient Castle. The Merit Award and Miracle Shoes (both can be won in the coliseum), Ribbon, and Safety Bit/Memento Ring depending on the situation. Weapons varies from character to character, but the Lightbringer paired with Merit Award is an excellent combo. Keep in mind that lots of coliseum opponents are vulnerable to Instant Death attacks which can be used through some weaponry.

FightersEdit

Shadow is a very good character to choose as he will never use Throw during a coliseum match, having him without any Magic learned at this point is possible. Shadow joins the party twice after the party acquired magicite. Once on their way to Thamasa and the other during the portion of Floating Continent. He has the less screen time of all, he also 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, this one can randomly cast Stop on the attacked target. Shadow also has 28% Evasion, having the highest raw evasion out of the entire party, and being the second speediest character (tied with Gau). When evading an attack, there's a chance of Interceptor attacking the enemy without losing a turn, but this attack will miss on floating opponents.

Setzer is another good choice as a fighter, like Shadow, he never uses his Slots command. But unlike Shadow, there's a good chance the player will have Setzer with more magic spells compare to Shadow, due to him having more screen time with the party. The Viper Darts can take advantage of killing an enemy in one blow much like some of Shadow's weaponry, it also has a 25% chance.

Gogo is another choice where the player can manipulate him/her as desired, players will be able to prepare Gogo into anything for any situation. The player can equip him/her with nothing but Attack with the Master's Scroll with the Merit Award combo (only on the versions prior to the GBA version) or three Tools commands where the player sells all tools except for the Drill. Gogo will have 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, but he is also a poor choice due to the fact he has 1/2 chance of either using Attack (four times in a row if equip with Master's Scroll) or Tackle (a single unblockable attack that ignores defense) during battle. He is also limited in the equipment department, being unable to equip any pieces of armor while only having two relic slots to play with. Umaro can benefit from the Gauntlet relic since Umaro only holds a single Bone Club in his right hand, he has nothing to sacrifice in his left hand. So the Gauntlet is a good relic for him to equip. The Gauntlet and Master's Scroll makes a good combo for him. Umaro pretty much comes down to luck compare to the other characters mentioned above if Shadow and/or Setzer have no magic spells, and depends on whose his opponent is such as them being weak or strong opponents.

Another alternative way is to have Gogo as an Imp, fully equipped with the Imp Equipment. With its high Defense, Magic Defense, and Water absorption gotten from wearing the imp equipment. Best of all, an imped character will only use Attack during the coliseum matches, imps can be very effective and reliable for battles because the special battle command is disable. The imped character can still access the Magic command, meaning that they may waste turn(s) trying to cast spells that will fail and abort. The only available spell that will not abort is the magic spell Imp. For this reason, Gogo is the obvious option. Since the imped character 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 at this point of the game, since they have the longest screen time in the party. That means they'll have more spells/abilities compare to the characters mentioned above. They'll be more of a gamble if used, nevertheless, a player can simply use a Soft Reset and simply reenter the coliseum if the character of their choosing has lost the match. Hopefully the player has saved right outside the coliseum entrance for quick reentry.

Betting ListEdit

• If a wager does not appear in this list, then typically the fight is with Typhon and the reward is 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 an Elixir as with other battles. Typically, Typhon appears whenever the player bets a common or worthless item. Most (but not all) store-bought equipment pieces and items count.
• If Shadow has survived the Floating Continent and has been rescued from the Cave in 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 version, 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.
• This list is also available as a series of flowcharts that shows the paths of chains of consecutive bets and their destinations.

MusicEdit

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"Johnny C. Bad" from Final Fantasy VI
Trouble with the audio sample?

"Johnny C. Bad" is the background theme that plays at the Dragon's Neck Coliseum.

GalleryEdit

Inside the Coliseum (SNES).

The Coliseum on the World Map (SNES).

Celes fighting Shadow (SNES).

Celes fighting Shadow.

Choosing a character in the Coliseum.

Shadow joins the party.

Battle background.

Dragon's Neck Coliseum's sprite.

TriviaEdit

• In the SNES and PS releases of Final Fantasy VI, the location is named "Colosseum". The Game Boy Advance release, however, spells all instances of the name as "Coliseum".