Final Fantasy VII Remake Mini Games: tips for darts, squats, pull ups, bike riding and more
One of the coolest things about the original Final Fantasy VII was its eclectic mix of gameplay moments - snowboarding, biking, cute little mini-games - and Final Fantasy VII Remake carries that spirit into its expanded take on the Midgar chapter of FF7 with a wide variety of mini games you can play.
While the list on this page isn't a complete and exhaustive list of all the mini-game moments in FF7 Remake, the ones we've gathered here are the ones that have significant missable rewards, trophies and other things attached to them. We've included lists of rewards, trophies, and how to play the mini-games if you're unsure. There's even some tips. Most of these mini games like the bike, dancing and squats you'll definitely naturally encounter throughout the story, while others like pull-ups and whack-a-box are tied to side quests. Others are practically entirely skippable if you're not interested in them.
We've got loads more help for all aspects of the game in our Final Fantasy VII Remake guide and walkthrough - including help with things like getting all Cloud, Tifa and Aerith's dresses in Wall Market, a breakdown choices and consequences across the game and combat-focused guides like our lists of weapons and abilities, materia, enemy skills and summons, all of which tell you where to get all of these key items and skills.
Darts Tips for topping the leaderboard
When you're in Seventh Heaven during Chapter 3, you'll notice the bar has a dartboard. This is proper, real-world style darts: no fantasy rules here, it's just get 301 points in as few darts as possible.
To top the leaderboard you'll need to get to 301 in 7 darts or less. The best possible method is to hit triple 20 (the middle red line through the 20) five times and then the 1 once. But you can still beat Wedge's high score even if you miss the triple once or twice with some creative maths. FF7 Remake will also often highlight the next best shot in yellow.
Darts can be fiddly, but remember the smaller the ring on the UI, the more accurate the shot will be. Try to ignore Cloud's waving hand in the foreground and instead focus on the overlay. Practice makes perfect, and you can try as many times as you want.
If you beat Wedge's score you'll earn the Heavenly Dart Player trophy and later on Wedge will give you a Luck Up materia as a reward.
Bike Mini Game & Biker Boy Trophy
There are two times you use a motorcycle in FF7 Remake, but only one of them actually counts as the Bike Minigame - the biker section at the beginning of Chapter 4, where you're riding along with Jessie, Biggs and Wedge.
There's no major rewards for Cloud in-universe for doing well here, but if you complete the motorcycle chase having taken less than 25% of your Bike's HP in damage, you'll be praised by Jessie in dialogue and this will give you the achievement 'Biker Boy'. Biggs & Wedge's bike health doesn't matter for the trophy so long as they don't die.
If you miss this first time around, you can nab it in Chapter Select after finishing the game. Remember for more trophies you can hit up our full FF7 Remake trophy guide.
Whack-a-Box mini game in Sector 5
Cloud can have access to this special combat-based mini game twice - once in Chapter 8, and once again in Chapter 14. In both instances you'll need to complete all the side quests associated with Sector 5's kids to unlock the mini game.
There's two levels of this mini game - normal and hard. The hard difficulty is only available come Chapter 14. Earning a top score to complete all the levels isn't too difficult - just abuse your skills. We recommend using Triple Slash, Blade Burst and Infinity's End to clear the higher value blocks, and always go for the red blocks, which give you extra time, first. We recommend Infinity's End, which means you'll have to equip the weapon you learned it from - only a weapon's native skill is available in whack-a-box, none of your learned ones carry into this mini-game.
Completing the normal levels will get you some rewards as well as the Crate Annihilator trophy. Doing the same on Hard Difficulty will net you the Whack-a-Box Wunderkind trophy.
Squats Mini Game
You'll be directed to the squats mini game at the Wall Market gym in Chapter 9, and you can also return to it again in Chapter 14. The mini game is pretty simple, challenging you to press buttons in a certain order in timing with Cloud's animations. As the UI fades, it becomes more difficult and you must rely on looking at Cloud's movements rather than a button prompt.
We think squats is generally managable, but if you're struggling, refer to our tips for the similar but much more difficult pull-ups mini game below - they would apply just as much here.
There are three difficulties with three different characters to challenge, with each carrying a different difficulty. On Hard Mode, these different Squats challenges can be undertaken again if you so wish, too. Completing all three levels of the squat mini game earns you the Sultan of Squat trophy.
- Trainee (Ronnie): 3x Mega Potions
- Amateur (Jay): Luck Up
- Pro (Jules): Championship Belt
Dancing Mini Game & Dance Rewards
As part of the main story progression in FF7 Remake, Cloud will find himself dancing along to music at the Honey Bee Inn, with that mini game taking the form of a rhythm-based spectaculate, buttons flying around the screen and demanding to be pressed in time with the rather impressive choreography.
This is a story sequence and so doesn't really impress any major importance on you, but it's worth keeping mind that a music disc is locked behind the dancing. When you first enter the Honey Bee Inn, you'll have a practice dance session with the Honey Bee Girls. Get a 100% 'Great' rating on this practice dance (that's 10 Great Ratings) by having spot-on timing and you'll unlock the 'Let the Battles Begin! -REMAKE- music disc for your collection.
When you do the actual dance with Andrea, you don't need to be 100% perfect. Get 20 or more 'Great' ratings to get the 'Andrea's Earrings' item as an extra reward.
Pull-Ups Mini Game
In Chapter 14 you can return to the Wall Market Gym and this time there's a different challenge in place: Andrea can be challenged at pull-ups by Tifa. This mini-game is like the squats mini game but is less predictable both in terms of button presses and Tifa's movements, therefore making it more difficult.
Listen up: the pull ups are really damn hard. The pro level pull-ups are absolutely insane in particular. What might work for you could very well be different, but we found that one way to help make things easier was to head into the audio settings menu and turn down the music and dialogue options, possibly muting them entirely. This leaves you with just the sound effects of the pull-up mini game - which are barely audible usually over the blaring music and NPC commentary - and you can therefore focus on the tempo and rhythm of your button presses for the pull-ups. Getting rid of the speech just helps because the guys standing around commentating are annoying, and the music helped us because the pull up action isn't in time with the music that plays.
The gym and pull-ups mini game is visited as part of the 'Wandering Heart' sidequest. For that you only need to do a beginner level challenge, which isn't so bad. Once you complete that you can take on three challenges versus the same guys Cloud challenged to squats in an earlier chapter. There are three rewards for the Pull-Ups mini game:
- Way of the Fist Vol. III manuscript (Tifa SP up)
- Magic Up Materia
- Champion Belt Accessory