Olympus Coliseum

Olympus Coliseum is a world in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and Kingdom Hearts II. Based on the 1997 Disney feature Hercules, Philoctetes can be seen here training Hercules and other heroes. The Coliseum has since become a staple in the series since it has appeared in all the games to date with currently only the Destiny Islands and Hollow Bastion reaching the same feat.

Setting
In the original game, Olympus Coliseum was the smallest world, consisting of three areas: the Coliseum Gates where Sora and his party enter, the Lobby where Phil briefs contestants and keeps the cups of the winners, and the Coliseum itself, where the party competes against various combinations of Heartless, villains, and other characters in the game.

The area gains a drastic expansion in Kingdom Hearts II, as the Underworld can now be accessed through the Coliseum Gates. The Underworld Entrance connects the living world to the world of the dead, as well as holding the world's Moogle Shop, a save point, and the Underdrome where Sora can talk to Pain and Panic to gain access to the tournaments there. From there, two paths into the Underworld branch off. The first branch that Sora and his friends can explore leads to Hades' domain through the Cave of the Dead. Beginning at the Cave of the Dead: Entrance (where Sora and Auron later fight Cerberus), the party travels down the narrow and meandering Cave of the Dead: Passage before reaching the relatively safe Cave of the Dead: Inner Chamber. From there, the party traverses the ledges and cliffs of the Valley of the Dead before reaching Hades' Chamber.

Later in the story, the second path opens and allows the group to enter the Underworld Caverns. After going down through the Underworld Caverns: Entrance, the party goes through the twisting Underworld Caverns: The Lost Road, which in turn leads to the Underworld Caverns: Atrium. After an encounter with Demyx, the party passes through to The Lock, where Meg can be rescued and a boss battle with Pete takes place.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
In a screenshot of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Terra, Ven, and Master Xehanort are all seen in Olympus Coliseum. It is known Hercules is a Party Member to either Terra, Ven or Aqua.

Kingdom Hearts
When Sora first enters the Coliseum, Phil, who is busy preparing for the games, mistakes him for Hercules. When his mistake is revealed, Phil allows Sora to enter the trials. Though Sora passes, Phil won't let him enter the games. Disappointed, Sora exits, only to be met by Hades, who grants him an entry pass for the preliminaries. Sora then has to go through many preliminaries before he can get to the final battle. The final battle of the preliminaries is with Cloud, who is secretly working for Hades. After defeating or losing to Cloud, Cerberus appears. Hercules holds the beast off until Sora returns to defeat it, winning entrance into the real games.

Tournament Cups
Throughout the game, different cups (tournaments) will be unlocked for Sora, Donald, and Goofy to compete in. There are four modes for every cup. First, the regular mode - Sora, Donald, and Goofy face the enemies as they come. After winning a cup in that mode, solo mode is unlocked - this time, Sora faces all the enemies alone. The third mode is a timed competition, and the final mode allows the team to face any enemy from the cup. The modes are unlocked in succession and only for a specific cup. The following is a list of the cups and how to unlock them.


 * Phil Cup - Seal the Traverse Town Keyhole.
 * Pegasus Cup - Complete Monstro.
 * Hercules Cup - Seal the Halloween Town and Neverland Keyholes.
 * Hades Cup - Seal the Hollow Bastion keyhole.
 * Gold Match - Complete the Hades Cup.
 * Platinum Match - Seal the Hollow Bastion Keyhole and unlock all other cups.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
This time, the team, Cloud, and Hercules are the only people involved in the games, which involve an obstacle course. Hades has hired Cloud to defeat Hercules, in exchange for restoring his lost memories. Cloud loses to Hercules, but even though Hades refuses to restore his memories, Sora comforts Cloud, reminding him that even small events can help someone remember things.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
In a screenshot of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Roxas is seen fighting some Shadows on the entrance of the coliseum. Trailers also feature a clip of multiplayer mode in the Coliseum, and show Organization XIII members fighting a Heartless similar to Morning Star. In the trailer from the Jump Festa 2009, it has been stated that Demyx and Xigbar are there with Roxas, entering the tournament with him, Demyx commenting that Xigbar is really strong. It also seems that Hercules and Philoctetes will appear in this world as well, as Roxas is training with Phil during his time in this world.

Kingdom Hearts II
In this game, the world of Olympus Coliseum is expanded to Hades' Underworld.

Sora and co. return to Olympus Coliseum one year after their first visit. Before their return, Hades has been sending monsters for Hercules to fight against in attempt to weaken his heart and turn him into a Heartless. After finding out that Sora's Keyblade could open any lock, Hades uses it to unlock the Underworld Coliseum, which was sealed off by Zeus. He kidnapped Megara to lure Sora and Hercules into saving her while unlocking the Underworld Coliseum and sending the Hydra to destroy the Olympus Coliseum.

Sora and co. are forced to participate in the Underworld Coliseum Tournament with Hercules. Hades stole Auron's free will in attempt to make him defeat Hercules, and Sora and his gang. However, Sora releases Auron's free will and they defeat Hades together, with the help of Hercules. After this, Sora, Donald, and Goofy become legendary heroes.

In the ending credits, the Olympus Coliseum is restored to its glory.

After the Underworld Coliseum is re-opened, multiple tournaments are opened after Sora and his friends accomplish a certain goal or progress a part of the story.

Tournament Cups

 * Pain and Panic Cup
 * Cerberus Cup
 * Goddess of Fate Cup
 * Hades Cup
 * Pain and Panic Paradox Cup
 * Cerberus Paradox Cup
 * Hades Paradox Cup

Kingdom Hearts Coded
In a screenshot Sora, Donald & Goofy are seen entering Olympus Coliseum and seeing Hercules in the Distance and rumours of King Mickey in the Arena (not at the same time) conversing with Phil.

Dalmatians

 * 22,23, & 24 - The Blue Trinity under the right hand statue at the Coliseum Gates.

Trivia

 * Although it is thought that the Coliseum is not originally from the Hercules movie, the Arena (or Coliseum in Kingdom Hearts II) can be seen in a short scene with Phil arguing with Hercules.


 * Olympus Coliseum is the smallest world in the original Kingdom Hearts, containing only three areas/rooms, none of which require intense adventuring or puzzle solving.


 * Despite being the smallest world, this world involves virtually all Heartless species and later Nobodies excluding most bosses. This is due to the Coliseum cups.


 * In Kingdom Hearts, the prize for winning the Phil Cup was a trophy and the prize for the Pegasus Cup was a plaque, but in Kingdom Hearts II, when you view the prizes for each of the Kingdom Hearts tournaments, they are switched around. So, when you view the Phil Cup prize, it is the "Phil Cup Shield" (the plaque), and there is a trophy for the Pegasus Cup.


 * Olympus Coliseum is one of the few worlds to be shown with a change of day.


 * In addition, Olympus Coliseum has had the largest world expansion, turning from just three areas to the average size of a world. This is in direct contrast to Atlantica, which had the largest reduction, changing it to just two areas.