From the surprisingly simple to the extremely elaborate, minigames have been around in gaming since the late 80's. It was not until the end of the century however that they became common in mainstream titles. They can help to pad out the length of a game or add another layer to its depth. Sometimes, they're just a welcome distraction from the main storyline.
They've been a staple of the Final Fantasy franchise since the release of Final Fantasy VII in 1997. The game includes a wide range of minigames and future entries to the series have followed suit. Whilst the minigames featured in the series are generally fun, they can often be incredibly challenging as well. Many require patience, others near perfect precision. Some are just straight up impossible.
10 Blitzball (Final Fantasy X)
Blitzball is an incredibly deep and well thought out minigame that could very well be a standalone title in its own right. That would perhaps be quite fitting given that fully completing all of the Blitzball tournaments takes longer than completing some modern games.
Assembling a winning team can take a considerable amount of time. Worse still, several of Final Fantasy X's key items are locked behind the Blitzball minigame and some are not guaranteed to appear as prizes. This means that players will likely have to complete competitions numerous times in order to obtain them.
9 Tetra Master (Final Fantasy IX)
Final Fantasy VIII's Triple Triad minigame is one of the best in the franchise. Unfortunately however, its follow-up Tetra Master failed to live up to its predecessor. It's by no means a bad minigame, but it's unnecessarily complicated and requires a lot of time to truly master.
Unlike Triple Triad, Tetra Master takes place on a four by four grid and as such requires a lot more strategy. It also introduces card leveling and different card types. The game's difficulty comes not from playing the game itself, but fully understanding its numerous rules and building up a decent deck of cards.
8 Rosa's Measured Meditations (FFIV)
Although there were a few minigames scattered throughout the first few Final Fantasy titles, it wasn't until Final Fantasy VII that they became a prominent part of the franchise. As such, the original release of Final Fantasy IV did not contain any minigames. When Square Enix remade the game for the DS however, they added in five that were tied to the newly added Eidolon Whyt.
One of those minigames was Rosa's Measured Meditations. The game required players to place the DS stylus on the screen and then pick it back up after a certain amount of time. This sounds incredibly easy, especially as there is a clock provided. Just like the cake though, the clock is a lie. The time it provides is not accurate meaning it's better for players to instead rely on their own internal clocks or, better still, a stopwatch. Even then though, it's not easy.
7 Hippaul Racing (Final Fantasy IX)
Hippaul is an NPC that can be found in the Alexandria area that players can challenge to a footrace. His physique would suggest that he's not the fastest person in the world of Final Fantasy IX and this proves to be the case in the first few races. The more players challenge him however, the faster he becomes.
There are 100 different levels to challenge although victory by a large margin will lead to Hippaul gaining five levels for the next race rather than just one. Anybody wanting to unlock the Athlete Queen key item will need to beat up to level 80 which is a challenge in itself. Those masochistic enough to aim for level 100 will require the use of a turbo pad or cheat device.
6 Lightning Dodging (Final Fantasy X)
Anybody wanting to unlock the lightning dancer trophy or make the most of Lulu's ultimate weapon is going to have to tackle this minigame at some point. On paper it's not the most challenging, but it requires a lot of concentration and endurance in order to succeed.
In the Thunder Plains, lightning bolts will strike at random and the player can dodge them by tapping a button at the right time. In order to 'complete' the minigame, players will have to dodge 200 consecutive bolts. There are strategies that can help speed up the process, but even with these strategies a single mistake will mean starting again from scratch.
5 Yuna's Tower Recalibration (Final Fantasy X-2)
When Final Fantasy X-2 released in 2003, dodging 200 consecutive lightning bolts was still fresh in the minds of many players. Little did they know that Square Enix had an even more monstrous minigame in store for them. Riku, Paine and Yuna each had their own variants of the thunder tower recalibration minigame, but it was the latter's version that would go on to haunt players.
During the game, players are shown a series of inputs and then have to press the correct buttons in the correct order. This is easy enough during the first few towers. The last tower however requires players to input the buttons in reverse order and also adds a number of additional inputs. This might not sound too complicated, but the strict time limit makes it incredibly tough.
4 Catcher Chocobo (Final Fantasy X)
There are four different Chocobo races found in the Calm Lands of Final Fantasy X. While the first three are fairly manageable, the fourth will likely have players spitting feathers. Worse still, beating it is a requirement for anybody hoping to get their hands on the Sun Sigil needed to unlock the full potential of Tidus' ultimate weapon. Given the challenge, some may prefer to just stick with the Brotherhood.
To win the race, players need to finish with a time of 00:00. This isn't as impossible as it might sound as players can remove time from the clock by popping balloons. It is still incredibly challenging though. As well as popping balloons, players also need to dodge birds that fly around the track and outpace the rival trainer. Success requires a near perfect run both in terms of speed and the number of balloons popped.
3 Pull-Ups (Final Fantasy VII Remake)
Many fans were delighted to see the return of the squats minigame in Final Fantasy VII Remake, but the addition of a pull-ups minigame came as some surprise. After a few attempts at completing it however, that surprise quickly turned into horror. Although it is beatable, many players had to resort to turning off the music or covering part of their television screen in order to do so.
The minigame is similar to the earlier squats challenge although there are some key differences. Rather than a circular pattern, the order that buttons need to be pressed is random. The minigame is also broken up into 2 stages with the pattern changing for the second stage. Things are made more challenging by Jules' excellent performance. To achieve victory, players not only need 2 near perfect stages, but also for Jules to make a few mistakes.
2 Jump Rope (Final Fantasy IX)
The jump rope minigame is exactly what it sounds like. Near the ticket booth in Alexandria there are four girls playing jump rope. By approaching them, players can take on the jump rope challenge and win a variety of prizes based on the number of consecutive jumps they make.
What makes this minigame so tough is that the speed at which the rope swings is variable and the number of successful jumps required to unlock the final key item is insanely high. It takes around seven minutes to complete 1,000 jumps. Considering how easy it is to make a mistake, the time taken to finally reach that elusive 1,000th jump can quickly add up.
1 3D Battler (Final Fantasy VII)
It can sometimes be difficult to compare the difficulty of two wildly contrasting games, but in this case there's really no competition. Whilst many of the other minigames found throughout the series are incredibly difficult, 3D Battler is impossible to beat.
The game is effectively a glorified version of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' with five opponents to challenge. Depending on the player's choice, they will either hit, be blocked or take a hit. However, a GameFAQs user by the name of Absolute Steve calculated the odds of victory and found that the final fighter is programmed to never take a hit. This means that regardless of the button the player chooses, the best outcome they can achieve is a blocked attack. As such, a loss is inevitable.