Final Fantasy 7 (VII) Remake Chapter 9: The Town That Never Sleeps Walkthrough

Chapter 9: The Town That Never Sleeps is the 9th story mission in Final Fantasy 7 (VII) Remake. This walkthrough will guide you through all objectives of The Town That Never Sleeps Main Mission.

The Town That Never Sleeps starts when you complete Budding Bodyguard.

Area: Sector 6 Slums
Requirement: Complete Chapter 8: Budding Bodyguard
Objectives:

• Tour Guide
• Take the Shortcut
  • Beyond the Ladder
  • Working Together
• Beyond the Dead End
  • Working Together Again
• Saying Goodbye
• Chasing Tifa
• To Corneo’s Mansion
  • Discovery: Vagabond Johnny
• The Trio
  • Sam
  • Andrea Rhodea
  • Madam M
• Madam M’s Desire
• Underground Colosseum
• Parting Ways
• Rescue Tifa
• Aerith’s Plan
• The Audition
• Showdown with Corneo

Tour Guide

Turns out Aerith was one step ahead of you and has snuck out anyway to help you get back to Sector 7.

Take the Shortcut

Aerith says she has a shortcut to get back to Sector 7 that definitely doesn’t go through Wall Market. Follow her along until you enter the larger collapsed tunnel, then proceed towards the objective. In this tunnel you’ll some monsters to face, starting out with a Terpsicolt, then a Lesser Drake. before going down the ladder to the lower area after the Drake, turn left for a chest that contains a Moogle Medal.

After grabbing that you can take the ladder down to the area below.

Beyond the Ladder

There is a ladder on the other side of the area you need to get to progress. Take control of the robot hand, and use it to lift Aerith over to drop the ladder for you.

On the other side an enemy will break through the rubble to attack you. This is a Sweeper Prototype. This one is about the same as the normal Sweeper aside from it having a rampage mode on its arms, where you can put in extra damage for a quicker stagger.

Continue forward speak to Aerith.  The route she wanted to take is blocked, so head down the ladder to the right. Right at the bottom of the ladder, there is a chest that contains 2 Hi-Potions.

Keep following the path and climb back up, then take out the group of Terpsicolt in the next area. Now instead of continuing forward, go down the ramp to the left to find another chest, containing 1,000 gil.

Working Together

Continue forward and go up the ramp to the right instead of going down. Up here you can use the arm to move the shipping container over in place on the right. You can then pick up Aerith and move her over onto the shipping container. Doing so she picks up a Binding Materia for you.

Pick her up again and move her to the far platform so she can drop the ladder for you. Go down the nearby ladder, but before going up to Aerith look around to the left of the rubble to find another chest, containing a Mega-Potion.

Follow Aerith forward and it turns out it’s a dead end up here. Rest at the nearby bench, then use the vending machine and make sure to grab disc 22. Cosmo Canyon.

Turn back around and go back down the tunnel, then on the left you should see a ladder leading down. Follow the path and go through the door at the end.

Beyond the Dead End

You’ll be stopped by three weird dudes. They’re all humans and fairly weak at that, so hit them with fire magic if you have equipped to end the fight quickly.

Follow the path, and you’ll come up the ladder to some more bandit enemies (though without the prior song and dance) along with a Sweeper Prototype. Note that these bandits can actually steal stuff from you such as gil or items, and then if you don’t defeat them quickly enough they will escape with what they stole.

Working Together Again

With those enemies dealt with, go to the nearby control panel. In this next area you’ll have to mess around with two arms to get around, as well as have Aerith grab you another Materia. First you want to use the closer arm to grab the container in front of Aerith, and place it over by the Materia orb. Then you can go over and use it to pick her up, and move her over to grab a Magnify Materia.

You then need to bring Aerith back over to where she started so that you can use the arm to move the container again. Take it and stack it in the middle point between the two arms, then stack the container from the farther arm onto this one. You can then give Aerith a lift over to this container stack, then pick her up with the second arm to get her to the ladder.

Now you can go down the ladder, and take the one up to the other side. Ahead you’ll have one last group of four bandits to dead with, then head for the exit.

Saying Goodbye

Head forward and give Aeritha a nice old high five, then proceed forward for a cutscene. After it completes before going to Aerith, there is a small tunnel to the South-East. Inside there is a chest that contains an Ether.

Head over to Aerith for cutscene, then speak to her again when you’re ready to progress.

Chasing Tifa

Tifa happens to come by in a cart, head into Sector 6. Aerith convinces Cloud to go after her, so you should start going down the path. At the end speak to the men, and you’ll get a dialogue choice for describing Tifa.

Warning – How Choices impact this Chapter: There are many choices throughout the rest of the chapter and they will affect which of the 3 Outfits Cloud gets to wear at the end of the chapter. Your choices will also decide which side quests you get (either The Party Never Stops  A Dynamite Body or The Price of Thievery, Shears’ Counterattack). They cancel out each other. On your first playthrough it doesn’t matter what choices you make, just remember 2 of 5 side quests and 2 of 3 outfits are impossible to get right now for trophy Best in the Business. After the story you can use chapter select to redo the chapter for alternative Cloud Outfits / Side Quests. When you do the cleanup via chapter select, refer to the Outfits Guide & Side Quests Walkthrough for the exact choices for each.

To Corneo’s Mansion

Now go to the far North of the area before progressing. There you can find a chest containing a Phoenix Down.

You can then head through the main gate, and you will be in Wall Market. This is a large intricate area with lots of stuff in it, but a large number of the alleyways with chests are blocked so it’s not worth running around to clear the area out yet. There is are a number of things you can interact with, though most are just for fun. I would recommend going over to Chadley though while here, as he will now have some more Battle Intel requests for you.

There is one chest you want to grab now instead of leaving for later though. Go North along the main road all the way and continue out of the town. When you reach the loop in the path there is a building at the back you can go in. Inside is a chest, which will contain a Star Pendant.

Continuing further just gets you back to the path you came in from, so head back towards the town.

Discovery: Vagabond Johnny

Going towards the objective, you will see Johnny run by, and you should go follow him. When you find him speak to him, and he poses you a semi rhetorical question.

The answer to this question isn’t really important, for determing what side quests or thing occur later it more matters whether you interact with him at all or ignore the discovery event. Interacting with him here counts as one of the “incidents” for the trophy The Johnny Experience.

Now continue to the objective again and go all the way up the stairs to the mansion. If you look to the right just at the top of the stairs you should find a chest, which contains 1,200 gil.

Closer to the mansion door, go left down the corridor leading East, then at the end there is a chest that contains an Ether.  Now go back around front and head through the front doors into the mansion.

The Trio

You’re stopped by some guards when you go through the door, and they say you have to gain approval from the Trio to be considered for an audition to get in and rescue Tifa. Head outside and you’ll run into Johnny again, where he makes some sort of declaration and then sprints away.

Sam

First up will be Chobo Sam, which was the guy you happened to talk with outside earlier. He wants to do a bet on a coin toss to see whether he’ll get you in for a recommendation or not.

Make a choice of the three, oh no you lost! Turns out it was a trick coin, and you lose no matter what. He gives you the coin after, and you have to go deal with the other Trio members.

Andrea Rhodea

Next up is Andrea Rhodea, who is at the Honeybee Inn at the North-West corner of the town. When you reach the entrance Johnny will come out looking pretty stunned, then you can go inside. You’ll be turned down as you don’t have an appointment, so can proceed to the final objective.

Madam M

Madam M’s restaurant is located at the North end of the city, just before where you would be exiting the town and going back into the tunnels. When you reach it Johnny runs by again, seemingly being kicked out of the restaurant. Go inside yourself, and you’ll get a long cutscene introduction to Madam M.

Madam M’s Desire

At the end of the conversation, she wants you to pay for a massage before helping out.

After the massage, you will now be controlling Aerith instead of Cloud. Speak to Madam M to ask her for a letter of recommendation and she agrees, but Aerith needs different clothes first. You’ll now have a response you can make as Cloud.

Underground Colosseum

Madam M is going to make sure you put in work to get her help, so she has entered you into the Colosseum tournament to win her the prize money. Head to where it’s marked on the map and go inside. Speak to the man by the door, then use the elevator to get to the waiting room.

After an intro cutscene, you can head into the waiting room to rest and buy items if you need. Leave the room and go into the room next door to find Johnny crying and all beat up. After speaking with him the intercom will go off, letting you know it’s your turn to enter the Colosseum. Speak to the guy in the cowboy hat at the end of the hallway and agree to be let in.

Round 1: Beastmaster Boss Fight

Equip Fire and Ice Materia to both Cloud and Aerith (with Elemental-Ice on Cloud) as the Beastmaster is weak to Fire and the Bloodhounds to Ice. Focus on taking the Beastmaster out first, which should be a case of a couple of regular slashes and a Triple Slash ability, then use your Ice-imbued physical attacks on the Bloodhounds to make short work of them too. Nothing to worry about either.

After the round is finished go back and rest and stock up if needed.  You can talk to Beastmaster in the other room, but he doesn’t have much to say. Speak to the Gatekeeper again to proceed.

Round 2: Beck’s Badasses

These guys were a joke in the Sector 6 Expressway Tunnel and they’re just as easy here even if there’s more of them. You’ll have to face 8 bandits this time, but they’ll all go down in a few hits. Have Elemental-Fire equipped and keep slashing with and unleash Triple Slash when you can. This one will be over in seconds, especially with the added Attack power of your new Hardedge weapon.

After the round is finished go back out the gate. A cutscene will play showing the Trio above, then you’ll be on to the final round. Rest up once more, then speak to the Gatekeeper to proceed.

Final Round: Cutty & Sweepy

Cutty and Sweepy are just a regular Cutter and Sweeper enemy, except you have to fight them together. Go for Sweepy first. Have Elemental-Lightning on Cloud’s weapon and give another Lightning Materia to Aerith so she can cast her Magic from afar. Again, build Stagger with Focused Thrust and once Staggered, use your new Infinity’s End attack to do substantial damage. Aerith’s Sorcerous Storm also works well too. Next, move on to Cutty and destroy its arms to bring it to Stagger and essentially repeat the process.

When the round is finished you will be back in the waiting room, and Madam M comes in and informs you that there is a new final round that Corneo is demanding before he declares you the winner. Stock up and rest, then go to the Gatekeeper one last time.

Bonus Round: Hell House Boss Fight

Welcome to by far your toughest test yet, even on Easy/Normal. On lower difficulties, this is the first boss where brute force, button mashing and your strongest abilities won’t get you through. You need to adapt since Hell House is practically resistant to all physical attacks for a lot of the fight. Be sure to equip Poison Materia and cast your strongest Poison magic (Bioga if you have a Level 3 Poison Materia). It will take out a quarter of the Hell House’s health in one use. While the poison is active you keep shooting the house with Aerith’s default attacks for added damage.

This contest is almost like a Pokemon battle on steroids. Hell House will cycle through the four main elements (as shown by the color of the house’s windows). Red = Fire, White = Ice, Blue = Lightning, Green = Wind. So first thing’s first, make sure you have one of each of the four basic Magic Materia spread across your characters. When the House’s windows are a specific color, it will absorb all damage of that element and be weak to the opposite (Ice hurts Fir / Fire huts Ice / Lightning hurts Wind / Wind hurts Lightning). Intermittently, it will fly high up into the stands of the Colosseum and unleash Chair Salvo, which rains chairs down on you that can really hurt if you’re not Guarding. You can try dodge rolling around, but if you misjudge and get hit then you’ll be hurt badly. It’ll also spit out stuffed toys which might look cute but really aren’t…they’re bombs. Stay away!

You’ll only want to attack with Aerith in this fight. Cloud does hardly any damage against this boss and is better used as a support character for healing (Pray Materia and Healing Materia on Cloud). Make sure you have Revival Materia equipped, too.

Hell House chooses a random element to begin the battle with, but it seems to be Fire 75-80% of the time. Therefore, if you want to get a headstart in this battle, it’s best to equip Elemental-Ice on Aerith’s weapon. Alternatively, you can equip Elemental and any of the four elements to your armor and protect yourself from at least 1 of the 4 different elements. However, if you don’t like to deal with all the elemental stuff just stick with Poison Materia.

After you’ve chipped away about a quarter of its health, a small cutscene will play and the House’s head and arms will emerge. Your summon will be just about ready. DO NOT SUMMON IFRIT OR SHIVA! Chocobo and Moogle is the only summon worth calling in this fight. You don’t want to be in a situation where you have Ifrit or Shiva and the House has red or white windows respectively. All their powerful attacks will just heal it. Yes, there’s a chance for the opposite to happen and they can do great damage but Barrier Shift can happen at any time and you can’t control your summons. Chocobo and Moogle’s neutral element won’t have this problem.

Once the transformation happens, physical attacks will do more damage, but it gains a nasty attack called Hospitality where it will swallow your character through the front door and do regular damage before it spits you out and causes a lot of health to be lost. This is likely to be Cloud since Aerith shouldn’t be anywhere near Hell House, and the good news is she can still heal Cloud even if he’s inside the house.

The annoying part of this fight hasn’t even begun yet (we warned you this was tough!). Once it approaches half health, it will use a move called God House Mode where it will stop the elemental shifting and instead be covered by a massive shield and take basically no damage while it flies around the room. Cloud is basically useless here as his attacks up close will do nothing and he can’t target aerially. Attack with Aerith’s regular attack (which works from range) and use Cloud as the healer. Eventually, that will bring Hell House back down to the floor and then is your real chance to cause some damage.

It might take a couple of rounds of God House Mode to Stagger it, but when you do, Punisher Mode and Triple Slash will knock off a good chunk of its health, while using Tempest with Aerith is also a decent way of dealing damage.

One Stagger assault will likely initiate the third and final phase of this fight, which is basically Hell House swapping between the first two phases. It will Barrier Shift between elements far more frequently and hit harder, and every now and then God House Mode will kick in too. It also likes to use a souped-up version of Chair Salvo called Heavensward, which adds rockets to the chairs it throws at you. Oh, and it also brings in an attack called Hellbound where it jumps onto you for massive damage. It’s tricky to dodge so if you have high health it’s best to just Guard and take it on the chin and heal. Told you this fight was fun!

This battle really is a war of attrition, as you’ll have to keep your health up while also being aware of what phase the House is in and act accordingly. The latter part of the fight is more about reactions to Hell House’s shifting phases and adapting since the general strategy remains the same. If you’re holding on to Ethers and Turbo Ethers, then this is the fight to use them as there are very few fights where you’ll need to rely on magic and MP as much as this one. This is one of the hardest boss fights in the game and the biggest challenge for a while, so if you topple it breathe a sigh of relief.

Hard Difficulty Tips: You might have found Hard Mode a bit of a breeze so far. Wondering what all the fuss is about, maybe? A couple of little challenges but nothing ‘Hard’? Well, welcome to Hell…House. This guy is one of the few main tests on Hard (although a few bosses later can give you more trouble). Take all of the above, ramp its damage output up considerably, extend its HP pool exponentially and then just for the icing on the cake, throw in a sprinkle of Tonberries on top.

The most essential thing for hard is you MUST have two Revival Materia equipped (one for each character). Otherwise the fight is near impossible. If one of your characters goes down, you immediately revive them with the other. Also cast Biogo (Level 3 Poison Materia) as it takes down a quarter of the house’s health in one use (it ignores all the elemental stuff going on). Using Bahamut as a summon works well as he does non-elemental ranged homing attacks.

Make sure you got Prayer Materia on each character. It lets you heal the entire group for 2 ATB. And of course give each character a maxed out Healing Materia (can couple it with Magnify Materia to heal both characters at once). For Aerith you’ll mainly want to use her Ability “Ray of Judgment” from her Mythril Rod weapon when the house doesn’t have its white shield up. This deals it massive damage.

The strategy remains the same as Easy/Normal, except you’ll have to heal much more and deal with the Tonberries. They should be your priority as if they get near you, they’ll hit you with Chef’s Knife and instantly kill you no matter how much HP you have. As soon as Hell House spits out the 3 Tonberries, switch to Cloud and stand to their side. Then use Punisher Mode to kill all 3 Tonberries in one combo. This way you’ll have killed them before they have a chance to stand up and attack you! Alternatively, Aerith’s Tempest attack (hold ) kills the Tonberries pretty much instantly. If they do insta-kill you, immediately use Revival with the other character.

At about 25% health hit will summon a Sweeper and Cutter to the fight. Ignore them! Instead, run away and dodge the Hell House. It will sooner or later smash into the Cutter/Sweeper and hurt them massively. Yes, the Hell House will damage those enemies for you. About 3 hits from the boss should kill the Cutter/Sweeper without any input from you. After that it won’t spawn any more Cutters or Sweepers.

 

After defeating the house and winning the tournament,  the Gatekeeper will stop you in the lobby. He says Madam M needs you to come back to her place, but he also introduces you to the extra Colosseum fights at the same time. These are extra tournaments you can participate in for unique rewards. To access them go to the arena basement then speak to the Gatekeeper in front of the door.

You pick which tournament in which you want to participate in exchange for gil, then also get to choose the difficulty you do it on. This is helpful if you want to grind Materia a bit because Classic difficulty the game basically plays itself. The first time you complete any tournament you will also be awarded the trophy Returning Champion. You should do at least the two solo Cloud and Aerith tournaments immediately if you can. They both give the Level 2 Limit versions of each of the characters Limit attacks, so they are very useful to have going forward. The third tournament is also relatively easy, so might as well do that one too.

After you’re done at the colosseum head over to Madam M’s and speak to her. She warns you that once Aerith is changed you won’t be able to leave town, which is more just saying that she’ll be gone from your party for a while.

Parting Ways

Madam M suggests you help out around the town a bit as you did in Sector 5. This is where you run into the branching Side Quests, as one playthrough of the chapter you will only get 3 of the 5 depending on a prior choices (click the linked side quest walkthroughs below for their required choices).

The side quests in this chapter are:

• Burning Thighs
• The Party Never Stops –> Cancels out “The Price of Thievery” & “Shears’ Counterattack” (must get these alternate quests in chapter select)
• A Dynamite Body
• The Price of Thievery –> Cancels out “The Party Never Stops” & “A Dynamite Body” (must get these alternate quests in chapter select)
• Shears’ Counterattack

After finishing the first two you have available and going back near Madam M’s you’ll be stopped by the Gatekeeper and given the third quest, or if you go speak to Joe if you are doing his. During this step is a good time to head around town and grab all the chests and collectibles that are currently available. Any of the side alleys that are blocked by NPCs you won’t be able to get into until you return here in Chapter 13/14.

Starting from the entrance to the area on the East side, go into the item shop to purchase disc 10. Honeybee Inn.

Go North from there, then West into the small walkway section up the stairs. On the top floor at the bar with the Cowgirls out front, you can speak to the one to obtain disc 17. Farm Boy.

Head South from there and enter the long dead-end alleyway after ducking under an obstacle to find a Barrier Materia.

Go back near the entrance to the area and through the door directly South, which leads into an inn. In the one side closest opposite the bathroom, there is a chest containing an Adrenaline.

Go back out front and down the corridor just beside the inn. In the area just after there is a jukebox that gives disc 8. Under the Rotting Pizza.

Continue down the path leading South to the dead end, where you can find a chest containing a Celeris.

Go down the road towards Corneo’s Mansion, and on the East side of the street you can enter a bar with a man singing. Speak to him to get disc 29. Midgar Blues.

Go across the street into the gym, and in the bathroom at the back is a chest containing a Headband.

If you go over by where Chadley is there is a set of stairs behind him. Go all the way to the top to find a chest that contains an Elixer.

After that you’ll have picked up everything currently available in town, and can head back to Madam M’s.

Rescue Tifa

When you go to the door Johnny sprints up, and you agree to go along with him to rescue Tifa. When you reach the mansion Johnny just leaves because he thinks he’ll get in the way, and you can head inside the mansion by yourself. The guy at the door basically says you shouldn’t mess around, so head back outside.

Aerith’s Plan

Aerith comes to meet you and says she has a plan to also get you inside. Follow her down the to Honeybee Inn, where you’re going to ask for Rhodea’s help to get Cloud dolled up to get inside Corneo’s. Speak to the man at the counter, then head through the doors into the back room. Before going to the objective there is an item you can grab in a side room.

Go to the first on the left and inside you’ll find the very inebriated Johnny’s Father. If you talk to him you can help him guess the shape theHoneygirl is making with her stinger, but this doesn’t do anything aside from extra dialogue. Behind him, there is a chest containing a Sedative.

The other doors you can look in or talk to a girl for some extra dialogue, but nothing important. When you’re ready to continue, speak to the group of girls in front of the main door and agree to head to the stage.

You’ll now have a tutorial on how the dancing minigame works. Press the face buttons in time with the line reaching the hexagon target. To get disc 26. Let the Battles Begin! -REMAKE- you need to get a very good (or possible perfect) score on this tutorial. If you mess up and don’t get it you can try again immediately, so make sure you do well enough to get it before continuing.

Next you’ll have the actual dance with Andrea. Prompts function the same, but it’s about 3x as long as the tutorial. When you finish it during the next cutscene you’ll earn the trophy Dancing Queen if you did well enough on the song to receive Andrea’s Earrings as a gift after.

After it’s completed you’ll be outside controlling Aerith. Cloud comes out the door shortly, then you can follow him for a bit where he won’t respond to you. When he stops walking in the archway of a building speak to him twice to continue.

The Audition

Now back controlling Cloud, first time through this Chapter you will earn the trophy Snappy Dresser for getting three of the bridal outfits. For the trophy Dressed to the Nines you need to obtain all nine possible bridal dresses for the three characters, which requires replaying the game. For a guide how to get all the dresses you can look here: How to Get All 9 Bridal Dresses.

Proceed over to Corneo’s mansion now to continue the story. Talk to the man at the gate, then head inside and up the stairs to the marked door. After some cutscenes, you’ll be in a room now with Tifa as well. Here you can grab a chest that contains a Turbo Ether, as well as purchase disc 11. Don of the Slums from the nearby vending machine.

After a short time, you’ll be called out the door for the audition. Proceed out the door and head up the stairs to continue, then you’ll have a number of cutscenes.

Showdown with Corneo

After the scenes, you’ll be controlling Aerith and have Tifa with you. Before exiting this room there is a nearby chest that contains a Molotov.

Go down the stairs and take out the group of Corneo goons. Before proceeding further after beating them you can squeeze into the pile of items under the stairwell to find a chest, which contains a Fury Ring.

Go back upstairs and go through the Southern door to head for the objective. Take out the two goons in the next room, then proceed through the door to Corneo’s room. When inside Corneo explains what was going on, then posses a question to you.

Whichever answer you pick (or don’t pick) he drops you through a hole in the floor, ending the chapter.

This finishes Chapter 9: The Town That Never Sleeps in Final Fantasy VII Remake. Now the mission Rough Waters starts.

Next Up Chapter 10: Rough Waters

For all other Mission Walkthroughs, check out our complete Final Fantasy 7 (VII) Walkthrough.