Hades/Gameplay

Hades is the scheming and uncaring god of the Underworld as well as a major antagonist in the Olympus Coliseum in all three currently-released Kingdom Hearts titles. He can only be encountered in boss battles such as in the final seed of the Hades Cup in Kingdom Hearts and in the Hades Paradox Cup in Kingdom Hearts II. He is also the final boss of the facsimile version of the Olympus Coliseum in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. He, like Hercules, returns from the Disney hit animated movie Hercules. In the series, he was also a major threat and enemy to Hercules.

Kingdom Hearts
Hades appears as the tenth seed of the Hades Cup. The arena where you fight Hades is an octagonal one with tree-shaped pillars, meaning reduced space.

He starts off by spraying flames in front of him, and then to the side - this attack is known as Temper Flare (indicated by the line "Take that!") - here, it is recommended that Sora use Dodge Roll to avoid the flames at first, and once the flames disperse, Sora can attack him from the front, another helpful strategy is to stay near the flames (but just out of reach) and wait until the flames extinguish then attack him with all you've got then quickly Dodge Roll away from him when he says Take that!. It is near impossible to go to Hades' back and attack him because Hades will almost always face Sora. You may very well be in luck if Hades does his Temper Flare attack on Donald or Goofy - take that opportunity to hit him.

When Hades says "Feel the heat!", be on your guard - he will turn red and go to the centre of the arena and create a revolving wall of flame (similar to Larxene's wall of thunder in Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+). The best way to stay away from the wall of flames is to head to one of the pillars in the front or the back of the arena - the flames do not reach these areas, however it can be difficult to distinguish the front/back of the arena from the sides so if this is a problem go to option two immediately, and in the end Sora should hopefully be unhurt. DO NOT go to the sides of the arena when Hades unleashes his wall of flames, because the flames do extend to those areas. Then there is option two, alternatively you may Dodge Roll in a circular motion out of Hades' wall of flames, but do so quickly. If your button-mashing speed is rather slow, then it is best to stay at the front/back of the arena.

When Hades says, "That's it!", this indicates that he will throw fireballs at Sora. This is the cue for you to use Guard to deflect those fireballs. While he's still red hot, he will bring his arms down in a fit of rage, along with some flames - try evading that with Dodge Roll.

When Hades cools down and reverts to blue, he'll repeat his first attack - and the entire sequence of attacks mentioned above will repeat itself. Hades' attacks are rather predictable, so attack him in the same sequence until his HP is depleted.

Every now and then, use physical attacks on him, and use Blizzaga - that works well.

Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories
Hades does about the same attacks as he does in Kingdom Hearts (with the exception of the revolving wall of fire), albeit in a more unpredictable manner. Also, the arena is not the octagonal one with tree-shaped pillars; it is a full-sized square arena with invisible barriers, giving slightly more room for Sora to move around. There is no proper sequence to his attacks, so be on your guard. Be sure to have Cure cards and 0 cards stocked up in the deck, as well as a sufficient amount of Card Points, and use Dodge Roll whenever necessary. Using Sleights is highly recommended, lest Hades break Sora's single-card attacks.

It is recommended for Sora to use either Blizzaga (three Blizzard cards) or Blizzard Raid (one Blizzard card + two attack cards), as these work well against him. Also, try not to use Donald's Friend Card, because there is a risk of Donald casting Fire on Hades, causing him to recover.

Kingdom Hearts II
The following strategy is for Sora's first encounter with Hades, where he will be aided by his party members.

The best way to fight him is to have a full magic meter, and definitely have some Ethers in the pocket, because you can truly damage him by using Aura Sphere and with magic. Try to keep Donald in so that you can go to Wisdom Form and have extra magic power, or the Master Form so that you can use endless magic combos.

Stay close to Hercules when he charges up Aura Spheres, and be sure to lock on to Hades so that they will be deflected to his direction. Towards the end of the battle, when Hades releases a huge ball of fire that spreads on to the arena, you might consider staying at Hercules' side and using the Reaction Command to activate a shield. When he says "That's it" stay away from Hades because he will unleash a fire wall around him making him red and invincible. When he says "Is that all ya got?" all he does is teleport to a different part of the arena, but after a while he will come to you to summon the fire wall, so stay on your guard.

In the last seed of the Hades Paradox Cup, where Hades is the enemy, Sora will not be aided by his party members. The only friend who comes to his aid is Hercules. Use the same strategy as before and heal whenever necessary. Note that you cannot use Drives (with the exception of Limit Form in Final Mix+) because your party members are not around.

For those of you who are playing Final Mix+, try reverting to Limit Form and use Ragnarok on Hades - this works really well. Also, you can use physical attacks on Hades every now and then. Just be prudent about Hades' attacks: they are not as predictable as in Kingdom Hearts.

Battle Quotes
"That's it!" "Is that all ya got?" "Feel the heat." "That's it!" "It's getting a little warmed up here." "Take that!" "I'm on fire!" "Want some more?" "This... isn't... happening!!"

Videos
Hadès (Ennemi)