The Labyrinth or Glitched Coliseum is an area within Olympus Coliseum's Keyhole that appears in Kingdom Hearts coded and Kingdom Hearts Re:coded. It initially contains five floors known as "layers" however, completing these initial layers unlocks fifteen further layers that can themselves be completed to unlock another thirty layers. In the labyrinth, gameplay transforms into a turn-based battle system.
Along the way, Data-Sora finds several pieces of paper explaining the mechanics in use in the Labyrinth, called Hercules Memos (or shreds of wisdom in Kingdom Hearts Re:coded).
Kingdom Hearts coded[]
Story[]
When Olympus Coliseum is filled with bugs, Data-Sora promptly finds the world's Keyhole and enters it to reach the labyrinth. He teams up first with Hercules and then Cloud to destroy the bug sources and find a way to escape from the maze.
Hades and Cerberus are fought on Layer 05, the Rock Titan is encountered on Layer 15, the Behemoth is faced on Layer 25, and finally the true source of the bugs, the Ice Titan, is battled on Layer 30.
Controls[]
While in the field, Data-Sora retains all his movement abilities from the regular Datascape. However, he retains none of his physical combat capabilities, except for striking with the Keyblade.
Strategy[]
A typical layer contains several rooms with corridors connecting them. Each room is affected by the Bug Level, which indicates the amount of Bug Blox in the room and determines the strength of that room's enemies. Destroying Bug Blox and defeating Heartless reduces the Bug Level, which weakens enemies, earns bonus score points and converts Metal and Danger Blox into Normal and Prize Blox. To advance to the next layer, Data-Sora must find and examine the warp point, usually hidden beneath a pile of Bug Blox at the end of the series of rooms and corridors. At the end of each layer, a score is given based on the amount of score prizes obtained. Save rooms are found between all of the initial layers, but only appear sporadically in the extended layer version.
To initiate a battle, Data-Sora must come into contact with or strike an enemy with the Keyblade. If Data-Sora attacks an enemy from the rear, he will trigger a preemptive attack, giving him an extra turn at the start of the battle. However, if an enemy attacks Data-Sora from behind, Data-Sora will be caught in a back attack, giving the enemy an extra turn at the start of the battle. Swirling shadows, known as menaces, contain powerful enemies that pursue Data-Sora even if he is in another room or corridor.
In combat, most abilities and the Loot Cheat are disabled since battles are entirely turn-based. Data-Sora can perform a regular attack by pressing 
and can string combos of up to three hits by pressing when prompted. When an enemy attacks, blocking can be achieved by pressing 
when prompted, halving the damage taken. Holding down R allows the party to attempt to escape the battle. Team combat with party members, such as Hercules or Cloud, is similar to individual combat, though Game Over is only achieved when Data-Sora's health is fully depleted, rather than the health of any of the other individual members. Some techniques are exclusive to Data-Sora, including compiled commands and licenses. However, all characters can perform a unique, individual special attacks, which randomly replaces a standard combo attack.
Trivia[]
- Whilst Heartless appear throughout the layers, the appearance of a specific Heartless does not indicate the type of Heartless which will be fought in the battle, nor the quantity of enemies in that battle.