The Prize Pod is an Unversed that is found in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix. Although it is a variant of the Red Hot Chili, Blue Sea Salt, and Yellow Mustard Unversed, it is passive in nature, and is similar to the Mushroom Heartless from earlier games.
Prize Pods appear in most worlds, and have conditions that must be met for them to appear, ranging from defeating the enemies in an area to simple random chance. Each time a Prize Pod is damaged, it will drop one of a specific set of Ingredients, depending on which world it is found in, and if not slain in a set amount of time, it will flee. Once a world's set of Prize Pods flee or are slain, they will not reappear until the character has left the world and returned.
Design[]
A Prize Pod is a small Unversed that resembles a pot or jar. Its lower half is dark purple and decorated by several small, violet diamonds. Its upper half is violet. Its lid is black and sports two small wings that it uses to fly. Its red eyes are set in a happy expression. Prize Pods' behavior and tendency to relinquish rare treasures are reminiscent of and likely based of the Bulky Vendor and Prize Bug.
In Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix, Prize Pod receives a palette swap which gives them a dark-green body with a black base decorated with gold diamonds and gold highlights. Its top is now gold.
Prize Pods are named after the fact that they drop "prizes", meaning the ice cream ingredients used to make specific ice cream, and a "pod" is what they are shaped like.
Locations[]
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep[]
- Dwarf Woodlands: Gaspberry, Nutty Nut, Merry Dairy, Apple Pie, and Peach Fantasy
- Terra: The Prize Pods appear in the Underground Waterway, on top of the waterfall near the exit to the Courtyard.
- Ventus: The Prize Pods appear in The Mine on the right side of the circle. They will appear after you have killed two Monotruckers and a group of Red Hot Chilis.
- Aqua: The Prize Pods appear in the Flower Glade. They will be to your immediate far left after entering from the Courtyard.
- Enchanted Dominion: Bijou Bean, Rose Honey, Cherryberry, Forest Muffin, Jumbo Almond, and Sky Blue Mousse
- Terra: The Prize Pods appear at the Waterside, near the wall of fire, if only four Scrappers appear at the first spawn point.
- Ventus: The Prize Pods will appear in the Audience Chamber in the northeast corner. (In the alcove)
- Aqua: The Prize Pods appear at the Waterside, in a small corner of the cliff wall near the entrance to the Forest Clearing.
- Castle of Dreams: Birthday Cake, Crystal Sugar, Chocolate Valentine, Wedding Cake, and Crystal Soda
- Terra: The Prize Pods appear in the Palace Courtyard, in the fountain, after the four Red Hot Chilis there are slain.
- Ventus: The Prize Pods appear in the Mousehole, in the area with the spiderweb with cheese on it. The southwest corner of the ground-floor next to a candle.
- Aqua: The Prize Pods appear in the Foyer. Walk towards the west area to the side of the stairs and enter through the middle arch.
- Radiant Garden: Soy Milk, Nebula Nectar, Moogle Coffee, and Rocket Soda
- Terra, Ventus and Aqua: The Prize Pods appear in the Fountain Court, in the alcove beneath the stairs, after the four Blue Sea Salts there are slain.
- Disney Town: Prickle Pepper and Toonbasco
- Terra: The Prize Pods appear at the Raceway, on the balcony across from the exit to Pete's Rec Room.
- Ventus: The Prize Pods appear at the Raceway, on the roof with the exit from Pete's Rec Room, after killing a group of Blue Sea Salts.
- Aqua: The Prize Pods appear at the Raceway, towards the registration booth and against the two walls opposite the stairs, after you defeat the four Blue Sea Salts.
- Deep Space: Bizarro Bean, Galactic Caramel, Star Syrup, Cream Fluff, Balloon Melon, and Fizzy Tizzy
- Terra and Aqua: The Prize Pods appear in the Turo Prison Block, at the far end of the room.
- Ventus: The Prize Pods appear in the Durgon Transporter in the northwest corner after killing all the Unversed in the room.
- Olympus Coliseum: Nutty Nut, Thundercracker, Cotton Cloudcandy, and Heroic Orange
- Terra, Ventus and Aqua: The Prize Pods appear in the Town Near Thebes, at the far left corner, alongside four Red Hot Chilis.
- Neverland: Dancin' Lemon, Golden Jam, Whipped Dream, Honeybunch, Rainbow Syrup, and Mermaid Salt
- Terra: The Prize Pods appear at the Skull Rock: Entrance, in the left eye socket.
- Ventus: The Prize Pods appear in the Mermaid Lagoon on the high cliff with the entrance from Cliff Path. (The one where you enter on a palm tree)
- Aqua: The Prize Pods appear at the Indian Camp alongside a Wild Bruiser after a wave of Unversed.
- Mirage Arena, Risky Riches: Dancin' Lemon
- Terra, Ventus and Aqua: The Prize Pods appear in the third wave of Round Three, on the bottom floor of the arena.
- Mirage Arena, Treasure Tussle: Open Sesame
- Terra, Ventus and Aqua: The Prize Pods appear in the fourth wave of Round Three.
Strategy[]
Prize Pods appear in exactly one location in nearly every world (usually a different location per character) and in certain matches in the Mirage Arena. They usually appear in groups of four, and will flee after thirty seconds without ever attacking. If they do not appear when the player character fulfills their appearance conditions, then the player can simply leave the room and try again, but once they appear in a world they will not reappear until the player leaves to the Lanes Between and then comes back.
For every hit, they will drop an ingredient for making ice cream, and fighting Prize Pods is the only way to acquire these ingredients. Prize Pods drop two to three specific ingredients per character per world, so in order to get all the ingredients the player must defeat each set of Prize Pods in every world they inhabit.
To effectively and easily yield the most amount of ingredients from Prize Pods, it is recommended to have a repeating deck of a Magnet-type spell and then two Thunder-type spells, as well as a projectile-type Shotlock. Upon their appearance, use Magnera and then the following Thunder spells. This will activate the Thunderbolt Command Style, nullifying Magnera, so it should be recast. At this point step back and use a Shotlock to its maximum number of lock-ons. Once they have either been defeated or have fled, go in and collect the dropped ingredients.
A pretty good way to get the ingredients is to use Transcendence. When you make them drift, that counts as a hit and they drop an ingredient. Then you send them hurtling in all directions so each hit gives an ingredient.