Junon
Walkthrough

You will arrive in an area listed as the “Junon Area” when you exit the Mythril Mines. There are two optional side quests which you can complete in the Junon area:

Best Bromance

Dialogue while you’re at Fort Condor and while you obtain Yuffie will influence the Gold Saucer Date side quest and obtaining the Best Bromance Trophy.

When you first talk to the old guy in Fort Condor:

“I guess so” + 5 to Barret if he is in your party
+ 3 to Aeris if she is in your party
+ 3 to Tifa if she is in your party
+ 2 to Yuffie if she is in your party
“Not interested” - 5 to Barret if he is in your party
- 3 to Aeris if she is in your party
- 3 to Tifa if she is in your party
- 1 to Yuffie if she is in your party

After the old guy tells you about all of his problems:

Fort Condor suggesting you Guess So
“All right” + 5 to Barret if he is in your party
+ 3 to Aeris if she is in your party
+ 3 to Tifa if she is in your party
+ 2 to Yuffie if she is in your party
“Not interested” - 5 to Barret if he is in your party
- 3 to Aeris if she is in your party
- 3 to Tifa if she is in your party
- 1 to Yuffie if she is in your party
Fort Condor answering All Right

If you plan to obtain the Best Bromance trophy, your best strategy in answerings these questions is to remove Tifa and Aeris from your party before you speak to the old man. You can leave before actually engaging in the mini-game at Fort Condor.

Best Bromance Trophy Icon

The items and rewards you receive for completing the Fort Condor side quests and missions throughout the game, while useful, are negligible and are certainly not required in order to complete the game. Completing the Fort Condor side quest now, on your way to Junon, will result in you being rewarded with a Magic Comb weapon for Red XIII.

There isn’t much point to completing the Fort Condor mission at this point, but you should take this opportunity to obtain Yuffie, one of the two secret optional characters in Final Fantasy VII. Yuffie has a chance to appear during any battle in a forested area of the game.

The likelihood of her appearing depends on the forest, but the forest outside of Junon only has a 12.5% likelihood that she will appear when the battle begins, so you have have to be patient. It could take many tries!

Check out the Secret Characters section for more information about how to obtain Yuffie. Remember to place her in the back row if you decide to add her to your main party.

Yuffie in the back row

You can also steal a Boomerang weapon for Yuffie if you plan on using her from an enemy called “Formula” shown in the screenshot below. It has much better Attack and Attack % stats than the 4-point Shuriken that she comes equipped with.

Stealing a Boomerang from a Formula

Continue onwards to Junon which is located on the west coast behind a small hill as shown in the screenshot below.

Junon from the World Map

Under Junon

The town that you first arrive in is called “Under Junon” and it is actually the small town located at the base of the outside walls of Junon.

Entrance to the town under Junon

The Weapon Store near the entrance to town does not sell any actual weapons. You can purchase:

Mythril Armlets
Potions
Phoenix Downs
Tents

At this stage of the game though you should already have armor that is stronger than Mythril Armlets for most of your characters.

The Weapon Store in the town under Junon

There is a boss battle coming up so be sure that your characters are properly equipped with Materia. Melee characters will not be able to attack the boss with regular physical attacks.

You can get around this by equipping melee characters with magic-based Materia (Fire, Ice, Lightning), using Long Range Materia or just using characters with long range attacks (Barret or Yuffie).

Heading down to the beach in Junon

Go down to the beach and a cutscene will begin involving Priscilla and “Mr. Dolphin”.

Speaking to Priscilla and Mr Dolphin
Boss Battle: Bottomswell
Boss Battle against Bottomswell

HP: 2,500
Reward: Power Wrist

As mentioned above, you will not be able to use regular melee-based Attacks against Bottomswell. You can use Long Range Materia to allow a melee character to use attacks and Barret and Yuffie can get around this by default as their attacks are long-ranged.

Equip each of your other characters with magic Materia, Enemy Skill Materia (to use Flame Thrower), the Choco/Mog Summon. Bottomswell is also susceptible to Bio so use Poison on him very early on in the fight.

Bottomswell will use a spell similar to Reno’s Pyramid attack called Waterpolo. It will prevent a character from moving or attacking, but this time it will also leech HP from that character. You will have to use a magic spell in order to break it.

Bottomswell using Waterpolo on Cloud

A video demonstration of this battle is included below for reference:

The group will notice Priscilla passed out and not breathing lying on the beach. Cloud will have to perform CPR on her in order to bring her back to life.


A breath size indicator shaped like two lungs will be displayed on the screen indicating how full Cloud’s lungs are. He can break in up to 10 ‘ticks’ on the lung meter before he must exhale. It takes approximately 41 breaths to bring Priscilla back to life.

You can aim for 8 or 9 ‘ticks’ each exhale and not have to worry about going over the max of 10 which will restart the inhalation process.

Priscilla with Mr. Dolphin

The old man will take Priscilla away once you have revived her. Rather than follow the old man and Priscilla, go and speak to the lady in pink and red standing outside of the house near the entrance. She will suggest that you “come in for a while”.

The woman in the town under Junon offering up her house

Choose to take a rest in the home when presented with the option to do so.

Follow the team out into the middle of town when Cloud awakens the next morning. Priscilla will emerge from the house once you try to climb up the steps. She will hand over an ‘amulet’ which is actually the Shiva Materia - your next summon Materia.

Priscilla giving Cloud the Shiva Summon Materia

Follow Priscilla down to the beach again. She will call over “Mr. Dolphin” to try and help you get to the top of the transmission tower in the middle of the water.

There is an easy trick to getting “Mr. Dolphin” correctly aligned in the water to get Cloud up there. Rather than moving Cloud around at all just blow the whistle twice in succession without moving. Cloud and Mr. Dolphin properly align themselves after the first jump to get you up on the second. Travel towards the base of the structure and climb up.

Cloud using Mr. Dolphin to climb up to Junon

Junon Airport

This is your first glimpse at the Highwind! Walk towards the camera and then towards the control panel on the large platform. Use the control panel to lower the large platform. Walk towards the southeast to enter the Junon Airport barracks.

The Highwind docked at the Junon Airport

The red guard will scream at you to get into the change room. Do what he says and open the locker to change into the Shinra Soldier uniform.

Cloud wearing the Shinra Soldier uniform

There is a Save Point just past the entrance to the Junon Airport Path after you are done changing into the uniform.

Saving in the Junon Barracks

Junon

Exiting the barracks leads into the large city of Junon.

The city of Junon cinematic
The large cannon in Junon

This mini-game can be fairly difficult even for long-time fans of the series. The rewards are based on the ratings which are displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen:

  • Less than 29% and you will receive a Grenade
  • Between 30% and 39% and you will receive 6 Potions
  • Between 40% and 49% and you will receive 6 Ethers
  • More than 50% and you will receive 5,000 gil

I have included a video below which demonstrates how to get above 50 percentage points, but it focuses on three main points.

The three things you need to do in order to get above 50% are:

  1. Get down to the bottom right corner of the formation as soon as you can. The best way to do this is to run straight towards the camera and through the lines of soldiers as they pass. This is much easier than trying to go around in the way that they show in the examples.
  2. Keep Cloud in line with the Shinra Soldiers. It does not matter if their steps line up. The most important factor is that you are in a straight line, or as straight of a line as possible, not too far ahead or behind.
  3. Press the CircleButton (or XButton in the PlayStation 4 version of the game) each time you see the words “Now” on the screen. The “Now” command will only come up if you are perfectly in line with the other Shinra Soldiers.

The command will continually pop-up while you are in formation and you can easily press it 8 or 9 times before the screen fades to black. Staying in line and pressing CircleButton a bunch of times is the easiest way to get a high rating.

Use the video below to help you with understanding the timing:

At the end of the next sequence involving Rufus and Heidegger one of the Red Shinra Soldiers will ask you if “You messing with the army?” It does not matter which response you choose.

The captain of the Shinra Soldiers talking to Cloud

The next scene in the locker room will provide you with an opportunity to practice at the next mini-game which is essentially Simon Says using the PlayStation controller’s buttons. Following the tutorial you will be free to explore the city of Junon (also known as Upper Junon).

Instructions for the demonstration coming up for Rufus

Upper Junon

The first store is the Materia Store which has a man standing out front of it. You can purchase the following:

Sense Materia
Seal Materia
Restore Materia
Heal Materia
Revive Materia

Both Seal Materia and Revive Materia are new. Seal Materia will allow you to cast Sleepel and eventually Silence once properly leveled. These two spells are of questionable value so it is recommended that you can avoid purchasing Seal Materia altogether.

The streets of Junon

Revive Materia essentially replaces Phoenix Downs as your method of reviving KO’d characters. The downside is that equipping Revive Materia will reduce the character’s Strength, Vitality and Max HP while increasing the character’s Magic, Magic Def and Max MP.

As such, it should only be equipped on a character who will focus on magic-based attacks (if you choose to equip it at all).

The Junon Materia Store

Travel down the alleyway to find the Weapon Shop. You can purchase the following weapons:

Hardedge
Grand Glove
Atomic Scissors
Striking Staff
Diamond Pin
Boomerang

You may already have many of these weapons if you stole them from previous enemies listed earlier on in this guide but you can purchase them in the shop if you missed any. You will find some of the Turks in the basement but there is nothing else that you can do down there.

The Junon Weapon Store

The Item Store is the next door to the left of the Weapon Store. You can restock the following items:

Potions
Hi-Potions
Phoenix Downs
Antidotes
Eye Drops
Echo Screens
Hypers
Tranquilizers
Tents

You may have noticed that some of your characters were afflicted with the ‘Sadness’ status effect after battles in the Junon Area. You can counteract this status effect, which causes the Limit Break bar to charge more slowly, by purchasing some Hypers.

The last doorway on the left leads to the Barracks (pictured in the screenshot below). Speak to the Shinra Soldier in the corner of the first floor to gain entry to the “Respectable Inn”.

The Barracks

Speaking to each of the Soldiers as well as the ghosts in this area will allow Cloud to explain certain aspects of the game to both the listener and to you as a player. This includes more advanced information about Limit Breaks, Materia and combat in general.

There is also an Enemy Skill Materia on the ground in the corner.

The Respectful Inn

Proceed to the second floor of the Barracks to find a Mind Source, a Luck Source and a 1/35 Soldier lying on the ground. This 1/35 Soldier item has no actual use in the game and is one of the many superfluous items that you will come across. Oh well, no point in leaving it behind.

Picking up a 1/35 Soldier item

Finally, on the third floor, you will find a Power Source and Guard Source on the ground.

Retrieving the Power Source from the second floor

Exit the barracks and proceed west down the main roadway, past the elevator and the small road leading south and into the other side of Junon.

The Junon Inn

Once you reach the opposite side of Junon you will notice a group of soldiers, sailors and guards running ahead of you. These are your teammates dressed up in disguise. The first doorway leads to the Shinra Member’s Bar where you will find the last three Turks (but there is nothing else to do in this room).

The next door to the left leads to the Junon Inn. You can save at the Save Point here but there is no point in resting because you have not engaged in a battle since your last rest in Lower Junon. There is a Materia Store on the second floor of the Inn where you can buy:

Fire Materia
Ice Materia
Lightning Materia
Earth Materia
Poison Materia

On the third floor you will find your first Item Store that specializes in the sale of Accessories. The two accessories being sold (Silver Glasses and Headbands) do not necessarily warrant the steep prices (3,000 gil) but you can purchase them if your goal is to collect all of the weapons, armor and accessories in the game.

The Junon Item Store which sells Accessories

One door to the left leads to another Barracks. There is a Speed Source on the first floor and another “1/35 Soldier” on the second floor.

Picking up a Speed Source
Picking up the second 1/35 Soldier

The last door to the left is another Weapon Shop that contains worse weapons than the Weapon Store on the other side of Junon so don’t waste your time. Continue to the northwest in the direction that your team ran to continue the story.

Now it’s time to play Simon Says. Press the buttons as the captain shouts out each command as quickly as you can. You will get 10 points for each move you successfully complete but no points when you are turning right or left. You also get 30 points for completing the finishing move successfully.

Make sure that you are always facing the proper direction or you will not receive any points even if you complete the correct commands. The prizes that you receive will be based on President Rufus’ mood gauge and are as follows:

Heidegger will give Cloud the reward once the demonstration is complete. Follow Rufus and Heidegger and jump on the Cargo Ship with the rest of your team once you are back in control of Cloud.

Make sure to equip Cloud’sForce Stealer if you were successful in obtaining it as the Force Stealer has double Materia growth which is great for speeding up the growth and levels of your key Materia.

Performing in front of Rufus

The Cargo Ship will begin sailing to Costa del Sol but the story will continue part way through the journey.