Final Fantasy games are known for their secret characters that players might miss when playing for the first time. As fans of the series go back to revisit FF6 with the Final Fantasy 6 Pixel Remaster that released earlier this week, they are likely interested in picking up some of those optional characters.
Bringing new party members to your crew takes work, but it’s usually pretty worth it as optional party members have special abilities and powers that make them valuable.
More Final Fantasy 6 Pixel Remaster guides:
Getting Final Fantasy 6 Optional Party Members
Gogo
Getting Gogo to join your party is relatively easy if the player knows where to look. Once you’ve completed the airship, he’ll be available at any time in the World of Ruin. To recruit him, fly to the northeastmost triangle-shaped island which is inhabited by the Zone Eater, a powerful enemy who can eat entire party members. Engage in a fight with the Zone Eater and let it swallow everyone in your party.
After being swallowed, you’ll find yourself in a brand new zone. Head south and continue through the area until you arrive at some bridges with people patrolling them. Jump from bridge to bridge without hitting any of the people until you’re across. Enter the next room with the save location.
After saving, continue on into the room where the ceiling crushes the ground. You should notice holes in the ceiling that will keep you and your party safe from being crushed. Hide in them as you make your way past the trap to avoid instant deaths from the ceiling. Travel into the next room.
In this room, jump from chest to chest to make it across the room and enter the final room at the end of the section. Gogo will be inside and, after talking to him, will permanently join your party for the rest of the game.
Shadow
Recruiting Shadow takes time and will span several acts on Final Fantasy 6. The first step in his recruitment is rescuing him on the Flying Continent when he stays behind to take care of Kefka. After the cutscene where he begins his fight, the player will have five minutes to make it to the airship. The game gives the player plenty of time to get there, but they’ll need to wait on the edge without jumping until the five-minute counter ticks all the way down to just five seconds remaining. At that point, Shadow will jump over and then join the player jumping down to the airship.
Once the player has access to the Cave on the Veldt, explore the area until running into Shadow. Continue through the story as it’s written, but make sure to grab the Ichigeki in the basement area of the cave.
Using the airship, head to the Dragon’s Neck Coliseum in the northwest World of Ruin. When choosing which item to wager in the fight, pick the Ichigeki as it will automatically pit the player against Shadow in the arena. After beating him, he’ll have a brief conversation with the player where he’ll decide to join their party
Mog
Mog is one of the easiest optional party members to grab in Final Fantasy 6. To add them to your crew, go back to Narshe once you’ve got command of the airship. You should remember a house that has several treasure chests inside it on the east side of town that had one locked chest. Go into the house and find Lone Wolf raiding the locked chest. He’ll be spooked and try to run away, but make sure to follow him closely.
Lone Wolf will lead you through the mines and eventually stops on a cliffside where he holds Mog captive. Wait a moment before approaching the two and Mog will knock Lone Wolf back. You’ll have the option to either take the Gold Hairpin item that Lone Wolf raided from the house or recruit Mog to your party. Choose Mog and he’ll join you immediately.
Umaro
Recruiting Umaro requires the player to have Mog in their party, so make sure to have followed the instructions above to get him onboard. Go to Narshe if you’re not already after recruiting Mog and head to the northern mines. Go into them and follow the first path heading east until you leave the mines. Continue along the path to the west across the bridge and then head north as often as possible entering and exiting a cave somewhere in between.
Continue fighting your way to the top of the mountain until coming across a northern save spot. Make sure to save and prepare for a fight against Valigarmanda, an icy boss. It’ll be quickly taken care of using fire attacks, but make sure to buff your magical defense as it can do some damage with its ice attacks. After defeating Valigarmanda, it’ll turn into Magicite and a nearby cave will open up. Enter the opening and descend into Yeti’s Cave.
There’s plenty of loot to find in Yeti’s Cave, but to go directly to Umaro, head northwest from the starting area and fall down the pitfall directly in front of the northwest door. Take the bridges across the raised areas to the northeast until finding a staircase leading up. Go up the stairs and then continue east through the room ignoring the first switch. Pull the second switch and then fall down the pitfall directly in front of it.
After falling, you’ll see piles of bones, go interact with the skull and grab the Midgardsormr magicite from within it. That should begin the Yeti boss fight. After winning the fight, Mog will scold the Yeti and it’ll join your party as Umaro.
