Zero Escape: The Nonary Games Trophy Guide & Road Map

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games
Zero Escape: The Nonary Games Trophy Guide

Estimated trophy difficulty: 2/10 with guide (personal estimate) (Platinum Difficulty Rating)
Offline trophies: 38 (16, 18, 3, 1)
Online trophies: 0
Approximate amount of time to Platinum: 20+ hours, depending on reading speed (personal estimate) (Estimated Time to Platinum)
Minimum number of playthroughs: One of each ending of each game.
Number of missable trophies: 0
Glitched trophies: 0
Does difficulty affect trophies?: Yes; VLR must be played on Hard.
Do trophies stack?: US/JP have separate lists. PS4 and Vita share lists.
Do cheat codes disable trophies?: No cheats available but things like text skipping and flowchart jumping, won't disable trophies.

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games is a port of the first two games of the Zero Escape trilogy, consisting of 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors; and Virtue's Last Reward. While Virtue's Last Reward was previously released on Vita in 2012, this is the first time 999 in its entirety has been released outside of the Nintendo DS.

Both games are visual novels with room escape puzzle solving. As with most visual novels, you have the option to skip through text but I highly discourage doing so as both have excellent stories. 999 is more of a mystery/thriller, while Virtue's Last Reward has more of a sci-fi spin. If this is your first time playing both games, I also highly recommend playing the games in order – 999, then VLR – as the backstory of 999 provides a deeper understanding of many things in VLR but both games are unlocked from the start so you don't need to clear one to unlock the other.

I have written a solution guide for 999 and you can find it here: LINK. For VLR, please use the existing on-site guide here: LINK (credit to professorstotch).

Part I: 999

Step 0: Play the game

Not strictly necessary but I encourage you to play through the game while making your own choices, then come back to the trophy guide, as you will have to get all the endings anyway.

Step 1: Get the Safe Ending

Play through the game. Your dialogue and exploration choices here do not matter but your door selection does. When given the choice, choose the following door path: 5 / 8 / 6. If you make a mistake, you can always press down on the d-pad to access the flowchart and get back on the correct path.

By the end of this step, you will have earned:

Chance of Loss is Not Zero

Step 2: Get the True Ending

Either start a new game, or go to the first divergence point in the flowchart. This time, you will want to choose the following door path: 4 / 7 / 1. This time, there are a few dialogue choices you must choose for the True Ending, otherwise you will get the Coffin Ending. See Is That Your Final Answer? for more details.

By the end of this step, you will have earned:

Is That Your Final Answer?
A Sixth Sense of What's Coming
Don't Forget Your Towel

Step 3: Endings Cleanup

After Steps 1 and 2, you will have unlocked half the endings in the game. Looking at the flowchart, you should be able to tell what branches you need to take to unlock these endings. The routes you've already taken whenever you need to respond with dialogue will be greyed out, making it quite obvious what choices you still need to make. Clearing all the endings will also unlock all the Memories of Escape.

By the end of this step, you will have earned:

We All Die By a Yellow Submarine
Cut and Run
Let Me Ax You a Question
Seek a Way Out Again

Part II: Virtue's Last Reward

Step 0: Play through the game

Not strictly necessary, but as you need to get all the endings anyways, you might as well play the game making your own decisions and seeing what ending you get.

Step 1: Play through the game on Hard (which is the default difficulty) while completing all escapes and clearing all endings

It's a bit difficult to write a trophy breakdown walkthrough for VLR, as the nature of the game allows you to jump around to any point in the game at whim (it often requires you to). The general rule for the game is this: don't change the difficulty, actually solve the escape rooms (as opposed to just entering the exit code), and make sure you get the gold files from each escape room.

VLR has 22 endings (as opposed to 999's 6), so use the flowchart to help you figure out where you need to go. Note that you can text skip whenever you want, and do not have to play through escapes again once you've cleared them.

There are two safe codes for you to find in each escape room. Always make sure to pick up the gold files (Hard only; they're silver on Easy) in each safe (blue password) before exiting the room (green password).

While I encourage you to unlock everything yourself (the flowchart makes it easier than you'd think), you can also make use of professorstotch's Optimal Ending Path Walkthrough from his VLR guide.

By the end of this step, you will have earned:

All the VLR trophies

Step 2: Cleanup

This step is optional, in case you missed a file or an archive item in any of the escape rooms. If you check the flowchart, each escape room will have a number telling you how many archive items you've collected as well as the total number of said items in the room (X/X). As long as those two numbers are the same, you have collected everything.

Upon completion of Part I and Part II of the walkthrough, you will have earned:

You Found It ! Congratulations!

[PST Would Like To Thank themindisacity for this Roadmap]

You Found It

Gained all trophies.
Seek a way out (and go play Zero Time Dilemma to complete the trilogy)!
A Sixth Sense of What's Coming

Saw all previews in 999.
The 999 previews are special videos that play after achieving certain endings of the game. There are two in total and the videos are located after the Safe Ending and the Coffin Ending. The Coffin Ending video will also unlock after achieving the True Ending (as the Coffin Ending is the True Ending's default if players have not met certain conditions; see Don't Forget Your Towel). You will unlock this trophy on your way towards unlocking all of the ending trophies.
Seek a Way Out Again

Gained all Memories of Escape in 999.
Memories of Escape is a category on the main menu screen of 999. It allows you to replay escape rooms whenever you want. It was also more useful in the DS version of 999 as that didn't have a flowchart.

You don't have to access this option from the main menu to unlock the trophy, nor do you have to fully complete the game. You just need to have solved all 15 escape rooms (14 rooms + final puzzle) in the game. This will come naturally while going for all the ending trophies.
Is That Your Final Answer?

Solved the final question in 999.
This trophy is tied to the True Ending of 999. The final question itself has actually changed from the original version of the game so instead of sudoku, it's a complicated looking but insultingly easy replacement cypher.

The solution for the first part of the puzzle is to replace the numbers in the bottom bar with the letters in the grid above so the bottom bar spells “PASSWORD”. The password itself is "9".
Master of Escapology

Escaped from eight rooms in VLR.
See Doctor of Escapology.
Doctor of Escapology

Escaped from sixteen rooms in VLR.
Fairly standard, just solve all the escape rooms in the game to unlock this trophy. This will unlock after escaping the Q room.
Escapey

Escaped on Hard difficulty in VLR.
This will be the first trophy you unlock in VLR, provided you don't change the difficulty (you start the game on Hard mode by default). It will unlock after the first escape room: The elevator with Phi.
A Consumate Collection

Found ALL the files in VLR!
Files are usually found in VLR's escape rooms, though you will also get some via natural story progression. Generally the files you pick up in the escape rooms are clues used to solve the puzzles in each room. As long as you're searching the escape rooms and not just doing the bare minimum needed to get out of the room, you don't need to worry about this trophy.

On the flowchart, you can check each escape room once you've cleared it, and you will see "Archives" followed by a number (X/X). As long as the two numbers add up, you don't have to worry about a thing (this number also counts the secrets folder in each room [see Redacted]). If you're missing something, go back into the escape room and pick up whatever you've missed. Once you've picked up the missing item, you can leave the escape room either by opening the safe and leaving or simply going back to the flowchart.
Every Ending Begins Somewhere

Saw any of the endings in VLR.
Self-explanatory. Get any ending, good or bad, in VLR to unlock this trophy. This does not apply to story lock endings.
That Wasn't Supposed to Happen

Saw any of the bad endings.
Though not explicitly stated, this trophy only unlocks upon viewing one of VLR's bad endings as the ones in 999 will not unlock this trophy. As you need to see all the endings anyway, good and bad, this will come naturally while playing the game.

Don't Forget Your Towel

Finished all scenarios in 999.
This trophy is tied only to the True Ending of 999. Contrary to what the description implies, you do not need to unlock all of the game endings for this trophy (but you will have to for the platinum). To access the True Ending of 999, you must first have cleared the Safe Ending (see Chance of Loss is Not Zero). Now during your playthrough for the True Ending, you must choose the following dialogue options:

Door 4 – Second Class Cabin (Room 93): Santa will offer you a bookmark. Choose "Take it".
Door 4 – Kitchen (Freezer): Santa will talk about dry ice. Choose "It did seem rather odd".
Door 7 – Operating Room (Chemical Closet): Seven will give you a bottle of EDT and talk for a bit. Answer "...know about ice-9?"
Door 7 - Operating Room (leaving): Clover will linger. Choose "...Gave her the 4-leaf clover".

Once you've done all the above things, you will be locked into the True Ending of the game. See Is That Your Final Answer? for the final puzzle of the True Ending.
Chance of Loss is Not Zero

Saw the Zero Lost ending in 999.
The Zero Lost ending (otherwise known as the Safe Ending) is one of the unique endings to 999. It is required in order to unlock the game's real ending. You do not need to worry about any dialogue choices but you must choose the following door order when given a choice: 5 / 8 / 6.
We All Die By a Yellow Submarine

Saw the Submarine ending in 999.
The Submarine Ending is one of the three bad endings in 999. On the flowchart, it is the far right path. To access it, choose door 3 at the 3/7/8 door choice. You can also choose door 2 at the 1/6/2 door choice.
Cut and Run

Saw the Knife ending in 999.
The Knife Ending is one of the three bad endings in 999. On the flowchart, it is the right branch of the middle path (the same one that has the Safe Ending). To access it, you can choose any of the following door combinations: 4/7/6, 5/7/6 or 4/8/6.
Let Me Ax You a Question

Saw the Ax ending in 999.
The Ax Ending is one of the three bad endings in 999. On the flowchart, it is the right branch of the left path (the same one with the True Ending). It can be unlocked by choosing 5 or 4 / 7 / 1 and failing to meet all the story checkpoints for the True Ending (see Don't Forget Your Towel).

If you've already unlocked the True Ending, you will need to replay a bit for this one – you can't just go to the divergence point and play through as there are no choices to be made at the divergence point.

On the left path, choose the "Operating Room" escape, and choose "Before the Door". This will bring you to the point where Clover is hesitating. Choose "...Told Clover they needed to leave". Running out the rest of the scene will take you back to the flowchart, and you should notice that one of the key icons is now locked (assuming you've already unlocked the True Ending, which you should have if you've been following the Roadmap).

Now you will want to move to "Outside the Room" on the bottom left path (the divergence point of the Coffin/True Endings) and let it play out to unlock this trophy.
Escapest

Escaped everything on Hard difficulty in VLR.
Hard difficulty is the default starting difficulty of the game. Just never change the difficulty for the entire game and you will unlock this trophy once you've escaped the final room. There is no real difference between Hard and Easy difficulty in terms of the puzzles; your companions will just give you more hints in the dialogue.

The only thing you want to keep an eye on is the scale puzzle in the B. Garden escape room because if you weigh the coins a certain number of times, the game will automatically kick back to easy difficulty (you will know this has happened because Alice and Luna will solve the weighing puzzle for you). If this happens, take note of their solution (it's always the same) then restart the room and make sure you're on Hard.
Redacted

Found ALL the secrets in VLR!
In the safe in each escape room you will find a folder, provided you've found the secret code in each room (designated by a blue screen instead of a green one). If you are playing the game on Easy (and you shouldn't be) then this folder will be silver and will be missing a few files from each folder. On Hard, this folder will be gold and will contain every file (including those found in the silver folder). Collect every gold folder from every escape room and you will unlock this trophy.
To Each According to His Needle

Opened the first lock in VLR.
Story locks are plot checkpoints that will not let you pass if you have not gained pertinent information from other routes. Trophy-wise, it does not matter if you actually are stopped by these locks when you're playing the game (as opposed to already having the information before hitting the lock in the first place).

The first lock is located via the following choices: Magenta / Ally / Blue / Betray.

To bypass this story lock, you must play the following route: Yellow / Betray / Green (you don't have a choice) / Ally – i.e. you must first clear Clover's ending.
I Can't Believe It's Not Murder!

Opened the second lock in VLR.
Story locks are plot checkpoints that will not let you pass if you have not gained pertinent information from other routes. Trophy-wise, it doesn't matter if you actually are stopped by these locks when you're playing the game (as opposed to already having the information before hitting the lock in the first place).

The second lock is located via the following choices: Yellow / Ally / Blue / Ally.

To bypass this story lock, you must play the following route: Yellow / Ally / Red, then finish the Laboratory escape sequence.
Gotta Hand It To You

Opened the third lock in VLR.
Story locks are plot checkpoints that will not let you pass if you have not gained pertinent information from other routes. Trophy-wise, it does not matter if you actually are stopped by these locks when you're playing the game (as opposed to already having the information before hitting the lock in the first place).

The third lock is located via the following choices: Yellow / Ally / Red / Ally.

To bypass this story lock, you must play the following route: Cyan / Betray / No / Green / pass story lock 6 (see No Lying Down On the Job) / Ally / pass story lock 7 (see Who Set Up Us The Bomb, Part 1) – i.e. clear Sigma's ending.
If I Told You You Had A Nice Antibody...

Opened the fourth lock in VLR.
Story locks are plot checkpoints that will not let you pass if you have not gained pertinent information from other routes. Trophy-wise, it doesn't matter if you actually are stopped by these locks when you're playing the game (as opposed to already having the information before hitting the lock in the first place).

The fourth lock is located via the following choices: Cyan / Ally.

To bypass this story lock, you must play the following route: Yellow / Ally / Red, then finish the Laboratory escape sequence.
He Was Convicted of a String of Numbers

Opened the fifth lock in VLR.
Story locks are plot checkpoints that will not let you pass if you have not gained pertinent information from other routes. Trophy-wise, it doesn't matter if you actually are stopped by these locks when you're playing the game (as opposed to already having the information before hitting the lock in the first place).

The fifth lock is located via the following choices: Cyan / Ally / pass story lock 4 (see If I Told You You Had A Nice Antibody...) / Betray.

To bypass this story lock, you must play the following route: Magenta / Betray / Red (you don't have a choice) / Betray – i.e. you must first clear Dio's ending.
No Lying Down On the Job

Opened the sixth lock in VLR.
Story locks are plot checkpoints that will not let you pass if you have not gained pertinent information from other routes. Trophy-wise, it does not matter if you actually are stopped by these locks when you're playing the game (as opposed to already having the information before hitting the lock in the first place).

The sixth lock is located via the following choices: Cyan / Betray / No / Green. To actually pass it, you need to choose “Crew Quarters” (you have a list of places to choose and you only get one choice).

To bypass this story lock, you must play the following route: Yellow / Ally / Red then complete the laboratory escape.
Who Set Up Us The Bomb, Part 1

Opened the seventh lock in VLR.
Story locks are plot checkpoints that will not let you pass if you have not gained pertinent information from other routes. Trophy-wise, it does not matter if you actually are stopped by these locks when you're playing the game (as opposed to already having the information before hitting the lock in the first place).

The seventh lock is located via the following choices: Cyan / Betray / No / Green / pass story lock 6 (see No Lying Down On the Job / Ally.

To bypass this lock, you must play the following route: Magenta / Betray / Red (you don't have a choice) / Betray AND Yellow / Ally / Red / complete the Laboratory escape.
Why'd You Do That, You Dumas!

Opened the eighth lock in VLR.
Story locks are plot checkpoints that will not let you pass if you have not gained pertinent information from other routes. Trophy-wise, it does not matter if you actually are stopped by these locks when you're playing the game (as opposed to already having the information before hitting the lock in the first place).

The eighth lock is located via the following choices: Cyan / Betray / Yes / Red (you don't have a choice) / Ally.

To bypass this lock, you must play the following route: Cyan / Betray / Yes / Red (you don't have a choice) / Betray.
Who Set Up Us The Bomb, Part A

Opened the ninth lock in VLR.
Story locks are plot checkpoints that will not let you pass if you have not gained pertinent information from other routes. Trophy-wise, it does not matter if you actually are stopped by these locks when you're playing the game (as opposed to already having the information before hitting the lock in the first place).

The ninth lock is located via the following choices: Cyan / Betray / Yes / Red (you don't have a choice) / Ally / pass story lock 8 (see Why'd You Do That, You Dumas!).

To bypass this lock, you must play the following route: Magenta / Betray / Red (you don't have a choice) / Betray – i.e. clear Dio's ending AND Yellow / Ally / Red / cleared the laboratory escape.

Note that this story lock requires codes found in the Alice, Sigma, Tenmyouji and Dio endings.
Some Days You Just Can't Get Rid of a Bomb

Opened the tenth lock in VLR.
Story locks are plot checkpoints that will not let you pass if you have not gained pertinent information from other routes. Trophy-wise, it does not matter if you actually are stopped by these locks when you're playing the game (as opposed to already having the information before hitting the lock in the first place).

The tenth lock is located via the following choices: Cyan / Betray / Yes / Red (you don't have a choice) / pass story lock 8 (see Why'd You Do That, You Dumas!) / pass story lock 9 (see Who Set Up Us The Bomb, Part A).

To bypass this lock, you must have bypassed all the other story locks.
Tears in the Rain

Saw Luna's ending in VLR.
Luna's ending is obtained by choosing the following route: Magenta / Ally / Green / Ally / Ally. That's the easy part.

Luna's ending requires login information given during K's ending (see Through the Looking Glass) and Sigma's ending (see Arms Race), both of which have story locks. As such, this will be one of the final ending trophies you get in the game.
Through the Looking Glass

Saw K's ending in VLR.
K's ending is obtained by choosing the following route: Magenta / Ally / Blue / Betray and passing story lock 1 (see To Each According to His Needle).

Note that K's ending provides a password that you will need for Luna's ending.
Behind Blue Eyes

Saw Dio's ending in VLR.
Dio's ending is obtained by choosing the following route: Magenta / Betray / Red / Betray. There are no story locks to worry about.

Note that the Dio ending has a password that you will need for Phi's ending.
In Root Beer Veritas

Saw Tenmyouji's ending in VLR.
Tenmyouji's ending is obtained by choosing the following route: Yellow / Ally / Blue / Ally and passing story lock 2 (see I Can't Believe It's Not Murder!).

Note that Tenmyouji's ending has a password that you will need for Phi's ending.
An Equal and Opposite Reaction

Saw Quark's ending in VLR.
Quark's ending is obtained by choosing the following route: Yellow / Ally / Red / Ally / pass story lock 3 (see Gotta Hand It To You).

Note that Quark's ending has a password that you will need for Phi's ending.
Secret Agent Woman

Saw Clover's ending in VLR.
Clover's ending is obtained by choosing the following route: Yellow / Betray / Green (you don't have a choice) / Ally. There are no story locks to worry about.
Best Served Cold

Saw Alice's ending in VLR.
Alice's ending is obtained by choosing the following route: Cyan / Ally / pass story lock 4 (see If I Told You You Had A Nice Antibody... / Betray / pass story lock 5 (see He Was Convicted of a String of Numbers).

Note that Alice's ending has a cypher you need to solve in order to see it in its entirety. The game will give you the cypher key; you just need to solve it. There is also a password needed for Phi's ending.
Arms Race

Saw Sigma's ending in VLR.
Sigma's ending is obtained by choosing the following route: Cyan / Betray / No / Green / pass plot lock 6 (see No Lying Down On the Job) / Ally / pass story lock 7 (see Who Set Up Us The Bomb, Part 1).

Note that Sigma's ending has a password you need for Phi's ending. It also has a password that you will need for Luna's ending.
Time After Time

Saw Phi's ending in VLR.
Phi's ending is obtained by choosing the following route: Cyan / Betray / Yes / Red (you don't have a choice) / Ally / pass story lock 8 (see Why'd You Do That, You Dumas!) / pass story lock 9 (see Who Set Up Us The Bomb, Part A) / pass story lock 10 (see Some Days You Just Can't Get Rid of a Bomb) and then accessing the short new path at the very top of the flowchart. It will definitely be the final ending trophy you obtain in the game.
Fire and Ice

Saw the end. Or maybe the beginning?
On the path of Phi's ending, you will be notified of an addition to the flowchart. This addition is a very short novel section that takes place prior to the events of the game. Simply read through it for this trophy.
A Certain Point of View

Caught a glimpse of another time.
Once you've completed Phi's ending – and therefore all other endings – you will be informed of a new addition to the flowchart. This is the small section at the top (see Fire and Ice) but a single novel section has also been added to the bottom right as well, under the icon of Phi's ending. Read through it for this trophy.