[WIP] A Walkthrough for Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

THIS IS EFFECTIVELY ABANDONED, I'M REVAMPING THIS GUIDE FROM SCRATCH USING ASSETS FROM THE NONARY GAMES VERSION OF 999. THIS WILL BE TAKEN DOWN ONCE I HAVE FINISHED COPYING OVER THE INFORMATION.

This guide includes guides for every escape room in the game, all of the critical steps to take, as well as how to find every bit of noteworthy extra dialogue, which is often humourous. I will include pictures to increase clarity, because I find most other guides lack pictures and I think it will be helpful.

This guide will also include an explanation on how to obtain all 5 main endings that this game has to offer, which decisions to make during split paths, and which order you want to obtain these endings in the first place.

I will also eventually create guides for the other 2 games, and I'm creating these as I play through my third run through the trilogy. I would like to give credit to Steam user KawaiiTeddy for making writing this guide significantly less time consuming.

Overview + FAQ

THIS IS EFFECTIVELY ABANDONED, I'M REVAMPING THIS GUIDE FROM SCRATCH USING ASSETS FROM THE NONARY GAMES VERSION OF 999. THIS WILL BE TAKEN DOWN ONCE I HAVE FINISHED COPYING OVER THE INFORMATION.


Welcome to the first entry in the Zero Escape trilogy, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, commonly referred to as 999. This guide includes guides for every escape room in the game, all of the critical steps to take, as well as how to find every bit of noteworthy extra dialogue, which is often humourous. I will include pictures to increase clarity, because I find most other guides lack pictures and I think it will be helpful.

This guide will also include an explanation on how to obtain all 5 main endings that this game has to offer, which decisions to make during split paths, and which order you want to obtain these endings in the first place.

First, some important and/or frequently asked questions.

1. Aren't there actually 6 endings in this game? Why are you only covering 5?

First off, you're mostly correct, there are 6 endings in this version of the game, the True, Coffin, Axe, Safe/Zero Lost, Knife and Submarine Endings, listed as they appear from left to right in the game's flowchart. In fact, the mobile port actually has a 7th ending, called the Syringe Ending, however it's very much not notable or interesting.

The reason I'm only covering 5 of these endings, is that the Coffin Ending is just a cliffhanger dead end that is obtained by trying to obtain the True Ending before you've actually unlocked it. There is no unique story content, so it is largely considered to be entirely skippable, which I personally agree with.

2. Which of these endings are actually important? I don't have loads of time to play through all of the pointless bad endings, you feel me?

While I strongly believe that in any visual novel, you have not truly finished it until you have completed every ending possible, this is particularly true of the Zero Escape trilogy, as almost every ending has something of value to be gained, whether it be clues towards the mystery, character growth or at least an interesting "what if?" scenario. The second and third games in particular will force you to play through almost every possible major ending before you can even unlock the true ending, as the different endings and timelines contain different information, all of which is important.

For 999, you technically only need to see the Safe/Zero Lost Ending to unlock the True Ending, however the Axe, Knife and Submarine Endings are also valuable, and if playing without a guide you are almost guaranteed to naturally obtain these first, thanks to the unlock requirements of the Safe and True Endings. These add to the mystery and particularly the Submarine ending fleshes out some of the characters.

3. So what order should I do these endings in anyway?

In general, you should do the three Bad Endings (Axe, Knife and Submarine) in any order, then the Safe Ending (considered to be the "Normal" Ending), and finally the True Ending. This guide will be doing Axe > Submarine > Knife > Safe > True. You can look up the mobile version's Syringe Ending in between Submarine and Safe if you want, but excluding Coffin, it's easily the least interesting or worthwhile ending in 999.

Now, if you also want to include the Coffin Ending before unlocking the True Ending, which is a perfectly fine choice to make, I would personally go Axe > Submarine > Knife > Coffin > Safe > True, as finishing Safe unlocks True, therefore permanently deactivating Coffin.

4. Are there any important missable pieces of content I should know about?

The only permanently missable content in this game is the Coffin Ending, which as previously established is also very unimportant and skippable, even lacking an achievement unlike 999's other endings. So if you don't care about the Coffin Ending, there is no missable content in this game, no missable achievements.

5. I want to ask a question that isn't listed here. How can I ask you?

It'd probably be best to contact me on my Discord, which is The Ya01 Church#6969, as I don't use Steam particularly often. I'll do my best to respond as quickly as possible, and probably add your question to this FAQ for future reference.

6. This guide looks incomplete and/or is missing something I think should be included and/or is incorrect somewhere.

I probably just haven't gotten to that point in the game yet, or accidentally made an error. This is a work-in-progress guide, which I am working on as I play through the game for my third time. If however, you believe it is something I may forget/choose not to include for whatever reason, feel free to message me on Discord, which is The Ya01 Church#6969.

7. What are some other visual novels you recommend for fans of this game?

First and foremost, I'd strongly recommend playing every game in this trilogy, potentially twice if you want to gain a greater understanding with the context of knowing twists and future events.

Afterwards, I recommend the Danganronpa series, also on Steam, made by Kazutaka Kodaka, a friend of Kotaro Uchikoshi (this game's writer), of which both have created a new game studio called Tookyo Games. I would also recommend other works by these two writers, Spike Chunsoft and Tookyo Games in general, such as Zanki Zero: Last Beginning, AI: The Somnium FIles and World's End Club.

Update Log and Version History

This is my update log, it shows the history of this guide's different versions, as well as how much progress has been made and what's coming next.

Version 0.09 (23rd of May, 2021)

• Started writing guide, completed Overview/FAQ.
  
• Finished guide for Escape Room 1: Third Class Cabin.
  
• Added Route Split information to full guide so that even if a room guide isn't finished yet, the split information will be there.
  
• Next update will focus on finishing Door 5's guides.

Version 0.18 (24th of May, 2021)

• Had to change guide format massively to make sections cover individual escape rooms instead of whole doors because of annoying character limits.
  
• Finished guide for Escape Room 4: First Class Cabin.
  
• Finished guide for Escape Room 5: Casino.
  
• Added Numbered Door images and gifs for the decision sections of about half of the escape rooms so far.
  
• Next update will focus on finishing Escape Room 6's (Operating Room) guide, as it is the next room for the Axe Route. It will also finish up adding the Numbered Door images and gifs to the rest of the rooms.

Escape Room 1: Third Class Cabin (All)

Before we begin, you should immediately search any item you pick up over the course of the entire game at least 2 or 3 times until you aren't unlocking any new dialogue from them anymore. I will assume you are doing this over the course of the entire game. Any special dialogue from item searches will also be included in the steps if they go beyond a typical description.

On top of this, note that bold instructions are for actually escaping the current room, whereas italic instructions are for some extra, but optional dialogue. I recommend doing these, as they're often noteworthy additions to the worldbuilding or characters, or quite humourous and entertaining. None of these are voiced, so these don't include the mandatory story segments.



Your first escape room is the Third Class Cabin, and it is the only escape room in the game you have to do on every single route. It is therefore quite simple and short, and also somewhat lacking in the comedic extras department.



1) Examine the rushing water twice.

2) Examine the pipe in the wall twice for the start of a game-wide inside joke.



3) To the left of the water pouring in, check the bulletin board above the sink to get the note from the bulletin board. Below that, get the picture frame.



4) Back out of the sink and turn to your right once to reach the screen above, facing the bed and kettle. Examine the ladder eight times (yes, you read that correctly, eight times) for some comedic dialogue.



5) Tap the tea kettle three times to get a blue key. Back out once and open the stove below the tea kettle to get a screwdriver.

6) In your inventory, combine the screwdriver and the picture of the cruise liner, then rotate the picture to see a hint on the back.



7) Back out of the stove. Turn to your right once, facing the number 5 door and examine the ladder once.



8) To the left of the door with the number 5 on it, check on the mirror, then check on the red object taped to the middle of the mirror to get a red key. This triggers a story section.

9) Back out of the mirror. To the right of the door with the number 5 on it, check on the bottom bunk, then check under the pillow to get a memo from the bed.



10) Turn left once and use the blue key on the blue briefcase. Then, you need to enter the correct combination. The correct combination for the blue briefcase is 0263.

11) Check the red book inside the briefcase to get a stack of blue key cards. This will also unlock the file menu and a calculator menu with a digital root function, which you may find use in.



12) Back out of the blue briefcase. Check the curtain to the left of the tea kettle to find the red briefcase. Use the red key on it. The correct combination for the red briefcase is 7485.

13) Get the red key cards from the red briefcase.



14) Back away from the red briefcase and turn to your right once. Use both the blue and the red cards on the card reader to the right of the door. This starts a puzzle where you have to select three cards. You need to pick the numbers that have a digital root of 5. The correct numbers are 1, 6 and 7, then click the card reader.

15) Open the door with the number 5 on it to escape.

The First Route Split

Congratulations on escaping the first escape room in the game. Upon escaping, you will enter a long list of scenes that set up your situation, as well as introduce the rules and the rest of the cast. If you want to remember their bracelet numbers for whatever reason, the list is here.

Number	Character
1	Ace (for the card valued at 1)
2	Snake (for "Snake eyes" [1+1] dice)
3	Santa (3-ta in Japanese)
4	Clover (like a 4 leaf clover)
5	Junpei (because June spoiled his name)
6	June (The 6th month, real name Akane Kurashiki)
7	Seven (Nice and simple)
8	Lotus (8-petal flower)
9	The 9th Man (No nickname given)

You will eventually be given the choice of going through Door 4 or Door 5.

Now is where I cover what order to get the endings in. In case you didn't see back in the FAQ, the ending order for this guide is Axe > Submarine > Knife > Safe > True. This guide will be assuming that is the order you're doing this in. This table will show you the paths of each ending, but you'll also be directed at every split on where to go next.

I have attempted to optimise split choices so that by the time you're at the Safe and True Endings, you'll have already done all of the individual steps and can just hop around the flow chart to unlock them.

Ending	Route
Axe	Door 5 > Door 8 > Door 1
Submarine	Door 5 > Door 3 > Door 2
Knife	Door 4 > Door 7 > Door 6
Safe/Zero Lost	Door 5 > Door 8 > Door 6 > Door 9
True	Door 4 > Door 7 > Door 1 > Door 9

If you are going for the Knife or True Endings, Go through Door 4 with Santa (3), June (6) and Lotus (8). You will go through Escape Rooms 2 and 3, the Second Class Cabin and the Kitchen.




If you are going for the Axe, Submarine or Safe Endings, go through Door 5 with Snake (2) and Seven (7). You will go through Escape Rooms 4 and 5, the First Class Cabin and the Casino.

Escape Room 2: Second Class Cabin (Knife + True)

After Junpei, Santa, June and Lotus deactivate at the DEAD, they will find themselves at the next escape room.

Escape Room 3: Kitchen (Knife + True)

After Junpei, Santa, June and Lotus escape from the Second Class Cabin, they will find themselves at the next escape room.

The Second Route Split

Now that you've finished both the Second Class Cabin and the Kitchen, you'll eventually meet back up to a room with the next 3 doors. This is the last point in the game that every possible route will go through.

After many scenes, you will eventually be given the choice to go through Doors 7 or 8, or force your way through Door 3.



If you wish to pursue the Knife or True Endings, go through Door 7 with Clover and Seven. This will lead you to Escape Room 6, the Operating Room. There is no need for you to worry about Doors 8 or 3.

Escape Room 4: First Class Cabin (Axe + Submarine + Safe)

After Junpei, Snake and Seven deactivate at the DEAD, they will find themselves at the next escape room. This room has a wealth of extra dialogue, and was the room that inspired me to write this guide.




1) Get the glass plate from under the pillow of the bed and search it twice. Like with any other item, you will want to examine every glass plate you obtain twice. This triggers a story section about Snake's powerful sense of hearing.



2) Turn right once to reach this screen facing the double doors. Examine the small round chair eight times from this angle. While you can interact with it from multiple angles, only this one will trigger the dialogue. Expect a fair amount of this going forward.



3) Get the glass plate from the cupboard in the closet in the bedroom (the door on the right is the closet).

4) Before backing out of the closet, interact with the safe twice.



5) Back out of the closet. Go to the fireplace room by first going through the left door in the bedroom, then in the hallway, go through the door to the right. You will be on the first screen below.



6) Examine the table on the left and the red antique chair twice each.

7) Examine the green antique chair four times.

8) Examine the piece of paper on the table to the right twice.



9) Turn to your left once and get the vase from the table.



10) Get the glass plate from the cupboard in the closet of the fireplace room (this time, the door on the left is the closet).



11) Back out of the closet and go into the hallway. Interact with the light switch from this angle six times.



12) Enter the door on the right to enter the toilet. Interact with the toilet five times, then back out of the toilet.



13) Enter the door on the left to re-enter the bedroom at this angle facing the piano. Interact with the bed six times for some wonderful shipping material.

14) Interact with the mirror twice. Do not interact with the piano yet, we'll come back later.

15) Finally, open up the item screen and search the empty vase twice for some unique dialogue. You can only see this dialogue before filling it with water, which is why we're doing this now.



16) Go back into the hallway, then go inside the bathroom through the door on the left.



17) Examine the bathroom mirror five times.

18) Examine the shower head and the sink twice each.

19) Examine the bath, then examine the faucet twice and the water once while not holding the vase.

20) Use the vase on the water in the bathtub, then search it twice.

21) Examine the water again twice, then pull the plug on the bathtub and get the glass plate, which you should search twice.



22) Before we use the vase of water, go back into the bedroom and search the vase in your item menu yet again twice for more unique dialogue that is only able to be seen here.



23) Go back to the fireplace room and turn to your right once.

24) Examine the green antique couch twice.

25) Use the vase full of water on the coals in the fireplace, then grab the ceramic plate behind them. This will trigger a story section about Seven's amnesia.



26) Go to the piano in the bedroom and take the map from the music stand.

27) Use a glass plate on the music stand. Examine the glass plates and you will reach the piano puzzle screen. The solution is the image below. While it is from the original DS version of the game, rest assured that the solution has not changed in this version.



28) The door will unlock after you play those notes. Open the door to escape.

After some scenes, Junpei, Snake and Seven will progress to Escape Room 5, the Casino.

Escape Room 5: Casino (Axe + Submarine + Safe)

1) On the initial screen facing the bar, examine the chandeliers twice.

2) Examine the table surrounded by chairs near the middle of the screen and pick up the 5 of Spades.



3) Examine the bar to go inside, examine the chandelier and the bottles of booze on the left three times.

4) Pick up the 7 of Spades from the bar counter with the booze and the 4 of Spades from the counter underneath the glasses.



5) Exit the bar and turn left once. Examine the stained glass thrice, table on the left side of the screen twice and the chair closest to you once. Upon examining the stained glass, Snake is noticeably very sad.

6) Examine the baccarat table (the big brown-ish thing in the corner). Collect the 3 of Spades.



7) Turn to your left twice to reach the screen above. Examine the chairs eight times and the fireplace twice.

8) Examine the canvas above the fireplace, then examine it again twice. Afterwards, turn on only the light on the right and examine the canvas twice more.

9) Turn on both lights, examine the canvas twice and pick up the 6 of Spades.

10) Back out of the canvas, pick up the bag of coins inside the fireplace.



11) Turn to your right once and examine the chandelier once.

12) Examine the middle poker machine and use a coin on the coin slot.

13) Tap the Spin button on the bottom left. Despite how it looks, there is no timing required, you just need to press the club, then diamond, then heart buttons to get the required 777.

14) Open the prize drawer at the bottom of the machine, pick up the Venus Key and the 2 of Spades.



15) Back out of the poker machine. Click the back area of the room to move to the screen above. Click on the machine with the number 9 on it to move closer, click on the card slot below "LOCK" and back out of the minigame three times for some humourous dialogue. Back out of the exit door area.



16) Go back to the baccarat table and tap on the three spaces for cards. This will trigger a story segment. The number that your cards add up to will have to have 9 in the ones place.
Tap on the three card spots to select them. Then tap a card that you want to put onto the table. The solution to this puzzle is: 2, 3, 4.



17) Pick up the 8 of Spades and go back to the thing on the wall that says LOCK.

18) Place the 8 of Spades in the card slot, then place the remaining cards in the slots that unlock.

19) Before you go through the exit, try to back out of the exit door area four times before actually leaving.

20) Open the door to escape.

The Second Route Split

Now that you've finished both the First Class Cabin and the Casino, you'll eventually meet back up to a room with the next 3 doors. This is the last point in the game that every possible route will go through.

After many scenes, you will eventually be given the choice to go through Doors 7 or 8, or force your way through Door 3.



If you wish to pursue the Axe or Safe Endings, go through Door 8 with Clover and Lotus. This will lead you to Escape Room 7, the Laboratory.



If you're pursuing the Submarine Ending for the first time, force yourself through Door 3 with Santa, June and Seven. This will lock you onto the Submarine Ending and take you to Escape Room 8, the Shower Room.

You will eventually need to go through both methods of achieving the Submarine Ending, so I recommend making the first time going through Door 3 here, and the second time going through Door 2 at the Third Route Split. Don't worry, I'll remind you to do this later.

Escape Room 6: Operating Room (Knife + True)

The Third Route Split

After escaping the Operating Room, you will eventually be given the opportunity to cheat the hat system and go through Door 1 or 2, or stick with his original plan and go through Door 6.



If you wish to pursue the True Ending, cheat and go through Door 1 with Ace and Clover. You will go through Escape Rooms 9 and 10, the Chart Room and the Captain's Quarters.



If you wish to pursue the Knife Ending, don't cheat and go through Door 6 with Ace, Santa and June. You will go through Escape Rooms 11 and 12, the Steam Engine Room and the Cargo Room, eventually landing on the Knife Ending.

Escape Room 7: Laboratory (Axe + Safe)

The Third Route Split

After escaping the Laboratory, you will eventually be given the opportunity to cheat the hat system and go through Door 1 or 2, or stick with his original plan and go through Door 6.



If you wish to pursue the Axe Ending, cheat and go through Door 1 with Ace and Clover. You will go through Escape Rooms 9 and 10, the Chart Room and the Captain's Quarters, eventually landing on the Axe Ending.



If you wish to pursue the Safe Ending, don't cheat and go through Door 6 with Ace, Santa and June. You will go through Escape Rooms 11 and 12, the Steam Engine Room and the Cargo Room, eventually landing on the Safe Ending.

Escape Room 8: Shower Room (Submarine)

The Third Route Split

So as it turns out, because you picked Door 3, you don't actually get this Route Split, you're forced into Door 2 with Seven and Lotus. This means you will go through Escape Rooms 13 and 14, the Confinement Rooms and the Torture Room.

Escape Room 9: Chart Room (Axe + True)

Escape Room 10: Captain's Quarters (Axe + True)

The Fourth Route Split

After escaping from the Captain's Quarters, you will eventually reach a fork in the flowchart, however unlike the previous ones, this isn't chosen by dialogue, this is chosen by route, so the direction you take will be automatically decided for you.

If you did not fulfill all of the requirements for the True Ending (which if you're using this guide will probably be because you're aiming for the Axe Ending instead) then you will be given the Axe Ending.

If you fulfilled all of the requirements for the True Ending (which to recap, are seeing the Safe Ending and choosing all of the correct dialogue choices in Doors 4, 7 and 1), then after many twists and revelations, you will go through the Small Door 9 with Snake, Clover and Seven, eventually leading to the True Ending.

Bad End: Axe Ending

Escape Room 11: Steam Engine Room (Knife + Safe)

Escape Room 12: Cargo Room (Knife + Safe)

The Fourth Route Split

After escaping from the Cargo Room, you will eventually reach a fork in the flowchart, however unlike the previous ones, this isn't chosen by dialogue, this is chosen by route, so the direction you take will be automatically decided for you.

If you did not fulfill the requirements for the Safe Ending (which if you've been following this guide we are intentionally avoiding for now), then you will be directed to the Knife Ending.

If you did fulfill the requirements for the Safe Ending (which are just to go down the route of Doors 5, 8 and 6), then that is the ending you will be directed down, in which many scenes, reveals and revelations will commence and the story will start kicking off for real. This is considered to be the "Normal End" and is required to unlock the True Ending. ♥♥♥♥ is getting real now.

Bad End: Knife Ending

Normal End: Safe/Zero Lost Ending

Escape Room 13: Confinement Rooms (Submarine)

The Third Route Split

So if you've been following this guide so far, you should have the Axe Ending by now, and you should have come here from Door 3. Once you start Escape Room 13, the Confinement Rooms, save the game and jump back to the flowchart.

Because you finished the Axe Ending beforehand, you have access to the Third Route Split, so I want you to jump back there and quickly select Door 2 during the hat scene. Once you've done so, you'll have filled in the alternate path to the Submarine Ending, and can now proceed as normal. Feel free to quickly jump back to the Door 3 route just before getting to this point if you need the consistent timeline to satisfy your OCD (because I know I do.)

Escape Room 14: Torture Room (Submarine)

Escape Room 15: Library (True)

The Final Route is Here

If you've made it this far, then you've seen the previous 4 endings, and you're finally ready to see the True Ending. Things have gotten tense, and the climax is nearly upon us. All that's left are the final three escape rooms and a metric boatload of info dumping. Don't think you're almost done, you've easily got 3-5 hours of content left. Thankfully that content is all new! Starting with...

Escape Room 16: Zero's Study (True)

Escape Room 17: Incinerator (True)