Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
is a 2004 action role-playing video game developed by Square Enix and Jupiter and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive for the Game Boy Advance. The second game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is a direct sequel to Kingdom Hearts whose ending is set about a year before the events of Kingdom Hearts II. Chain of Memories follows Sora and his friends as they explore Castle Oblivion while battling Organization XIII, a new group of antagonists. The game uses a new card-based battle system rather than its predecessor's real-time combat system, and it was one of the first GBA games to incorporate full-motion video.
Though it was not as successful as the other Kingdom Hearts games, Chain of Memories received positive reviews and sold well. It was praised for its story, graphics, and FMVs, but its card-based battle system was criticized. When it debuted in Japan, the game sold over 100,000 units in 48 hours. Chain of Memories was remade for the PlayStation 2 as Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, which was packaged with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and released in Japan in March 2007. The remake was released in North America on December 2, 2008, and was remastered in high-definition and included in the Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix collection—released in 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and later for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and personal computer.
Gameplay
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is a combination of a role-playing video game and a collectible card game. There is an experience point system that can be used to increase the character's maximum health and Card Points or to learn new skills. The cards are used in the progression of the story and in combat. The game features a world map and a battle screen. The world map is an isometric area where the player traverses rooms. Enemies inhabit the world and track the player to engage in combat, which is initiated when the player and an enemy come into contact. Once in combat, the game switches to the battle screen, which uses the card-based battle system.To advance through the game, the player uses map cards they obtain after winning battles to create rooms through "room synthesis". The map card the player chooses determines the properties of each room―including the quality of items and the strength of enemies. The color of each card has a specific effect: red cards affect the number and type of enemies; green cards affect the power of the player's deck; and blue cards affect the properties of the room, such as the allowance of treasure chests or the appearance of save points.
The game has three modes; two are story modes featuring Sora and Riku, and the third is a two-player battle mode. Initially, only Sora's story mode is available; once that story is completed, the "Reverse/Rebirth" mode becomes available. Reverse/Rebirth allows the player to play the second story mode featuring Riku and the battle mode in which two players using a Game Link Cable can battle each other.
Combat
Chain of Memories uses a real-time card-based battle system. The player can jump and maneuver around the battle screen as they do on the world map, but playing cards activate all attacks and other actions. Cards are ranked from zero to nine, and they can be used to make attack combinations or to break enemy cards. Card points are required to place cards in the player's deck; except for zero-ranked cards, high-ranking cards cost more CP than low-ranking cards. The player's CP, which is increased by leveling up, limits the number of cards the player can use in a deck. Breaking an opponent's card will cancel that attack and briefly stun the character. Zero-ranked cards can break any opposing card or combo if they are played after the opposing card or combo, but can be broken by any card or combo. Special enemy cards can be obtained by defeating enemies and bosses; these give the player temporary abilities such as enhanced offensive and defensive capabilities or the ability to modify the attributes of certain cards.Combo attacks are created by combining cards in sets of three. Because the combo's rank is the sum of its three constituent cards, these are usually more difficult to break. Some card combinations create a "sleight", a special combination that creates either a powerful physical attack, a magical spell, or a summon attack. After a card combo is played, the first card in the combo becomes unusable until the end of combat. The deck must be reloaded when the player runs out of cards.
Sora's and Riku's stories have some differences in gameplay. In Sora's story, Sora obtains cards by defeating enemies or by purchasing them at Moogle shops. In some cases, Sora must unlock specific cards through plot events before they become available. Sora can create and store three decks in the pause menu. Riku has a closed deck that cannot be customized, and the cards in his deck change depending on the world he occupies. Riku is limited to mainly physical attacks, enemy cards, and Mickey Mouse ally cards. Riku can activate "dark mode" and unlock his sleight attacks if he accumulates enough "dark points", which are earned by breaking enemy cards and combos. The difference between Riku's card or combo and the enemy's card or combo is the number of dark points Riku will accumulate for that card break.
Plot
Setting
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories takes place immediately after the events of Kingdom Hearts, the first game in the eponymous series. It takes place in Castle Oblivion, a mysterious castle Lord Marluxia keeps. Sora and his teammates are told that the castle causes visitors to lose their memories upon entering. The lobby and areas between floors have a flower theme, and each floor is changed into a different world from the first Kingdom Hearts game using "world cards", which are created from Sora's memories.The worlds in Chain of Memories are created from Sora's memories, and many of the events of Kingdom Hearts are relived in this game. Sora encounters memory-based versions of Disney characters he meets in Kingdom Hearts. The plot lines differ from those of the first game and involve memory. Chain of Memories introduces Twilight Town, a world that is created from memories on "Roxas |the other side of heart", in addition to the original worlds of Kingdom Hearts.
Characters
returns as the game's protagonist and many of the other characters from Kingdom Hearts also reappear. Chain of Memories includes characters from the Final Fantasy series and the Disney animated canon. Because each world and its characters are recreated from Sora's memories, the characters interact with Sora in a manner suggesting they have never met. The game also introduces several new characters, several of whom are members of Organization XIII. The game's new characters include Naminé, a young woman who is capable of manipulating memories, and DiZ, a mysterious man who is concealed with red robes and bandages. Riku appears as a playable character in the second story mode; after being sealed in the realm of darkness, Mickey Mouse and DiZ help him move to the basement of Castle Oblivion.Six members of the Organization serve as antagonists; four appear as bosses in Sora's story mode, and the other two in Riku's. Sora encounters Marluxia, the lord of Castle Oblivion; Larxene, Marluxia's assistant; Axel, a double agent with hidden loyalty; and Vexen, Marluxia's unwilling collaborator while Riku battles Zexion and Lexaeus, Vexen's allies and Vexen himself. Ansem also appears in Riku's story as an entity who attempts to control him. Many of the Disney villains return via memory-based recreations.
Story
As Sora, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket are searching for Riku and King Mickey, a man wearing a black, hooded coat appears and directs Sora toward Castle Oblivion. Upon entering, the friends realize they have forgotten their abilities. The hooded man says as they proceed deep into the castle, they will lose more memories but will uncover new ones. He creates a deck of cards from their memories and tells them everything they encounter in the castle will be based on their memories.Sora ascends the castle and fights other hooded figures who are part of a group called "Organization". As Sora loses his memories, he gradually appears to remember a girl named Naminé, an old friend of his. Organization member Larxene tells Sora that Naminé is being held prisoner in the castle. Sora clashes with a replica of Riku that was created and is controlled by another Organization member, Vexen; both Sora and the replica believe the replica is the real Riku. Axel, an Organization double agent, kills Vexen for his "betrayal" to the Organization, but later releases Naminé and allows her to meet Sora. Sora discovers Naminé has been manipulating his memories under the orders of Marluxia—the man who lured Sora to the castle—as part of his and Larxene's plan to overthrow the Organization. Sora climbs to the highest floor and defeats Larxene and Marluxia, after which Naminé puts Sora and his friends into pod-like machines to help them regain their lost memories. This process will cause them to forget the events that occurred in the castle. Before they are put to sleep, Sora and Naminé promise to meet again as real friends after he reawakens.
In Reverse/Rebirth, which occurs concurrently with the game's main story, Riku is transported from the realm of darkness to Castle Oblivion's deepest basement. As he traverses the castle, Riku fights figments of previous enemies to combat his inner darkness. Vexen fights Riku to obtain his data and creates Riku's replica to counter Marluxia's plan. Ansem tries to regain control of Riku, still residing within his heart, but Mickey's power keeps Ansem at bay. Along the way, Riku battles and defeats Lexaeus, a member of Vexen's circle, but is dragged into the realm of darkness. Mickey saves Riku before Ansem nearly succeeds in taking Riku's body as his own. With Marluxia eliminated, another of Vexen's allies, Zexion, attempts to dispose of Riku by drowning him in light. Riku is saved by Naminé disguised as Kairi, who helps him to control his darkness, allowing Riku to defeat Zexion. Riku later meets DiZ, an enigmatic individual who sends him to find Naminé. Riku's replica, who has learned of his altered memories, kills Zexion and steals his abilities under Axel's manipulation, seeking to justify his existence by killing Riku, but Riku destroys the replica. Naminé urges Riku to either confront Ansem directly or seal him within his heart at the cost of his memories; Riku chooses the former and defeats Ansem after Diz summons him for Riku to fight. Riku then sets out with Mickey on a journey to use both his darkness and light.