Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and Japanese studioJupiter and published by Square Enix in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance. The game serves as an intermediary between the two larger-scale PlayStation 2 games in the Kingdom Hearts series. It was one of the first GBA games to incorporate full motion video (FMV). The game was remade into a PlayStation 2 game titled Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories, which was released in Japan as a second disc packaged with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix in March 2007. The remake was released in North America on December 2, 2008.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is the direct sequel to Kingdom Hearts, and its ending is set about a year before Kingdom Hearts II. The story centers around the protagonist of the first game, Sora, exploring a mysterious castle in search of his friends. As he ascends the castle, his friend and rival, Riku, explores the basement levels and fights his personal demons. The game introduced new characters and plotlines that further expanded the Kingdom Hearts universe and set up the premise for Kingdom Hearts II.
Though not as successful as the other Kingdom Hearts games, it received positive reviews and sales. It was praised for its story, graphics, and FMVs. The game features a new card based battle systemthat is a departure from its predecessor. When it debuted in Japan, it sold 104,000 units in 48 hours; a record for a Game Boy Advance title at the time. Since its release, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide.
Gameplay
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is a combination between a console role-playing game and collectible card game. The main role-playing aspect is an experience point system that is used to increase the character's maximum health or Card Points, or to learn a new skill. The cards are utilized in the progression of the story as well as in combat. The game features a field map and battle screen. The field map is an isometric area where the player can traverse between rooms. Enemies inhabit the field map and track the player to engage in combat, which can be initiated through contact between the player and an enemy. Once combat has been engaged, the game switches to the battle screen which utilizes a card-based battle system.
A unique aspect to this game is "room synthesis": to advance through the game, Sora must utilize Map cards that he has found after winning battles to synthesize rooms.The properties of each room―including quality of items and strength of enemies―are determined by the Map cards that the player chooses. 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 itself, such as allowing treasure chests or a save point to appear.
The game features three modes of gameplay. The first two are story modes that feature either Sora or Riku, and the third is a two player battle mode. Initially only Sora's story mode is available; once completed, "Reverse/Rebirth" mode becomes available. Reverse/Rebirth allows the player to play a second story mode featuring Riku and a link mode where players can battle each other via a Game Link Cable
Combat
Combat uses a card-based battle system executed in real time. The player can jump and maneuver around the battle screen as they would on the field map, but all physical attacks, magic, items, and summonings are activated by playing cards. Cards are ranked from zero to nine, and are used for making attack combos or breaking enemy cards. The higher the rank, the more Card Points (CP) are required to place it in the player's deck. Card Points—increased through level up—limit the number of cards the player can use in a deck. Cards with rank "zero" can break any opposing card or combo, but they can be broken by any card as well. Breaking an opposing card will cancel that attack and stun the enemy for a short time. Special enemy cards may be obtained by defeating enemies and bosses, and are used to give Sora a temporary ability, ranging from enhanced offensive and defensive capabilities to modifying the attributes of certain cards.
Combining cards in sets of three will create combo attacks that are more difficult to break because the rank of the combo will be the sum of the ranks of the three cards in the combo. Certain card combinations will create a "sleight", a special combination that will create a powerful physical attack, magical spell, or summon attack. When the player runs out of cards, the deck must be reloaded. Additionally, using a card combination will cause the first card in the combo to become unusable until the end of combat.
Sora's and Riku's stories differ gameplay-wise in several ways. In Sora's story, Sora obtains cards by defeating enemies or through Moogle Shops. In some cases Sora must earn the specific card first through a plot event before it becomes available. Sora can create and store three different decks in the pause menu. Unlike Sora, Riku has a closed deck that cannot be customized. The cards in his deck change depending on the world in which he is traveling. Riku is limited to mainly physical attacks and Mickey Mouse (known in-game as "The King") ally cards. By breaking a certain number of opposing cards, Riku can activate "dark mode" and unlock his sleight attacks.
Plot
Setting
The game takes place in Castle Oblivion, a mysterious castle kept by Marluxia. The castle causes visitors to lose their memories upon entering. The lobby and areas between floors are white with flower-themed decorations, but each floor can be transformed into a different world from the first Kingdom Hearts game using "world cards" created from Sora's memories. Like before, many of the worlds are based on Disney films while the rest were created by Square Enix.
Unlike the previous game, the worlds are created from Sora's memories. As such, many of the events experienced in Kingdom Hearts are relived in this game; Sora re-encounters memory versions of Disney characters that he met before. The individual plotlines differ from those in the original game and revolve around the theme of memory. The exception is the Deep Jungle world which does not reappear in Chain of Memories. Just as Kingdom Hearts had several worlds created specifically for that game, Chain of Memories introduces Twilight Town, in addition to the original worlds of Kingdom Hearts. The world card for Twilight Town was created from memories on "the other side of [Sora's] heart". Although Sora has no direct memories of this world, its significance becomes clear in Kingdom Hearts II.
Characters
Sora returns as the main protagonist of the game. Donald Duck and Goofy also return, but are less involved in the gameplay and story. Like the first game, Chain of Memories features numerous cameos from both the Final Fantasy series and the Disney animated features canon. Being a direct sequel, many of the characters from the first Kingdom Hearts reappear in this installment. As each world and the related characters are recreated from Sora's memories, they interact with Sora as if they had never met before. Chain of Memories also introduces a handful of new characters. Several are members of the enigmatic Organization. Other new characters include Naminé, a young girl capable of manipulating memories, and DiZ, a mysterious man concealed by red robes and bandages. Riku is also featured as a playable character in the second story mode. After being sealed in the realm of darkness at the end of Kingdom Hearts, Riku appears in the basement of Castle Oblivion. During his story, he is aided by King Mickey and DiZ.
Six members of the Organization serve as the main antagonists of the game, though only four appear in Sora's story mode. Among the four are Marluxia, the main antagonist and lord of Castle Oblivion; Larxene, a female member assisting Marluxia; Axel, a double agent whose loyalties are hidden; and Vexen, an unwilling participant in Marluxia's plan. Zexion and Lexaeus, allies of Vexen, appear only in Riku's story mode. Ansem also appears in Riku's story as an entity within Riku trying to gain control of him. Many of the Disney villains return; like the other Disney characters, they are recreated from Sora's memories and interact with him as if they had never met before.
Story
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories takes place directly after the ending of the first game, Kingdom Hearts. Sora and his friends Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket are walking down a winding path when a mysterious man dressed in a black, hooded coat appears. He directs Sora towards a massive fortress called Castle Oblivion and then disappears. When the travelers enter, they find the mysterious figure again. When Sora and his companions attempt to engage the figure, they find that their abilities seem to have no effect. The figure explains that they forgot all of their abilities when they entered the castle. He continues by creating a deck of cards made from Sora's and his friends' memories, and tells them that everything they encounter in this castle will be based on their memories. The higher they go, the more memories they will lose in the process.
Meanwhile, floors below, Riku has been transported from the realm of darkness and fights his personal demons as he battles upward from the basement levels of Castle Oblivion. Neither Riku nor Sora are aware that they are being manipulated by a mysterious group called the Organization. Marluxia, the Organization's lord of Castle Oblivion and the figure who led Sora and his friends there, plans to control Sora with the memory-altering powers of a girl named Naminé and use him to overthrow the rest of the Organization. The Organization members Zexion and Lexaeus catch wind of this plot and seek to counter Marluxia using Riku as their pawn. As Riku ascends Castle Oblivion, he, like Sora, encounters various members of the Organization. Vexen fights Riku to obtain his data and creates a replica of him. The replica embraces the darkness and believes himself to be stronger. After the Riku Replica battles Riku and flees, Vexen decides to use the replica against Sora, after reworking the replica's memory with Naminé's powers.
As Sora ascends through the castle, he battles Larxene, a co-conspirator in Marluxia's plot. Afterwards, he appears to remember Naminé as an old friend of his. He learns that she is being held in the castle, and continues to ascend, clashing with the Riku Replica who now believes himself to be the real Riku. After witnessing the death of Vexen and killing Larxene, Sora learns about his shifting memories and Marluxia's plans from Naminé; Axel, another Organization member who serves as a double agent, had allowed Naminé to meet Sora to foil Marluxia's plans.Sora forms an alliance with the Riku Replica—who discovers that his memory was also altered by Naminé—and they fight to the top of the castle and defeat Marluxia. Naminé then puts Sora and his friends into pod-like machines to help them regain the memories they lost in the castle, even though they would forget the events that transpired in the castle.
As this occurs above, Ansem, who took over Riku's body in the previous game, attempts to regain control of Riku below, but is continually thwarted with the intervention of King Mickey. On the way, Riku battles and defeats Lexaeus, who uses his dying strength to force Riku's darkness to the surface; he nearly succeeds, but the King saves and revives Riku as Sora defeats Marluxia. Later, Riku confronts Zexion, who sees Riku as a threat now that Marluxia has been eliminated, and seeks to dispose of him, but Riku embraces his darkness and overcomes him. Arriving in Twilight Town, Riku meets DiZ, an enigmatic man interested in Riku and sends him to speak with Naminé, but the Riku Replica, who now seeks to justify his existence, fights Riku. After eliminating the Replica, Riku learns from Naminé that what remains of Ansem lives in his heart. Riku chooses to face him and DiZ pulls Ansem from Riku's heart to battle. After defeating Ansem, Riku learns that as long as he has darkness at his command, Ansem still resides within him. He sets out with King Mickey as his companion.
Development
The idea for an intermediary title was developed after director Tetsuya Nomura and his team had already begun to develop ideas for the second Kingdom Hearts game, which he had intended to be set a year after the original. Originally titled Kingdom Hearts: Lost Memories, Nomura changed the name to match the overall outline of the story, while still reflecting the theme of memories. Chain of Memories was developed to bridge the gap between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. Like most sequels, Kingdom Hearts II was planned to have the character start from the beginning, ability-wise. To explain the loss of abilities gained in the previous game, Nomura had the story revolve around Sora's memories getting disorganized and implemented the card battle system to symbolize Sora's various memories.
Nomura was hesitant about releasing a Kingdom Hearts title on the Game Boy Advance, feeling that the 3D graphics of the original game would not translate well into 2D. Nomura changed his position after hearing that children wanted to play Kingdom Hearts on the GBA. After exploring ideas for the gameplay, he felt that a 2D Kingdom Hearts game would be possible, and that it could still feel like and play like what gamers were used to in the original. Meanwhile, Nomura wanted to give the game a "lighter tone" than the PlayStation 2 games.
Chain of Memories was announced along with Kingdom Hearts II at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2003. Initial details included the switch to 2D graphics, the use of cards to perform attacks, and that compressed movies would be utilized in some cut scenes. The cut scene animations were rendered using the graphical engine of the PlayStation 2 iteration and then encoded for the Game Boy Advance by using a technology developed by Japanese company, AM3. To help market the game, Disney and Square Enix launched official Japanese websites. A playable demo was first made available to the public at the 2003 Jump Festa in Japan; this demo and subsequent demos highlighted the card based combat system. Aside from information gathered from the opening sequences, most details regarding the story were kept secret until the release.
The card-based gameplay of Chain of Memories would later serve to inspire the gameplay of Jupiter's next game, The World Ends with You; originally, the team envisioned a similar card game-based system taking place on the lower screen of theNintendo DS, but eventually this morphed to a battle system taking place on both screens, with a card game controlled on the upper screen.
Audio
Much of the music from the original Kingdom Hearts is present in Chain of Memories; the main vocal theme for the Japanese release is "Hikari" , while the English version of "Hikari", "Simple And Clean", is used in the Western releases.Additional and reworked tracks were created for its PlayStation 2 rerelease, Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories. Since the music is reused from the original, a Chain of Memories soundtrack was never released. The new reworked tracks, however, are included on two CDs in the Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete.
Due to the technological limitations of the Game Boy Advance, voice acting was kept to a minimum. Though many characters from Kingdom Hearts were voiced by the cast from before, the Japanese version used the following voice actors: Keiji Fujiwaraas Axel; Tatsuya Kando as Vexen, Marluxia, and Lexaeus; and Rieko Katayama as Larxene. A limited amount of voice acting was added only for the battle sequences. Voice clips from the first Kingdom Hearts were inserted into Chain of Memories. The English version is absent of dialogue; voices during Organization battles are replaced with simple grunts, laughter, and other battle cries.
Reception
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While the least successful in the series, both critically and commercially, Chain of Memories received generally positive reviews and met with successful sales figures. In Japan, it sold 104,000 units in 48 hours, a record for a Game Boy Advance title at the time. Its positive debut sales placed it in the top spot of sales charts in Japan. In the first month of its North American release, it was ranked 1st on GameSpot's ChartSpot for portable systems and 6th for all consoles. By February 2005, it had sold over one million copies in Japan and North America. As of December 2006, Chain of Memories has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide, with 200,000 units in PAL regions, 400,000 units in Japan, and 900,000 units in North America.
Critical response
The game received positive ratings from critics. The card based battle system received mixed reviews. GameSpot called it "unwieldy", while GameSpy called it "engaging" and GameWatch called it original. Reviews also cited that the card battle system was awkward and made it difficult to plan strategies. G4TV commented that the gameplay was well suited for portable play and that it successfully combined card battles and random dungeons, "two much-maligned RPG" elements.Some critics found the Room Synthesis to be far too linear. The most frequent praise went towards the story. IGN called it an “engrossing storyline that actually changes up after the adventure comes to an end" and rated the presentation a 10 out of 10.
The quality of the graphics was well received, particularly the cut scenes. IGN cited them as "wonderfully produced FMV sequences". GameSpot stated that the movies were true to the art style of the original and were on par with GBA video paks. They also commented on the detailed and well animated game sprites.GameWatch described the event scenes as "high quality". Many critics stated that though the graphics were not as good as the PlayStation 2 predecessor, they were very good for a GBA game. G4TV complimented the graphics stating that Chain of Memories was "one of the best-looking GBA games out there."
Versions and merchandise
Like its predecessor, a great deal of merchandise was produced to help market the release of the game. Square Enix released two products to coincide with the release of the video game. The first was a limited edition Kingdom Hearts Game Boy Advance SP set released only in Japan. The set contained the game, a "Kingdom deep silver" GBA SP with the Kingdom Hearts logo, and a carrying strap. The second was a Kingdom Hearts trading card game produced by Tomy. The TCG featured starter decks, playing mats, and booster packs. Fantasy Flight Games later acquired the rights to market it to the English-speaking market. In 2007, a remake for the PlayStation 2, titled Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories was released along with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix in a set, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+. A manga series ran in Monthly Shonen Gangan in Japan, and was later released in the United States. It is accompanied by three novels—two set during Sora's storyline and the third during Reverse/Rebirth, Riku's story. Like the Final Fantasy games and the first Kingdom Hearts game, Square released an Ultimania book on Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories following the release of the game. In North America, BradyGames released a strategy guide with a comprehensive walkthrough.
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