Information
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (キングダムハーツ チェインオブメモリーズ) was originally released for the Game Boy Advance. It was released on November 11, 2004 in Japan and on December 7, 2004 in North America, followed by Europe and Australia on May 6, 2005. The game was later remade for the PlayStation 2 and titled Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories. Re:Chain of Memories was originally released in Japan on March 29, 2007 as a part of the Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ package, and later released on December 2, 2008 in North America as a seperate game.
Chronologically, Chain of Memories directly follows Kingdom Hearts and occurs during Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. The game follows Sora from his arrival at Castle Oblivion until the beginning of his memory restoration from Naminé. It also follows Riku from his arrival at Castle Oblivion until his departure and decision to go down the middle road, the Road to Dawn.
Like Kingdom Hearts, the theme song of Chain of Memories is Hikari in the Japanese versions, and Simple and Clean in the English versions. Both songs are by Utada Hikaru. Other music in the game is composed by either Yoko Shimomura or Kaoru Wada.
Story
Sora, Donald and Goofy, travelling down a long path after their defeat of Ansem, encounter a strange man in a black cloak outside a castle. They enter Castle Oblivion, and the cloaked figure expains how the castle works, and that Sora will visit worlds based on his memories on each castle floor. As he goes up the castle, Sora meets various cloaked members, known as members of the Organization. Sora, Donald and Goofy begin to lose their memories, as the Organization is using Naminé to manipulate Sora. Naminé replaces Sora's memories of Kairi with memories of herself.
After a while, Sora encounters a replica of Riku, made by Vexen to trick Sora. Sora defeats Vexen, and Vexen is eliminated by Axel, another member. Sora eventually reaches Naminé and destroys Larxene. Naminé reveals that she has been altering Sora's memories, and Sora destroys Marluxia, the leader of Castle Oblivion. At this point, apart from Axel, who betrayed the group, all Organization XIII members who were in Castle Oblivion have been destroyed. Naminé, along with DiZ, starts the process of restoring Sora's memories.
Meanwhile, whilst Sora is going up floors in the castle, Riku awakens in the castle's basement. Riku also travels up floors of the castle, revisiting worlds from his memories and encountering Organization members. Riku destroys Lexaeus confronts Zexion, who is destroyed by the Riku Replica under guidance from Axel. Later, Riku encounters Vexen and the Riku Replica. The Riku Replica is eventually destroyed by the original, and Riku meets with DiZ, an independant figure aiming to infiltrate the Organization. Riku also meets with King Mickey in the castle, and after seeing Naminé and understanding that Sora is having his memories restored, leaves the castle along the Twilight road, the Road to Dawn.
Gameplay
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories differs from other Kingdom Hearts titles in that, rather than a command-based system of fighting, the game is instead card based. In real-time, players cycle through their custom-made deck, and select a card to play, which acts as a command. Various types of cards exist, including attack, magic, item, friend, enemy and trick.
Each card has a number between 0 and 9. If a player or enemy plays a card, and another card is played, then the card with the higher number, or "card value", will be broken, leaving its owner vunerable for a few seconds. A card value of 0 can break any card, but can then be broken by any card. Three cards can be stocked together, and played at once, giving them a combined card value.
Upon leveling up, after gaining the required experience, a player may choose to increase their HP, CP, or learn a new sleight. Sleights, similar to abilities, are special attacks that can be used, triggered by a certain set of three stocked cards, differing with each sleight.
The game is progressed through by travelling through floors of the castle. On each floor, a word is visited, and to progress through this world, the player must go through rooms. To gain access to a new room, a certain room card is required. To gain room cards, the player must defeat a group of Heartless. Events may also occur between floors.
After playing through Sora's story, Riku's story is unlocked. This, titled "Reverse/Rebirth" mode, follows a similar style. However, in this mode, Riku is not able to customize his deck. This deck changes throughout the game.
Development
Chain of Memories for the Game Boy Advance first began development after Kingdom Hearts II. The game was later announced and featured at Tokyo Game Show 2003, and later featured at Tokyo Game Show 2004, before releasing in 2004. The English version was also featured at E3 2004.
Chain of Memories was developed by Square Enix and Jupiter. The game was designed by Tetsuya Nomura, and writen by Daisuke Watanabe.
Chain of Memories received ratings of Everyone from the ESRB and G8+ from the OFLC. Re:Chain of Memories received ratings of A from CERO, and E10+ from the ESRB.
Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories (キングダムハーツ Re:チェインオブメモリーズ) was originally released in Japan on March 29, 2007 as a part of the Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ package for PlayStation 2. Later, the game was released in North America on December 2, 2008. It received ratings of A from CERO, and E10+ from the ESRB. There has not yet been any announcement of a European or Australian release. Re:Chain of Memories includes 3D cutscenes and gameplay, as well as voice acting. A full list of changes is below.
Covers
 Japan |
 North America |
 Europe |
 Re: |
Characters
Worlds
External Links
Official Japanese Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories website
Official English Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories website
Official
English Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories website
