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The main reason why GBA version of Chain of Memories was superior to PS2 - "BLAZING DUCK" sleight - where Donald Duck messes up Firaga spell, sets himself on fire instead and runs around on fire while spreading it to every Heartless around.

I absolutely loved the original chain of memories as a kid. Adapting it into a 3D game was a mistake for a number of reasons. I always recommend people to play the original if possible.

Chain of Memories on GBA was my first Kingdom Hearts game. I remember liking it a lot. It didn't have as many of the broken sleights as Re:CoM. Sonic Blade was still broken, but I remember CoM requiring a healthier balance of skill and deck building.

Despite my issues with the gameplay and usage of Disney worlds, I still think Chain of Memories easily has one of the best stories in the series.

Wrong. GBA Chain of Memories also had the Reverse/Rebirth campaign of Riku.

I forgive this games lack of importance for the Disney Worlds during Riku's campaign since the game establishes that because Riku was throwing everything away in KH1 such as his Home and Friendship the only thing that was left in his heart was Darkness (and by CoM he wanted to throw even that away), so all he gets to see in his memory worlds while inside Castle Oblivion are beings of darkness and the villains who exploited it, the same group of people that Riku was hanging out with in the 1st game. The game makes it a point to highlight Riku's isolation. As Ansem SoD himself says _"You should count yourself fortunate that you have the darkness to keep you company otherwise you'd truly be alone."_

This is one weird SMT game

You can tell that the developers were exhausted by the end of Riku’s campaign too. Sora’s Castle Oblivion is a sprawling huge level, while Riku’s is four whole rooms. I like Re:COM but playing both stories back to back really wears you out

One day we'll figure out what Kingdom Hearts is

11:37 i'd suggest rather than a limit on sleights that MP be used as its in nearly every other game

I made this game, btw.

It's like Persona, without the [[[[[Kingdom]]]]]] heart

I actually really loved the original on GBA. I didn't even know the remake was as early as on the PS2. And I didn't even know it was ever made in 3D, it actually looks weird in 3D. Also I think you're being way too harsh on the balance of the game. You are very heavily overestimating the ability of the average player to create a good deck. The gameplay is far from being easy to pick up especially the counter mechanic. Personally I played the game as a teen and I never really figured out the really broken combos and the game felt challenging to me in the end. Yes it would be better if it was more balanced, but I don't think it's as bad as you make it sound. Especially on first playthrough without guide.

re:com originaly came as part of KHII:FM in japan in 2007. Since they didn't localise FM, re:com was brought as a stand alone title in America in 2008

That time stop sleight is OP as fuck.

This game was the source of one of my few "dumb kid" gaming habits where back in the day I spammed sleights no matter what and ended with 1 card in the middle of boss fights XP

About the over powered decks and sleights, stun locking is only really a thing in re:com, and lethal frame is a re:com exclusive sleight, the gba original didnt have any of that, the broken sleights in that game where elemental raids combined with boost enemy cards, but even then for those to be effective you need to space them correctly so they multi hit and that isnt really easy to do on the organization members, who move a lot. (edit) The jafar enemy card also doenst apply to sleigths in gba com, buffing only normal keyblade cards, which deal much less damage than in re:com, probably for being the fastest and safest option you have. That being said, the game is still easy to break, blizzaga makes quick work of mob fights and you can make a zantetsuken only deck to completely drain bosses of cards (this one might take a few minutes, especialy if you dont break item cards). This is just a minor defence of the combat system of this game, with it being in 3d on the remake, i imagine it not being broken like it is would be very hard to make.

GBA version doesn't have lock-on so stacking doesn't work on bosses, GBA version is just the best version, you should change the title of the video

I really tried to give this game a chance. After all, it was the next main game in series that introduced elements that would pay off later in KH II. But, I just could not get used to the card based combat, because, as you stated, it’s very flawed. So I did the only thing I could and watched the cutscenes online.

I honestly think the GBA version plays better than the PS2 remake does.

The only card game I've played so far that possibly broke my controller

Chain of Memories is quite literally, my least favorite video game I’ve ever played. The story is one of the most well executed and original stories the series has done, but the gameplay made it so I didn’t even want to finish the game.

CoM (and the Remake) is one of my favorite KH games gameplay wise, it's amazing ❤️❤️

As someone who just wanted to finish this game for context reasons for Kingdom Hearts 2, that game was painful for me, I hate card games, and I know is my fault making the game way too hard since I just brute forced putting no strategy on mu deck just high value cards and hoping for the best... But really Jafar saved my life, I got stuck on Vexen fight for ages and when I read the effect of the Jafar card, ir really was a game changer haha

I believe the reason the Disney content is taking a “backseat” as you say is probably because it needed room for another story to be told. A much more dark and sinister story than the first game. The Disney content is more like filler. I’m not sure they did this intentionally but I like the idea they made them having the Disney characters benched. But I do agree that the Disney world are a bit bland.

two balance things that i think are worth noting here going from the original to Re: 1) Lethal Frame (or Lethal Flame if you're playing the original PS2 version, lol) did not exist. it was Stop Raid in that game, which is exactly what it sounds like (Strike Raid that inflicts Stop on hit... which was a lot less broken, lol). 2) Riku's Duel system did not exist either, making same-numbering useless at best for him... in exchange, it was always a lot more obvious what the strategy they wanted you to use was for a given world (ex: Traverse Town gave a low-numbered deck, but also the Shadow card that increases the value of your cards), and your between-worlds Castle Oblivion deck was just straight up better, lol

I think the biggest problem with how OP sleights are is that not using them feels like a major handicap. You hit a point with Sora where it feels like if you don't stun lock them, they will stun lock you constantly. Stun locking sleights feel like the only real method to fight against them. I also much prefer Riku's gameplay, the big aspect that the bosses there don't really stun lock you into oblivion like they do with sora. It just feels far more balanced even if a couple worlds give extremely trash cards.

I absolutely love Lethal Frame, prob the best attack in KH for me. I used the crap out of it when fighting Marluxia hahah

You know, the exact reason you see the battle system as flawed is what makes it sound interesting to me. I've never played any games in this series, but having that all in one collection on the switch or whatever is a little tempting just out of curiosity. And I happen to have the exact opposite opinion, fundamentally, than you do about game balance. I think that great games with certain busted mechanics are still great, and there's no problem just playing without those things if they ruin the game. Let me make my case with three examples. 1. Symphony of the Night, and the Crissaegrim. It's a low percentage drop, you're unlikely to get it unless farming... and if you do get it, just don't use it if you want more of a challenge. The game is breakable in many other ways, and still a masterpiece. 2. Shin Megami Tensei 3 Nocturne. One can, in endgame, form a party that is untouchable. You have to experience the whole game to do so though, so I don't think that kind of situation even really counts. Final Fantasy Tactics also with Chapter 4 and either Cid or your Calculator or your Ninja with Blade Grasp etc... like it's okay, figuring out how to get powerful is a big part of the game, and you've again seen everything and gotten past the end of Chapter 3, so you deserve it. Etc. 3. Final Fantasy 8, and all of its mechanics basically. Yes, you can exploit nearly every aspect of the game from the very start, and exploit the design by deliberately not gaining exp, use nothing but limit breaks in battle, junction to the moon, get OP stuff from abusing the card game... take your SEED test to the max right off the bat and be making bank, I remember doing that the first time I played just because I could and feeling clever for it... same with drawing 100 of anything junctioned to a stat... But there is absolutely no reason one can't start a new game and treat it like any other FF, gaining levels normally, drawing magic once per battle or something like that.. not exploiting anything... and the game ends up being really fun, and surprisingly challenging the later you get in it... like it has a well designed difficulty curve!

Chain of Memories on the GBA is the only Kingdom Hearts game I've played

Kh memories would have to be the best game where sora is actually human and gets mad

The ps2 version of the game I finished Sora’s campaigns at level 60 and Riku’s at 30 In the GBA version I finished Sora’s at 80 and Riku’s at 60 Can’t tell if it was easier to level in GBA or harder so thus I had to grind more

A lot of the issues and things you mentioned came from it being adapted as a gba introduction to Kingdom hearts for kids that couldn't get a PS2. It was meant as a cliff's notes for them with a little razzle dazzle tossed in so they felt like they had their own thing. It was fun to talk to PS2 friends about the details of the 1st game and then telling them about the stuff that happened in CoM. When Japan got this in the trinity limit set I was a little jealous, but the community part would have been lost and it made me appreciate the original more. They added a bunch of stuff like sleights, and card rebalancing and it kind of rebalanced the gameplay for the worst.

Come forth Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

Chain of Memories isn't fundamentally flawed. Re:Chain definitely is. Most of your major gripes with the gameplay being too easy (stunlocking bosses, op sleights, dueling being op) are Re:Chain exclusive... GBA requires more thought put into both deckbuilding and moment-to-moment combat. It may have not been a perfect game, but judging it by its remake that changed something as fundamental as the number of dimensions is a little unfair I feel

Perfect timing lol i played through all the games this month and i was craving kh content

I feel like you should have added the Re part in the title since you based the analysis on the ps2 not the gba

I love hearing other people's opinions on games man. It's interesting that you prefer Sora, because after playing WAY too much of CoM for the Platinum Trophy, I actually prefer Riku's side of the game pretty permanently, while Sora's only gets worse the more I've learned how to play it. Grant it, I haven't done a playthrough of Sora's where I don't use my vast knowledge of the game's mechanics to my advantage or set a limitation for myself, part of my brain just doesn't like that I KNOW the optimal strategy and there's no fun reason not to use it. Riku, on the other hand, doesn't get the chance to break his deck (Unless the game does it for you), the dueling system is neat and his final fight with Ansem is a really fun dodge/duel/sleight fight. Playing with uniquely built decks is certainly fun, but if you try and not use the sleights that win fights either too much or not at all, then Sora becomes kind of a slog. .. Also, Marluxia just kinda' sucks to fight almost across the board, so there's that too.

Loved the GBA game, didn’t even know they remade it

For some reason players always point out Sonic Blade. It's interesting. Blitz is way better and easier to make. Anyways, card breaking just ruins it for me since it means you never have to put any effort into basic encounters (black cards used by the enemy can't turn into sleights except for the final boss, and even then the numbers are always the same)

Alright, can someone explain to me why I found your channel just yet? Good work!

"Axel and Larxene are the only ones with a discernable personality." Vexen: (spit-take) AM I A JOKE TO YOU!?

Guys, consider: This is basically the granddaddy of all the deck building roguelike dungeon crawlers that are popular nowadays, just with an ARPG battle system. Pog. Also, the game was tough as nails on GBA, so Re must have broken it beyond belief. I had a friend back in grade school who literally just no-hit perfect d Marluxia though. Was pretty funny. I could never do that.

I really wanted to enjoy chain of memories ...but the map card thing you lightly touched upon happend to me and in the worst possible way. I'm in neverland on the GBA and need a map card with a 9 value. And I do mean NEED as its for the crucial story door But as I have ZERO control over what type of card drops and the value of said card I am now stuck...spawning room after room with more heartless...the combat is now becoming tedious and I still dont have the card I need. The fact that Random Drops/RNG have completely halted me kinda ticks me off. I want to progress...but until luck smiles on me and gives me what I need I cant move forward. So for me it's a hard game to reccomend...when random drips have a chance to completely halt progress Is RE:Com any better than the gba port? Do not know...I've got it but haven't really played it... But that's my view on it It was fun until the game forced me into a seemingly never ending cycle of beating enemies in the attempts of getting a 9 map card.

15:45 I spent 3 HOURS at the beginning of riku's campaign farming cards because i needed blue cards with a value of 30 to open a door. I went 3 hours without getting a card i needed. three hours in i got a ROULETTE card and that let me get the blues i needed in about another 20 minutes It was so bad that i was able to skip enemy encounters for the rest of the game and get through just fine. every door i came across after that point i was able to open instantly and i wasnt even underleveled for the bosses, or at least it didnt matter.

It's not really fair to lump both the original and the remake together. There's quite a few changes between them that really makes a difference and I'd suggest different ways to fix the problems, mainly by reverting some of those changes and tweaking the balancing. I'm not a fan of limiting how many times you can use a sleight. You're already limited by losing the first card and CP limits. You get better item cards as rewards for progression and exploration which eventually lets you bypass the card loss and make abusable sleight decks so I think a better fix would be getting those sleights a little later. But I'm pretty sure the devs knew the battling would get pretty dull and monotonous with just how much you have to do and how little else there is to do so allowing you to get to a point where you can finish battles quickly with powerful sleights was probably intended. This was a GBA game after all that wasn't made to be a long campaign so the power progression was designed to be quick. Other "fixes" without drastically changing things are making Jafar's effect not work for sleights (like the GBA version) and shorten the hitstun on abusable sleights or weaken them. Sonic Blade should be made breakable after the first one or two hits which still makes it useful for clearing enemies (a perfectly fine use for it) but not as abusable against bosses who have 0 cards. And Lethal Frame, which wasn't in the original game btw, should have a much shorter stun so that you can't stun lock bosses or chain them together and enemies should have a chance to break it in between hits if the AI gets the timing right. The original GBA game was more balanced imo, probably because the battle system was designed for multiplayer, and Re:CoM's new sleights and mechanics make it way easier to break a single player game. But also, a lot of these mechanics and design decisions were really made for the pick-up-and-go playstyle of the GBA. The gameplay loop breaks down into bite-sized chunks with lots of repetitive battles, identical rooms, and later powerful sleights that can kill whole groups of enemies quickly. It wasn't made for a full console gaming experience and if you start Re:CoM with that expectation you're setting yourself up for disappointment. Honestly, I think it's still great even in 3D and people need to give this game a chance and stop comparing it to its predecessor because it wasn't designed to be like its predecessor. Riku's mechanics are also a decent postgame change of pace. With a much shorter campaign, having the twist of premade decks with only healing through Friend cards is enough of a challenge without relying heavily on leveling up. Also Re:CoM makes it super easy to get desired map cards using Roulette rooms. You shouldn't need to use them too often and the game drops a ton for you so there shouldn't be any point that you're out of Roulette cards or seriously grinding for map cards. That was a problem with the GBA version that was fixed in the remake. Again, it's really not fair to lump both games together when you're critiquing a problem in one version of the game that isn't present in the other.

I hated the card system. I tried to have fun and give it a chance and i was just stuck at marluxia for some time. If it was simplified and played like kingdom hearts one and 2 then i would have appriciated it more. I love the idea of summoning sora's friends and I wish more of the games had sora collecting friends and allies becuase of the theme of friendship vs lonliness to mix up playstyles.

All time favorite KH game. Don't care what no one says.

I remember having a lot of fun organizing my card deck and just destroying the enemy mobs... for the 3 first battles after I finally got used to the card battle system. By the time I got the disney worlds after Larxene's first fight, I was getting bored because the pacing of the gameplay was starting to drain me. And to top it all off in a nice little bow, Castle Oblivion's 13th floor was a nightmare for me. I spent days on the floor not because of difficulty, but because of the cards needed to unlock the doors to progress (which many I didn't have and had to grind for it) and, again, pacing. I really like this game's story and everything regarding Naminé, and I still prefer playing this game over BBS, but it's flawed in its gameplay

Great video as usual

ReChain makes me wonder if they intentionally leaned into Sleight spam with additions like Lethal Frame and mainly how extremely buffed Axel and Larxene's first fights are. Axel's Fire wall is the prime example, it went from a slow attack that didn't even reach the edge of the screen at times that mainly served as a Dodgeroll tutorial to being full screen with an awkward telegraph that has a ton of active frames to catch dodge roll, essentially requiring having a 0 or using a higher numbered sleight. Or Larxene's thunder which is, to my knowledge impossible to consistently dodge which encourages Sleight spam since that's pretty much the only way to not take guaranteed damage.

can't wait for 358/2 days!!!!

I thought I was crazy for absolutely hating the ps2 version, the game boy version I think was a bit more fine tuned

Ive played this on the GBA and hard a hard time trying to play the PS3 version. Sometimes the nostalgia glasses are strong. Yet I really like this game, despite its flaws.

Little me used to be so confused playing this, somehow expecting a normal Kingdom Hearts.

"Heart of the cards"

Can't wait for KH2!

Very good analysis, it gets 1 thumb up from me :)

Does soras keyblade cut things or does it just hit hard?

So I agree that re chain was definitely the better game to cover I do believe that the original is better for the card combat overall because Jafar does not keep all cards from being broken, instead it only does it for keyblade cards and their sleights, so if you add one magic card to the mix it can be broken. As well for lethal frame that wasn't in the original so it wasn't something that made the game revolve around just grinding till you get the sleight, yes sonic blade is broken and probably a lot better since you can clear a whole room with like 3 of them tops but overall for me personally I would say that the Gba is the better experience for me.

My favorite KH, played all but KH3 so far, just got done with DDD after marathoning the whole series, been a fan since the beginning but went on hiatus when Birth By Sleep came out. I definitely admit it does have problems, I wish people loved it more, but hey. I applaud you for being so thorough with your review, Nam! I've loved your work since the P3 review!

New Nam video say less

It's nice to know some people like the cards and decks I guess, I absolutely hate it and could not get thru a third world

Is there any reason to play the GBA version over the remake aside from voiced cutscenes? I prefer the sprites over the models

I'm trying to collect all the cards now. I just spend a few hours every now and then. I've got less than 10 cards to collect now.

Okay, but will bosses be constrained to the same fight rules as the player?

Imagine playing KH2 and wondering why it's called Organisation XIII although 5 or 6 of them got already offed in the GBA title you didn't play lol Naminé is to this day one of my favorite characters. Her powers are so unique and were really crazy back then in the...easier to understand era of KH

I love this game instantly my top 3 favorite kingdom hearts games.

I liked this game on my 2 playthroughs But when i platinum it, i hated it even more than DDD platinum

As a kid I was so BLOWN AWAY by the full 3D cutscenes on the gameboy advance

I understand you need the money, but getting sponsored by Raid Shadow Legends and talking about how ‘great’ it is really discredits the rest of the video.

I think CoM is better because it using the card system could be excused. The GBA had 6 freakin buttons(including l,r, select and start.) and a d pad and its a tiny system using a cartage. Re CoM has absolutely no excuse except trying to be faithful remake of a game that came out on a system with limited capabilities. What I am saying is they should have changed the system to be more like KH1. The primary plot did NOT require the use of any cards other than world cards. The maps themselves could literally have been the KH1 worlds perhaps with some slight modification or barriers to not have to use the full map.

I remember ReCoM was the first game I’ve just quit mid way through because of how dull and mind numbing it was And by I remember I mean yesterday

The original game also had rikus story minus the zexion fight lol

this game was made to BE 2D lol it really is all over the place in 3D :(

One issue I found that could be fitted better is the enemy cards and the new keyblades from Days. Because of the lack of post-game, optional bosses and objectives aside from the main story, it feels that they are utterly useless. The drop rate for enemy cards is awful, meaning that you probably won't acquire them to use during a playthrough unless you spent a time grinding (Which is tiring and boring.) Also, the other stuff like the secret org members cards and keyblades don't have a good place to utilize due to they being very powerful and having a high cost.

Keep doing analysis I really enjoy your video essays. I’m a huge fan of all the games and I feel I can relate to most of the points you make about the game

Are you sure you couldn’t play as riku in the original? I’m almost certain I played as him back in the day on the gba

Glad to see people recognize how much better the GBA version is.

Hey, uh... Reverse/Rebirth was in the original for the GBA. You had to beat Sora's story to unlock it, same as RE. Don't know how you made that mistake.

All the Kingdom Hearts games are greatly flawed. They're just all flawed in different ways.

the only thing i could dislike about the game is that it never gave us a chance to solve the mystery of wtf was in the letter that pluto had in his mouth xD also i really want to find out what did mickey had to say in said letter 😔😭

15:44 this happened to me at the door to Marluxia. No matter what I tried, I just couldn't get the cards I needed to get to the final boss, so I eventually just gave up on it. That's a big part of why I lowkey hate this game

I was never fast enough to trigger duels consistently, imagine how tough the final boss turned out to be until I started spamming dark firaga

Honestly, I usually describe it as "a bad kh game but not a bad game", because the mechanics could have made it great, it just....didn't, for obvious reasons

Who hasn't played both of these games yet?

How the GBA version functions is just black magic. It is has no right to look as good as it did. Re:Chain of Memories on PS2 and in the PS4 collection is definitely easily than the GBA one due to two things. One, combat is done in an actual 3D environment making it easier to track and dodge enemies. Two, dodge is a dedicated button instead of double tapping in a direction. I remember using one sleight that could one-shot most enemies on the final floor with used correctly.

I loved the story of Kingdom Hearts CoM, I kinda liked the card system, Sora's game was okay... but Riku's part was just boring

I think Chain of Memories has my favorite stand alone story in the entire series. But it has the worst gameplay. Funnily enough, I have the exact opposite opinion of DreamDropDistance.

Making a direct sequel to a ps2 game was one of gamings biggest bullshit moves. Myself like many others skipped this game due to the jump from ps2 to GBA being too drastic, and the combat with cards being ass. As a result we missed integral parts of the story leading up to KH2 and were confused as soon as the opening cinematic scene started.

KH2 is probably the best game i have ever played

Damn 4 min in and already see that you didn’t know reverse rebirth was in the og. Smh

i wanted to play kingdom hearts not yugioh. although riku seems like more of a magic the gathering kind of guy.

Chain of Memories rules, Raid Shadow Leg Ends sucks

They remade the one the Kingdom Hearts game that didn’t need a remake lmfao. 358/2 deserved that remake THE MOST and yet, they said “fuck no” 😂😂😂.

*Sora:* Come Forth Blue Eyes white Dragon 🎴

The biggest crime to me about this game is just that it's boring to play. There are some nifty ideas within the story, even if the story itself overall has a lot of problems, but good God I can't play this for too long without nearly falling asleep. Slightly better than 358/2 Days' gameplay though.

Ok but where’s the Raid sponsor?

I rage quit this one and never looked back