PS2

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories

Role-playing (RPG)TacticalCard & Board Game

Time to beat: about 22.4 hours
Plays offline: Yes

Overview

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is a 2004 action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and Jupiter and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive for the Game Boy Advance (GBA). 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 (FMV).

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 (PS2) 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 (HD) and included in the Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix collection: released in 2013 for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) and later for PlayStation 4 (PS4), Xbox One, and personal computer (PC).