It’s virtually impossible to separate the Kingdom Hearts series from the word “weird,” because at its core it just is is.
What do you mean, there’s a whole bunch of games, literally Final Fantasy meets Disneythat really exists thanks to a real elevator pitch? That’s weird! Fortunately, it is as good as it is strange, but with twelve games in the series you can of course expect some variety there as well. Birth by Sleep mixed things up by letting you play as three different characters, in addition to some combat changes, Dream Drop Distance had some Pokemon-esque elements, Melody of Memory was a strange little rhythm game.
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I think even among all twelve entries there is still one game that is the weirdest of them all, and that was actually the second game released. No, I’m not talking about Kingdom Hearts 2 (I forgive you for thinking that), but about Chain of Memories for the Game Boy Advance. If you can believe it, the much-maligned Kingdom Hearts game is twenty years old today, and people may have issues with it, but I honestly think it might be one of my favorites.
Let’s provide some context: imagine you’re following closely the original Kingdom Hearts, a game that has its own quirks but isn’t nearly as well-known as later entries. Main character Sora saves the day, but ends up in a strange, mysterious dimension, and you wonder what happens to him. Two years later, a new Kingdom Hearts game comes out for the GBA, you pick it up and suddenly… Sora is in a castle? And some hooded figure taunts you as you go through, with a blonde girl who looks like Kairi from the first game, who tricks Sora into believing they’re childhood friends? And you fight with… cards? Like I said, weird! But oh so convincing.
You see, most people these days will generally be more familiar with Re:Chain of Memories, the asset-flipping PS2 remake. Nowadays you can play those quite easily thanks to the HD 1.5 Remix release of the games, except very often you’ll see people telling newcomers to just watch the cutscenes and skip to 2. I think that’s a big mistake, and beyond that I think more people should be encouraged to try to go back and play the GBA original.
As strange as mixing real-time action combat with card-based strategy is, there’s simply no such thing. In the indie scene there are games like Friends vs friends that combines deckbuilding with first-person shooting, but makes Chain of Memories vastly ahead of its time. It’s really fun to put together a deck, layer them in a way to get unique combos and moves, and put them into practice. There’s a level of strategy to it that later Kingdom Hearts games simply don’t have, making for quite a unique gameplay experience.
Honestly, as much as I enjoy Chain of Memories’ quirky gameplay, what really sells it for me is the story. “Boooo” I hear you singing “sisssss.” I hear you seething, but guess which friend sometimes, Kingdom Hearts is actually good, and this is one of those moments. If you didn’t already know, a major theme in the game is memory, specifically ideas about how memories change.
Sora’s memories are forcibly altered throughout the story, and he is desperate to protect them. I can’t help but feel this even harder now, as I look back on my childhood and feel less and less confident in the way I remember various events. . Sure, Donald Duck is there, but he was also there in my childhood, so it’s really not that crazy.
The rest of the Kingdom Hearts games continue to follow up on these themes and explore bigger (and yes, sometimes confusing) themes, but I have such a deep appreciation in my heart for Chain of Memories trying to do something completely different . I hope there’s some of that magic in Kingdom Hearts 4 when it comes out.