Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories from 2004 is a key side story between the first game and Kingdom Hearts II, developed by studio Jupiter in cooperation with Square Enix specifically for the Game Boy Advance handheld, outside the series' main console line. In it, Sora, Donald, and Goofy lose their memories of their previous adventure and must make their way through the floors of a tower in the mysterious Castle Oblivion, where each individual floor changes the rules, the characters, and the memories that Sora relives, differently from how they actually happened, without initially realizing it himself. Along the way, the player gradually pieces together what happened between the events of the first game and Kingdom Hearts II, which makes the game a mandatory stop for anyone who wants to fully understand the series' story and doesn't want to get lost in the sequel over references to characters and events explained nowhere else.

The most striking change compared to the rest of the series is the combat system: instead of the action-based battle system known from the console entries, the game works with a deck of cards, where each card represents a specific attack, spell, or item, and before each mission the player builds their own deck of limited size, which they then use to fight in real time, pit cards against enemy cards, and even open locked doors using correctly played key cards of matching colors. This card system became one of the most discussed and most imitated elements of the entire series - for the handheld of that time it made sense both technically and design-wise because of the limited number of buttons, but it also fundamentally changes the pace, strategy, and overall feel of the game compared to the rest of Kingdom Hearts. That's precisely why it's an experience different enough from the main line that it deserves an entirely separate place in the catalog.

Why play: Chain of Memories will be appreciated above all by Kingdom Hearts fans who want to understand the important story interlude between the first two games, as well as by players charmed by unconventional combat systems governed strictly by cards.