Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories
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Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories

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Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts ReChain of Memories Logo KHRECOM.png
キングダム ハーツ Re:チェイン オブ メモリーズ
Kingudamu Hātsu Re: Chein obu Memorīzu
Developer(s) Square Enix
Publisher(s) Square Enix
Release date(s) Japan March 29, 2007
United States/Canada December 2, 2008
Genre Action role-playing game
Game modes Single player
Ratings CERO:A
ESRB: E10+
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
"Memory is the key."
—Tagline

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories is a full remake of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, released on the PlayStation 2. In Japan, it is part of the Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ compilation and has connectivity features with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. As there were no plans to release Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix internationally, these features were modified for the North American release.

The game was remastered in high definition and released as part of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX for PlayStation 3 on March 14, 2013. It was available in Europe and Australia for the very first time as part of the collection. This edition of the game further alters the previous connectivity bonuses by instead allowing additional content from watching the collection's scenes from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. It was later released on PlayStation 4 as part of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX.

Development

An example of a scene redone in 3D.

Due to the original Game Boy Advance release being on a different platform than the other mainline games and selling worse that the first game, many Kingdom Hearts fans skipped that entry and waited until Kingdom Hearts II. This caused issues with the coherency of this next game, as playing Chain of Memories was crucial to understand the plot. The opening movie of Kingdom Hearts II offered a very brief recap of the previous two games, but many were still met with confusion over the plot of the game. Due to these complaints, a remake of this game was decided to be made for PlayStation 2 so the entire series would be on one system.[citation needed]

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories was a total redesign of the game into a three-dimensional computer-rendered game for the PlayStation 2, in the same style as the other released entries in the series, Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. This revamp included changing the battle arenas from two dimensional screens without "height" into full three-dimensional arenas, allowing enemies to rise out of the player's range.

Additionally, these arenas can be aesthetically varied, even within the same world, while in the original game there was only one arena design per world. The "Duel" system was added to Riku's battle mechanics, and the Reaction Command system of Kingdom Hearts II was incorporated into both Sora and Riku's battle mechanics, generally to replace instances where the player would press the "A" button to continue a combo attack.

The game now has fully voice-acted full motion videos and the use of voice-acting within gameplay. While the dialogue for the game was recorded using the voice actors used in Kingdom Hearts II, the voicing and sound effects within gameplay relied largely on existing clips. In some cases, such as the Sora's invocation of the Stop spell, these clips were only available using the Kingdom Hearts voice-actors. As the scenes were now fully rendered, rather than being acted out with sprites, the violence within the game was more apparent, and the game's rating was raised from E to E10+, for Fantasy Violence.

The game's card system and overall plot remained the same as the original Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, and "Simple and Clean" is the game's theme song. However, there were many small tweaks to the storyline, as well as the addition of new Cards, Sleights, bosses, and a Theater Mode to re-watch the game's full-motion videos.

Quick Save option and Link Mode had been removed.

Changes

New features

Features

Gameplay

Sora fighting Heartless.
  • In the Japanese version, having a cleared Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix save file on the memory card will allow Sora to obtain a second set of treasures from the Room of Rewards on each floor, plus some extra Bounties on some floors.
    • In the North American release, these were unlocked upon clearing Reverse/Rebirth.
    • In HD 1.5 Remix, these were unlocked upon watching the collection's scenes from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.
  • The High Jump, Glide, and Superglide support abilities are available for Sora.
  • Items can now only be collected once in each room unless, a new room has been created (or the rooms for the entrance and exit of that world have been reset). As such, Barrels and Barrel Spiders no longer reappear if Sora or Riku reenters a room.
  • The Swing Speed stat for Sora's Attack Cards have been removed.
  • The effects of several Sleights were modified such as Cloud's Omnislash, several of Sora's Keyblade Sleights (Blitz, Sonic Blade, Ars Arcanum), and several Friend Card sleights (Ariel, Peter Pan, Beast) to where Triangle prompts appear in order for them to be fully used, akin to Reaction Commands.
  • Many new props feature throughout the field, such as flowers in Wonderland which block doors and projectile-firing obstacles.[citation needed]
  • Zantetsuken and Sonic Blade are now available to learn at levels 22 and 27 respectively (the reverse was true previously). Ars Arcanum, Tornado, Holy, Ragnarok, and Mega Flare are now available to learn at 5 levels higher than before at levels 37, 42, 47, 52, and 57, respectively, due to the new sleight Lethal Frame being learned at level 32.
  • Riku's battle mechanics now include the Duel system and its Sleights, and now have the Holy Burst and Inverse Burst Friend Sleights.
  • Due to the removal of Link Mode, the effect of the Darkball and Ansem, Seek of Darkness Enemy Cards have been modified. In addition, as the former is now designed to work with Riku's Duel system, it is no longer available in Sora's Story, and has been added to Riku's deck as a secondary regular Enemy Card for the Atlantica floor other than Sea Neon.
  • The effectiveness of Riku's strength is slightly amplified from the original game.
  • Riku can use The King card in Destiny Islands and Twilight Town after the battle against Lexaeus.
  • The Hidden Chamber which is accessed with the Key to Rewards card has been renamed as the Room of Rewards. In addition when viewed on the map, it is now counted as a special room instead of a regular room.
  • A Room of Rewards has been added for the Castle Oblivion floor, unlike the original, which was the only floor that did not have a Hidden Chamber.
  • The special rooms when viewed on the map now glow white to identify which one to open, making it easier to know which one to go to in worlds that use multiple Keycards. Also, when Sora has a Key to Rewards card in his possession, the Room of Rewards location is revealed by a blue glow.
  • The attack and magic cards played by Axel, Larxene, Vexen, Marluxia, Lexaeus, Zexion, Captain Hook, Hades, Cloud, Ansem, and the Riku Replica depict different facial expressions, depending on their effect.
  • During his final battles with both Sora and Riku, the Riku Replica's left hand is immersed in an orb of darkness.
  • When transforming into Dark Mode, Riku now says "Darkness" instead of simply screaming.
  • The health bar the enemies use has been altered to resemble the one from Kingdom Hearts II.
  • The piece "The 13th Floor", played outside of Worlds, is melodically different. Instead of handbells playing an ascending interval, chimes now play a descending interval.

Battle

  • While battling the Parasite Cage, the stomach acid will not inflict damage if Sora is reloading his deck.
  • Several bosses that use sleights have new and/or removed sleights.
  • The final Marluxia battle has been split into two sub-battles. The first is generally the same as the original final battle, albeit on a standard circular arena instead of in a sub-space-esque field, while the second is set entirely on top of Marluxia's Specter, and features him as much more aggressive, with several powerful Sleights.
  • Lexaeus can enter a temporary state of invulnerability and increased strength via his Charge technique.
  • Ansem's first battle has been converted into a tutorial of Riku's new abilities (Rapid Break and Duel Sleights).
  • Riku now confronts Zexion in a boss battle. During this battle, Zexion can steal Riku's cards, and Riku remains within Dark Mode for the duration of the fight.
  • Bosses with vulnerability to stun remain stunned for much longer.
  • If any regular hit from an Attack Card within a card stack gets blocked, the subsequent cards from the stack now get cancelled.

Storyline

  • Flashbacks from the first Kingdom Hearts are included in cutscenes.
  • The scene from Kingdom Hearts Final Mix that involves Sora fighting Xemnas as the Unknown is put into the opening cutscene.
  • Axel finishes off Vexen by immolating him with a snap of his fingers.
  • Goofy throws his shield at Larxene to temporarily distract her when she attacks Sora.
  • When Sora was attacked by Larxene, Donald uses Curaga to heal him.
  • On Floor 12, the Riku Replica is standing up and a Reaction Command triggers a cutscene and boss battle.
  • During the climax of Sora's story, when Axel attempt to execute Marluxia for his betrayal, they have a brief fight before Marluxia uses Naminé as a shield. Marluxia also never leaves the room until the end of the fight.
  • Riku is defeated and about to be destroyed by Lexaeus, using his final strength, only to be possessed by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and defeat him.
  • When Zexion's disguise as Sora is revealed, he directly battles Riku but is defeated and, fearful for his life, teleports away.
  • After the Riku Replica's final defeat against Riku, he is swallowed by darkness.
  • An extended scene of Roxas is shown along with Hayner, Pence, and Olette at the ending of the game.
  • At the ending to the game, a scene of the Organization's unseen members is shown.
  • When Axel first introduces himself to Sora, he says "Got it memorized?" as opposed to "Commit it to memory."
  • Axel no longer says, "...give me a hell of a show!", as he did in Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories. Instead, he says, "Try and make it enjoyable, Sora."
  • In Larxene's first encounter with Sora, her "through" is misspelled as "though". This line is later fixed in the remake.

Changes in worlds

External links