Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

 Game Boy Advance
User Score
8.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 287 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 223 out of 287
  2. Mixed: 45 out of 287
  3. Negative: 19 out of 287
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  1. Welterweight426
    Aug 17, 2012
    7
    A good game. However, the card system is rather...annoying. The story is good and there is a lot of content. Unfortunately the card system really diminishes the game.
  2. SuperkenGaming
    Jan 5, 2017
    7
    Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
    De Ja Vu
    Chain of memories is a direct sequel to kingdom hearts… This time your search for king Mickie takes you to the castle of oblivion… Your objective of the game is to make it up this castle 1 floor at a time… And conveniently each of these floors revisits your memories as the higher you go the more you forget and remember at the same time..    Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
    De Ja Vu
    Chain of memories is a direct sequel to kingdom hearts…
    This time your search for king Mickie takes you to the castle of oblivion…
    Your objective of the game is to make it up this castle 1 floor at a time…
    And conveniently each of these floors revisits your memories as the higher you go the more you forget and remember at the same time..
    Perfect opportunity for developers to get lazy and just recycle… and that’s exactly what they did…
    Chain of Memories is Just the original kingdom hearts put into a card combat format with the excuse of memory loss…
    There’s nothing new to see here other than a few characters in the kingdom hearts lore…
    But as for Disney characters and worlds.. its revisiting the exact same places in the original… this is one of those rare instances where you’re better off watching all of the cut scenes for the story on YouTube than actually spending 20 hours of your life playing through.. which is a shame because the game is actually really good and has potential to be addictive…
    Unlike the hack and slash meets 3d platformer style of the original, chain of memories is more of a dungeon crawler meets hack and slash card game… you go into a room.. kill some heartless for xp and at the end of the fight they also drop a card… you use these cards to open new doors in these dungeons…
    And what’s in these rooms are dependent on the card you play…
    The only rules to the cards you can use on the door is that the number has to match or be higher.. And rarely you’ll need to match or be lower for the card value... and each card has its own perk such as more heartless, treasure room, a shop to buy cards for combat among many other things…
    and for combat you attack with these cards in real time…
    The highest value gets the hit.. It’s very fast paced and rarely requires any thinking... but definitely requires bit of strategy… but it’s all very accessible preventing you from raging during battles…
    You build up your deck with attack, summon, and magic cards you get throughout the world in breakable items, shops, and story progression… but your deck does have a max amount of cp.. so it’s going to be a while until your deck is full of 5 plus value… and as you level up you get to choose if you increase this cap, your hp, or learn a new slight move which is pulled off by stacking 3 weaker cards together for a more powerful attack… which gives reason to not just toss the weak cards to the side or sell them.. And you do have allies by your side, but you have to catch their cards mid battle to call them in to do an attack much like a summon… they aren’t there fighting with you the whole time like in kingom hearts 1.. which is fine as the battles are miles easier here…
    It’s a great concept but again... the worlds and the story....even the boss fights, theyre just compact versions of the real thing..… it’s all recycled from kingdom hearts 1…..which kills this game…
    Kingdom hearts 1 is the superior game.. If you want to experience these Disney world’s play that one instead... you do play as someone else in the final chunk of the game that I’m not going to say for spoilers... But even they are revisiting the same spots too…
    Chain of Memories is included in the collection and is definitely worth at least checking out... But don’t be surprised when boredom kicks in as you never see anything new…
    I give Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
    a 7/10    … Expand
  3. TitaW.
    Aug 7, 2005
    7
    If anyone buy this game, they probably luph the first Kingdom Hearts and want to complete the story until before Kingdom Hearts 2. Personally, I buy it because I want to see the continuation after the ending of the first game. This game is very good, but not excellent.
  4. BonbonAliano
    Aug 6, 2005
    7
    I really luph the story, but not really the gameplay. They change it into a card-based game and I prefer the action-adventure one such as the original Kingdom Hearts for PlayStation 2. Anyway, it's good that you can play Riku as a secret character. I like this game.
  5. KendylKlownfish
    Apr 23, 2011
    7
    An unoriginal, but crafty action-RPG for the Gameboy Advance. Pros: Beautifully produced for a GBA game and the card based tactics are surprisingly enjoyable. Cons: Repetitive level design and combat; eventually, you WILL run out of cards.
  6. Churigogobashu
    Jan 20, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The Graphics and Gameplay are awesome for the GBA. I like it since I played Kingdom of hearts 2 before this. I love it. Though it has a missing tone. The reality. It just has the same story with the first Kingdom of hearts. I hate the same worlds played over and over again.… Expand
  7. wesker2012
    May 27, 2012
    7
    This game was fun.
  8. frederik1478
    Nov 29, 2021
    7
    I would say I like the game until the last part so where I hit to quit because I was looking for the blue 1 card to open a door and I used 3 hours to find it and I never found it so I'm not wasting my time anymore , I really like the story in this one it's really gets so awesome really memorable story about being the most goody good boy that ever been good this game is so lovable , rikuI would say I like the game until the last part so where I hit to quit because I was looking for the blue 1 card to open a door and I used 3 hours to find it and I never found it so I'm not wasting my time anymore , I really like the story in this one it's really gets so awesome really memorable story about being the most goody good boy that ever been good this game is so lovable , riku story about self acceptance is Will good and I like his game play more. End the story with Nanny who just didn't want to be alone and did all the things to get a friend was so it's just it was my heart every time. My biggest problem is the door mechanic and just how tedious and grindy it gets but I will still recommended it is unique and maybe it's for your test… Expand
  9. AKthaBeast
    Aug 31, 2018
    7
    Coming from the PS2 game to this is drastically different gameplay wise.Just like Dream Drop Distance, it will give you a deeper understanding of the world and core games that follow it
  10. DarkwingSchmuck
    Mar 20, 2022
    5
    Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is an odd little handheld spin-off. Taking place between the first and second mainline games it acts more as a set-up for Kingdom Hearts II, though it really only made things confusing for players who skipped out on this entry entirely.

    Chain of Memories forgoes the action-based combat in favor of a card system that works well enough, though isn't    Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is an odd little handheld spin-off. Taking place between the first and second mainline games it acts more as a set-up for Kingdom Hearts II, though it really only made things confusing for players who skipped out on this entry entirely.

    Chain of Memories forgoes the action-based combat in favor of a card system that works well enough, though isn't quite as engaging as other battle systems in the series. It also has a very bland and repetitive structure that's even more compounded by the fact that most of the game recycles the first game's story.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

23
#23 Best Game Boy Advance Game of 2004
5
#5 Most Discussed Game Boy Advance Game of 2004
8
#8 Most Shared Game Boy Advance Game of 2004

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 37 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 37
  3. Negative: 1 out of 37
  1. Eurogamer
    80
    A really excellent GBA game which pushes the little system to a degree that few games have tried.
    Read full review
  2. GMR Magazine
    70
    The levels are repetitive, boxy mazes with nothing interesting in them aside from battles, and the story's for fans only. Still, it's a technically excellent and fun game that begins to wear only through repetition and ease. [Jan 2005, p.84]
    Read full review
  3. games(TM)
    70
    Chain Of Memories' biggest problem is the repetitive nature of most of the rooms. In order to build up anything that even resembles a decent set of cards you'll need to repeat fights countless times to earn Moogle Points and experience, and the relatively limited number of different Heartless in each area can make this something of a chore.
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