Everybody likes to rag on Kingdom Hearts’ weirdest entry, but even 20 years later, it might be one of my favourites
It’s kind of impossible to separate the Kingdom Hearts series from the word ‘weird’, because fundamentally it just is.
What do you mean there’s an entire series of games that’s literally Final Fantasy meets Disney, that genuinely exists because of a real-life elevator pitch? That’s weird! Luckily it’s just as good as it is weird, but with 12 games under the series’ belt, you can obviously expect some variety there too. Birth by Sleep mixed things up by letting you play as three different characters, alongside some combat changes, Dream Drop Distance had some Pokemon-like elements, Melody of Memory was an odd little rhythm game.
I think even across all 12 of its entries there’s still one game that stands as the weirdest of them all, and it was actually the second game to be released. No, I’m not talking about Kingdom Hearts 2 (I’d forgive you for thinking so, though), but Chain of Memories for the Game Boy Advance. If you can believe it, the often maligned Kingdom Hearts game is 20 years old today, and people might have their problems with it, but I honestly think it might be one of my favourites.
Let’s offer some context: imagine you’re coming hot off the heels of the original Kingdom Hearts, a game that has its own idiosyncrasies but isn’t nearly as out there as later entries. Protagonist Sora saves the day but ends up in some strange, mysterious dimension, and you’re left wondering 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 is taunting you as you go through it, with a blonde girl that kind of looks like Kairi from the first game gaslighting Sora into believing they’re childhood friends? And you fight with… cards? Like I said, weird! But oh so compelling.
You see, most people these days will typically be more familiar with Re:Chain of Memories, its asset flip PS2 remake. These days you can play that one pretty easily thanks to the HD 1.5 Remix release of the games, except quite often you’ll see people telling newcomers to just watch the cutscenes and move onto 2. I think that’s a big mistake, and further than that, I think more people should be encouraged to try and go back and play the GBA original.
As strange as mixing real-time action combat with card-based strategy is, there also just isn’t anything like it. On the indie scene there are games like Friends vs Friends that mixes deckbuilding with first-person shooting, but that just makes Chain of Memories wildly ahead of its time. It’s genuinely fun building a deck of cards, layering them in ways to get unique combos and moves, and putting them into practice. There’s a level of strategy there that later Kingdom Hearts games just don’t have, making for quite the singular gameplay experience.
Honestly, as much as I do genuinely enjoy Chain of Memories quirky gameplay, the thing that really does sell it for me is the story. “Boooo” I hear you chant “hisssss” I hear you seethe, but guess what pal, sometimes, Kingdom Hearts is good, actually, and this is one of those times. If you couldn’t tell, a major theme in the game is memory, particularly ideas around how memories change.
Sora’s memories are forcibly changed throughout the story, and he’s desperate to protect them – I can’t help but feel like this hits home even harder now, looking back on my childhood, feeling less and less confident in how I’m recollecting different events. Sure, Donald Duck is there, but he was there in my childhood too, so it’s not that silly really.
The rest of the Kingdom Hearts games do go on to follow-up on these themes, and explore bigger (and yes, occasionally confusing) ones, but I have such a deep appreciation in my heart for Chain of Memories attempting to do something really different. Here’s hoping there’s some of that Magic in Kingdom Hearts 4, whenever it comes out.