Can You Beat Kingdom Hearts Level 1 Without Equipment and Abilities?

Today I attempt a very hard version of the Kingdom Hearts level 1 challenge (attempted by a noob). If you want to see more Kingdom Hearts content on the channel, make sure to like, subscribe, and turn on the bell for notifications!
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[@MagicMarcos]

Since this video is starting to gain some attention, here are some things you should all know: I went into this run completely blind, so yes I know nothing about level 1 as said in the beginning. The reason for that is because I like to figure things out on my own so people can see what I have done to get through the run, that way people don't think I'm straight up copying something someone else has done. Yeah, it may be painful to see a complete noob not know how level 1 or even how the game works, but that's just how I've always been doing my challenge runs. I really want to bring Kingdom Hearts onto the channel so I can branch out of Persona, and this was probably not a good attempt to do so. I do plan on attempting this run again sometime after I get both of my Persona challenge runs out of the way, and hopefully it'll be much better than this, as well as any future Kingdom Hearts challenge I plan to do.

[@jaegergahr9908]

I personally really enjoyed watching you make your way through the run, familiar with it or not. It was actually refreshing seeing a run that is not completely optimized in every way. Personally, I’d love to see you try your hand at the rest of the Kingdom Hearts Series!

[@Arcana_zero_studios]

Quick note: I'll always respect turnbased rpg challenge runners for their sheer willingness and ability to grind. Yet you have to realize, you have a completely different skillset from an action rpg challenge runner. Main difference is what you have in aces (patience), you have to rely on a completely different skill that you're undertrained in (sheer skill), more specifically, (sheer skill and a firm understanding with KH1.5FM Sora's base moveset).

[@jatabo1574]

"Well done, Sora, he´s fucking dead!" - Micky Mouse, 2023

[@danielesquivel9326]

I would implore you watch a LV1 speedrun in full. For one, I think this challenge might've been easier for you with knowledge about damage storage and damage scaling with EXP Zero. To answer a few things in this video, this category does leave lots of Oogie Manor orbs at low HP so we can come back and destroy them later. The reason we do it is because Oogie Manor actually gets more aggressive (i.e. spitting out poison blobs) and starts spawning Heartless after 3 of the orbs are destroyed. You're also right that LV1 doesn't require you to beat Atlantica - especially if you're doing an any%-style run where you're just trying to get to the credits as fast as possible - but it isn't because it's too painful. To the contrary, the LV1 All Worlds category makes Atlantica really fun with how we abuse Aerora with damage storage because Aerora/Aeroga are SO good on LV1. The reason we don't do Atlantica in the any% run is because after beating Halloween Town, you can just go straight to Neverland and progress the story. Might take a few tries to get Hook's ship to appear since it's a 30% chance of missing it with each fly-by, but still. Not surprising that Final Rest ended up being the run-killer. Even with the equipment and abilities that we have access to in any%, that fight can be relentless - 8 MP and the Cheer abilities from Donald and Goofy are juuuuuuuuust enough to be able to wipe out most of the more dangerous Heartless waves. I've seen many a casual player get walled there. Kudos to you for making it that far on 2 MP alone. Hope you have a better time when you do LV1 with 3 MP!

[@SuperPiposaru]

The perfect balance between immense pain from the very fiber of this challenge and the absolute joy that there's more MagicMarcos AND Kingdom Hearts content....gotta love it!!!

[@pistolpaul65]

Great attempt and honestly surprised with how far you made it given the circumstances. Like many have more rudely said though KH (especially KH1) just isnt a game you can go into a challenge run blind and expect to make it all the way through. But this run did scratch an itch of how I wish I could experience the game over without any prior knowledge. That being said, again awesome job man, I hope you revisit this and do more!

[@NovemberJoy]

I feel like there might be some theoretical way to get through that Heartless room... Probably not humanly possible without many hours of attempts, though. Good effort, this was an entertaining run!

[@forest5306]

Yeah I was thinking the same too

[@brodieleeson4977]

As a long time kh fan I have to say I am impressed with how far you got, and it was kinda great to watch someone who didnt know all the ins and outs as it reminded me of just how many things I have learnt over the years. Despite knowing all I know I doubt id have the patience to get as far as you did with those limitations and honestly dont even know if i'd have the skill so well done mate!

[@Mugiwara2k]

The second you said you picked shield and gave up magic, I literally winced in real life 🤣

[@Willzb-xk4ew]

Marcos: can I beat KH1 at level 1 with no equipment and abilities? 'one winged angel starts playing'

[@rootedcorgi7742]

The strategy you brought up about the oogie manor bubbles is the main strategy for level 1 You also could have gotten Curaga from Aerith after beating hallow bastion

[@foxetheler6233]

18:37: "How does this even miss" Keyblade swings clear over enemy's head. In fairness though, fuck both Ursula phases, and I really enjoyed this video. Mad respect! 😊

[@forcelightningcable9639]

Don’t you hate when you come across a cool channel with entertaining narration and solid editing skills just to see they haven’t uploaded in over a year? Hope you’re doing well out there, mate, and best of luck to you with whatever you’re up to now. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll give more of your efforts some love.

[@mercuryrising9758]

Fun fact a heart rate monitor wont beep like that when you flatline, it will do that when switched off or when the leads get disconnected or fall off

[@arson_e.]

19:24 this is genuinely how i feel hearing those voice lines 😭 it took me WAY too many tries to finish that battle 😭

[@StickyThunderGaming]

This channel deserves more recognition man. The amount of work bro puts into videos is crazy. Keep grinding🔥

[@OrigamiAhsoka]

It sucks so much that this ended on final rest 😭

[@mehmetjj9163]

16:20 You could have also damaged every bubble until it's almost dead and then one shot everyone

[@mehmetjj9163]

That's going to be a blast. I hope you didn't suffer too much Edit i watched 2 minutes now, i am truly sorry

[@zNaitsab3s]

0:02 OMG MAGICMARCOS FACE REAVEAL 😱😱😱

[@theprofesser9797]

The strat you mentioned at 17:17 is acutally what we do in the level 1 speedrun (all be it with fire to speed it up)

[@WERicana]

Yes on the nodes in the manor part of the boss. You can actually leave them one hit from bursting and do them all in one final go.

[@tyler_liwan5]

One permanent MP Increase is really good. I get it though, it’s your first time.

[@persona3rulez]

Man, I had like 115 death on Proud and it wasn't even a challenge run... Well, I guess you should really do Re:Chain challenge run😊

[@YungTimeWeaver]

As a kid, I did this run accidentally cuz this was my first rpg and I had no concept of equipping accessories and abilities. Didn’t figure out how it worked til the fight with Ansem-Riku. So many deaths, but im a pro at kh1 as a result.

[@SmashtoonGamer]

I’m in the same situation as you (chose sword, gave up rod) and I just got to final rest. I did a normal no equipment and no continue run right before this and got aerora to help me beat final since the hits it does keeps enemies off you and stuns them a bit. Maybe that, some well timed stops, and a lot of luck can make it possible on a level 1 run. I’ll update this comment if I beat it but I am using dodge roll tho

[@Trey109]

Did you use simba during the final rest mob?

[@jamesgraham6492]

Gamr champ also completed the rum

[@yugioh5222]

Did try to do sephiroth in and Hercules world

[@kylerzepa4048]

You don’t actually get dodge roll until beating guard armour.

[@heyyou322]

So I’m currently doing a level 1 run as my first time playing and here are some things to note for anyone who wants to try this. (Basic stuff before I get specific.) 1) any stat boosting item is ban so just get rid of them 2) Make sure to set Goofy and Donal up correctly so that they constantly attack enemies and heal you when needed. 3) something this guy didn’t tell you is after a 3 hit combo you’ll deal double damage as long as you don’t do another basic attack or limit. So if you do a three hit combo and only spam magic or summons you’ll deal double the damage. This glitch is called Damage Storage Ok now that we got some ground rules here is the entirety of what you need to do up till end of the world (where I’m at) Dive to the heart- PICK MAGIC! MAGIC IN LEVEL 1 IS CURTAIL! When the kids start asking you the questions it’s best recommended to pick all the bottom choices so you’ll “start at night”. During the pause tutorial, lead all the heartless to one side of the room and book it to the other side. You’ll be able to pause and activate exp 0. After that your good. Destiny Island- nothing here to note. Just have fun. The only thing you can get here are pretty stones and potions which aren’t that important. Traverse Town I- When you first enter you have 2 choices, beat 10 heartless, or active every cutscene with Donald and Goofy. Whatever you choose you’ll need to re-enter the accessory shop to fight Leon. If you’re a god skilled gamer and kill him you gain an extra elixir but youll probably lose and that’s ok. During the Guard armor fight your best bet is to focus on the legs first. It’s a brutal fight but you’ll get through it. Beating it gives you dodge roll, fire, and the gummy ship. Your next stop MUST be Olympus. Olympus I- Enter in, complete the barrel challenge, get thunder, LEAVE! Wonderland- You’ll be tasked with finding evidence, but as stated you only need to find one. Getting the last present on the water spout will get you blizzard early. Depending on how much evidence you brought less likely Goofy and Donal will be left out of the queens fight. The tower while tricky isn’t that bad. If you stay out of Afro range then none of the cards will go after you so you can plan your next moves out. Spamming thunder will be your safest option at the moment cause of the aoe damage. Finally after lightning the candles the boss of this area is an actual cake walk. At the peak of your jump you can attack it and deal small bits of damage and during its left club swing you can jump over it and counter attack. Even better is that if you’re fast enough with thunder it’ll never get the chance to even light it sticks on fire. (Note if you didn’t get blizzard yet you’ll get it as your sealing the keyhole) Deep Jungle- Nothing really to note here, just keep Tarzan in the party and clear out the power wilds in each area. For the Jaguar fight it’s best to just get small hits in after his two slash attacks, or better yet just let Tarzan and Goofy deal with the fight. For the first Clayton fight you can use 2 or 3 thunders to clear out the room and then loop Clayton. For the Chameleon fight start of by dodge rolling to the right and hopping on the cliff. Wait right after the charge and jump attack to counter back. Just keep jumping and attacking till Clayton eventually falls off. At this point try to lure him into a corner to active damage storage and light him up with fire. Just keep and eye out for his bud and you’ll get through this fight fine. You’ll gain cure and Tarzan’s key blade as a reward. Traverse Town II- Meet back up with Leon and meet Merlin, get Simba, and head up to the Bell guarded by some heartless. This is your chance to test out Simba and probably die a lot in the process. After that ring the bell thrice to show the keyhole and fight Reverse Guard Armor. This guys is a joke with his only real threat being his spinning hand attack. Keep your distance and land some good hits on him. In cannon mode just keep hitting him, most of the blast will miss you anyway. Agrabra- Get to Aladin’s house asap. Then get ready to fight the pot scorpion. For the first room just focus on staying alive and deal out some damage, when it opens up the other rooms your new mission is pit removal. Kill every single pot in the area just to be safe, you’ll die more times to a random pot than the boss. You’ll obtain the Ray of light which at this point in the run is a red herring, it boost your magic and hp but just enough to where a cure won’t fully heal you. For the cave of wonders fight have blizzard active and get ready. Hop on it’s face get a three hit combo and “DEEP FREEZE, SEE YA, DEEP FREEZE, DEEP FREEZE!” Using ethers to refill when you run out. Try to kill both eyes at the same time cause if you focus on one then it’s attacks will get more rapid as a result. Beat it and enter inside to solve some quick puzzles. Jafar in both fights is a joke during both you’ll gain the upgrades to Fire and Blizzard, gain accuse to Genie, and obtain the three wishes keyblade. Monstro- This area is just a running simulator, run through till you get to the first parasite cage fight where Riku will basically do the fight for you. At this point you gain High jump. Make sure that you grab the chest close by to get Dumbo. Trust me, you’ll want him. If you want you could just leave now. The second fight of the Cage is hard. Get a three hit combo summon Genie to deal a lot of early damage and just parry back most of it attacks. At this point you have a choice Atlantic or Halloween town. Now because I was an idiot and didn’t turn Dumbo back I actually beat Atlantica before Halloween town. (I actually recommend doing this cause this place isn’t that bad sure it’s annoy but not hard) Atlantica- Learn to swim, get to the palace, got to Arials hiding spot, find treasure, lose it, kill the king, and now here is where the annoying stuff starts. You have to kill the shark at least once before continuing. He has only 3 moves. A 3 bits move combo that you can punish after, a 4 bite combo that ends with a tail swipe, and a charge. You can get him stuck on the bottom of the ship and cheese it with fire also. For Ursula 1 just look at the video… For Ursula 2 I recommend heading back to Traverse town and completing most of the 100 Acre woods to get the upgrade to stop but you don’t need it (I did it without the upgrade). Start the fight by swimming up to her and using stop. Not only does this stop her and leave her open, it’s also stops the lightning. Stay behind her constantly hitting and stopping her with magic. This is one of the only few fights I’ll recommend giving mp items to your allies. Beating her gets you the thunder upgrade and the CRAB keyblade. Halloween town- For the most part you can just spam thunder or summons to get you threw up until the kids… I’ll be real I struggle to kill these guys. So if you were smart you would use stop, hit them 3 times and summon Dumbo (your immune to damage while riding him) to safely beat the fight. But I didn’t have him so I just spammed stop and gave Donald and Goofy a lot of healing items. Ironically Oggie Boggie is east af. Beat the two heartless at the start and just beat the fight as normal. For the giant house part you want to make your way to the top most spot and make your way down. Sealing up this keyhole will give you Jack keyblade (that for this run is usless) and Gravity. Head back to Traverse town and talk to Merlin to get Spellbinder that gives you 2 more MP. Neverland- Run though the ship till you get to shadow Sora. Keep thunder in your shortcuts and get ready to dodge like hell. It just fighting yourself so after his 3 hit combo punish with your own. When he sinks into the floor and you can’t find him keep moving around the cabin and just wait for him to get it out of his system. Use thunder to clear out the clones and this fight will be over soon. Afterward you’ll get the cure upgrade and can safely equip the ray of light to add another bar of MP. For Hook your best openings are after his present bomb or his three quick stabs. If he’s doing anything else just fly over the water. He’ll chase after you, land in the water, hop out, and land in the same spot on the ship open to another punish. Sealing the keyhole here gives you another useless keyblade, the second best summon in the game Tinker Bell, and the glide ability. I think I’m hitting the limit soon so I’ll continue in the comments.

[@heyyou322]

You’ll now have access to Hollow Bastion but it’s best you head back to Olympus. (You could’ve done this a bit earlier for Spellbinder but it’s best to do this now with more abilities unlocked) Olympus (For real this time)- You’ll have more than enough MP for the fights so just breeze through the fights till Clowd. You don’t need to beat him so you can just die. For Curbus you can use stop and gravity for a lot of damage. Betting him will give you sonic rave and accuse to the Phill, Pegasus, and Hercules Cups. Phil Cup- Keep blizzard and thunder on your shortcuts. The fights aren’t to hard here and you’ll die in 4 hits here and not 2. Beat this and you’ll gain Hercules’ Keysblade and the yellow trinity. Pegasus- The only real challenge here are Yuffie and Leon. Yuffie is easy as all her attacks can be hit back at her. Leon is still a danger but you have dodge roll and Graviga. (I think you get strike raid for this cup but I could be wrong) Hercules- KEEP GRAVIGA ON YOUR SHORT CUTS you’ll do fine till the Cloud Re-fight. He 4 moves. A 4 straight slash move that you must avoid. A slash then jumping stab that you can avoid easily by jumping and slightly moving out of range, you can get a quick 3 hit combo in and escape any other move he does. A standing 3 hit slash that if you parry just right will leave him open. Then Omni-Slash…. If you have the MP to spare heal up Donald or Goofy cause this attack is rough. You can dodge roll parts of it but it’s bet to just hope and pray he hits Goofy or Donald first. If your lucky you’ll only have to deal with the move once. Beating him gives you the Metal Chocobo keyblade. For Hercules himself it’s easy. All his moves are easily dodge able and telegraphed with his only dangerous move being his head butt. (I also forgot what you get for beating this, I think it was Goofy’s shield) Afterward you can head to Hollow Bastion but just make sure that Goofy has as much attack as he can get. Hollow Bastion- Walk in, lose the party and gain Beast, get to the basement, get out, (probably die to the the dark balls at least 4 times), and enter Ansem Riku I. Start the battle with summoning Tinker bell and run away. Riku is immune to all forms of magic so running away is the best strategy, as long as Tink is active she can heal goofy back up and he will deal with the fight himself. If you want to help out your best chance to counter is after Riku jumps. Beating him give you the white trinity. Quickly head back to wonderland to obtain the LadyLuck Keyblade. While your out you’ll want to get every puppy that you can grab, you’ll need them for later. Keep going and get ready to fight both forms of Malifiacent. In the first fight ignore the heartless she spawns and just focus on her. When she summons meteors just stay clear. For her dragon phase it’s stupid how easy it is. Dodge her first slam, stop, 3 hit combo, Genie, annnnnndd dead. After that you’ll gain Mushu. You’ll see how good he is in about 5 days cause welcome to he’ll population Darkness. Riku II is hell and the only safe way to beat it is with cheese. His only safe opening is after his leaping slash. If he’s doing anything else, just survive. phase one just attack him normally and heal after he retaliates. You’ll hit phase two when he powers up. Here is where the cheese comes in. After the leap hit him once, wait a bit, and do it again. This loop will work for the rest of the fight skipping phase 3. But hypothetically if you didn’t know the loop then to dodge his super duper darkness rush, jump over the first hit, hug the wall, and glide just a bit to avoid the pillars. Beating him gets you Ragnarock and makes the game hell. When you come back for the revisits you’ll be able to grab the last puppies for the final Fire and Areoga upgrade. Sealing this keyhole opens the end game (if you struggle against the behemoth I got nothing for you, just stay underneath him for like 90% of his attacks) At this time the Hades cup and other secrets bosses open up. I decided to get a bit into the End of the world first before taking some of those fights. For that Satan fight land a 3 hit combo, float down to his base, summon mushu and skip the fight. I haven’t made it pass this point cause I started on the Hades cup. The only “problem” fight is round 20’s Cloud and Leon. Take out Leon first and save Clould last. At this point I had super glide so I could dodge his omislash a bit easier. And that’s where I’m at right now. When I beat the game I’ll tell you guys more about it

[@theycallmetray396]

Im sorry this didn’t do well in the algorithm I like this video just as much if not more than your other videos

[@S0M3SK1TTL3]

Kingdom hearts videos usually pop off, he got robbed and low key should reupload this shamelessly

[@S0M3SK1TTL3]

Three tries for lock shock and barrel is crazy ngl

[@MagicMarcos]

Well, it took me three tries after I figured what I had to do. Before though I did fail a few times

[@zentura7189]

Do you only play peak?!

[@gabrielcalderon6715]

Did you forgot about tinkerbell?

[@MagicMarcos]

29:12 She can’t be used as you can see here

[@gabrielcalderon6715]

​@@MagicMarcosoh right forgot about the mp cost of summons

[@Allygaythor6435]

I tried the same challange (+sword -shield) and i get to the same spot, still can't beat final rest

[@SmashtoonGamer]

Literally just got to final rest 😭

[@BlueBladeofFate]

32:15 Did... did you not know you could hit them back? Also Aeroga shouldn't let them hit you at all, so...??? (Notices you had only regular Aero) Was upgrading magic against the rules too?

[@MagicMarcos]

1) Nope I didn’t know you could hit them back 2) I can’t remember why I didn’t get aeroga, but no upgrading magic was not against the rules

[@SmashtoonGamer]

You gotta get all the Dalmatians for Aeroga which you’d have to go out of your way to get them all

[@yugioh5222]

There ethier ether position can use get magic back

[@bdhuffman42]

What difficulty was this on?

[@MagicMarcos]

Proud, which is the only difficulty level 1 can be done on

[@TheErikalovey]

Actually, Captain Hook and the crocodile are worst enemies

[@SeanWheeler100]

Okay, so a level 1 challenge is impossible without abilities. But what about an ability-less run where you're allowed to level up? I want you to do another run with no abilities or equipment, but still level up. In fact, Exp Zero would be banned like the other abilities.

[@thegamewin100]

Yes you can always over level it’s possible

[@mariatukoroma3900]

Wonder what difficulty he's playing on

[@MagicMarcos]

Level 1 can only be done on proud mode

[@zbanul10]

If you can’t use abilities u shouldn’t be allowed magic so the sword would be better due to the plus strength

[@SmashtoonGamer]

Doing this without cure would be absolute torture 💀

[@Hynotama]

Masochists subjecting themselves to these unreasonable challenges, are really fascinating to me.

[@bitterboba2857]

A persona fan playing an rpg and not comparing it to persona 5?!?!?

[@alfredroman5801]

Ha, don’t believe everything you hear on the internet. Even I did my research before playing Final Mix.

[@ASTR0TALKSPHILOSOPHY]

This guy know nothing about kingdom hearts

[@theycallmetray396]

Enlighten us with your knowledge

[@ISuckAtVideoGames4Ever]

unfunny fact: im playing normal mode rn (never seen or played any KH game rn) and i only PURPOSEFULLY died because i thought i had to loose when the heart-less comes on the island