Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Review (GBA) - The RETROspective

[@baddragonite]

I do pixel art a ton and a big part of that was because this game had some of the best sprite work I've seen

[@B3you_]

i remember being so amazed seeing 3d graphics on my gba

[@mr.o1253]

I started with your FFTA review and now I’m here. Your input in these reviews is great. What I enjoy more is that they are about games that I also love. Thanks again!

[@FiresideGamingReviews]

You're welcome again! It makes me happy to know you like the reviews!

[@trentonbartlett5017]

just wanna say I greatly appreciate this vid. I never knew of this game until today so wanted to see how it played. Glad this vid gave insight!

[@FiresideGamingReviews]

Welcome and thanks!

[@alanl.4252]

This was a interesting review with a different take on CoM. I almost have the opposite views but it’s nice hearing you like the game for different reasons than I did. Glad I ran into your channel, seems fun.

[@FiresideGamingReviews]

Thanks! I'm just glad I came to enjoy CoM after originally hating it, lol.

[@ThrillingDuck]

Bro I spent TWO MONTHS as a kid farming for that fucking blue 1 card. To this day I always remember to save up a blue 1 and a red 3 because of that goddamn door in the final area lol.

[@FiresideGamingReviews]

That is rough, man. Now I feel like I got lucky with just a few hours of grinding for it.

[@Profar26]

I wasn't into the Kingdom Hearts games until 2010, but I did play Chain of Memories back in the GBA days. I was really amazed that we actually got a 3D opening cutscene on a GBA game. That's the one thing I am still amazed to this day.

[@FiresideGamingReviews]

Square really was flexing on other devs cramming those into a GBA cart.

[@TheDetectiveSteve]

I don't question people as strongly for not getting through the game because the cards ARE weird. In my case: I participated in a Let's Play/Fandub of this game many years back, which led to me better understanding the gameplay and improving my play style. That and the fun vibes of a community-voiced project have given me a heavily positive bias for the game. I'm quite fond of the story. The theme of memories, the existential angst of Riku Replica, and the way having his memories messed with coaxed a sort of anger out of Sora that I haven't quite seen in other installments - it just hit in a good way for me. Also loved Disney character moments like Jack saying "may you always enjoy being frightened!", Ariel deciding to accept the consequences of her actions, and the Queen of Hearts being tricked into remembering something that never happened because her ego was too big to admit she forgot something. All that said: the idea of the game being written to trick the player about what's really going on does strike me as an interesting idea. 🤔 Not positive if it happened on the same door, but I said "oh no" out loud when you mentioned needing a specific card value. My condolences for how egregiously it set you back and that it nerfed what would've otherwise been a decently challenging series of boss fights. (Personal experience: Vexen and Larxene fights are the trickiest.)

[@FiresideGamingReviews]

Having good memories with a game can always lead to a biased opinion of it, but I don't think that's a bad thing. I can think of a few that I know aren't really all that good, but that I have a lot of personal fondness for from playing with friends. The sections in Castle Oblivion are really the main story and what I mostly care about, but I won't deny there are a few good moments present in the Disney worlds. I think tricking the player would've made the story much more interesting. Another idea I've tossed around with the wife is the Disney worlds that players visit not being ones that Sora went to in KH1, but rather those Ventus visited. Granted, that's a hindsight thing but I think it would have been a great teaser for BBS while tying into the story and lost memories themes really well. I can agree with Larxene being horrible. She was the one boss that I had to challenge a couple times to get past as Sora. Fighting Riku Replica as Riku was another tough one this time around.

[@gjbsarmeri3957]

The cards aren't weird. It's just different from the first game. It's actually a pretty original type of combat and the game banged on the GBA. I played through the game when I was like 12 and I see people who are 20+ crying how it's bad when they didn't even give it a chance and decided it was bad because most of the fandom thinks it sucks even though almost none of them played the GBA version

[@baddragonite]

Here's hoping Nintendo and Square put this on the switch online service if not giving the game a full rerelease

[@FiresideGamingReviews]

I'd love to see that happen.

[@Not_Alanius]

Does Re:Chain of Memories for the Ps2 from 2008 count as a re-release?

[@FiresideGamingReviews]

Nope. That's a full-on remake.

[@baddragonite]

@@Not_Alanius nah it's a remake the original used the same card mechanics but the battles took place on small 2.5D battlefields while the overworld was isometric They may as well be 2 separate games altogether

[@CFLaughs]

I remember wanting this game before KH 2 and my brother tried to convince me it was gonna be the same exact game as the first one. Boy was he wrong lol and he hated the card system but appreciated that I didn't have us lost on KH 2's story.

[@FiresideGamingReviews]

It makes sense he'd think that. Some early reports said it was going to be a KH1 port on the GBA. But, yeah, I couldn't imagine playing KH2 without CoM first

[@CFLaughs]

@@FiresideGamingReviews Especially with things like Sora sleeping at the beginning of 2 or wtf happened to the other organization members? Lol

[@FiresideGamingReviews]

Completely. I had a friend who skipped it and I was updating him his whole playthrough when he had questions.

[@CFLaughs]

@@FiresideGamingReviews and I skipped dream drop distance and birth by sleep before playing KH 3 unfortunately. At the time, I didn't have a way to play those titles because they hadn't ported them to Xbox yet. I ended up playing them before replaying KH 3 and then starting re:mind.

[@FiresideGamingReviews]

So I haven't played KH3 yet because of this It's on my shelf unplayed. I still need to play 358/2 and DDD first. I'm kinda using these retrospectives as a way to force me to finally catch up on the series.