Given that seeing this game's cover was my first sense of familiarity with Kingdom Hearts, it is kind of poetic that this was the last KH game in the series I hadn't finished until last year (unless you count og Coded & V-Cast). I've played and gotten all of the achievements/trophies multiple times for its Ps2 remaster, but I never got around to getting a copy of this version. It wasn't until months after completing 358/Days for the first time and revisiting Re:Coded that I finally decided to play through and complete GBA Chain of Memories. Besides the lovely-looking GBA sprites, I didn't notice too many differences compared to the Ps2 version. Even with that in mind, I still think it was worth the playthrough.
The gameplay of Chain of Memories is fairly simple. You scroll through your attack, magic, summon, friend, and potion cards you might have in your deck and pick the card with the highest number. The only exception would be the 0 card which is best used as a counter when you don't have a high enough number to counter your enemy's attack. In addition to just using the basic cards in your deck, there are sleights that involve combining some of the cards in your deck to get a higher number and use whatever abilities are assigned to a specific card or/and number. Sleights are easily the most fun and my favorite part of playing CoM as you can create a devastatingly powerful deck if you gather enough strong, high-numbered cards. While the traditional style of Kingdom Hearts combat is more enjoyable, the card system is a clever workaround to the GBA's limitations that still make the gameplay fun & engaging.
The story is still pretty easy to follow compared to future games. It picks up where the first game ended with Sora & pals looking for Riku & King Mickey. As they do, they encounter a strange hooded man almost identical to the hooded guy that Sora fought in Hollow Bastion. The mystery man leads Sora & friends to Castle Oblivion where they venture through Sora's memories. In Riku's side of the story, it deals with Riku's struggle against the darkness which he can apparently smell for some reason. Story-wise, this one has always been my favorite because of its pacing and because Marluxia & Ansem were fantastic villains who really played their parts well.
There aren't many changes, but there are a few I noticed. Some of the bosses such as Vexen and Larexene felt easier than they did in Re:CoM's Proud mode, but others such as the last Dark Riku fight, Axel, Ansem, and Marluxia's first fight were significantly more difficult. Compared to Re:CoM there is a more noticeable difficulty curve toward the very end which will get you even at a high level. I believe I was around level 60-66 which is pretty high since I usually finish Re:CoM around 45-50 on Proud mode. The only other differences worth noting are that Marluxia only has 2 phases instead of 3 and that "Lord of the Castle" is not in this version of the game. Marluxia's final phase in this game is more difficult than in the Ps2 version, but not by much as I was still able to beat it in one attempt. There is also a multiplayer mode which sadly didn't return in Re:CoM.
If I had to choose between this version or Re:CoM, I would still choose to play Re:CoM since I think the difficulty is more balanced and I prefer the full 3d movement that version has. Regardless, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was a technical achievement for its time that pushed the GBA to its limits. That being said, after having played the KH games multiple times, this will be the last time I play a Kingdom Hearts game until Square Enix decides to release KH4 & Missing Link. It has been a fun ride.
The gameplay of Chain of Memories is fairly simple. You scroll through your attack, magic, summon, friend, and potion cards you might have in your deck and pick the card with the highest number. The only exception would be the 0 card which is best used as a counter when you don't have a high enough number to counter your enemy's attack. In addition to just using the basic cards in your deck, there are sleights that involve combining some of the cards in your deck to get a higher number and use whatever abilities are assigned to a specific card or/and number. Sleights are easily the most fun and my favorite part of playing CoM as you can create a devastatingly powerful deck if you gather enough strong, high-numbered cards. While the traditional style of Kingdom Hearts combat is more enjoyable, the card system is a clever workaround to the GBA's limitations that still make the gameplay fun & engaging.
The story is still pretty easy to follow compared to future games. It picks up where the first game ended with Sora & pals looking for Riku & King Mickey. As they do, they encounter a strange hooded man almost identical to the hooded guy that Sora fought in Hollow Bastion. The mystery man leads Sora & friends to Castle Oblivion where they venture through Sora's memories. In Riku's side of the story, it deals with Riku's struggle against the darkness which he can apparently smell for some reason. Story-wise, this one has always been my favorite because of its pacing and because Marluxia & Ansem were fantastic villains who really played their parts well.
There aren't many changes, but there are a few I noticed. Some of the bosses such as Vexen and Larexene felt easier than they did in Re:CoM's Proud mode, but others such as the last Dark Riku fight, Axel, Ansem, and Marluxia's first fight were significantly more difficult. Compared to Re:CoM there is a more noticeable difficulty curve toward the very end which will get you even at a high level. I believe I was around level 60-66 which is pretty high since I usually finish Re:CoM around 45-50 on Proud mode. The only other differences worth noting are that Marluxia only has 2 phases instead of 3 and that "Lord of the Castle" is not in this version of the game. Marluxia's final phase in this game is more difficult than in the Ps2 version, but not by much as I was still able to beat it in one attempt. There is also a multiplayer mode which sadly didn't return in Re:CoM.
If I had to choose between this version or Re:CoM, I would still choose to play Re:CoM since I think the difficulty is more balanced and I prefer the full 3d movement that version has. Regardless, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was a technical achievement for its time that pushed the GBA to its limits. That being said, after having played the KH games multiple times, this will be the last time I play a Kingdom Hearts game until Square Enix decides to release KH4 & Missing Link. It has been a fun ride.