Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories is a full remake of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. It was first released on March 29, 2007 in Japan, and imported to North America almost two years later, on December 2, 2008. In Japan, it is part of the Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ compilation, and has connectivity features with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. As there were no plans to release Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix internationally, these features were modified for the North American release. As such, Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories is the only Kingdom Hearts remake which has been distributed outside of Japan.

While many changes were made between the two versions, by far the most important was the total redesign of the game to be a three-dimensional computer-rendered game for the Playstation 2, as were the other released entries into the series, Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. This revamp included changing the battle arenas from two dimensional screens without "height" into full three-dimensional arenas, allowing enemies to rise out of the player's range. Additionally, these arenas can be aesthetically varied, even within the same world, while in the original game there was only one arena design per world. The "Duel" system, based on the game of War, was added to Riku's battle mechanics, and the Reaction Command system of Kingdom Hearts II was incorporated into both Sora and Riku's battle mechanics, generally to replace instances where the player would press the "A" button to continue a combo attack.

A smaller but still important change was the conversion of many of the game's scenes into fully voice-acted full motion videos, and the use of voice-acting within gameplay. While the dialogue for the game was recorded using the voice actors used in Kingdom Hearts II, the voicing and sound effects within gameplay relied largely on existing clips. In some cases, such as the Sora's invocation of the Stop spell, these clips were only available using the Kingdom Hearts voice-actors. As the scenes were now fully rendered, rather than being acted out with sprites, the violence within the game was more apparent, and the game's rating was raised from E to E10+, for Fantasy Violence.

As in the original Chain of Memories, the game's card system and overall plot have remained the same, and "Simple and Clean" is the game's theme song. However, there were many small tweaks to the storyline, as well as the addition of new Cards, Sleights, bosses, and a Theater Mode to rewatch the game's full-motion videos.

Story changes

 * Flashbacks from the first Kingdom Hearts are included in cutscenes.
 * In the English version, when Axel says the word, "Hell," it is censored.
 * Axel finishes off Vexen by immolating him with a snap of his fingers. In the original, he just struck Vexen with his chakrams a second time to kill him.
 * In the original, Goofy knocks away Larxene when she tries to kill Sora. In the remake, he just throws his shield at Larxene to temporarily distract her.
 * In the original, the Riku Replica is seen lying on the ground on Floor 12, and moving to him will trigger a cutscene (followed by a boss fight). In the remake, he is standing up, and a Reaction Command triggers the cutscene and boss fight.
 * When Sora was hurt by Larxene in the original Chain of Memories, Donald used Cure to heal him, but in Re:CoM he uses Curaga to heal him.
 * In the original climax of Sora's storyline, when Axel attempts to execute Marluxia for his betrayal, Marluxia used Naminé as a shield after hearing Axel's threat. In the remake, they have a brief fight before Marluxia uses Naminé as a shield. Marluxia also never leaves the room until the end of the fight.
 * Instead of dragging Riku into the dark depths using his final strength, Lexaeus is killed when Riku's body is temporarily taken by Xehanort's Heartless.
 * In the original game Zexion runs away when his disguise as Sora is uncovered, in the remake Zexion directly battles Riku but is defeated, fearful for his life Zexion runs away.
 * The scene from Kingdom Hearts Final Mix that involves Sora fighting Xemnas as the unknown is put into the opening FMV.

Mechanical changes

 * While battling the Parasite Cage, the stomach acid will not inflict damage if Sora is reloading his deck.
 * The final Marluxia battle has been split into two sub-battles — the first is generally the same as the original final battle, while the second is set entirely on top of Marluxia's Specter, and features him as much more aggressive, with several powerful Sleights.
 * As in his Absent Silhouette battle in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Lexaeus can enter a temporary state or invulnerability and increased strength.
 * As with Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, the scene in which Riku confronts Zexion has been converted into a full boss battle. During this battle, Zexion can steal Riku's cards, though Riku remains within Dark Mode for the duration of the fight.
 * The final boss battle in Monstro, while playing the same, is now recorded within the Journal as a mini-game.
 * 100 Acre Wood has been modified to be a mini-game world, as in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, as opposed to a single mini-game composed of helping Pooh find the other inhabitants of that world.
 * The Journal now keeps track of mini-game scores, as in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II.
 * In the Japanese version, having a cleared Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix save file on your memory card will allow Sora to obtain a second set of treasures from the Room of Rewards on each floor. These include Attack Cards modeled after certain Kingdom Hearts II Keyblades, and Enemy Cards modeled after the seven of the eight Organization XIII members which were not available in Chain of Memories. In both versions, this feature can also be unlocked by clearing "Reverse/Rebirth" on Re:Chain of Memories. The Zexion card, while added to the game, is available as soon as it is obtained in "Reverse/Rebirth".
 * The Gold and Platinum Cards are now available in Sora's Story, and can be obtained from Bounties after obtaining every other card.
 * The Pluto Friend Card and Lucky Bounty Sleights are now available.
 * The Bottomless Darkness, Roulette Room, and Random Joker Map Cards have been added.
 * The Gravity Raid, Stop Raid, Homing Fira, Firaga Break, Blazing Donald, and Goofy Charge Sleights have been removed, and replaced with Magnet Spiral, Lethal Frame, Freeze, Firaga Burst, Raging Storm, Stardust Blitz, Goofy Tornado Lv2, Goofy Smash, and Wild Crush.
 * Riku's battle mechanics now include the Duel system and its Sleights, and now have the Holy Burst and Inverse Burst Friend Sleights.
 * The High Jump, Glide, and Superglide support abilities are available.
 * The effect of the Darkball card, which would have been useless thanks to the removal of Link Mode, has been modified to work with Riku's Duel system. As such, it is no longer available in "Sora's Story".
 * The effects of several Sleights were modified.
 * The Ansem card is now available as a Bounty within Twilight Town, not Castle Oblivion.
 * Jack Skellington's Friend Card is now available from the first battle in Halloween Town.
 * Zantetsuken, Sonic Blade, Tornado, Holy, Ars Arcanum, Ragnarok, and Mega Flare are now available to learn at levels 22, 27, 42, 47, 37, 52, and 57, respectively, as opposed to levels 27, 22, 32, 37, 42, 47, and 52.
 * Warpinator is now a Twilight Town Bounty, instead of a reward for defeating the Riku Replica.
 * Warp is now available in the Agrabah Room of Rewards, rather than the Twilight Town Room of Rewards.
 * Bind is now available in the Halloween Town Room of Rewards, rather than as a reward for finding Eeyore.
 * Synchro is now available in the Wonderland Room of Rewards, rather than as a reward for finding Rabbit.
 * Idyll Romp is now available as a reward for clearing Tigger's Blounce-A-Thon, rather than as a reward for finding Tigger.
 * Cross-slash+ is now available as a reward for clearing Veggie Panic, rather than as a Hollow Bastion Bounty.
 * The effectiveness of Riku's strength is slightly amplified from the original game.

Visual and audio changes

 * The multi-player Link Mode was replaced with Theater Mode.


 * The various color categories of Map Cards now have a small symbol ("R", "B", "G", or "!") indicating their color.


 * The Attack and Magic Enemy Cards played by Axel, Larxene, Vexen, Marluxia, Lexaeus, Zexion, Ansem, and the Riku Replica depict different facial expressions, depending on their effect.
 * Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, and King Mickey now wear their Halloween costumes while within Halloween Town, though in Atlantica they remain in their normal forms.
 * Riku and the Riku Replica now have different battle stances.
 * During his final battles with both Sora and Riku, the Riku Replica's left hand is immersed in an orb of darkness.
 * When Axel first introduces himself to Sora, he says "Got it memorized?" as opposed to "Commit it to memory."