Cards (KHDR)

This article is about the gameplay mechanic from Kingdom Hearts Dark Road. You may be looking for other uses of Card.

Cards are the primary gameplay mechanic in Kingdom Hearts Dark Road. All of Xehanort's attacks and abilities are executed through playing Cards in combat, and Cards also provide passive bonuses to Xehanort's stats.

Mechanics

There are six different colors of Cards, and up to five of each may be put into a deck for a total of 30 cards. Cards can come in Light Red, Light Green, Light Blue, Dark Red, Dark Green, and Dark Blue. In battle, five random Cards appear on screen at a time. Sets of three Cards can be played by tapping or swiping, with new Cards replacing the used ones until the deck is empty.

When all Cards from the deck are played, the reload timer (リロードタイム, Rirōdo Taimu, lit. "Reload Time") appears. Once the timer is full, the Cards are reloaded. Tapping the reload timer speeds up the process.

New Cards can be obtained by spending BP at the Shop. If multiple of the same card are acquired, the duplicates will automatically merge and increase in power. A Card's power can be increased up to +10 by merging a total of 11 Cards. Collecting 1, 3, 5, and 10 copies of the same Card will unlock passive effects, which increase Xehanort's stats. Each Card's passive effects can be viewed in the Card Album.

Abilities

Every Card has an ability (アビリティ, Abiriti) that determines the strength and effect of the Card in battle. Each ability has an element and power stat. When a set of three Cards is played, only the ability of the first Card is activated. Some Cards also have a sub-ability (サブアビリティ, Sabu Abiriti). Sub-abilities are activated when a Card is played as the second or third Card. Sub-abilities do not deal damage, but provide supportive effects.

If multiple cards of the same color are played, the ability will increase in strength. If one of the second two Cards is the same color as the first, the first Card's power gets multiplied by x1.1; if all three Cards are the same color, the first Card's power gets multiplied by x2.0. When playing Cards, Light and Dark colors are counted as the same color – for instance, playing a Light Green Card and two Dark Green Cards would give a x2.0 multiplier.

Bonus Time

Every time Xehanort attacks an enemy, the yellow bonus gauge fills. When the gauge is completely filled, bonus time (ボーナスタイム, Bōnasu Taimu) activated. During bonus time, all Cards are treated as the same color, so any combination of Cards gives a x2.0 multiplier. The gauge gradually empties during bonus time, and bonus time ends when it is completely empty. The bonus gauge can be filled faster by playing Cards of the same color. An even greater bonus is applied if all three are Light Cards or Dark Cards.