The Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Retrospective

The unlikely success of the first Kingdom Hearts in 2002 guaranteed that a sequel would soon happen. But when children expressed their desire to play the game on the Game Boy Advance, series creator Tetsuya Nomura would oversee the development of another entry to link the first game to Kingdom Hearts II. As if he wasn't busy enough with the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

But to translate the first game's combat to the handheld, drastic measures would need to be taken. And as time has gone on and the PlayStation 2 remake became more prominent, its legacy would gradually become even more diluted.

Additional Voiceover (in order of appearance):

Chapters
00:00 Intro
1:35 Part 1: Sequel
8:11 Part 2: Nomura Divided
18:38 Patreon
18:52 Part 3: Chain of Memories
26:19 Card Battle
41:11 Disconnected Stories
52:53 The Organization
1:02:48 Sora, Deconstructed
1:13:08 Sora, Reconstructed
1:17:31 The Thirteenth Floor
1:26:03 Personal Thoughts
1:29:35 Part 4: Reverse/Rebirth
1:51:59 Part 5: Re:Chain of Memories
2:17:20 Part 6: One Card Short
2:30:04 Epilogue & To Be Continued...

[CrossOutBryce]

Every time I see a retrospective of a game I already played, I'm still always learning new things because WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WAS A US STAGE PLAY?! 😂

[masterxl]

2:00:39
Hearing the term “Blonde-Haired Kid” in reference to that character for the first time in 20 years just activated PTSD I didn’t even realize I had.
Thanks, Andrew!

[govianthefemaleinspector]

It’s quite impressive how well produced this video is. You cited your sources (when many don’t), you went in balls deep, the editing is very similar to DYKG, and you have multiple narrators. You guys must LOVE kingdom hearts and I’m here if there’s more to come.

[RamzaBeoulvelife]

I remember KingK's retrospective video on this game. What he said in the intro I find really profound as to the diabolical nature of Sora's reprogramming.

"Where would you be without your memories? Even stranger imagine what you'd be like if your memories were supplanted with fake ones? Memories of your loving father were replaced with memories of an abusive one? Memories of your life partner replaced with one's of a completely different person?"

[dontmindmeimjustchilling]

57:18 I think his affinity for flowers makes sense here, because a flower can be 'calm' and beautiful, it can also have thorns which can prick you pretty badly if not handled correctly

[maldon]

Sora saying there was another girl on the island is technically true but it wasn't Namine it was Selphie

[gregtroyan]

1:28:39 - This is generally my approach to artistic analysis and I think where a lot of folks get lost in media consumption. Judge art for what it is, not what you wish it was.

[digitaldevilgirl]

I very much appreciate you tackling the story from a very genuine and thoughtful perspective that analyzes what the games are trying to say. I feel like too much Kingdom Hearts discourse is seeped in irony or dismissal just because the premise seems absurd and the finer details of the narrative get complex.

[RoyalCrustle]

I honestly feel like they should have included the GBA version of Chain of Memories in the collections as well, to give people the option to choose which version they want to play.

[AxelStrife]

I just finished Soras story in ReCom and you pretty much nailed how it feels to play this game. It goes from "Im not sure i want to keep playing this" to "I guess it's not that bad" back to "Im not sure i want to keep playing this".

[Alwyn]

If I’m honest, I think the differences between the GBA and Remake versions is the big reason why I got both versions. There was noticeable things that people have forgotten about. For instance, the “Link” mode which lets two players with a link cable hook their GBAs together and battle each other with their cards, kind of like a Pokémon battle. Or small but noticeable narrative differences, like how the original GBA game had Axel curse at one point but was removed for the remake, or how they changed a scene of Goofy charging and knocking Larxene back in the GBA game to him throwing his shield instead for the remake. It’s various things like that which make me want to hold onto the original releases in addition to getting the remakes.

[howdomaddie]

happy march caprice!!! this was as delightful as your kh1 video, and i am so thrilled you do such thorough deep dives on these games. i was one who was originally introduced to COM via the remake in the 1.5 collection, and while i was one to usually watch the cutscenes online (including the disney worlds), i did eventually get my hands on the GBA original. i didn't get very far before the friend that lent it to me wanted it back, but i think i agree that it works best on the GBA. anyway--this was such an excellent video, and i'm looking forward both to the next march caprice and your next entry in the ff restrospectives too!

[yanyjc]

Truly, your retrospectives stand out, and I can not get enough of them. The amount of detail and research you put into these gives us a detailed breakdown behind the entire process behind the creation of these games, from all the way back to when Nomura and Co. were just getting started in putting these stories together, to when they finally came out, then you give a constructive examination on the game and what it is, rather than doing what most other youtubers do and just critique and complain about what it could've been for half the video. I especially love it when you pull out unique trivia like how the first game was such an unexpected hit that they had a play about it, or how Nomura basically had to check out midway into making the game, letting his team have full rein with the story. I look forward to your video on KHII, and all the new little tidbits you'll reveal for us.

[NeptunII]

makes you wonder. If Vexen was never supposed to give Sora the Twilight Town card, but they planned for Sora to reach the top floor, then what was Marluxia's original plan for the 11th floor? Deep Jungle? Is Vexen responsible for that world getting cut? 😂

[JCREDFANG]

Having Riku as a secret unlockable for beating Sora’s campaign blew my mind as a kid and made him my favorite character. His dark moves were so fun to pull off in battles, and it really made you appreciate his character even more since he was able to conquer his demons through out the story

[aewinhero]

Stumbling upon this video, the length certainly caught me off guard, but after watching the entire thing, I can say I've been pleasantly surprised by how much passion one can feel for Chain of Memories of all games. Great video.

[nesoukkefka]

Lethal Frame in Re : Com is also busted because the Jafar Card, despite including a magic card Jafar card does work with Lethal Frame, so ennemies can't break it, and once you manage to land 1 Lethal Frame, you can start throwing the next one while the boss is getting stagger from the hit of the previous effectivly stunlocking them with no way from them to respond.

[ciel]

Man this really brought me back to the speculation during the lead up to KH2, especially the hullabaloo around BHK/DWU/GEU with it taking forever for people to realize they were the same person lol.

[WaveK]

Fantastic retrospective! I especially enjoyed Part 2 as I didn't know all that much behind its development. Thanks!

[izuku_m]

I am super appreciative of the incredible work you put into these retrospectives. Easily my favorite long form content channel…. But selfishly I’m just glad you got this out so that we can finally get the KHII retrospective