Combat Differences

While Sora and Riku both have several qualities that make each of them a powerful force to be reckoned with, these qualities are quite different. These differences are explored in this section.

Sora’s Combat Differences

Sora has much more versatility when customizing his three Battle Card decks. Sora can have any variety of Battle Cards in his deck so long as there is at least one Attack Card placed with the others. Sora is also able to use Summon Cards, Magic Cards, and a wider variety of Item Cards.

Upon leveling up, Sora can receive a boost to his HP or CP or, at certain times, learn a new Sleight.

As a new Sleight cannot be learned upon every level up, the most constant decision is between raising Sora’s HP and CP.

Choosing to raise Sora’s HP at the beginning is wise, since he will not have many strong Battle Cards, which in turn means you are not required to have extra CP available. This will change once you amass more powerful Battle Cards, so then start building CP. Having a huge amount of CP at that point will make it less necessary for Sora to have a ton of HP. After all, if the enemy is being beaten badly, it can’t get up long enough to hit you.

A big difference between Sora and Riku are the Friend Cards that are available for Sora. Sora has quite a few friends that offer support in battle through Friend Cards. Besides Goofy and Donald, Sora also gets a new Friend Card during each world except for Traverse Town, Twilight Town, and Destiny Islands. The other worlds only supply support in battle as long as you remain in their world, however.

Sora has a wider variety with Room Synthesis as well. He gains more Map Cards of every color, especially the incredibly valuable Key to Rewards Card that can be used to open special crown doors that can bestow new Sleights and Attack Cards, as well as special abilities such as Super Glide. This brings us to a difference of less importance—Sora gains the Glide ability. This can make traveling between and within rooms especially fun. Soar over confused Heartless and toy with their emotions by staying just out of reach.

Riku’s Combat Differences

Level Boosts

Riku’s differences from Sora are based on a much more simple system. Riku also can choose one of three level boosts upon leveling up, however this time you have to choose between HP, attack strength, or Dark Power (DP) boosts. Riku may not be as well rounded as Sora, but that does not seem to make a difference to him. His art of war is based solely on brute strength and brutal sword attacks.

D Mode

As with Sora and his new Sleights only becoming available to learn at certain times, this is also true with Riku, except that Attack and DP bonuses trade off availability. While boosting Riku’s sword attack is amazing, DP increases are just as beautiful. Riku has a intensely and visually ferocious battle mode called Dark Mode, or D Mode for short. This is where increasing DP becomes very useful.

Once Riku is taught D Mode by Ansem, a new gauge appears next to Riku’s health bar while in battle. Fill up this Dark Mode gauge as often as possible to get the full effect of this intense power up. To fill the gauge, you need to break enemies’ attacks with your Attack Cards with a higher Card Value. Every move you break adds more DP to the gauge. Once it fills to max, Riku transforms into D Mode.

Riku’s appearance changes, his attack strength and speed increase, and his already powerful Sleights become more dangerous.

Swinging away in this mode is so satisfyingly powerful that it encourages you to stay on the offensive for as long as the mode lasts. Riku can break powerful boss moves with ease by delivering some slashes of his own. It is still good to remember to dodge attacks as much as possible, however.

If the enemy causes enough damage to Riku or breaks your moves, D Mode will be canceled and Riku returns to normal.

Dark Sleights

Riku has access to four incredibly powerful Sleights while in D Mode. You get a preview of their awesome powers when facing the Riku Replica during Sora’s Story. These Dark Sleights are:

• Dark Aura: A powerful move where Riku flies back and forth across the screen, sword held straight ahead, and hits the enemy several times.

• Dark Break: Riku jumps straight up and slams down sword first on an enemy’s cranium. This move is pretty weak by itself, however if i is pressed just as impact is made, Riku can perform this a few extra times.

• Dark Firaga: This is the first Sleight to be used, and by far it is consistently powerful and almost always reliable. Riku winds way back and charges a ball of dark fire in his hand. He then releases the blast, which also acts as a homing missile that follows the enemy.

• Inverse Burst: With the help of King Mickey, the two heroes stand back to back and begin to float around in a circle, spinning around and firing dark energy blasts around the battle arena and hitting multiple targets.

Another difference between Sora and Riku is that Riku remains with only one friend, King Mickey, throughout the entire game. When used, King Mickey can heal Riku, reload Riku’s deck, and stun the enemy at the same time.

Dueling

Last but not least, Riku can participate in Duels with the enemy. If you time your attacks right and use a card with an equal Card Value as the enemy, a Duel can be performed. To win the Duel, you must successfully overpower the enemy’s Card Value in its deck by rapidly pressing the attack button to break cards quickly.

If the Duel is successful, Riku can perform some awe-inspiring and downright wince-inducing Sleights that can be so cool that you feel embarrassed for the bad guy.