World Cards recreate entire floors of Castle Oblivion, whereas Map Cards essentially “fill” these blank rooms (or White Rooms) with the qualities of the Map Card that the player selected.
When the player reaches a door to a room, a blank outline or colored outline of a Card will appear, with a numerical value in the center. The player now must choose from his or her list of Map Cards that fit the door’s criteria. The player’s Card will have one of three colors (red, blue, and green) and also have a numerical value of 0 to 9.
If the room Card outline is blank, then the player can use any colored Map Card in his or her list.
If the room Card has a color, then that color must be used. Also if the number has an arrow pointing down next to it, the player must use any Map Card with a number of equal or lesser value. An arrow pointing up next to the number means the player must use any Map Card equal to or greater than the number on the door. If the number has an equal sign next to the number, this means the player must use that exact Map Card number to open the door.
Using high-numbered Cards can create challenges when it comes to accessing subsequent rooms. For example, suppose Sora comes to a door that requires a Card of any color, plus a numerical value of 8 or higher. If Sora places a rare blue Card with the value of 9, the following room will now require a rare blue Card, with one number higher than 9. (In other words, only a blue 0 will work.) This has effectively created the most difficult room to open in the game, and unless that identical Card is in Sora’s deck, it will take careful planning to backtrack and re-synthesize rooms so that the room requirements are much more manageable. Also, if the map is full of blue Cards that do not spawn Shadow Heartless, there is no way to do battle to get more Map Cards to restock Sora’s list. Room Synthesis can be very tricky, and without some level of planning it can cause major challenges.
This new Card system, a mechanic created solely for this title in the Kingdom Hearts series, is made up of different Cards that are acquired throughout the game. Chain of Memories takes place solely in Castle Oblivion, and the navigational Cards such as World Cards and Map Cards are used to explore this strange castle.
World Cards
World Cards are a series of Cards that are given to Sora and Riku to change complete floors of Castle Oblivion into copies of Disney worlds. These worlds are basically carbon copies of the real thing, and are created from the memories of Sora and Riku by members of the Organization. As Sora blindly uses his Keyblade to destroy countless Heartless, the Castle’s true purpose becomes evident. What does the Organization want with Sora’s memories, you say? Well, they sure as heck don’t want to make a scrapbook. . .
Exploration in Chain of Memories is quite different from the first title in the series. Each floor that Sora and Riku travel to will have its own map that changes as you move to another floor in Castle Oblivion.
Each map is a series of block-shaped rooms, with regular rooms or special rooms that require keys from cutscenes or boss battles. There are also some rooms that need special treasure keys to open them.
Regular rooms have a crown shape on the top of them, while special doors that progress the story or house boss battles have an exclamation mark on them.
Map Cards
Map Cards are essentially spoils of war received after emerging victorious from a random Heartless encounter and are used in Room Synthesis. Map Cards are numbered 0 to 9 and colored red, green, or blue. They also have a symbol or picture on the front of them that can either make the trip through the rooms in the world a breeze or a desperate fight for survival.
The Map Card colors come in three types as explained here.
Red Map Cards, or Enemy Map Cards, are by far the most common. These Cards lessen or intensify the numbers of Heartless you encounter as well as how strong or weak they are, and even can put them to sleep to create easy fodder or a casual pass through.
Green Map Cards are Status Map Cards, which act as status boosts for Sora and Riku, and even the friends you bring into battle with you.
Blue Map Cards, or Bounty Map Cards, create bonuses within the rooms such as save points, treasure chests, or even Moogle Shops, in which Sora can use Moogle Points to buy Attack Cards or sell Cards as needed.
World Card List
Sora’s Story
Description: A town of sanctuary for the unfortunate souls whose homes fell to the Heartless.
World Card Set 1
Description: A dusty town full of merchant tents and thieves that lays before the palace of the Sultan.
Description: A world full of wonder and magic with crazy and ridiculous characters.
Description: An arena built by the gods for the combat of heroes and challengers alike.
Description: A gigantic whale that is large enough to fit an entire world.
Description: A twisted and terrifying town full of even more twisted and terrifying creatures.
World Card Set 2
Description: A peaceful area of woodland that surprisingly remains peaceful even in the middle of the drama that has unfolded in Castle Oblivion.
Description: A kingdom under the sea ruled by King Triton.
Description: The ship of pirates, led by the fearsome yet slightly cowardly Captain Hook.
Description: A magnificent castle once ruled by Beast, but which has since been destroyed by Maleficent.
Description: A mysterious town that rests in the center of light and dark.
Description: A lush and beautiful tropical island that is home to Sora and Kairi.
Reverse/Rebirth Riku’s Story
World Card Set 1
World Card Set 2
