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Melody of Memory features 47 worlds from the series (31 Disney and 16 original worlds) and 33 locations known as "dark holes" where the boss battle songs take place. Suzui felt the game was a "summary" of the Kingdom Hearts series "in a nice, easy to digest format" while still featuring "hints about what's coming next" in the franchise. He added that "there are hints sprinkled throughout" regarding the Master of Masters, with Nomura acknowledging the character and the title sharing an acronym (MoM). Nomura stated the character's childhood would be explored, which had been mostly a mystery up until this point, but cautioned the new story was "not meant to advance things significantly". The game also continues Kairi's story immediately after the end of the Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind downloadable content scenario. Series creator and director Tetsuya Nomura said "once we go through the story of recollection and beyond that, we start to see a timeline that will connect to the future". This is done through Kairi, who reflects upon the events of the series, narrating for the player. Melody of Memory retells the story of the Dark Seeker Saga, starting with the first Kingdom Hearts and moving in order through Kingdom Hearts III. The gameplay of Melody of Memory has been compared to Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. The Nintendo Switch version of the game features a free-for-all battle royal mode, where up to eight players can compete against each other in local multiplayer. Winning in versus mode increases a player's ranking and awards two collectible cards, while the runner-up receives one. There are 10 different types of tricks, with co-director Masanobu Suzui saying they make completing the songs "more tricky and complicated" given how players can combine the tricks.
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This mode features "tricks", which are used to disrupt the other player, once at the beginning of the track and again towards the end. Multiplayer modes include Double Play co-op mode, where players compete locally together playing as Sora and Riku to get the highest collective score, COM versus, where players compete against the computer to get a high rank three times out of five, and versus mode, where players compete against each other online or with local multiplayer ( Nintendo Switch only) for the best score in a best 2 out of 3. Clearing stages unlocks a music and cinematic scene player. Each stage features various objectives to complete, that award material to unlock new songs and items. Melody of Memory features the series' Beginner, Standard, and Proud difficulties, while each stage has three play options available: Basic One Button, which removes button complexity and allows party members to auto-attack and Performer, which adds additional enemies and button sequences. Traversal between each of the worlds is done through the Gummi Ship, a system used in previous mainline Kingdom Hearts games. King Mickey serves as a fourth party member, assisting the player with healing and additional rhythm points when activating the "Summoning Star" item. Disney characters serve as guest members in their specific themed worlds, bringing different sounds and symbols to the gameplay. Once new parties have been unlocked, they can be used at any time. Melody of Memory features three-person parties, of which there are four different groupings. After songs have been completed, they can be replayed individually. Each song is categorized into a stage, either Field Battle (world exploration tracks), where players complete songs rhythmically in each world, and face appropriate enemies in each stage from the original games in which the song is based on, Memory Dive (tracks associated with a specific character or uses vocals), where players replay stages from past games in music video-like sequences with gameplay similar to Field Battles, and Boss Battle (tracks associated with bosses), where players face bosses from the series. The main single player mode is World Tour, which is the "story campaign" of the game. Players work to level up the characters' health and attack power, with each character having two types of ranged and melee attack abilities. A Miss affects the player's health, which causes the game to end when it has run out. Players press buttons with the right timing to get an Excellent, Good, or Miss, depending on the timing. Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is a rhythm action game featuring both single and multiplayer gameplay. Two-player rhythm gameplay in Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory
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