Summon cards

The card for the Simba summon.

Summon cards are part of the set of cards used for summoning in Chain of Memories and Re:Chain of Memories. They are identified by their blue border, which they share with magic cards, whereas they share their gameplay with friend cards. Chain of Memories features a total of seven summon cards available to Sora, six of which are based on the summon spells seen in Kingdom Hearts, with Cloud making up the new seventh addition.

Like magic cards, summon cards are unlocked by progressing through the story, after which they are available everywhere, such as the Moogle Shop, which sells magic card packs that include summon cards. The Mushu card is the only exception, as it must be acquired from the Room of Rewards in Hollow Bastion.

Summon cards function identically to friend cards in that they take a moment to call forth the intended ally, who then needs another moment to perform their personal skill or ability. Due to this they are somewhat prone to suffering a card break, although they make up for it with power or utility for the most part. However, like magic cards, their strength often does not hold up compared to sleights and attack cards acquired in the late-game.

Summon cards[]

The only enemy card that affects summoning is the Crescendo card's Summon Boost, which disables the use of magic cards in exchange for a 30% bonus on damage and duration for summons and summon sleights.

Card	CP	Journal description	Availability
Simba	20~38	Simba lets out a mighty roar that deals damage to enemies in front of him. Stock more than one and his roar will also stun enemies.	Clear the Room of Beginnings in Traverse Town.
Cloud	25~43	Cloud unleashes two successive sword attacks. Stock two cards to use Cross-slash and three cards to use Omnislash.	Defeat Hades in the Olympus Coliseum.
Genie	20~38	Genie casts Thundara, Gravira, or Stopra. Stock more than one and Genie will cast multiple spells.	Defeat Jafar-Genie in Agrabah.
Dumbo	20~38	Dumbo douses enemies over a set time period, dealing ice damage. Stock more than one to prolong the attack.	Clear the Room of Truth (Monstro's Belly Brawl) in Monstro.
Bambi	20~38	Bambi bounds around and drops HP orbs. Stock more than one to boost the effect.	Complete 100 Acre Wood.
Tinker Bell	20~38	Tinker Bell restores HP over a set time period. Stock more than one to boost the effect.	Defeat Captain Hook in Neverland.
Mushu	25~43	Mushu breathes fire at the enemy, dealing fire damage. Stock more than one to prolong the attack.	Room of Rewards in Hollow Bastion.

Simba[]

Simba is the first summon card acquired, after clearing Leon's tutorial in the Room of Beginnings in Traverse Town. When summoned Simba uses Proud Roar and take a step forward followed by a roar, shaking the screen slightly. This damages any enemy (for ×3 damage) in front of him, as well as those very close to him. Because Simba can only reliably hit enemies in one direction he is best used when at the edge of the 2D combat field, although it is still common to miss very mobile and agile foes that attempt to chase you.

The remake rectifies the problem by letting Simba hit enemies based on proximity, which works out well as enemies will still attempt to chase you. Because of the relatively low damage coupled with the ability to hit every enemy Simba works best against large groups of weak enemies, such as the Red Nocturne, and other agile fliers. The Proud Roar Lv2 and Lv3 sleights add a stun effect to damaged enemies, whereas only Lv3 increase the damage slightly (to ×5).

Cloud[]

Cloud is the strongest summon card, and is received after completing the Olympus Coliseum. When summoned Cloud will appear in place of Sora and swing his sword twice, striking any enemy (For ×5 damage) directly in front of him. Because of the specific arc of each slash it is possible for him to miss flying or small enemies, although the length of his blade grants the attack some leeway. This issue persists somewhat more in the remake, where the 3D space gives enemies more ways to maneuver, also making them somewhat more prone to being knocked out of range.

Cross-slash Lv2 will add a third attack, technically making the double sleight worse than using both single cards separately, although it is still a cheap way to make use of a low value Cloud card. The Cross-slash+ sleight in comparison is a superior way to use multiple Cloud cards, as the attack will hit an enemy three times, and also conveniently teleports directly behind them to avoid misses against all but the most agile foes. The Omnislash sleight will make Cloud fly across the field to hit enemies directly (for ×10 damage), almost entirely negating the downside of potential misses, although taking advantage of grouped enemies does not work as well.

Genie[]

Genie is a summon card acquired after completing Agrabah. When summoned Genie will appear in place of Sora to use Showtime and move to a targeted enemy, after which he randomly casts either Thundara, Gravira, or Stopra. One benefit of Genie's is that he cannot miss, although the actual benefit of the spells he uses is somewhat vague. His Thundara deals slightly more damage (×6) compared to Sora's in the original version, but only hits around the target rather than the whole screen. The remake rebalanced the original Thundara sleight's damage, but not Genie's.

Genie's Stopra in the original stops an enemy for five seconds, which has been changed to eight in the remake. Gravira is identical to Sora's (40%) and the same in all versions. Genie is nearly useless against bosses due to their high resistance, something that using the Showtime Lv2 and Showtime Lv3 sleights does not improve, as they only increase the amount of times he casts.

Dumbo[]

Dumbo is a summon card acquired after completing Monstro. When summoned Dumbo will appear in place of Sora to use Splash, which covers around half of the screen to deal damage in one direction, with a slight spread effect to it. The damage equals 1.5 times Sora's base damage, which can ramp up quickly provided enemies would not be able to avoid the stream or be pushed out of range by it. The remake fixes part of the issue by letting the player control Dumbo, while also increasing the duration from a mere two seconds to a whole five.

The Splash Lv2 and Splash Lv3 sleights only increase the range in the original GBA version. In the remake Lv2 has a duration of ten seconds, and Lv3 has a damage multiplier of 2, both also increase the attack's size and height. Because Splash is of the ice elemental type Blizzard Boost from the Blue Rhapsody card can be used to further improve the damage.

Bambi[]

Bambi is a summon card acquired acquired after completing 100 Acre Wood. When summoned Bambi will appear alongside Sora to use Paradise, wherein he will randomly hop around the combat area, dropping HP orbs with each hop, and very slightly damaging enemies if he lands on them. The HP orbs are small and heal only 3 HP each, although the frequency of the jumps differs between both versions of the game. In the original version Bambi will drop five orbs, one per jump. In the remake he drops twelve orbs, three per jump. Because of the incredibly lackluster amount of HP regained (which also requires waiting on Bambi, and has to be picked up) he is not worth using over other means of restoring HP.

The Paradise Lv2 and Lv3 sleights create large HP orbs (10 HP each), and Bambi also stuns enemies in the Lv3 version. He also appears in the Idyll Romp sleight, which lets Bambi confuse enemies by jumping on-top of them.

Tinker Bell[]

Tinker Bell is a summon card acquired after completing Neverland. When summoned Tinker Bell will appear alongside Sora to use Twinkle, which passively heals Sora over a short period of time. Tinker Bell will heal 30% of his maximum HP within four seconds, but only in the original GBA version. In the remake Tink heals only 7% for three seconds, but the player can spam the interact button to gain an additional 0.5% HP with each press. In either case, Tinker Bell is extremely useful at large HP levels, but generally a waste when playing with low HP, especially when Cure is simply faster.

Twinkle Lv2 and Twinkle Lv3 increase the amount healed to 60% and 100% within five and seven seconds, respectively. The remake changes this to 13% and 22% with a bonus of 1% and 1.5% per button press, for respectively four and five seconds.

Mushu[]

Mushu is a summon card acquired after completing Hollow Bastion. When summoned Mushu will appear on top of Sora's head to use the fire elemental Flare Breath. In the original he will spit three medium-range fireballs in the same direction as Sora, who can conveniently walk around to properly hit foes. In the remake the screen instead changes to that of a first-person shooter, wherein the player has eleven seconds to aim the reticule coupled with a limited amount of fireballs (fired by pressing the interact button). The fireball damage is relatively low (×1.5 damage each), but the ease of using it in the original version is convenient.

The remake's shooter mode on the other hand is inconvenient in comparison, as the fixed timer forces you to spam the fireballs to ensure you use them all, while the reticule lacks any semblance of aim assist, making it hard to hit enemies that move around. Flare Breath Lv2 and Lv3 primarily focus on increasing the amount of fireballs, but not the damage (except for Lv2 in the original, which is at ×2) nor the duration.

Because Flare Breath is of the fire elemental type Fire Boost from the Red Nocturne card can be used to further improve the damage.