History GameBreaker / KingdomHearts

** Your party members, Donald and Goofy, about halfway through the game. Early on, at times the only thing that prevents them from being a liability is the fact that they don't get permanently KO'd in battle.[[note]]They ''are'' "cartoon" (specifically Disney) characters after all.[[/note]] Once they start getting good stats, weapons and abilities however, they may just carry you. Goofy gets insane amounts of HP and Defense, meaning he can take hits for a '''''long''''' time, while Donald's massive MP means he can clear swarms of Heartless with only one spell at times. It's telling that the hardest battles of the game are ones where you don't have party members, and even in ''Final Mix'''s Proud Mode the easiest way to defeat the final boss is, once you rescue Donald and Goofy, to simply fly around and avoid attacks far away from him and spam the Triangle (or X, if playing the UsefulNotes/XboxOne version) button--which commands Donald and Goofy to attack your target immediately--while locked on to them. Their HP will drain extremely fast, and the only thing preventing them from doing the job entirely without you contributing at all is the fact that Sora must inflict the final hit.

* In ''Birth by Sleep,'' Firaga Burst was firmly AwesomeButImpractical since it kept Aqua grounded and immobile for the spell's entire duration, leaving her a sitting duck. In this game, however, it was greatly buffed, since it retains is massive damage but can now be used by both characters in midair, out of range of most boss attacks, and lag-canceled into Link animations, which allows for devastating combos when combined with Links such as Ragnarok or Rising Wing. A common lategame strat is to combine multiple Firaga Bursts with [[StatusBuff Spirit Roar]] and repeated Link cancels to utterly melt enemy HP bars.

** The Aero spell. It creates a shield of wind around Sora that halves incoming damage and [[CollisionDamage deals MP-scaled chip damage]] to enemies in contact with Sora. It will also stun-lock many enemies. This can trivialize many big fights, including boss fights--even [[{{Superboss}} Sephiroth]] becomes notably easier. It's telling that 1: the rest of the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series has never featured another damaging barrier like this and turns Aero into a completely different spell, and 2: one of the {{Optional Boss}}es, [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} the Ice Titan]], specifically counters Aeroga by making its projectiles too big to be blocked (which makes sense considering that the only way to reliably harm it is to deflect its projectiles back at it).

* Certain Sleights can make the game very easy if you build your deck right, for example...

** Exclusive to ''Re:[=CoM=]'', the Lethal Frame ([[SpellMyNameWithAnS mistranslated as "Lethal Flame" in the localized [=PS2=] versions]]) Sleight (Stop + Attack card + Attack card) stops time and allows Sora to quickly deliver a bunch of hits. When time starts again, the enemy starts taking damage and can't act for a few moments, allowing you to set up another one. As this sleight has standardized damage and isn't dependent on the attack cards you included, it can trivialize bosses even into the late-game. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og4OD9qKbVg It can even take down the last boss in under 2 minutes!]]

* Choosing the Dream Shield at the start of the original release turns you into a nightmarish LightningBruiser. You will have [[StoneWall much higher HP and Defense]] than with other setups, for starters. Your passive MP regeneration through dealing and taking damage will make healing yourself a triviality; even the FinalBoss will be a joke. If you don't wish to do the healing yourself, then you can simply just summon Tinker Bell to handle that for you (details on her below). This setup also allows Sora to learn Lucky Strike earlier than the other two setups, meaning you can start collecting rare materials needed to make better items (including the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Ultima Weapon]]) much earlier in the game. If you need even more Defense, the overpowered Aero spell boosts said Defense to an absurd degree.
* Choosing the Staff during Dive to the Heart in ''Final Mix''. This sacrifices extra item slots earned by the Sword and Shield, but the Staff option gives Sora more MP to start with and a higher MP cap than the other two. Magical power is based purely on max MP, and the extra points also ''exponentially'' increase the number of spell uses. This means a high-level Sora can wipe out hordes of endgame enemies with almost zero-cost Blizzagas or cast [[PercentDamageAttack Gravigas]] that deal [[OneHitKill 100% of the opponent's maximum health]]. ''Final Mix'' further favors the Staff with the new Ripple Drive finisher, which strikes a wide area with damage that is based on MP but doesn't expend it, meaning Staff route players who give up the Sword don't even feel the pain of low physical damage. Primarily physical-based users have another benefit: starting with the Staff gives the largest amount of starting Ability Points (AP), while having high MP allows you to essentially spam the extremely powerful Sonic Blade, Strike Raid, Ars Arcanum, and possibly even Ragnarok. EarlyGameHell is a factor, but the Staff's advantages start to show as soon as Wonderland (which is still fairly early in the game), and by the end of the first ring of worlds [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards it has already left the Sword and Shield far behind.]]

** The Aero spell. It creates a shield of wind around Sora that halves incoming damage and [[CollisionDamage deals MP-scaled chip damage]] to enemies in contact with Sora. It will also stun-lock many enemies. This can trivialize many big fights, including boss fights--even [[{{Superboss}} Sephiroth]] becomes notably easier. It's telling that 1: the rest of the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series has never featured another damaging barrier like this and turns Aero into a completely different spell, and 2: one of the {{Bonus Boss}}es, [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} the Ice Titan]], specifically tries to counter Aeroga.

* The infamous "infinite combo" trick. Equip the ability Berserk Charge, which allows Sora to perform an infinite combo during MP recharge. Use Trinity Limit, a powerful attack that consumes all of Sora's MP, then follow it up with an infinite combo. Once your MP recharges, use Trinity Limit again and repeat the process until the enemy is dead. If you're fast enough, you can trap them in an infinite combo that they can't break out of. It's not as effective on bosses, as some have a "revenge value" mechanic that lets them break out of a combo if you hit them too many times ([[BonusBoss Sephiroth]]'s teleportation power is one example), but even they can fall victim to this if you're fast enough and can lock back on to them immediately, or find a way to counter their revenge attack and keep them stuck in an AI loop.

* For Gummi Ship missions, most players agree that the best design is the "donut ship;" a square ring as tall and wide as you can make it. The reason for this is that enemies always aim for your ship's center, so if the center is hollow, their shots will almost always go straight through it, which can really save you in boss fights, especially against [[BonusBoss Hunter X]]'s BulletHell.

*** Triple Firaga is no slouch either. It's very easy to make (Firaga + Fira), it can be made as soon as you get access to the command board, has a fast recharge time, does tremendous damage with the fire boost ability, takes up only one slot in the command deck, is homing and can stun some bosses. With the correct deck layout and timing you can even kill the final form of the [[BonusBoss Iron Imprisoner]] before it gets a chance to do anything. The only thing keeping this from being completely broken is it's exclusive to Aqua.

* Firewheel. With it equipped to Aqua, you can quite literally [[BoringButPractical cartwheel your enemies to death]] while taking next to no damage yourself. Some of the more difficult Mirage Arena challenges can be beaten this way. And you can get it before ever leaving your first world![[note]]All you need to do is meld 2 fully leveled Fires together to get Fira, max out its level and meld it with another fully leveled Fire to get Firaga, then max out its level. Buy a Cartwheel and level it up then meld the two together.[[/note]] On the other hand, Firewheel lacks the invincibility frames granted by Cartwheel, making it a very bad ability against some bosses (such as [[BonusBoss Vanitas Remnant]]).

* Judgment Triad, if by Game Breaking you mean "the BonusBoss battle becomes dodge and shoot this thing". It has extreme homing that can potentially hit several Heartless at once, and damage so massive, it can one-shot several early-game bosses. You can only have 3 of these in your deck, but it was so good you barely need anything else.

* While the Ultima Weapon may be the InfinityPlusOneSword as always, it's easily the most powerful incarnation of the weapon yet. Not only are its stats unparalleled, enabling it to deal a ridiculous amount of damage with regular attacks and magic, its Shotlock, Infinity Circle, is an ''absurdly'' strong area-clearing nuke, and -- most importantly -- it has a unique Formchange, the aptly-named Ultimate Form, that is essentially Final Form from ''II'' made more powerful with none of its predecessor's weaknesses. Ultimate Form gives nearly every single part of the basic attack combo massive range, area of effect, and ''active invincibility frames'', to the point where the (original) BonusBoss will lose over half of its total HP in the span of one or two combo strings, even on Proud Mode. If that wasn't enough, the weapon itself has the Situation Boost ability that makes the Situation Command gauge fill faster, making it easier than normal to reach said form! Even without the Formchange or Shotlock, the Keyblade itself is unmatched as a damage-dealer, at 13 Strength AND Magic[[note]]Strength only matched by Oblivion and Magic is only exceeded by 1 point by the Classic Tone[[/note]] and possessing much-vaunted Combo Boost and Air Combo Boost abilities[[note]]Which is a big deal -In ''II'', Decisive Pumpkin was considered the better damage dealer than its contemporary Ultima Weapon because it had Combo Boost whilst having the same Strength stat of 6. Air Combo Boost, unfortunately, was on Hero's Crest, a weak early-game Keyblade[[/note]], meaning your combos will quickly rack up damage while being able to deal Magic damage that's nothing to sneeze at. The sword isn't a BraggingRightsReward in ''III'' either, because it can be created before facing the FinalBoss or the aforementioned Bonus Boss, as well as, as of a later patch, be carried over to a NewGamePlus with all other Keyblades. Sure, the stats are reset to Level 1 and needs to be upgraded like the rest, but even at base level, it retains all three of its absurdly broken abilities and its Strength is on par with most early-game Keyblades near their max levels[[note]]Its initial Magic stat of 3, however, is outdone by Ever After and the equally strong Oblivion at their base levels, but they both get overtaken given upgrades,and neither of them have their stronger abilities at base level, unlike Ultima[[/note]]! All of this adds up to a weapon that makes the last part of the game and future playthroughs a breeze.

* The Golden Highwind, the BraggingRightsReward you get for defeating the [[BonusBoss Schwarzgeist]] is easily the strongest Gummi Ship by far. Its constant-fire rate is insane, that aided by its lock-on shots means the HP bars of enemy Gummi ships can be melted through in seconds. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUPeWWxRaNM As demonstrated in this video]].

** [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Tinker Bell]] also definitely merits discussion. Unlike the other Summons, Tink does not replace any allies on the battlefield and lacks a depleting MP bar, meaning that she will only leave if dismissed manually or upon Sora's death (i.e. having his HP reduced to 0). Tinker Bell will constantly heal Sora and his allies while active and will revive Sora upon death before she leaves. Combined with Second Chance and other Support Abilities, there's little you'll need to worry about as long as you're sufficiently leveled, and Tink's Regen effect largely counteracts the need to spend MP on healing, meaning Sora is free to use MP using Spells like Aeroga, Graviga, and Stopga instead. Of course, you can't perform any Summons in fights where Sora is down at least one partner and Neverland is the third-to-last world traveled to, but she comes in handy for tough late-game battles like [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]]'s dragon form and Chernabog. It's especially useful for the BonusBoss Kurt Zisa--Tink is the perfect counter to Zisa's deadly attacks and its ability to seal Sora's own magic.
** The Aero spell. It creates a shield of wind around Sora that halves incoming damage and [[CollisionDamage deals MP-scaled chip damage]] to enemies in contact with Sora. It will also stun-lock many enemies. This can trivialize many big fights, including boss fights--even [[BonusBoss Sephiroth]] becomes notably easier. It's telling that 1: the rest of the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series has never featured another damaging barrier like this and turns Aero into a completely different spell, and 2: one of the {{Bonus Boss}}es, [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} the Ice Titan]], specifically tries to counter Aeroga.

* Command Board:
** The Command Board alone has boatloads of Game-Breakers! This mini-game is essentially the ''Kingdom Hearts'' version of ''VideoGame/FortuneStreet'', available at any save point or at any time on the world map, where the "properties" on the board represent the player's deck commands. At the end of this game, any commands that the player placed on a panel gain experience based on how much investment was put into their panel, and any commands that were found in Bonus Panels, purchased from an opponent, or stolen with Joker Cards are the player's to keep. Getting good at this mini-game allows the player to learn all sorts of new commands by taking them from their opponents, level up large numbers of commands very quickly, and acquire exclusive commands only available by taking them from the Board. The best part is if you know what commands to fuse and have the patience to keep playing the board, you can get a lot of high-level commands very early in the game.
*** The Command Board in turn is broken by the Stun command. It only needs one Attack Card to use, and stuns an opponent of your choice for one turn, preventing them from doing anything. The problem is that there's nothing to stop you from continuously stunning one player over and over. Stack your deck with Attack Cards and you can immobilize opponents for turns upon turns in a row while you continue to move about the board freely. Also factor in that playing in the Mirage Arena allows you to set the number of opponents to one, and actual playing of the board becomes a formality -- even if you can't keep your opponent stunned forever, they'll fall so far behind they can't hope to catch up.
*** This becomes even more of a Game Breaker if you go to the Mirage Arena to play, which you can do as soon as you finish your first world. Playing at the Command Board at the Mirage Arena not only nets you all the above advantages, but you'll win hundreds of medals to trade for prizes, including synthesis materials to make fusing commands even better. One such synthesis material is the Abounding Crystal, which attaches abilities like Lucky Lucky and Exp Walker to your commands. The ''Final Mix'' release pointedly put Abounding Crystals off-limits until you reach Radiant Garden, which none of the other synthesis materials were.
** Of the Command Boards, the Never Land board is easily the best. This is because of its Special Panel effect, "Pixie Dust", which allows you to place your opponent on any tile you want to, including ones you've bought, which will still steal some of the opponent's GP when placed on. While the AI isn't smart enough to make decent use of this, you can easily just buy a high GP panel like the ones on the island next to the starting panel, then land on every Special Panel you can and drop your opponent onto that high value panel over and over again to steal any of the GP they get, making winning extremely trivial. It helps that the Never Land map is one of the largest and is mostly just one huge continuous loop with a shortcut through the middle, so moving them around like this can set them back several turns.
** Then there's the Secret Command Board, where its special tile lets you move your character anywhere on the board instantly. The path to the goal is a loop with two large colored zones on either side, so you can exploit the special tile's powers to easily rack up a zone sweep in this area, an area your opponent will have no choice but to try and pass if they want to get to the goal and out. Furthermore, the board's central crossroad has two loops around it and three special tiles among them, so you can go around the loops to manipulate your movements and land on the special tiles more often.
** If Captain Dark appears from a special space, it's basically game over for your opponent. Captain Dark (and his good counterpart, Captain Justice) will follow a player around the board and will switch to following another player if they pass the current player they're following, so even if you're unfortunate enough to get him, you can quickly pass him off to your opponent. Captain Dark will steal GP from the player he's following every turn, but even worse, if the player moves in a way that Captain Dark is standing on an empty panel, odds are he'll buy the square on their behalf at an ''absurdly'' inflated price. Both of them last several turns, over which time Captain Dark will likely drain your opponent's wallet significantly and possibly send their GP into the negative, which forces them to start selling panels they've previously owned to cover it.

** While [[EleventhHourSuperpower it only becomes available late in the game]], Trinity Limit has by far the best power/card ratio in the game. In the first game, it [[AwesomeButImpractical took up all your MP and wasn't that much stronger than Sora's other limits]]. Here, you only need Donald, Goofy, and a single attack card, of any type, ''and'' is usable at any number. It's perfect for LevelGrinding on the final floor because most normal enemies don't have nearly enough card strength to interrupt you, and it hits everything on screen ForMassiveDamage. Combine it with Marluxia's Double Sleight enemy card and you can even do it twice in a row!

** For an idea of just [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqnyMi3WUCs how busted]] Swordbill is under these circumstances, observe Mysterious Figure being defeated in ''14.7 seconds''. Granted, it's difficult to pull off without practice, but for most bosses, it's relatively easy to perform.

** For an idea of just [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqnyMi3WUCs how busted]] Swordbill is under these circumstances, observe Mysterious Figure being defeated in ''14.7 seconds'' with the right timing.

* Donald's second LimitBreak Flare Force absolutely destroys bosses. Donald gathers fireworks, which can be sent at the enemy up to five times, after which the finisher, Megaduck Flare, causes a barrage of rockets to attack the enemy. The attack does decent damage on its own, but what makes it really broken is that ''you still have full control of Sora during the move'', allowing Sora to also attack the enemy at the same time as they're being pelted with rockets to rack up ''massive'' damage. Alternatively, Sora can use an Elixir to restore his MP to full during the attack, meaning he and Donald can launch another Flare Force as soon as the first one ends. (Or just fill Donald or Goofy's inventory with Elixirs, and they'll automatically use one on Sora the second the attack finishes.) Flare Force is a staple of a LowLevelRun for its ability to deal ridiculous damage this way, even at level 1. On top of that, the rockets stagger enemies, meaning that once you land that initial hit, they're essentially helpless until the barrage ends.