This review covers only the new additions and changes made in this version. I will link the review for the base game below.

Base game review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/BrightGalaxy/review/564994/

Before this version existed, Square added a bunch of extra post-game bosses in the western releases that consisted of Sephiroth, a handful of heartless, and the Ice Titan. Since Japan never got these bosses, Squaresoft decided to release this version not even a year after the base game in Japan was released. That one adds a handful of new changes and a canon boss fight with a mysterious hooded man who would eventually play a large role in the series story.

First off, the game throws in a few extra cutscenes that give a little bit more context to the game's story as well as new Ansem reports that add to the game's lore. This game's story is pretty simple in comparison to the wild ride Nomura has crafted over years of sequels and "spin-offs" but a little extra context is never a bad thing. There is a new version of the ending, which like the added boss I will eventually go into, serves as a teaser of what was to come.

In this version, all of the heartless get a color change. Since this is the version of KH1 I've played the most, I've gotten used to the color swaps. I don't think they are ugly, but they don't replace the charm that the iconic, original designs have. Plenty of new heartless were also added with each of them having some sort of gimmick that makes them a bit more interesting to fight compared to the generic shadows and soldiers. These heartless also drop new materials which you can use to synthesize new items.

Something that I think gets glanced over a lot are the major quality of life changes that were added to Final Mix. Among the new abilities added were slapshot, sliding dash, and leaf bracer. The former two make the combat a little less clunky and leaf bracer is a game-changer in that you can still heal while being attacked. Another small QoL improvement that makes a huge difference is that you can now skip cutscenes after watching them. This makes a certain few bosses in this game MUCH more bearable in comparison to the base version that did not allow you to do this.

Proud mode is also a new addition that was not in the base game. Proud mode is essentially the game's hard difficulty and significantly boosts the game's difficulty. It's a good challenge and from my experience the best way to play the game even if it gets frustrating during some parts.

The last thing worth mentioning is the new boss fight. The hooded man who is totally not inspired by Darth Vader is a challenging but fun addition to the lineup of post-game bosses who will put your skills and ability to spam Ars Arcanum to the test. In terms of difficulty, I would put him above the heartless bosses and Ice Titan but below Sephiroth. Even with that in mind, he is still satisfying to beat and a perfect teaser for KH2.

This is easily the definitive version to play and thanks to the many rereleases can be played on almost every modern platform and for a pretty cheap price too, so I strongly suggest playing this masterpiece.