I'm about to finish KH and...

[Prince of Heart]

I think it is better to know the story of CoM first..

[Relentless Blitz]

Well the thing you should remember is that half of the Organization members have been killed by Sora.
One was killed by Axel.

And Sora went to sleep at the end of the game.

No spoilers please.

Believe me if I could I would play it but buying a Game Boy Advance just for one game is a bit too much for my already strained budget

Well then I'm gonna have to read the wikipedia page (thanks by the way ^^) and find some videos on you tube maybe.

That's what I do,read wikipedia and watch some vids on youtube,also,you can go to kh wiki,it has more detailed and interesting info.

[Akans]

If your really depserate, you could go download visualboy advance (just Google it, its everywhere) and then download the rom for it.... but its illegal if you haven't already bought the game game.

And actually, CoM is actually pretty important in my opinion. It links what happened at the end of KH1 to KH2.... and yeah you then know who Axel is XD

[SORA619]

there is no need to buy vom because you can see the vids on youtube

[sifero]

Chain of Memories isn't that important but, you should buy it to figure out some of info like: Where's Sora?, Where's Riku?, Is Ansem's still alive?, Where did the king that coat?, Or who is Namine?

[Retha Realta]

if you dont want to buy the game, then i would suggest buying the manga(I have both!)
however, at the end of the game theres a kind of secret ending.except its more just a couple of pictures.and unless im very much mistaken, you cant find those pictures on the web

its not really anything major, seeing as KH2 is alredy out. its just some really cool pictures

[septiroth99]

it is more a hightlight to the organization and what happend to sora and namine.

but it is not certainly needed. it is better if you buy it, but not nessercary

[Laleeta]

Okay I’m cruising through the end of game contents (mini games, mushrooms etc…) and then off to End of World I go! Then a quick browsing of Wikipedia page on CoM and KH2 here I come! I received it this morning I can’t wait!

Kind if hard to go through all the mini games and stuff of KH1 when I know that KH2 is waiting for me

[haX]

I never finished CoM until a few months ago, and I understood KHII just fine. There's a few minor details you might not get, but for the most part you should be covered... And anything you don't get, you can ask about here, so it's all good. =p

[Oblivion Master3]

i beat kh1 and kh2 before i even got COM so good luck!

[shadowroxas91]

I would say its Crucial,play the Com first

[Organization_42]

One thing that you have going for you is that Sora doesn't remember the events in Chain of Memories, (for reasons explained in said game) so he's pretty much on the same page as anyone who skipped it to play Kingdom Hearts 2. Also, Roxas, the character that you play as in the prologue, doesn't get introduced in COM either, so he'll be a mystery whether you've played the previous games or not.