.

1, 2, BBS, 3D 
 
Those are the main story games and cover everything you REALLY need to know, the rest are pretty much side games and don't matter as much to the main plot, but are worth playing if you like these.

1 then 2. Done

@ViciousReiven said:

1, 2, BBS, 3D Those are the main story games and cover everything you REALLY need to know, the rest are pretty much side games and don't matter as much to the main plot, but are worth playing if you like these.

This.

Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, Kingdom hearts 2, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and then Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance....

yeah its a lot...play Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days if you can after Chain of Memories but it won't be too bad if you skip it.

Skip Kingdom Hearts coded for sure.....if that's just too much, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance gives you all the back story in a glossary...but i really really don't recommended doing that, Just go play the first, you'll know if your gonna like these games after the first few hours. it starts off really slow but keep at it.

@JJOR64 said:

@ViciousReiven said:

1, 2, BBS, 3D Those are the main story games and cover everything you REALLY need to know, the rest are pretty much side games and don't matter as much to the main plot, but are worth playing if you like these.

This.

I agree with these two. I personally enjoyed 358/2 Days (it should be played after KH2), but it's a sidestory that doesn't focus on the main narrative.

Play 1 and 2, and ignore everything else. Other games fill in bits and pieces of the overarching fiction, but it's all nonsensical anime horseshit anyway. To be honest, even 2 goes up its own ass a good bit, but it's still worlds better than any of the portable games.

Everyone who told you to skip Chain of Memories is wrong. I know two friends (who are admittedly kind of stupid), that were completely lost in 2 because they skipped CoM. It's a fun little game even if not up to the same quality as 1 and 2.

@Hunter5024 said:

Everyone who told you to skip Chain of Memories is wrong. I know two friends (who are admittedly kind of stupid), that were completely lost in 2 because they skipped CoM. It's a fun little game even if not up to the same quality as 1 and 2.

This is very true. Chain of Memories is necessary to fully understand the context of KH2. Though I'd recommend hunting down the GBA version if you can, because the PS2 remake they released a few years ago is agonizing to play.

All but 358/2. I haven't played Re:Coded but I've heard it's real good. If you can't deal with bad gameplay then skip CoM, though you'll miss some pretty big bits of the story.

@GunslingerPanda said:

All but 358/2. I haven't played Re:Coded but I've heard it's real good. If you can't deal with bad gameplay then skip CoM, though you'll miss some pretty big bits of the story.

Re:coded can be skipped

Having played 1 and 2 I say they are probably all skippable.

Just play one and two, but if you want to save yourself from the annoyance of ever playing a proper sequel, then skip the entire franchise.

@Hailinel said:

@Hunter5024 said:

Everyone who told you to skip Chain of Memories is wrong. I know two friends (who are admittedly kind of stupid), that were completely lost in 2 because they skipped CoM. It's a fun little game even if not up to the same quality as 1 and 2.

This is very true. Chain of Memories is necessary to fully understand the context of KH2. Though I'd recommend hunting down the GBA version if you can, because the PS2 remake they released a few years ago is agonizing to play.

Pft, all you really need to know is that the reason "Organization 13" doesn't have 13 members is because you fucking wasted half of them.

Play the first one. If you like that one - and I mean REALLY like it, as in you immediately start it again on the hardest difficulty and spend the next few days beating it in one sitting while forgoing food, water, showers, and bathroom necessities - then play the second one.

And then forget the rest.

Smash 1 with a baseball bat

Stab 2 with a knife

Shoot 3D with a gun

1, skip everything else.

I only have and ever will play the 2 console games, 1 and 2, so I recommend just those two myself. I'm not going to purchase portable consoles to play everything else and if it really is necessary to play some of the portables to understand any main points of the eventual third main game, then the series is shooting itself in the foot story-wise in my own subjective opinion.