KH1.5: What is the Exclamation Mark Over Donald & Goofy’s Heads?

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An exclamation point icon appears over Donald and/or Goofy’s head when they’re commanded to either attack a targeted enemy, or to gather up around Sora.

You can issue this command by pressing the Triangle button, and the results depend on whether you’re locked onto an enemy or not.

 

Wait… I Can Tell Donald & Goofy What To Do?

 
PS2 KH1 Manual and KH1.5 PlayStation 3 manual, respectively / Kingdom Hearts 1.5
PS2 KH1 Manual and KH1.5 PlayStation 3 manual, respectively
 

Yes!

One of the least-known features of the first Kingdom Hearts is that you can tell Donald and Goofy what to do.

This isn’t mentioned in-game, and it’s only briefly covered in the instruction manuals.

When you press triangle without being locked-on to an enemy, Donald and Goofy will run to Sora’s side. This is useful to get them out of enemy AOE attacks or to just get them close for healing.

When locked onto an enemy, pressing triangle will make Donald and Goofy focus their attacks on it.

It’s the perfect solution for when they lose focus on the important enemy, such as a boss.

 

Getting the Most From Your Teammates

 
Customizing Donald’s Battle Settings / Kingdom Hearts 1.5
Customizing Donald’s Battle Settings
 

Donald and Goofy’s Customize menu is probably the least-visited menu.

Most players will poke around early on to adjust how often they use potions and maybe magic, and then forget about it for the rest of the game.

That’s understandable: Donald and Goofy get better and better at taking care of themselves as the game goes on.

However, that doesn’t mean that some gentle babysitting wouldn’t hurt.

Customizing Donald and Goofy’s behavior depending on the situation can make your life a lot easier.

When fighting beefy endgame Defenders, for instance, you can use Donald to use magic all the time and use Triangle to point him towards whatever group needs to be disintegrated.

So, while it’s hardly mentioned either in the instruction books or in-game, learning to use the Triangle button and customize menu to order your friends around can make your world-hopping adventure much easier.

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Brian Conley

Brian knows more about RPGs than he does world history. Combine with his love of writing and you get somebody who can, and will, go on forever about every nuance of every game he's played.