Chain of Memories Why "Reverse/Rebirth" Mode?

So I know that Riku's story is called Reverse/Rebirth Mode, but why call it like that?
I didn't understand that until now. O.o

 

Reverse means Riku's journey is the reverse of Sora's and that he starts at basement 13 and works his way up.

Rebirth means Riku accepting the darkness in his heart and using it to fight those who would use it for evil.

 

Oh I get the Reverse, but "Rebirth" then means he is now "born" accepting the Darkness, what happened in Destiny Islands?

 

Namine came to Riku in the form of Kairi and told him that the light couldn't hurt him and the darkness wouldn't devour him and that his darkness was his and as long as he balances the light with the dark there was no force that could stop him.

 

I think it's mostly because they're both written as レバース in Katakana, so they kind of just went with it and let we add a meaning.

 

Interesting, so if I understood correctly, in Katakana they are both written in the same way?

 

Pretty much this. Riku was sort of a different person from when he entered the castle to when he left. And he was starting at the reverse floor of Sora

 

That he was. When you think about it, he sort of grows up in Castle Oblivion. He learns to accept the darkness in his heart and defeats Ansem (Xehanort's Heartless) in the process.

 

I loved Reverse/Rebirth, I was so excited when I started playing it.

I think that the reason for it being on Chain of Memories is to show Riku, and his transition into Kingdom Hearts II. It was to show the audience, the player, how much of a struggle he went through to overcome his inner darkness, to turn it into an asset, rather than a deficit. As Cat said, he did a lot of growing up in his time inside of Castle Oblivion, he realized a lot of things, and I guess Nomura felt like that needed to be demonstrated.

Reverse/Rebirth also set his role for Kingdom Hearts II, by the end of it, he became a character that ran the backstage, helping Sora in the spotlight, and making things [in my opinion] run just a little more smoothly.​

 

Totally agree with this...I really liked how Riku's side of the story was shown so that the player could understand how he overcame his insecurities and so on.