My childhood is flashing through my eyes… wait no, it’s Shrek 2 !! (Kingdom Hearts)

Kingdom Hearts is a game directed by Tetsuya Nomura, it was released exclusively for the Ps2 in March of 2002 in Japan first and September of the same year for the EUA. It’s story focuses on how Nomura turned his Fan-Fiction into Fiction.

The early 2000 era of gaming does feel like it was a time of they could do whatever they wanted with videogames, stuff like Killer 7 and Katamari Damacy, comes to mind and also Kingdom Hearts can fit into that, I don’t how popular this series still is now days, but can you imagine some kid discovering this stuff now days, a crossover between Disney and… Final Fantasy ?? how does that work ?? and why are there so many games of it ??  In principle this whole ordeal should not work, right ?? well by now the answer is kind of irrelevant because there have been many games in this series and they all sold millions !! and they still gonna make more of them, so that kid is gonna be gobsmack when he finds out about Kingdom Hearts 4. I’m not a fan of this series, I played the Original Kingdom Hearts 2 ye back in the day in my Ps2, RIP my dear, and I like it I finished a couple of times and that just it, since them I been not really caring for this series, but recently some jackass stupid gamestop news about the new game send me in a rabbit hole in information of this series, and since I saw a Deal for the Collection with some of the game in it I decided to buy it and play all of them, this is my project for 2026, play and review all the main games of the series, by release order !!!

So we start where everything began, Kingdom Hearts, an oddly ambitious project, I mean the whole idea is just kinda so out there, yeah sure let’s put together FF Character together with Disney characters in this story about Light and Dark and hearts and stuff, it sound like Fan-Fiction, stuff that is relegated to AO3 and such, But it actually part of a Canon now, it own and people make Fan-fiction of it !! Tatsuya Nomura did manage to make a universe where his original characters wax lyrical about their hearts and feelings and stuff, Sora joins Donald and Goofy to meddle in the main plot of the Disney movies and Mickey is some sort of Gandalf of this Universe !! 

Kingdom Hearts story focuses on Sora, a Normal kid from some island in the universe, and his friends Kaire and Riku, that are separated by cosmic reasons and Sora end up being a sort of chosen one, being able to be the user of a Keyblade, a mystic weapon in the shape of giant key, in mean while we have Donald and Goofy who are warriors in the command of the king of this Universe, Mickey, who disappeared and left some instruction for them to follow “The one with Key” or something, so Sora join together with Donald and Goofy in the search for the King and his friends in another worlds.

One thing I like about this game it’s that it just starts ! and that gonna be a whole topic when I get to the second game, and only there I hope, The game begin with Sora saying something really ‘I’m 13 and this is deep’ kinda line and you have the opening with a techno version of Simple and Clean by Hikaru Utada, who is also have close relation with the series since the whole series feature music composed by her, so I assume nearly all games open in the same manner ! So we have the sort of dream sequence that foreshadows the separation between Sora and his friends and we are already on control of Sora in tutorial where we choose his initial attributes, and depending on what you choose it alters the abilities that he gains through leveling up, each is interesting, especially if you wanna try different methods of playing the game, so choosing one of over the other will change somewhat drastically the whole gameplay, I choose the sword and sacrifice the staff, I think that is the usual option that anyone playing this for the first time chooses ! While that is happening we have something talking to Sora, saying that he is the chosen one for something, I thought initially that was the keyblade talking to him, but now after finishing the game I’m not sure if it’s Mickey or not. Anyway after that we go through some minigames and fetch quests as get to see the sort of relationship that we have between Sora, Kaire and Riku, their childlike desire to escape this tiny island and see other worlds, which eventually happens when their world get destroyed by the darkness, the three of them get separated, Sora wakes up on Traverse Town, while Donald and Goofy just arrive, and it’s here that the major flaws of the overall gameplay come in place.

Before I played this game I saw some comments about this game on the lines of “I never played a game where I have to look up where I should go, like this one” I honestly think that people somewhat over state negative stuff on videogame sometimes, because they suck at it and don’t wanna admit to themselfs, but yeah, it’s confusion as hell where and how you should be going, but the thing is that in nearly all worlds are like that !! this first time is Traversal Town, there is no indication of where you should be going and where you need to be, so I suppose the idea is to circle the idea is to circle around until a cutscene trigger and you progress, in this case is the fight with Squall in the area where Sora first wake up, so you have that, but after that we got to another point where you have no indication on where to go as well !! like no mention that you should check the third District and worse where it is !! This game desperately needed a minimap to guide you !! that something they would correct in the next game, which is weird because Final Fantasy X that came out before this game did had a minimap, so why doesn't this game ? I’m gonna throw this weird odd first time decision from a first time director !! oh yeah this is Nomora first time directing a game, I thought that he directed FFX, but he didn’t, most of his work in Square Enix (Squaresoft at the time) was as producer and Character design at the time, I think. But some other problems I also have to be relegated as working in a brand new genre of games as well, I don’t think Squaresoft had done a another 3d action RPG at this point, so there is a lot to figure out and to work, but we get there, but at this point, a Minimap would be ideal to progress and find the entrance to Third District is tucked into a corner that you barely pay attention to.

This where Sora joins with Donald and Goofy and we have a kind of a casual barrier with the Guard Armor boss fight, let’s talk about the combat in this game, I think it impossible not to compare this to it’s sequel, the comparison that I make between both combat system is like comparing Resident Evil 1 with Resident Evil 4, like damn !! was a whole I can say that the combat in this game is somewhat rough at the start when you figuring stuff out and is alone, but things get a lot smoother further down the line when you have more skills unlocked and healing magic as well, but at this early point the game kinda kick your ass a bit, and you kinda need to figure out how to actually play it and not end being dumb button mashing at everything, each at the end it kinda turns into that !! but early we have this fight with the Guard Armor that gets more simpler the more you figure out how to deal with it, like jumping when it jumps, something that was killing a lot in this fight !! and clash with it’s attacks, which is done more out of random them with intend, the clashing is something that persists through the whole game, and gets more adjustable when get counterattack skill, and also the game give you exp for that, which is kinda of a steal, but hey since is there !! but this clashing does become troublesome at the near end, when every enemy either enters a state where they are invulnerable to attacks or just have a long attack animation, and you wonder if doing any damage. 

Enemies come in waves and they are positioned as well, you have one wave at one point and then more of them pop out a few feet forward, that is somewhat frustrating, just because of the length that makes the fight go on, I do think that sometimes is just too much ! they are not difficult since when enemies die they explode into healing orbs, munny (money is this series) and Magic orbs, so you always have resources to keep going, but it’s tiring sometimes, I know you can just run past this stuff, but you wanna know, I wanna play the game !! this becomes infuriating when you have to do other stuff like open a chest or activate a switch or a trinity. One thing that I have to mention here is how frustrating some of these early game boss fights are ! and sound like whining but, I did look up and some people do have the same share of trouble they I had, mostly In relation to the Trickmaster and Cerberus Boss Fight, The Trickmaster is just fucking assenine in it’s desing, like what are you suppose to do ? The early jump barely reaches him and air combos are too short, and you have no visibility of what he is doing, that boss fight is just kinda crappy ! The Cerberus Boss on the other hand, it’s hard but is also optional ! so being too difficult is not that much of a big deal, but it was when I was playing !! Thinking about it, it’s funny how many bosses in the game are floating around, well the final boss you only do air combos on him, and there is way more stuff for ground combat in the game, again this game is just Oddly Design ! like there are so many odd decisions put into it and wonder why they did that way ! 

So our heroes go from World to world or planet to planet, of different disney movies and kinda mix themself in the plot of the movies they are based on, well at least for some in this game, in the next game they direct play the whole movies again with Sora,Donald and Goofy in the middle, in this game is almost like they interrupting the whole narrative that happen in those stories, which is somewhat fun. Going to Neverland and seeing the whole trial being interrupted because Alice just vanished is kinda fun, we also pair up with the main characters of each world of course, each is the main draw on the series I suppose fight along side this disney character and they show off their near anime like powers against this heartless creatures. 

But what I wanted to go on in the previous paragraph was the Gummi ship, the space ship that our heroes use to go from world to world, It looks like it’s made out of lego !! or something like it, it’s very childlike in it’s design, it’s just something I have to mention, and from each section to go to one world to another you have to play this minigame section where you pilot the ship through space while shooting other heartless ships and asteroids that are in the way and some other weird geometric space things !! shooting those things is where you can get more parts to customize the ship or make other ones, well at least when you have enough pieces, each for me was never !! the thing is that customization almost seems like you can build a ship from scratch and give any shape you want, each seems like something that takes a lot of time and patience and interest on it, each I didn’t have !! so I did just the minimum to improve the initial ship that I got. These Gummi Ship missions are not difficult but they are the least appealing thing about it, and since 2 have them I’m gonna assume all games have them as well. But in 2 you just had to do the Gummi Ship section once, but early in the game you have to trough it if you wanna go back to another worlds, like going back to Traverse Town, since it’s the only place to an item shop and the only place you can get more potions and new weapons, another odd choice that they fixed in the next game !! warping becomes available after sealing the keyhole in Tarzan world.

That’s the overall gameplay trajectory that the game has, going from world to world, beating the boss and sealing the keyhole of the world, I don’t think that are major spikes in difficulties from them until the end, the game is very even up to the final stretch where you have this enemies that seen to block every attack just by standing there ! the progression of each world is kinda the same for each one, I don’t say it verges on being boring but thinking about it now does seem like it’s kinda dull, because it is a bunch of going back and forward in the same place to progress the story ! Notable things are that confusing map layout in all this world as well, except one that is the Monstro Section of the game, the Whale from Pinocchio, it’s multicolor insides are a maze so it’s supposed to be confusing to progress there. But in Agrabbah you have this section where there is this big open area where you need to come out from a side gate to trigger the cutscene to progress the story. The problem is that there is this giant passage that you can go in, and nothing happens ! If it seems confusing from the way I explain them, imagine how it was for me to figure out what I should be doing !! Halloween Town and Atlantica are pretty much the same in progression, going back and forward in to the same place at this, with Atlantica having more of confusing layout, especially after the first fight with Ursala, like how you supposed to know that you need to go through this one cave way back in the level ?? well I knew because I saw that and couldn’t reach it, and later you gained the ability to reach it, But if you didn’t see them how are you supposed to know that !! The remaining worlds Neverland, Hollow Bastion and The End of the World, are surprisingly more linear, with Hollow Bastion having more alternate trajectories that lead to treasures. It needs to be said that Atlantica and Neverland have a difference in gameplay since in Atlantica you can swim and Neverland you eventually learn to fly, the controls are pretty much the same for both, Square to Descend Circle to Ascend, it’s easy to learn at least,each is good because the last boss fight you are flying around him.

Suppose I should resume the overall story of the game since it’s a big part of the series, it’s overcomplicated and nonsensical story, well in this game is not was overcomplicated as will get, While Sora Donal and Goofy are running from world to world, we have the Disney Villains plotting in the back to steal the princess of heart and open the Door of Kingdom hearts and Control the powers of Darkness, all of them Lead by Maleficent, that also finds Riku and manipulates him into having control of the Heartless and the power of darkness, promising it’s the only way to restore Kaire, that is in a catatonic like state. Trough out they Journey our heroes beat this group of Villains and Sora meets up with Riku again and at each encounter Riku becomes more of asshole, all this culminate in Hallow Bastion, where Riku somehow Steal the Keyblade from Sora and he is abandoned by Donald and Goofy, but Sora decide not give up and accompanied with Beast From Beauty and the beast, pushes forward and catches up with Riku, Donald and Goofy return to Sora side because of their Friendship (dahhh Moment) and Sora Recover his keyblade with his force of will I guess, they Kick Riku ass, leading him to further sink into the power of Darkness and be possessed by Ansem, who is has been mentioned before being this great scientist that was researching the heartless, Turns out he was either manipulating events to lead all this to happen of he just hijack Maleficent plans trough Riku. Our Heroes beat Maleficent and Ansem, leading to Ansem to further possess Riku, changing the boy appearance to his own, and that gonna be big plot point down the line, everything that happens now has significant importance to the rest of this series, at least from I know from the second game !!

I do think it’s Ansem that tells Sora that Kaire Soul or Heart is inside of him, thing that is never really explain but you see when it happens but it so quick you might have missed, Well Sora use Ansem Keyblade to unlock his hearth and free Kaire Heart and the other princess of heart as well, that is not also explained, a sudden surge of heartless forces everyone to leave, Sora is transformed into a heartless but is return to Normal when Kaire embraces him. Everyone leaves Hollow Bastion and returned to Traverse Town, Kaire stayed in Traverse Town While our heroes head back to Hollow bastion to seal the world Keyhole, it’s them explained that defeat Ansem and sealing the door of Kingdom Hearts will push back the darkness that is destroy the worlds and restore everything, leading everything back to what was before, unfortunately will mean that Sora will never see his friends again since some cosmic barrier will be restored as well. All of this lead to the Final section of the game, The end of the World, that is very straight forward and combat heavy considering the amount of fighting that happens, I will say that the very last section before the final boss is kind of rough, you have a boss fight with a relative easy boss, the behemonts are not that though, followed by an endless wave of enemies, this last enemies that the game introduces are really though and they just come in number on you in this section, what really help me was that I had Aeroga unlocked, and that carries you trough this fights and the final boss as well. 

The last Fight with Ansem, it’s really long I say that, you fight him with Donald and Goofy help and with just Sora at points, it’s a near 6 phase boss fight, but it’s not as hard it seems, well with Aeroga help it wasn’t for me, it needs to be said that Ansem first stages he has a Stand !! It very much is a stand like in Jojo Bizarre Adventure, it’s just funny to mention that, and in the last phase he turns into a giant demon organic spaceship !! much like a Final Fantasy final boss done by Nomura, vide the last form of Exdeath in FFV or that Tower Creature in FFVI, it’s this overly design incomprehensible creature, it looks neat tho I say that !! The fight here you start alone was Sora and them fight other parts of this creature to liberate Donald and Goofy and they help you on the last phase, or at least as much of help they can be, not to downside on the AI, but sometimes it seem more like you doing most of the work them getting help !! I do think that is even more of the guess in boss fights in 2 !! But still in this boss fight I do think that the hardest bit of it is getting the last hits on Ansem when you fight with just Sora, because you have endless lasers being firing at you with no room to do anything ! it’s kinda stupid honestly.

Now we reach the ending, Ansem in a least attempt to win this fight open the door of kingdom hearts expecting to receive the power of darkness, but is surrounded by light, leading to his defeat, Well there is light in there and a bunch of Heartless as well, our heroes desperately try to close the door before the heartless can get out and they manage with some of Riku that closing from Behind and King Mickey, that finally shows up, him and Sora use their Keyblade to close the door, leading to the restoring of the world, the final scene that we get before the credits is Kaire being sent back to Island, Sora decide to stay behind to look out for Riku and he promises her that they will be back, the island world restore around her while Sora vanishes, leaving her on the beach where they use to play and where all started.

Credits roll but we still have some epilogue to go on, the first one showing our Heroes walking down a road with no idea of how to find Riku and Mickey until Pluto show up with a letter from the Mickey all three of the follow Pluto into a uncertain road, well turn out that uncertain road is not so uncertain really, because there is a sort of secret ending that you can get by completing some side quests, this epilogue ties in directly with 2, show what would be Roxas battling Riku in the World that never was and an older Kaire still waiting at the beach, clearly showing that Nomura already had an idea of how he wanted to progress the series at that point, that even a more detailed version this epilogue you get by completing the game with nearly all side stuff done, and finishing the game on the normal or higher difficulties, it’s longer version of the same epilogue with more cryptic stuff into it that eventually got worked into KH2. And to add to all of this, there was an alternative version of this game the Final Mix Version that released in December 2002, same year of the release, at first it was released exclusive to Japan, later down the line when the collection started to come in it was the version that is in it and the version that I played, different from the Original it has a couple of mechanical changes, some added scenes and a secret Boss fight to who end being the Final Boss of KH2, Xemnas, I saw the fight in You tube and it somewhat similar to how he is in KH2, which is interesting how they already had that before the KH2 was even in development I guess !! It is just interesting !! The more interesting as well is that Xemnas and Roxas in the Epilogue are wearing the Default Organization XIII robe, and Ansem before he possesses Riku seems to be wearing a beta version of the same, it is funny that they never changed that really.

I finished the game and the last that I did was finish the hades cup in Olympus world, I tried beating Kurt Siza and didn’t and that was it for my time with this game. I overall like it, despite all it’s glaring faults it is a pretty enjoyable game at the end of the day, I can see how it sold well enough at the time to turn into this sprawling series that it is now !! with even a new game coming forward, to be honest I’m more surprise that they are making KH4 and not remaking this one, since remakes are the thing that most game studios are into and Square Enix is already playing to remake some of the other Final Fantasy games after they are done with 7 !! well I do think they will get there. And this turned out to be a pretty long rambling for the first game, oh dear !! I can't imagine how the rest are gonna be like !!!!