Game Overview

Developer: Square Co., Ltd.
Estimated Release: Fall 2002
Platform: Playstation 2

A Match Made In Heaven

Square has been long renown and respected for bringing some of the most textually rich, gameplay-intensive, and story-driven games to the console market. In an unprecedented move, Square has teamed up with Disney to create what promises to be a unique gaming production. Such a pairing, at first, may seem to combine rather dissimilar elements. Indeed, Square’s embrace of the anime-medium, both in art and storytelling, starkly contrasts Disney’s own typical style. Despite these apparent differences, Square and Disney succeed in synergistically merging both worlds like chocolate and peanut butter, offering something to gamers of all ages and backgrounds in Kingdom Hearts.

Goofy and Donald

FFX reference

Minnie and Daisy

An All-Star Cast

We are in good hands, as Kingdom Hearts is directed by none other than Square’s Tetsuya Nomura, whose name has been established with timeless projects such as Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and X, Parasite Eve 1 and 2, and Chrono Trigger. The rest of the development team reads like a console RPG’ers list of heavyweights, from Yoshinori Kitase’s involvement with Final Fantasy V through VIII, to Yoko Shinomura’s composition of Front Mission, Parasite Eve, and Legend of Mana. In the transition from a Japanese to an American release, American gamers will, in a rare event, be treated to voice-overs which promise to be superior to the Japanese voice-acting. Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense, A.I.) voices the lead character, Sora, while the rest of the voice-cast glitters with Hollywood and American pop stars alike, from David Gallagher (“Seventh Heaven”) and Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings, Rudy) to Mandy Moore and Lance Bass (N*Sync). SquareSoft and Disney, in turn, offer up their own legends. Cloud, Cid, Aeris, Squall, and Tidus, among many, many others, make cameo appearances along with Square’s ubiquitous Moogles. Disney, for the first time, presents multiple characters and worlds within a single game. Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, and Pluto share screen time with characters from a dozen Disney locales such as Agrabah, Atlantica, Neverland, the Hundred Acre Wood, and Wonderland. Over a hundred Disney characters appear in Kingdom Hearts, a mammoth production, even by Disney’s standards.

Alice on Trial

Peter and Tinkerbell

Cloud

An Epic Journey

The premise of the game is simple, yet vast in scope. 14-year old Sora’s island home is struck by a savage storm, separating him from his best friends, Riku and Kairi. As he searches for his friends in a foreign land, he comes across Court Wizard Donald and Captain Goofy, already on their own mission to find the missing King Mickey who had mysteriously disappeared during the storm. Creatures known as the Heartless, named aptly enough for their lack of hearts, are responsible for this storm. Chaos rules the lands as the Heartless invade and destroy worlds while Disney villains take advantage of the tumult in order to fulfill their nefarious ends. Upon realization of all this, Sora, Donald, and Goofy unite in order to find Sora’s friends, rescue King Mickey, and defeat the Heartless.

In the process of saving the world, Sora must visit worlds ranging from Ariel’s Atlantica and Aladdin’s Agrabah to Hercules’ Olympus Coliseum. Of course, each world is populated with the relevant denizens. Agrabah would not be Agrabah without the Genie, Jafar, or Jasmine, while the Hundred Acre Wood wouldn’t be complete without Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Rabbit.