KINGDOM HEARTS
- One of the most beloved video game franchises in recent history.
The global phenomenon that started out as a simple sales pitch in an elevator.
I truly think this series would have happened eventually
even without this elevator encounter.
A franchise that features deep characters, emotional stories about friendship
stunning design, and amazing music.
The Roxas theme is just so freaking beautiful. I cry everytime I hear it.
A series of games that, despite it's unusual concept
has created one of the most passionate communities to date.
I'm just like "Omg I'm playing Kingdom Hearts III" -
"Yes, I'm actually playing Kingdom Hearts! What is going on? What is life??"
But when and how did this franchise come to be?
And how did in garner such a passionate and loving fanbase?
Stay with us, as we explore the history around the game and community, that surrounds -
KINGDOM HEARTS
Back in the late 1990's
- producer at Squaresoft, Shinji Hashimoto -
- and Final Fantasy creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi -
- wanted to create a 3D platforming game, that could rival the popular Super Mario 64.
But they knew wouldn't have a chance at doing that -
- unless they could make a game that featured characters even more popular than Mario.
Perhaps characters that were popular even outside the gaming industry?
They quickly started thinking about Disney as the possible candidate.
Especially since at the time, Disney and SquareSoft shared the same office building in Japan.
While they were discussing the idea -
- Tetsuya Nomura, a designer at Square, overheard their conversation -
- and volunteered to lead the project.
Nomura is an artist born on October 8th 1970 in Kochi, Japan.
He had a passion for drawing since he was only 3 years old.
During his highschool years, his art teacher showed him some Final Fantasy illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano
Which ultimately lead him to start working for SquareSoft.
Although he started out as a debugger on early Final Fantasy titles -
- It didn't take long before he was promoted to monster designer for Final Fantasy 5 -
- and later on, a character designer for Final Fantasy 6 and 7.
Nomura then went on to become the director and main character designer on Kingdom Hearts in February of 2000.
Since then, he's been in charge of both directing the game and designing the characters.
And has earned a lot of praise for defining the childhood of thousands upon thousands of children, all over the world.
Nomura is a literal god among men. And without him, I don't know where I would be.
And, I just am so deeply in love with this series.
To the point where it's almost as though, I -
- relate to the characters.
And I feel like I can really relate to Sora and how he tries to see the best in everybody.
And, you know, how he gets taken advantage of sometimes but he's always positive.
And he's always very forgiving.
I've always wanted to live my life like Sora and to just chase the light.
But how did this collaboration between Disney and Square even begin?
Was it by email? Phone calls?
Did Shinji Hashimoto just walk into the Disney foyer and demand an audience?
Unfortunately not. As cool as that last option would sound -
- it was actually much more coincidental than that.
You see, one morning during the early planning of the game.
Producer Shinji Hashimoto and a Disney executive happened to be sharing the same elevator -
- on their way to work.
Hashimoto took this as a great opportunity to pitch the idea to them.
The executive gladly accepted the idea and forwarded it, to the other executives at Disney's Japan Division.
I truly think this series would have happened eventually.
Even without this elevator encounter.
But it's so neat to think this was potentially the thing that really kicked it off.
You know, just this chance encounter, between a couple of key figures, during an elevator ride.
Over the next few months, the elevator meeting turned into several board meetings, contracts, and NDA's.
The start of something big had officially begun.
Supposedly, by the time that everybody sat down to actually talk about what this was going to be
there was a lot of disagreement over what the game was gonna look like.
Squaresoft wanted it to be a game featuring Mickey Mouse as the protagonist.
Disney wanted Donald Duck to be the protagonist.
They were probably imagining something a lot- ehm Disney that is-
was probably imagining something a lot more like, what they had already been making
through Disney Interactive.
It's easy to assume that what they were really looking for was -
the type of game that they had already been making. The type of games that they were expecting.
And they just wanted Square Enix to beef it up with their production values
and their knowledge on how to make this stuff look really good.
Which then leads to- again, supposedly-
Tetsuya Nomura standing up in the middle of a board meeting
and declaring "I will not make such games!"
Or however that would be translated into Japanese.
Which, I don't know if that really happened.
If somebody did stand up in the middle of a business meeting with Disney executives
who were coming to you about producing something, for them.
And you stood up and basically told them "I'm not gonna do that. Your idea is stupid."
Again, I don't know if that's true, but if it is true. I have infinite respect for the man who is
who, not only did that, but then proceeded to direct the entire series.
Licensing all of the characters was a pretty straight forward deal.
Disney gave Square the permission to use any characters from their original library
with only a few restrictions, like what kind of weapons certain characters were allowed to bear.
Donald and Goofy for instance
were not allowed to carry swords, knives and spears.
That is why Donald is using a staff, and Goofy is using a shield.
However, there was one major exception to this.
There was one character in particular that was given major restrictions.
A character that Disney holds very dearly.
The main character of the entire Disney franchise, and Walt Disney's business partner -
Mickey Mouse.
Disney did not want to introduce their trademark character into an unfamiliar genre
without knowing how it would turn out.
And thus, would only give Square permission to use Mickey's appearance and name
once at the very end of the game. After the final boss fight.
Your Majesty!
Now, Sora! Let's close this door for good!
Close it, quick!
But...
Don't worry. There will always be a door to the light.
Sora, you can trust King Mickey.
Now! They're coming!
Donald, Goofy, thank you.
The great critical reception the first game had after it's release
made Disney loosen it's grip and let Square give Mickey a much bigger role in future installments.
The first Kingdom Hearts game was announced at E3 in May of 2001.
And was met with mixed reactions.
It was advertised as a Disney game that would feature aspects and character cameos
from various Final Fantasy games.
And fans from both sides were sceptical to the idea of combining Final Fantasy
a franchise known to be fairly dark and edgy, with the fun, goofy, and light-hearted world of Disney.
How could something like that possibly work out?
The thought of combining Final Fantasy and Disney was such and odd idea at the time.
But I remember when I first saw the commercial. I couldn't help but feel... interested.
There was something about the first game that made it feel
so dark, you know. You're going into a Disney movie
which aren't always- Disney movies aren't always super light-hearted.
There are some dark moments, but
it was especially weird to see all these creatures, you know.
These- these Final Fantasy like creatures that have, you know, dark agendas on their mind, and it's-
It was really weird to see that. To go into something like Aladdin and just see all these creatures
that you are fighting with this giant Keyblade, in this Final Fantasy like plot.
That was so- it's so interesting
that's something you just didn't think would work, but yet it did.
After the first game released, gamers all over the world were pleased to find out that
the rather unorthodox scenarios just added to the series' overall charm.
Whoa!
Sora, it's Sephiroth!
Ain't Sephiroth the one who's supposed to be the dark part of Cloud's heart?
Despite the franchise's third numbered installment that is coming out soon
The series actually includes ten titles that all expand on the initial story.
We've been getting spin-off after spin-off with
Birth by Sleep, and Dream Drop Distance, and
all these movies and mobile games, and
I like them, don't get be wrong.
But in the back of my head, I want what is most precious to me.
The one thing that is waiting for me at the end of the road.
And that is Kingdom Hearts III
The first of these ten titles was Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
The series first ever sequel.
And was released on the Game Boy Advance, as a sprite-based game
and later re-released on the Playstation 2
In the same engine as the previous game, with a very different set of gameplay mechanics.
Due to the title's lower budget, however, it caused a confusion with the fanbase
when the time came for Kingdom Hearts II to be released.
Square Enix had released all the previous titles as bundles on the Playstation 4.
As a way to prepare newcomers for the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III
There were also countless guides online telling you which order to play these titles
in order to get the maximum enjoyment.
Although various Kingdom Hearts titles had been released on different handheld consoles in the past
the numbered titles have always stayed faithful to the Playstation home consoles-
- until now.
Because Kingdom Hearts III is set to release on both the Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
This makes it the first ever Kingdom Hearts titles to make it's way onto the Xbox platform.
It's also the very first time that a Kingdom Hearts game was multiplatform upon initial release.
Generations have loved Role-playing Games from inventive studios in Japan.
Our next game is the latest in a legendary series.
For the first time ever on Xbox-
KINGDOM HEARTS
(crowd cheering in the background)
Kingdom Hearts II is widely recognized within the community as
one of the best installments in the entire series.
In terms of both story and gameplay.
And has a whooping 95% score on IMDB
91% User Score - Metacritic
And even going as far as being referred to as "One of the greatest games ever made"
by some journalists.
I think in my opinion, that is the example of a perfect sequel.
Cause everything that was done in the original game has just been improved by 10
you know what I mean?
It's just so much better than the original.
The gameplay! The gameplay is just so fricking tight man.
In the original Kingdom Hearts, the gameplay-
they were just starting to experiment with it so it wasn't really that great.
It was really slow, it was kinda floaty.
It was really hard to kinda control the camera in that game.
And then, when they got to Kingdom Hearts II
They just improved on it so much.
It's much more fast, much more responsive. And much more rhythmic, actually.
And the story is just really great too. The characters are amazing.
And then they give them so much more depth in that game.
I think it's a much better story than Kingdom Hearts 1
I know a lot of people like that.
But that's my honest opinion.
They go a lot deeper into the lore and explain what else there is to this story, and it's just... wow.
After the North American release of Kingdom Hearts II in 2006.
Fans were waiting with anticipation for news about the series third installment
But after years of waiting, their patience began to slowly run out.
We as fans, we've had to deal with so many trolls growing up.
Kingdom Hearts was the biggest punchline for many years
"Ooh, Kingdom Hearts III is never coming out"
"Half Life 3 is never coming", "Diablo III is never coming"
And yet, here we are. We had to defend Kingdom Hearts III for many years
saying "It is coming", "This game will come out"
And we just kept getting jokes and memes and punches in the face of
"It's never coming out! Deal with it! Move on!"
And just like no, the fire was burning deep down inside of us.
Knowing that eventually, we will get what we are waiting for.
Good things come to those who wait.
And we've waited long enough.
But then, June 2013 rolled along.
The month in which the light that had previously been burning within the hearts of the fans
was suddenly reignited.
Because at E3, Square Enix finally announced that Kingdom Hearts III was indeed in development.
And fans all over the globe celebrated with joy.
I remember hearing the announcement in 2013 and just being shocked
and amazed at how amazing and beautiful it looked.
Which is funny to say now because we look back at that and compare it
to the more recent releases of the same scene
And it just looks even better to think that
we thought that Kingdom Hearts III looked amazing then.
And to compare it now is just-
It's amazing.
I don't remember if I saw it first and told my dad or if my dad saw it first and told me.
Me and my dad were super excited and were able to just bond over the new trailer together that day.
But as it would turn out.
There were still a few years left before fans were gonna be able to get their hands on the game.
Major news about the upcoming game wouldn't start coming out until 2015
when the made two major announcements regarding which worlds would be featured
in the new game.
Of course we've been waiting for quite a bit, for this game. About 5 and a half years
by the time it comes out.
And yea, that's a pretty long time to wait for a game.
But honestly, I think it's worth it.
Because I think it's just gonna be a good game, regardless.
While director Tetsuya Nomura has come out and said that the game was announced too early.
The long wait is also partially due to a major change that happened in 2014.
The executives at Square Enix decided that they wanted the new game to run on the new Unreal Engine
instead of their in-house game engine.
Which caused a major delay in the development because they had to scrap
almost all previous work and start from scratch.
In 2017, Square released a bundle a remastered version of Dream Drop Distance
an hour long cutscene rendered in Unreal Engine.
And a new title called Kingdom Hearts 0.2
A two hour demo meant to people a small taste of what Kingdom Hearts III would be like, in the new engine.
The side-titles after Kingdom Hearts 2 came out, honestly to me, were-
They helped fill the gap.
I feel like it hasn't actually been this 13 year wait or however long it's been
that a lot of fans have been saying, because
All these side-titles have been compelling enough on their own.
And they've helped built up this moment that Kingdom Hearts III has had.
Now them not being on the consoles?
That's another debate.
It's a common misconception that Kingdom Hearts is a game made for kids
Because the game features prominently Disney characters.
While that was partially the truth back when it first came out
It is no longer the case today.
The franchise director Tetsuya Nomura has revealed
that he wanted to make a game that could be enjoyed by kids and adults alike.
Recent demographics show that over 40% of the Kingdom Hearts fans present on Youtube
Are between the ages of 18 - 24
And another 35% are between the ages of 25 and 35.
Kingdom Hearts is one of my favorite games and franchises.
Because, while it looks like it's a "kid game" from the outside.
You have no idea what it is.
I've had friends before being like "It's Disney, I want to play something... more."
Kingdom Hearts is more.
Amazing themes, amazing lessons. Amazing characters and voice actors.
It's an adventure! And it's an amazing adventure that touches on, you know-
Life, death, friendship, good, evil
So many different things.
And for some people to set it in the corner and say it's a kids game
are the people who don't understand what exactly the game is and what's going on.
Those demographics are expected to change as time goes on.
Because one thing that is very interesting with the franchise
is that the fans have aged alongside the games.
Unlike with most other games of similar theme
where people may play and forget about it and then revisit the at a later date out of nostalgia.
Kingdom Hearts fans never really let go.
They stayed true to the franchise from the point where they first played it, until now.
They are still as passionate about the franchise as they were back then. When they first started playing it.
So I have been with the Kingdom Hearts franchise since day 1. Since Kingdom Hearts 1.
I saw the commercials for it. I saw the trailer.
And I played it when I was just a little kid.
And... that's honestly part of the thing that shaped me as a gamer.
Gaming is my favorite pastime and Kingdom Hearts 1 was part of that reason that I got super into it.
Because... That's the first time I really got addicted to a game, truthfully.
A highly regarded aspect of the Kingdom Hearts franchise
is it's official artwork. Especially the box-art that is found on the game's cover.
Back in the day when the internet wasn't something people had access to at any given location.
When game trailers weren't thrown around and were much less likely to be seen by everyone.
The artwork on the front cover was one of the most important selling points to any video game.
Kingdom Hearts 1 and Kingdom Hearts 2 are known to have some of the most mesmerizing covers
on the market.
Kingdom Hearts III's box art was revealed in September of 2018.
I vividly remember being in a Toys R' Us in my home town.
I've been walking down the video game aisle as I normally would as a 10-year-old
just getting into video games.
And my mom was with me and she was about two aisles away. She let me sort of go on my own.
I was pretty trustworthy back then.
And I saw the Kingdom Hearts box-art
And I had been a Disney fan my entire life.
And I saw Goofy and Donald, and I thought something was weird here.
So, I quickly ran to get my mom and I brought her back.
And I brought her to where the box was and I held it up to her and I said
"I want this game"
And in doing so, I saw the back of the box-art for the first time.
And I saw in the bottom-left corner, my favorite Disney character, Jack Skellington
on this box, and that completely sold me
on Kingdom Hearts
Another one of Kingdom Hearts' beloved traits is it's beautiful music.
The series original soundtrack is composed by Yoko Shimomura.
Shimomura is a Japanese music composer on October 19th 1967.
She developed an interest in music at a very young age.
She started taking piano lessons at the age of 5
and graduated as a piano major at Osaka college of Music in 1988.
After graduating. She submitted some of her samples to various video game developers.
As she was an avid gamer. And was eventually offered a job at Capcom.
Her family disapproved of this as video game music was not well respected at the time.
But decided to take the job anyway.
Today she is one of the most well known names in the video game music industry.
Proving that as long as you have a passion for something. You should always pursue your goal
despite what others may think of you.
In 1993 after resigning from Capcom
Yoko Shimomura started working for Squaresoft.
While working for Square she composed music for games like Live A Live, and Super Mario RPG.
She eventually went on the become the main composer for the first Kingdom Hearts game in the early 2000's.
Her music has inspired me to study music and pursue it as a career.
And it all started kinda from that.
And since that's the case I've had the chance to study her music and what makes it work.
And what makes it work, is those melodies, I mean-
Any popular song has a melody that sticks in your head
But hers are just so well crafted, and so emotionally correct for what they need to be.
The soundtrack for Kingdom Hearts has been-
one of my favorite video game series soundtracks.
Dearly Beloved and Simple & Clean. They're songs that I can listen to, just on a day to day basis.
Driving in my car, I love hearing Simple & Clean.
The soundtrack for Final Fantasy and many other games have always been good
and also for Disney, so
you have to have an amazing and classic soundtrack for Kingdom Hearts.
After the release of Kingdom Hearts in 2002
Shimomura resigned from Square and became a freelancer.
But has still returned to compose music for every new installment.
Including the upcoming Kingdom Hearts 3.
I went to go see the Kingdom Hearts orchestra concert in Dallas.
And I just feel like we are living in the most amazing time period.
I am so excited for Kingdom Hearts 3 as I'm sure you can tell. I literally can't wait
like this is just, it's the best. It's the best experience ever.
If there's one thing that is very prominent within any fan community these days. It's fan created content.
And Kingdom Hearts is no exception.
Like most others, the Kingdom Hearts community features everything from fan-art and memes
to fan dubs and fan trailers.
Cosplay photos, and even fanmade animations.
Flash-back-up to 2010
and I started a Kingdom Hearts Tumblr blog.
That Tumblr quickly became popular, and continues to grow to this day.
It took me a very long time to find a community that I felt comfortable sharing in.
It's absolutely amazing. There's so many talented people in this community.
That have created and shared with us, their many talents.
Just to share their love of this video game series.
I'm always impressed whether it's Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise.
The stuff that fans turn out is ridiculous.
The amount of content that is produced. The amount of love that people pour back into these things
with no real hope of returns, I guess, traditionally.
It's always fascinating to me to see how much dedication people have to these things
to go out there and make art, to write fan-fiction.
I used to watch this video called "Kingdom Hearts 2: The Movie"
This kinda live-action video. If you remember that.
People have just such a passion for this game, and I love that they express it through their art.
Such an amazing community, man. That's kinda the foundation of it, really. All the fan-made content on there.
Kingdom Hearts has one of the best communities in the video game industry.
Everyone is so kind, so loving, so caring. We all want the same thing.
And we all encourage and support each-other.
No other- I mean- others do that. But at the end of the day. That fanbase is just so kind.
It's just so nice and caring. And that's always awesome.
It's clear that friendship is the most prominent theme in Kingdom Hearts.
It's about a boy who travels from world to world, defeating heartless
and meeting new friends along the way.
It's one of the reasons people feel so connected to the series.
In many cases, it reminds them of their own childhood, their own friends, and why it's so important.
I know the keyblade didn't choose me. And I don't care.
I'm proud to be part of something bigger-
The people it did choose.
(xigasp)
My friends. They are my power!
Friendship is a very powerful theme within the Kingdom Hearts series.
The first game revolves around the three main characters
Sora, Riku, and Kairi
A group of close friends that want to escape from their small island and explore other worlds.
But when dark forces separate them and swallow their home.
Sora has to traverse the other worlds alongside Donald and Goofy, while trying to locate his missing friends.
That core of Sora and Riku
of right away when you're introduced to them.
Any member of the audience, again, even if they're younger, can look at this and go-
"This isn't really working anymore, or whatever this relationship is that they have."
They're- you know, it's becoming a little bit uncomfortable.
It's becoming a little bit, too confrontational.
Riku is taking advantage of kinda his alpha-male status.
But that's one thing that's always fun about fiction and fantasy-
is taking these realistic dramatic scenarios and playing them out in exaggerated fashion.
If there was no grand space adventure and monsters.
The same things would have happened between them.
But ultimately, their final confrontation probably would have ended with harsh words and maybe a black eye.
As opposed to an attempted fight to the death, demon possession, and magical Disney branded seppuku.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep revolves around the three aspiring keyblade masters
Aqua, Ventus, and Terra
A group of friends that slowly get ripped away from each other by the series main antagonist Master Xehanort.
Kingdom Hearts 358 days over 2, is about
Roxas, Axel, and Xion
A group of friends working for the evil organization 13, trying to restore their lost hearts.
Without fully realizing the organization's true intentions.
I feel like friendship is really really important. And I love the way that they illustrate that in the game.
And they make that the main important part.
I just think it's kinda cool how they have it each in groups of three.
And they each share and show their own special stories.
And how their friendship will just grow, and why they're so close and connected to each other.
And we get to see them bond and go through all these traumas
All these ups and downs that friendships really do go through.
You'll see them again. I know you will.
Yeah, you're right.
Well, I should go. Sora's waiting for me.
Yeah, I suppose he is.
Man, this is some good ice cream, huh?
Take care, okay?
Right back at ya, buddy.
Voice acting is a huge part of the video game industry today.
Unlike 20 years ago, when most story-based games used text-boxes to show dialogue.
In English, the series main character Sora is voiced by known child actor
Haley Joel Osment
Who is most known for playing the main characters in films like "The Sixth Sense"
and "A.I: Artificial Intelligence"
As well as voicing characters in various Disney sequels.
In Japanese, Sora is voiced by Miyu Irino.
Who is known for voicing the main characters in animated films like "A Silent Voice".
and "The Garden of Words"
As well as voicing the supporting character Haku in the critically acclaimed "Spirited Away"
Irino and Osment also voice the antagonist Vanitas in Japanese and English, respectively.
The voice actors chosen for the Kingdom Hearts series are absolutely amazing and so very unique.
Haley Joel Osment in particular.
His voice is unlike any other character in any other show or video game that I have heard of.
It's absolutely amazing and unique and it's what makes Sora... Sora.
It's amazing that the voice acting in Kingdom Hearts matches each character so perfectly.
It matches their personalities, and their appearances, so I love the voice actors in Kingdom Hearts.
In English, Donald and Goofy are voiced by their longtime voice actors
Tony Anselmo, and Bill Farmer, respectively.
Mickey was voiced by his longtime voice actor Wayne Allwine until he passed in 2009.
Since then, Mickey has been voiced by Bret Iwan.
I feel like in Kingdom Hearts 1 and also in Kingdom Hearts 2 they did a really good job in voice acting.
In Kingdom Hearts 1, I really like Sora's voice. It fit perfectly for a 14 year old boy.
It fit perfectly for him and I think they did a good job on Donald, Goofy and Mickey.
In though it's very uncommon in the video game industry due to budgeting reasons
Kingdom Hearts features a lot of well known talented voice actors.
For instance, the series main antagonist Master Xehanort
was voiced by industry veteran Leonard Nimoy until he sadly passed away in February 2015.
Other famous actors that have lended their voices to characters in the series include
Christopher Lee, Mark Hamill, and Billy Zane.
Billy Zane, most known for his role on Titanic
voiced Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, in the first game.
He did not reprise his role after Kingdom Hearts 1, though.
And the role was given to Richard Epcar in future installments.
The reason Zane didn't return is still officially unknown to this day.
But at a convention not too long ago, allegedly, he revealed that he wasn't even asked to reprise his role
after the first Kingdom Hearts game.
I think one of my favorite things to loop back around to
regarding voice over in Kingdom Hearts is always gonna be Aerith in Kingdom Hearts 1.
Mandy Moore, came in. First time Aerith ever had voice acting.
It's the last time Mandy Moore ever did it. They've gone through like 6 other actresses for Aerith since then.
Apologies to all those other actresses. Mandy Moore nailed it.
That was the best performance of Aerith ever and they never had her back, and I'm still bitter about it.
Lots of classic Disney voice artists are reprising their roles as their respective Disney characters in the series.
Some of them include
Josh Gad, John Ratzenberger, Jim Cummings
Chris Sanders, and many many more.
Well, have you anything to say in your defense?
Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong!
You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so...so mean!
Silence!
Perhaps the most notable voice actress to return, is Kathryn Beaumont
who reprised her role as Alice and Wendy.
Having originally voiced Alice at the age of 13. Being able to still pull off the same voice over 50 years later
is a very special talent.
The voice acting in this game is phenomenal.
They've put in a lot of time to make sure these characters, #1 sound like their counterparts from-
Disney, or from- you know other versions of these characters lives and iterations in the past.
The natural voice actors sometimes, or people who are trying to make sure that
they do the characters justice and continue a good sound for these characters.
Since the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3 back in 2013
a lot of news has been coming out regarding characters, featured Disney films, voice artists, music, and more.
And it's had fans waiting in anticipation for what's to come.
For instance, at E3 2015, Longtime producer at Walt Disney Animations
Roy Conli revealed that Tangled would be featured as a world in Kingdom Hearts 3
And it had fans of the movie jumping around with joy now that they would be able to experience
the world of Tangled in a more interactive way.
Two months later at D23 Expo 2015, Roy Conli also revealed that
Big Hero 6 would be featured as the newest Disney animated feature to make it's way to Kingdom Hearts 3.
My first memorable article that I wrote for KH13 was about the Big Hero 6 reveal from D23.
I was able to write the article that that world had been announced
and it was really cool because that was my #1 world that I wanted in Kingdom Hearts 3.
After I saw Big Hero 6, I was like "I need this in a Kingdom Hearts game"
At D23 Expo 2017 it was revealed that Toy Story would be featured as a world in Kingdom Hearts 3.
This marked a very special point in the series history
since no Pixar property had ever made it's way into any installment previously.
There have been traces of Toy Story within the code of previous installments
For instance, two untextured models of Woody and Buzz were found hidden deep within the files
of Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix.
But the property never made it's way into the final product before now.
When Toy Story got announced, not only did that world get announced and it was such a hype moment for me
but also that was the confirmation that Pixar was gonna be involved in the game.
I do a lot of reactions on my channel. Easily my favorite reaction is me losing my mind
to seeing not only Pixar and Toy Story confirmed.
(unholy screams)
(unholy screams continue) Noooooooo!
No way! No way! No way! No way!
But also, that is when we got the release window of 2018.
(wait for it)
(unholier screams) Noooooo! Nooooo!
We actually have this solid thing, this solid idea. We have a release window to look forward to now
instead of just wondering when it will come out.
Toy Story wasn't the only big reveal of the D23 Expo 2017 event.
People had been waiting 4 years for some info on the game's release date.
And at the end of the trailer, a 2018 release window was revealed.
And it blew people away.
Literally.
A few in development screenshots of a Monsters Inc. world were leaked to the public.
Which left a lot of fans speculating, if they were legitimate
or just fabricated since they did look extremely convincing.
A few weeks later it was officially revealed at D23 Expo Japan
that Monsters Inc. would be the second Pixar property to make its way into the game.
Unlike most of the worlds featured in previous installments
Toy Story, Big Hero 6, and Monsters Inc.
Will all feature original stories that take place after their original movies.
One part of me felt a little bit surprised that Toy Story is finally in a Kingdom Hearts game.
But then the other part of me is kinda like
ooh I kinda figured that might happen because, I remember that Square Enix was actually talking about
wanting to add Toy Story, but didn't have the rights yet.
So, because of that, that's why I'm not surprised.
But at the same time. I am surprised because it finally happened, Disney let them.
At E3 2018, Frozen was also revealed as a world.
Since Frozen was released one year prior to Big Hero 6. And is the highest grossing animated movie of all time.
A lot of people were expecting it to make its way into Kingdom Hearts.
And has later on been referred to as "the world that surprised absolutely no one."
Other Disney films set to be featured in Kingdom Hearts 3 include
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End & Hercules
I think it's really interesting now, the fact that they're going in there and working with the Pixar guys
to redesign the characters to fit in with those settings.
To really beef up the story and make it really work and be true to heart of what each of
those original movies were about.
The idea that the Pixar guys were concerned about making this little segment of a Kingdom Hearts game
work in canon with the other Toy Story movies is ridiculous.
I hope that doesn't just translate into "Oh and then they like forget about it at the end, cause that would be lame.
If they actually put in the effort to make it work in a way that isn't that, and actually fit in
that's gonna be awesome.
You know what? No matter what they do, I'm really excited to see what happens this time around
cause the idea of the people who actually are responsible for making those movies
will put those things together. Who work with Pixar, going in and essentially
for all intents and purposes getting to compile these little short stories starring these characters.
With these incredible production values.
I think it's gonna be really interesting. It's one of the aspects of Kingdom Hearts 3 that I'm most
interested and excited to see how it turns out, I guess.
Kingdom Hearts is a truly unique franchise.
But how did it get its name?
How did they come up with the name "Kingdom Hearts"?
The name came about when director Tetsuya Nomura was thinking about Disney theme parks.
Specifically the Animal Kingdom park in Orlando, Florida.
Nomura was very interested in the name "Kingdom"
but Squaresoft couldn't get the intellectual property rights with just "Kingdom".
So the team started thinking about hearts as a core part of the story
and eventually settled with the name "Kingdom Hearts"
The Kingdom Hearts franchise is known to have some of the most confusing titles. Such examples being
Kingdom Hearts: X Back Cover
Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
And Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth By Sleep: A fragmentary passage.
Try saying that three times out loud.
Fans have still grown to love the games in spite of their strange titles.
Alongside directing the series
Tetsuya Nomura is also in charge of designing and writing all of the main characters in the game.
In the first game, the protagonist Sora is designed to resemble Mickey.
With the red shorts, big yellow shoes, and white gloves.
He was also written with the same cheerful personality that Mickey has.
But Sora didn't always look like that. Initially...
Sora was supposed to be a human/lion hybrid
and was supposed to wield a chainsaw-like weapon instead of a Keyblade.
Since its release in 2002. Kingdom Hearts has made many appearances at various events around the world.
Everything from nerd gatherings to gaming conventions and cosplay events.
Many dedicated events have taken place as well. Some of which are run by fans.
Like The Keybearers Alliance's annual gatherings outside Disneyland California.
But Square Enix has also arranged official events like the Union X fan event.
And the Kingdom Hearts 3 Premiere event that took place in May of 2018.
THe KH3 Premiere was an exclusive event for a select few KH community members and news outlets.
Where they got to experience the first ever Kingdom Hearts 3 demo
that would later appear at other public conventions.
I was actually invited to the Kingdom Hearts 3 Premiere, where I got to play the demos
with- you know, Olympus and Toy Story and it was just so amazing.
It was so amazing and I can't believe I got to go.
I got to have a Sea Salt Popsicle, like a real one, and that was crazy.
The day before we were there, they had members of the media, the big media like IGN
and Gamespot, and such.
But they didn't really have that fan excitement, if you will.
So, Tai Yasu, Shinji Hashimoto, and Tetsuya Nomura all expressed how excited they were for us to be there
because we were the fans. We could give them real genuine feedback
and we would have the excitement that they were looking for.
It wasn't a business at that point in time. It was a real just sharing of joy.
So that was- that is definitely something that will stick with me for a long long time.
Since its release in 2002, Kingdom Hearts has left a deep emotional mark
in the hearts of millions around the world.
Numerous titles filled with emotional story arcs, memorable characters, beautiful music
a loving community full of fans from the new and old.
The magic of this adventure has made its impact.
From and elevator pitch of what many thought to be an odd collaboration
to having one of the most talked about anticipated titles of all time.
The Road to Kingdom Hearts III has been a memorable one. And we can't wait to see what comes next.
Thinking of you, wherever you are.
We pray for our sorrows to end,
and hope that our hearts will blend.
Now I will step forward to realize this wish.
And who knows:
Starting a new journey may not be so hard
or maybe it's already begun.
There are many worlds,
but they share the same sky–
one sky,
one destiny.
Light.
The door to light...
We'll go together.
Yeah.
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