Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games (RPG) and is a beloved franchise many fans hold close to their heart. It has action, complicated storylines, and endearing characters that’ll last a lifetime. Fans worldwide, including myself, hold the game close to our hearts. We appreciate its story about friendship and how light always beats the world’s darkness. A VICE article titled “Why Kingdom Hearts Means So Damn Much to People” from Patrick Klepek explores the connection the community has with the game, from getting through the difficulties of being disabled and even sensing queerness in some of the characters.

Today, the RPG crossover between Disney and Square Enix’s Final Fantasy has 13 games under its belt, with the mainline 4th entry coming soon. Sora is the main protagonist, and Donald and Goofy are party members. They aim to bridge the light across different worlds, such as Lion King’s Pride Rock and Monstropolis from Monsters, Inc. Such a weird, legendary franchise exists thanks to the partnership established 20 years ago.

The Road To Kingdom Hearts

Before its inception and the merger of Square and Enix, Square producers Shinji Hashimoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi discussed a game idea they had with each other. The idea was to make a 3D space where the player could freely explore the environment inspired by Nintendo’s Super Mario 64 using Disney characters like Mickey Mouse. During the conversation, a Square employee, Tetsuya Nomura, overheard and wanted to work on the project. Nomura offered to direct the project, with Hashimoto and Sakaguchi agreeing. The next step was to contact Disney to pitch the idea. Thankfully, faith was on their side.

At the time, Square shared the same building as Disney’s Japan division. One day, Hashimoto happened to catch an elevator with a Disney executive. In their casual conversation, Hashimoto mentioned his interest in creating a game with Disney, which the executive found interesting. Soon after their talk, Disney approached Square to make their project a reality. It was time for Nomura to head to work, creating what would become Kingdom Hearts.

Creating The World of Kingdom Hearts

Square’s team faced some trouble during development. There was a disagreement between Square and Disney on who would be the lead character, Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. Nomura personally pushed for the main character to be an original creation, thus creating Sora, Riku, and Kairi. There was also a shift in storytelling as, initially, the story was simple to appeal to Disney fans. Yet, Sakaguchi feared they’d lose Square’s core audience, who loved the depth of tales from Final Fantasy games. Ultimately, Nomura took Sakaguchi’s concerns to heart and expanded on the lore. The game was release in Japan on March 28th, 2002, on the PlayStation 2 and quickly became a success.

With Kingdom Hearts releasing in the West, the title sold 5.6 million copies in total. The project’s success, combined with Final Fantasy X prior, recovered Square from financial hardship due to their failing movie studio. With Square’s portfolio healing, they finally got approval to merge with Enix after years of build-up.

Kingdom Hearts Now

The beloved franchise continues to go strong with new releases across all platforms. It even has some presences at the Disney parks, with Donald and Goofy wearing their outfits from the game during Halloween in America. It also briefly had a hotel dedicated to the series for its 20th anniversary. As Kingdom Hearts remains Square Enix’s core pillar in their company, it has no signs of stopping anytime soon.

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Works Cited
Klepek, Patrick. “Why Kingdom Hearts Means So Damn Much to People.” VICE, April 9th 2019, https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xz4ab/why-kingdom-hearts-means-so-damn-much-to-people Accessed March 14th, 2024.
Roberts, Samuel. “The Making of Kingdom Hearts.” GamesRadar, August 23rd, 2022, https://www.gamesradar.com/the-making-of-kingdom-hearts/ Accessed March 5th, 2024.
Skrapits, Alex. “The History of Kingdom Hearts: The Playstation 2 Era.” LevelSkip, February 6th, 2023, https://levelskip.com/rpgs/The-History-of-Kingdom-Hearts-The-Playstation-2-Era Accessed March 5th, 2024.