Promotion-
The first Kingdom Hearts was announced at E3 in May 2001. Initial details were that it would be a collaboration between Square and Disney Interactive, and would feature worlds developed by both companies and Disney characters. New characters were designed by Nomura and include Sora, Riku, Kairi, and the Heartless. On May 14, 2002, a press release announced a list of the English voice actors. The list included Haley Joel Osment, David Gallagher, and Hayden Panettiere as the three new characters introduced into the game. It was also announced that many of the Disney characters would be voiced by the official voice actors from their respective Disney films.
A secret trailer in the first Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts Final Mix hinted at the possibility of a sequel. Rumors for a sequel on the PlayStation 2 were spurred in Japan when a Japanese video game site, Quiter, stated that "an internal (and anonymous) source at Square Japan" confirmed that development of Kingdom Hearts II had begun. It was not untilKingdom Hearts II was announced, along with Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2003 that rumors were confirmed. Initial details were that it would take place some time after Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, which takes place directly after the first game. Other details included the return of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, as well as new costumes. At the 2004 Square Enix E3 press conference, the producer, Shinji Hashimoto, stated that many mysteries of the first game would be answered.
To help market the games, websites were set up for each game and demos were on display at gaming events. Each game in the main series was also re-released in Japan with additional content and served as canonical updates to the series.The additional content foreshadowed later plot elements in the series. The rereleases of the main series games had the term "Final Mix" added after the title, while Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts Coded were re-released as Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts Re:coded and released on the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS, respectively, with 3D graphics, voice overs during some cutscenes, and new game content.
Reception-
The Kingdom Hearts series has been critically and commercially successful. As of March 2014, the series has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. The three main games in the series all met with positive sales at the time of their releases. In the first two months since the North American release of Kingdom Hearts, it was one of the top three highest-selling video games. Chain of Memoriessold 104,000 units in 48 hours in Japan, a record for a Game Boy Advance title at the time. Its positive debut sales placed it in the top spot of sales charts in Japan. In the first month of its North American release, it was ranked 1st on GameSpot's ChartSpot for portable systems and 6th for all consoles. Within three days of the Kingdom Hearts II release in Japan, it shipped 1 million copies, selling through within a month. By the end of March 2006, theNPD Group reported that Kingdom Hearts II was the highest-selling console game in North America, with 614,000 copies.In the month after its release in North America, Kingdom Hearts II sold an estimated 1 million copies.
The games have also received high ratings and positive comments from reviewers. All of the main games in the series have scored a 36 out of 40 or higher from the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, known for its harsh grading. All six games have been praised for their visuals. Game Informer considers the series the eleventh "must-play PlayStation 2" series. The individual games have also won several awards. GameSpot commented that the concept of mixing the serious elements of Final Fantasy with the lighter elements of Disney seemed impossible, but was pulled off quite well. Because of that they awarded Kingdom Hearts "Best Crossover Since Capcom vs. SNK" in their 2002 Best and Worst of the Year awards. IGN named Kingdom Hearts "Best Art Style/Direction" in their 2003 list of "Best Looking Games on PS2". G4 awarded it "Best Story" at their 2003 G-Phoria awards show. Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded Kingdom Hearts II "Best Sequel" of 2006. It tied with Resident Evil 4 as Famitsu's Game of the Year 2005. The manga series has also been well received. Several of the manga volumes were listed on USA Today's "Top 150 best sellers".The highest ranked volume was Kingdom Hearts volume 4 at #73. Every volume listed stayed on the list for at least two weeks; Kingdom Hearts volume 4 stayed the longest at four weeks.
History-
The initial idea for Kingdom Hearts began with a discussion between Shinji Hashimoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi about Super Mario 64. They were planning to make a game with freedom of movement in three dimensions like Super Mario 64 but lamented that only characters as popular as Disney's could rival a Mario game. Tetsuya Nomura, overhearing their conversation, volunteered to lead the project and the two producers agreed to let him direct. A chance meeting between Hashimoto and a Disney executive in an elevator—Square and Disney had previously worked in the same building in Japan—allowed Hashimoto to pitch the idea directly to Disney.Development began in February 2000 with Nomura as director and Hashimoto as producer. While Nomura had done previous work in the Final Fantasy series as monster designer and graphic director, he did not gain widespread recognition until he was the lead character designer for Final Fantasy VII. Kingdom Hearts marked his transition into a directorial position, though he also served as the game's character designer. Scenarios were provided by Kazushige Nojima who was a scenario writer for Square from Final Fantasy VII until he left in 2003. Originally the development focused on the gameplay with a simple story to appeal to Disney's target age range. After Kingdom Hearts executive producer Hironobu Sakaguchi told Nomura the game would be a failure if it did not aim for the same level as the Final Fantasy series, he began to develop the story further. In June 2013, Nomura stated the name of the game came from him thinking about Disney Theme Parks, especially Animal Kingdom. However, Nomura could not get the IP with just "Kingdom", so the development team began to think about "heart" as a core part of the story, so they decided to combine the two to form "Kingdom Hearts".
Nomura placed a secret trailer in Kingdom Hearts in hopes that fans would want a sequel. He was unsure if fans would want a sequel and felt that if they did not, then it would be best to leave certain events in the first game unexplained. AfterKingdom Hearts Final Mix was completed, development for Kingdom Hearts II began. There were several obstacles to clear before development could begin on a sequel. One was the development team's desire to showcase Mickey Mouse more; Mickey's inclusion in the first game was restricted to a very small role. Nomura had planned for the sequel to take place a year after the first and originally intended for the events of that year to be left unexplained. To bridge the gap between the two games, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was developed. Nomura was hesitant about releasing a game on the Game Boy Advance because he felt the 3D graphics of the original game would not translate well into 2D. He changed his position after hearing that children wanted to play Kingdom Hearts on the handheld system.
Music, Creation & Design-
The music for the series has been primarily composed by Yoko Shimomura. Kaoru Wada works as the arranger for orchestral music, including orchestral renditions of the main vocal themes and the ending themes. The orchestral music was performed by the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Soundtracks were released for the first and third installments following the release of their respective games. A compilation soundtrack was later released that included soundtracks for the entire series, including reworked tracks for the re-released Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories.
While the themes for some of the Disney-based worlds are taken directly from their Disney film counterparts, most of them are given entirely original musical scores. In addition to each world having unique background music, each is given its own battle theme rather than having a common theme to cover all fights. Several of the main characters have themes, and the final boss of each game has several themes played in the various phases of those fights. The fights with Sephirothfeature a modified version of Nobuo Uematsu's "One-Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII.
The main theme songs for the Kingdom Hearts games were written and performed by Japanese pop star, Hikaru Utada. The two main themes are "Hikari", from Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories, and "Passion", from Kingdom Hearts II.Each song has an English counterpart, "Simple and Clean" and "Sanctuary" respectively, for the North American and European releases. Utada was the only singer Tetsuya Nomura had in mind for the first Kingdom Hearts theme song.This marked the first time Utada had produced a song for a video game. Both theme songs reached notable popularity in Japan. On weekly Oricon charts, "Hikari" reached No. 1 in 2002 and "Passion" reached No. 4 in 2005.
Though Disney gave Nomura freedom in the characters and worlds used for the games, he and his staff tried to stay within the established roles of characters and boundaries of the worlds. Nomura has stated that though many of the Disney characters are not normally dark and serious, there were not many challenges making them so for the story, and despite this, their personalities shine because they maintain their own characteristics. He also felt managing and keeping multiple worlds was problematic. When deciding which worlds to include in the game, the development staff tried to take into account worlds with Disney characters that would be interesting and made an effort to minimize any overlap in the overall look and feel of each world.
The inclusion of specific Final Fantasy characters was based on the opinions of both fans and staff. Another criterion for inclusion was whether the staff felt the characters would fit into the storyline and in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Initially, Nomura was hesitant to use characters he did not design, because he was unfamiliar with the backstory of such characters. For Kingdom Hearts II, he changed his mind after receiving pressure from his staff. Throughout the development of the games, Nomura has often left certain events and connections between characters unexplained until the release of future games. Nomura does this because he feels that games should have room for fans to speculate and use their imagination. He has stated that with speculation, even though a game gets old, people can still be happy with it.
Gameplay-
The Kingdom Hearts games contain elements of both action and role-playing video games. The games are driven by a linear progression from one story event to the next, usually shown in the form of a cutscene, though there are numerousside quests available that provide bonus benefits to the characters. In most games, the player primarily controls the principal protagonist of the series, Sora. Sora is usually accompanied by Donald Duck and Goofy, who are artificial intelligence-controlled non-playable characters that aid Sora in battle. In the first and third game, their behavior can be altered to suit different combat objectives. The games feature real-time combat that incorporates physical attacks, magic, and summonings, though each game handles battles differently. The game also allows for items to be used on the field of battle to heal oneself or one's party members.
Gummi Ships are another common element of the series, which serve as the main mode of transportation between worlds in the games. The gameplay for the Gummi Ship sections is more akin to a rail shooter. Because it received negative criticism in the first game, it was modified in the third title. Most games also feature a journal which is accessible from the main menu. This journal keeps track of information regarding the story, characters, enemies, and locations. In the first three games, the journal is kept by Jiminy Cricket, who was appointed by Queen Minnie as the royal chronicler. In 358/2 Days,Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance, the main characters write their own journal entries.
The games are influenced by their parent franchise, Final Fantasy, and carry its gameplay elements over into their own action-based, hack-and-slash system. Like many traditional role-playing games, Kingdom Hearts features an experience pointsystem which determines character development. As enemies are defeated, the player gains experience which culminates in a "level-up", where the characters grow stronger and gain access to new abilities. The amount of experience is shared with all party members and each character grows stronger as experience is gained.
Story-
The series starts with Kingdom Hearts showing how a young boy named Sora is separated from his friends Riku and Kairi when their world, Destiny Islands, is invaded by creatures known as the Heartless. During the invasion, Sora obtains a weapon called the Keyblade that allows him to fight the Heartless. He soon arrives in another world, Traverse Town, where he meets Donald Duck and Goofy, two emissaries from Disney Castle sent by King Mickey to find the wielder of the Keyblade. The three band together and travel to different Disney-themed worlds, sealing the hearts of the worlds to prevent more Heartless invasions, and to find Riku and Kairi. Along the way, they encounter a group of Disney villains led by Maleficent, who are controlling the Heartless to capture seven maidens called the "Princesses of Heart", and use their power to open the door to "Kingdom Hearts" and rule over all the worlds. Though they eventually defeat Maleficent, the three discover that Ansem (Xehanort's Heartless) has been possessing Riku's body, using Maleficent and plans to attain eternal darkness by opening Kingdom Hearts himself. Sora, Donald and Goofy defeat Ansem, and seal the door to Kingdom Hearts with the help of Riku and King Mickey on the other side of the door. Kairi remains back home to await her friends' return.
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Sora and his two friends begin searching for Riku and King Mickey. They arrive at a fortress called Castle Oblivion, where they encounter members of a mysterious group called Organization XIII, which is made up of non-existent beings called the Nobodies. While in the castle, the three's memories are manipulated by a girl named Naminé (Kairi's Nobody) who is being forced to do so by the Organization's Marluxia. After defeating the Organization members controlling the castle, the three are put to sleep for a year by Naminé to allow them to regain their memories, though they must lose the memories of their experience in Castle Oblivion. Meanwhile, Riku appears in the basement of the castle and begins traveling to the first floor with the aid of King Mickey. Riku fights both the Organization's members and the darkness in his heart, learning to accept his dual nature between light and darkness. Allying himself with DiZ, Riku aids him in keeping Sora and Naminé safe until the former is awoken. However, in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, a snag in the plan over the year forces Riku to capture Roxas, the thirteenth member of the Organization and Sora's Nobody (after Roxas' defeat of Xion, Sora's Replica), in order to reintegrate Roxas with Sora and enable Sora's reawakening.
At the end of the year in Kingdom Hearts II, Sora and friends awaken from their sleep and resume their search for Riku and King Mickey, passing through Twilight Town and meeting Yen Sid, learning of the Nobodies and becoming re-familiarized with Organization XIII. Sora once again travels to many Disney-themed worlds and resolves the trouble caused by the Heartless and Nobodies, and Maleficent's servant Pete. They eventually reunite with King Mickey learning the true nature of Ansem, and encounter Xemnas, the Nobody of Xehanort and the leader of Organization XIII. The Organization's plan is also revealed—they seek the power of "Kingdom Hearts", the sum of all the hearts that Sora released by destroying the Heartless with his Keyblade, to regain their lost hearts. With the aid of Axel, a rogue member of the Organization who is Roxas' friend, the three arrive at The World That Never Was (the headquarters of Organization XIII) and team up with their friends and Kairi, who went to find Sora earlier, while defeating the Organization's Xigbar and Saïx. Ansem the Wise (who turns out to be DiZ after his apprentice Xehanort banished him) uses a device that dissipates some of Kingdom Hearts' power, but a system overload causes the device to self-destruct, engulfing Ansem. At the top of the Castle that Never Was, Sora and his friends battle Xemnas, who uses what remains of Kingdom Hearts to power his multiple forms. After Sora and Riku defeat Xemnas, they get trapped in the Realm of Darkness, but fortunately a letter from Kairi summons a gateway for them and the two are reunited with their friends at their home.
Sometime later, Sora, Riku and Kairi receive a letter from King Mickey's detailing how the three became who they are now, that Naminé learned of while restoring Sora's memory and left a message in Jiminy Cricket's journal that Mickey discovered during the events of Kingdom Hearts Coded. As they read the letter, they learn about the exploits of the three Keyblade wielders' fates during the events of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (a decade before Kingdom Hearts) by the hands ofMaster Xehanort trying to recreate the legendary χ-blade which all Keyblades are modeled after and plunge the worlds into chaos: Terra is converted into Xehanort's new vessel whose experiments later turn his heart into "Ansem" and his body into Xemnas; Ventus sacrifices himself to defeat his dark doppelganger Vanitas to stop Xehanort's plan to obtain the χ-blade, to which his body is placed somewhere within Castle Oblivion while his heart ended up with the body of Sora himself, and new Keyblade Master Aqua ends up trapped in the Realm of Darkness after sacrificing herself to save Terra. King Mickey and Yen Sid also discover that the destruction of "Ansem" and Xemnas has led to the reconstruction of Master Xehanort. To combat the new threat Xehanort poses, Yen Sid has Sora and Riku take an exam to attain the Mark of Mastery that will allow them to become Keyblade Masters themselves.
During the test in Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, Sora and Riku enter into the Realm of Sleep, where they encounter a young version of Xehanort with the ability to travel through time. The two Keyblade wielders also learn of Xehanort's true goal: creating thirteen replicas of himself by placing a piece of his own heart in each "host", thus infecting the body's original heart and taking it over, then pitting them against seven hearts of pure light in an ultimate battle to recreate the χ-blade once more. Though the Organization was defeated, Xehanort expected it and became "Ansem" for the purpose of giving his younger self the ability to travel through time and gather other versions of Xehanort together to form the true Organization XIII, the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness. Sora is narrowly saved from becoming Xehanort's final vessel with the aid of Lea, Axel's original self, Riku entered Sora's heart to wake him from the nightmare Xehanort placed him in. In the process, meeting Roxas, Ventus and Xion within Sora's heart, Riku learned from a digital copy of Ansem the Wise that reveals the data he implanted in Sora during his year-long sleep and how he may be able to save both those who are lost and ceased to be. At the end of the exam, only Riku is declared a Keyblade Master, while Sora embarks on a new journey alone to train, and Lea reveals himself to have become a Keyblade wielder. In the meantime, left with no other option as he feared the Princesses of Heart would be dragged into the conflict, Yen Sid resolves to form the Seven Guardians of Light from any available Keyblade user (including Kairi) to combat the Thirteen Darknesses in the upcoming final battle against Xehanort.
Other Media & Printed Adaptation-
Both Square Enix and Disney have released a wide variety of Kingdom Hearts merchandise including toys, figurines, clothing, and jewelry. Two of the games, Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, had a soundtrack released to coincide with the video games. These were followed by a nine CD complete set which featured both soundtracks and unreleased tracks. Kingdom Hearts has been adapted as a trading card game by the Tomy corporation of Japan. An English version of the game was released in November 2007 by Fantasy Flight Games. The video games have also been adapted into manga and novel series.
Like the Final Fantasy games, a series of Ultimania books were released in Japan for many of the games. These books include game walkthroughs, interviews, and extra information from the developers. Kingdom Hearts -Another Report- was released along with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ and features game information, visuals by Shiro Amano, and a director interview. In North America, Brady Games released strategy guides for each game. For Kingdom Hearts II, they released two versions, a standard version and a limited edition version. The limited edition was available in four different covers and included a copy of Jiminy's Journal along with 400 stickers.
A manga based on the Kingdom Hearts storyline has been released in Japan and the United States. The story and art are done by Shiro Amano, who is also known for his manga adaptation of the Legend of Mana video game. The story follows the events that took place in the video games with differences to account for the loss of interactivity a video game provides. The manga was originally serialized in Japan by Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan and eventually released in tankōbonformat. The first tankōbon was released in Japan in October 2003. The manga was released in the USA by Tokyopop two years later in October 2005. Yen Press now holds the rights to publish the books for the USA market. The first series,Kingdom Hearts, consists of four volumes, while the second series, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, has two volumes. The third series, Kingdom Hearts II, has had five volumes published and is currently on hiatus. A fourth series based onKingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is being serialized. The games have also been adapted as a light novel series, written by Tomoco Kanemaki and illustrated by Shiro Amano. Like the manga series, it is divided into separate series based on the games. Kingdom Hearts is divided into two volumes; "The First Door" and "Darkness Within".Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories is divided into two volumes. Kingdom Hearts II is divided into four volumes; "Roxas—Seven Days", "The Destruction of Hollow Bastion", "Tears of Nobody", and "Anthem—Meet Again/Axel Last Stand".
