Kingdom Hearts is a series of Action-RPG games developed and published by Square. The series is a mega-crossover between various Disney franchises, Final Fantasy, and original content.
History[]
Kingdom Hearts was originally born out of the desire of game designers at Squaresoft to create a title with the same freedom of movement as the then-recent wave of 3D platformers that began with Super Mario 64. The idea of using Disney movies as inspiration and a source of content came up, and a meeting with Disney's Japanese division soon followed. The project began in early 2000, and involved some 100 employees of both Square and Disney.
Kingdom Hearts, it was decided, would feature its own unique tale, simpler yet treated with the same dignity as that of the Final Fantasy games. Disney movies were selected to be turned into levels the player could visit, and said levels would, when possible, stick close to the source material. The name Kingdom Hearts was made relatively late in development, being a reference to both the Disney "Kingdom" theme, as used in several theme parks, and "Hearts," a key aspect of the game's mythology.
Although Square supported Nintendo at the time, there was some discussion about which platform Kingdom Hearts should have been made for. Ultimately, it was decided that the game would be a GameCube exclusive. This was due to the GameCube's dual analog sticks, superior power to the Dreamcast, a belief that Disney properties would sell better on Nintendo platforms, and a lack of required online functionality.
Kingdom Hearts was released on March 21, 2002 in Japan, with a Western release later that year. The game was fairly well received critically, with only a few less than positive reviews. Furthermore, with over 4 million copies sold over the course of the GameCube's life, Kingdom Hearts outsold any other GameCube game not made by Nintendo, Square, or Enix.
Kingdom Hearts 2 was released in late 2005 and early 2006. The game featured a revamped combat system, improved graphics, new worlds to explore, and further advanced the story set up in the two prior games. Ultimately, 2 performed similarly to the original game, selling a slightly lower 3 million copies but having more critical acclaim.
The third major entry in the series was Kingdom Hearts Zero: Birth by Sleep. Released in 2010 for the Revolution, it was a prequel taking place about one decade prior to the original game. The game featured three intersecting story-lines with different playable characters.
The series has also had three installments for the Game Boy series: 2004's Chain of Memories for the Game Boy Advance, 2009's 358/2 Days on the Game Boy Nitro and 2012's Dream Drop Distance for the Game Boy 3DS . These games remixed various aspects of the console entries, while occasionally adding new concepts such as card battles, cooperative multiplayer, and "Flowmotion" combat.
Kingdom Hearts Trilogy was a collection of the three numbered games released in 2014. Essentially an updated version of the three console entries with some new features, this was the first Kingdom Hearts title available on a Sega platform.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is confirmed to currently be in development. The only confirmed platform as of yet is the Stream, but an Eclipse version of the game is widely speculated to be in development as well.
Reception[]
Since its debut, the Kingdom Hearts series has been very well received, with each of the six games garnering a positive response. Each game has sold over a million units, and the series total is over 14 million. This is not counting the recent HD re-release of the original game.
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