Why Kingdom Hearts works

This is going to be an interesting debate, because it's a lot like the old "which came first, the chicken, or the egg?"  What makes Kingdom Hearts so popular?  Since we are under 2 weeks from the next Kingdom Hearts Title, Dream Drop Distance on the Nintendo 3DS, I'd thought I'd pontificate about this topic.

 

 

Sans Enix

Kinda looks like the characters he designs

Let's start with the history, in 2002, Squaresoft (before Enix), released a crossover game that really was thinking outside of the box.  Tetsuya Nomura, the character designer for Final Fantasy game VII,  VIII, X, XII and XIII, was put in charge of a crossover game featuring characters from the Final Fantasy universe and characters, oddly enough, from the Disney universe.  I'll be honest.  When I first heart about this, my first words were "Holy shit, that sounds like a damn train wreck."  However, this was during a time where most of Squaresoft's releases were still pretty good, and and old friend of mine was a translator for the company at the time, so I always purchased their games in order to support her. I didn't expect the game to be a huge success though.

Admit it, Final Fantasy + Disney...sounded like a train wreck.

No, he doesn't say "Mmmmm, doughnuts."

Crossover games were pretty popular, mostly due to Capcom's vs. tournament fighters (Marvel vs. Capcom 2, for instance), and Final Fantasy was actually a lot bigger then than it is now (one could argue that Kingdom Hearts has eclipsed FF in popularity these days..).  However, every crossover that the fans really wanted would be what if characters from separate game ever met and the like.  The Final Fantasy universe was pretty closed as far as crossovers had gone, and when FFIX actually did have some from the original Final Fantasy (such as Garland), most of the old school fans loved that idea.  (Should also be noted that since Kingdom Hearts, Square has released several FF Crossover titles, Dissidia for instance)  However, I don't think anyone, new or old school, sat down and wondered what would happen if Could Strife met Mickey Mouse.  To Disney's credit, however, they managed to provide a very star studded list of voice actors and actresses to reprise voice roles they had done in the past.  For instance, Hercules' main bad, Hades, was indeed voiced by James Woods.  Aladdin's Genie was not voiced by Robin Williams, but instead the role was filled bu the Genie's back-up (who Disney gets to do the voice if Williams turns down the part), Homer Simpson himself, Dan Castellaneta (who incidentally, also voiced Darkwing Duck villain Megavolt..just thought I'd throw that in there for  you trivia geeks out there).  Squaresoft answered in kind with a pretty star studded voice cast for the characters on their side of the fence as well; including pop singer Mandy Moore as Aerith, Angel's David Boreanaz as Leon (or Squall), Billy Zane as Ansem, and Oscar Award winning actor, Haley Joel Osment as the main character Sora.  Overall, both companies were taking this game production very seriously.  I personally thought it would be a match made in Hell.  Boy was I ever wrong.

Sora, in Wonderland

Never thought I'd ever say "Yes, I leveled up Goofy!"

However, this might not be for reasons you might suspect.  If you remove the source material from both companies, Kingdom Hearts is really a clunky platformer, with a mildly above average battle system.  (It wouldn't be until Kingdom Hearts II that these would be seriously upgraded)  Sora's worst enemy wasn't the Heartless, not any of the various villains he would meet upon his quest.  No..his worst enemy was, by far, the camera.  It made making some of the required jumps in the game a serious pain in the ass.  The battle system was refined, and good, but not really great.  Overall, the mechanics of the game were just somewhat average.  The 3D platformer was still relatively young at that time, and while some games got it right, like Super Mario 64, others just couldn't get the perspective correct.  To this game's credit, they at least tried something different, and the game wasn't broken to the point where it couldn't be enjoyed.  It really is a fantastic game.  Just not because of refined game mechanics.

Squall..er..Leon..er..whatever.

No, the real "meat and potatoes" to this game is the source material.  And while many of you are going to chastise me for saying this, it wasn't because of Squaresoft's source material contributions.  Sure, many of us (including myself) were drawn into the game because of the Final Fantasy characters, but that's not what kept us playing.  In fact, with a few noted exceptions, such as Sephiroth, most of your Final Fantasy character meetings are done fairly early in the game.  No, you won't be fighting Captain Hook, and then see Gilgamesh pull up behind him for back up.  Not at all.  The game's strength and major driving force behind it is the contributions from Disney.  It is the Disney stuff that kept me playing.  I had to see what world was next, and how it all tied in together.  It also tied two separate audiences together, and exposed more fans to the beauty of a Squaresoft title.

Kingdom Hearts II introduced Tron to a whole new audience, and a few years later, a new movie...imagine that.

Merlin, the OG of Wizarding

Let me explain my point here.  As I was playing through the game's introduction (which is rather long, by the way), I ended up in Traverse Town.  I was moving around the town, I ended up meeting with someone I knew very well from my childhood (because I watched the shit out of this movie) The Sword in the Stone's wizard, Merlin.  When Merlin pulled out his bag and all of his furniture danced out of it to find it's place in his room, I was hooked to see more.  That hit me right in my the breadbasket of my childhood.  This exposed me to Disney movies I hadn't really much experience with, as I hadn't seen an animated Disney film since Lion King at the time.  I had never seen Aladdin, Hercules, or the Little Mermaid.  I'd like top think this probably worked in reverse, as maybe younger fans who had seen those movies were exposed to Pinocchio and Peter Pan.  What remains the fact here, though, is that we all grew up with Disney, like it or not.  My parents had me watching Disney stuff from a young age, and chances are, so did yours.  While my love of Final Fantasy got me to purchase the game, my Disney childhood kept my playing through it.  Honestly, I level most of my complaints at Squaresoft's lack of contributions in the game more than anything.  It always annoys me that Tetsuya Nomura seems to live in this time warp where he has a hard time admitting there are other Final Fantasy characters out there besides the ones he personally designed.  In fact, it wasn't untul Kingdom Hearts II until two of Yoshitaka Amano's characters made the game, Setzer from Final Fantasy VI and Vivi from Final Fantasy IX.  It was later revealed that the Final Fantasy characters were considered to be "guests" in these worlds, and there would never be a Final Fantasy world where Sora and his team would fight to liberate.

Disney to Michael Keaton's Square Enix

Now I'm sure a lot of the Square faithful will probably be pissed that I said that, and there is some merit to that argument.  I don't really like the fact that when you look at the package that Disney's name appears before Square's.  Square did all of the work on the game, without a doubt.  However, when it comes down to which brand is the bigger brand, it's certainly Disney.  It is quite similar to 1988's Batman movie.  Michael Keaton played the title role, and traditionally, the actor playing the title role had his name first on the marquee (also on the back of the VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray, movie posters, etc.).  However, in Batman's case, the actor playing the role of the villain, The Joker, was a far bigger name that Michael Keaton.  So when the movie posters were out and such, Jack Nicholson's name appeared first.  This was a pretty big deal in 1988.  However, if you look at the Disney/Square partnership here, it's very much like that.  In 1988, Jack Nicholson (and still is) a much bigger actor.  It wasn't slighting Michael Keaton, who was popular at that time as well, he just wasn't Jack.  In fact, had they gone with their original casting choice, Robin Williams, Keaton's name could have very well had been first.  Square is the Michael Keaton of this relationship.  They are popular, just not Disney popular.  

Of course, Kingdom Hearts ended up becoming a major hit.  I would go as far to say that it could rival it's namesake, Final Fantasy, in popularity.  I would say the big factor there would be their sticking to the formula that made the original games popular.  Only once did they try to do something completely different with the series, on the Game Boy Advance.  They took the 3D plaforming adventure game and turned into a turn based card battle game.  Since that time, they've pretty much stuck with what got them to the dance.