This past Tuesday marked a historical day to gamers across the world. It was a day that commemorated the birth of one of the most beloved and convoluted games to ever grace the PlayStation. I am of course talking about none other than Kingdom Hearts.
When I first heard of this game in 2002, I thought it was a "kiddy game". I mean, a game where you are frequenting the various worlds designed by one of the biggest corporations in the entire world (ie: Disney) just seemed childish and, being an American citizen of the age of five at the time, I thought myself above it. Yet as the years went by and the game gained sequels, I found my curiosity of the game growing. It was not until one of my friends started singing its praises did I actually buy the game and boy was I amazed.
It was 2006 when I bought the game along with its predecessor (not Chain of Memories). I sat down on my broken futon that served as my gaming chair, popped the disk into my PS2, and watched the story of a young giant key wielding boy run across the worlds of Disney in search of his friends unfold. If memory serves me correctly, I played that game for eighteen hours before I finally went off to bed.
Not only was it fun to play, but the story completely enraptured my nine year old mind. I could not bring myself to put down the controller. It quite literally took my mother dragging me off to bed to get me to stop. It was that moment that I truly hated my younger self for not buying the game sooner. As I went to each world, I saw some of my favorite Disney characters reimagined in a way that I did not think possible. It was like I was truly part of their world, Little Mermaid joke.
After I completed the first game, and subsequently dying to that gosh darn chameleon heartless and Clayton over and over again, I moved onto the next one and the next until this incredibly dense and complicated plot formed. Through the seven plus games that currently exist the franchise became more than just a Disney game. It became an RPG that dwells right up there with Final Fantasy.
It is because of this that I wish to bring notice to this amazing franchise. This mash-up of Disney characters and worlds and RPG mechanics has created an amazing game that thousand enjoy, if not for the plot then for the idea of killing monsters with a giant key. Regardless of why, this game deserves recognition and I hope you all join me in wishing Kingdom Hearts a happy birthday.
Now if only Kingdom Hearts III would come out...
