The Kingdom Hearts Gallery
One elevator ride, two empires, and a key shaped like a sword.
Kingdom Hearts began as a chance meeting in an elevator between a Square producer and a Disney executive, in the Tokyo building the two companies once shared. What came out of it in 2002 was the crossover nobody thought could work: a Square action role-playing game that walks Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy through Disney's animated worlds, with Final Fantasy faces along the way.
The two boxes below print the same illustration two different ways, and both doors lead to the game's history: how it was made, how it crossed the world in a single year, and how its own era received it. Behind that sit the questions its versions still raise, including the sequel's own expanded edition, labeled as such.
KINGDOM HEARTS
Square · PlayStation 2 · 2002
Japan · 2002
The original Japanese box prints Tetsuya Nomura's ledge illustration in black and white, the cast gathered under a dark sky, the silver title set over the blue heart.
America · 2002
The American box prints the same illustration in full color and sets it against a great heart shaped moon: one of the defining covers of the PlayStation 2 era.
The History
An elevator pitch, a first time director, and a crossover nobody thought could work: how the first Kingdom Hearts was made, and how it was received.
The Expanded Edition
What is a Kingdom Hearts Final Mix version? The Japan only re-release that took the American additions home and then outbid them.
The American Version
How did the American Kingdom Hearts differ from the Japanese original? Three bosses Japan never got, and the loop they started.
The Sequel · Kingdom Hearts II
This door belongs to the second game: what did Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ add? The sequel's own expanded edition, two discs deep.