Above: During the early to mid ‘90s, Disney’s games earned an illustrious slot in Nintendo Power’s Game Atlas right alongside Mario and Link
Above: Check back Thursday for our EXCLUSIVE KH 358/2 review
We’ll always have a soft spot for Kingdom Hearts, and with over ten million games sold over the course of three games, we can safely assume you do, too. To put that in perspective, the original Kingdom Hearts on PS2 individually moved more units than the all but a few Madden titles available on multiple platforms, as well as a majority of games in the ultra-successful Zelda series. So yeah, it’s kind of a big deal.
Final Fantasy doesn’t matter
Why not a “Week of Kingdom Hearts?” Well, not to sell Square’s cast of characters short, but Kingdom Hearts matters because of Disney. After all, it’s their story. You see, if we have one beef with the KH franchise, it’s that the Final Fantasy folks have never served much of a meaningful purpose. Cloud and Auron have had moments in the spotlight, but they’re extremely brief within the scope of the series, and just about every other FF character is reduced to cameos and roles of pure exposition.
Above: Dude, your sword has a gun in it… Little help?!
Think about it: With twelve games featuring the most richly distinct universes of all time, how is it Kingdom Hearts has never once taken us to Midgar, or Zanarkand, or Esthar? Apparently, they’re less important than the 100 Acre Wood and Tarzan’s Jungle, which we’ve been to repeatedly!
Above: Who would want to play here? Oh yeah, Everybody!
When we say “Final Fantasy doesn’t matter” that doesn’t mean we don’t wish it did. But it looks like the people at Square believe the people of Gaia are better served outside of the Kingdom Hearts universe. And if you don’t believe us, take a look at the brand new Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days… because this is the only Final Fantasy representative you’ll find in the DS game:
Above: “Hey, the other guys couldn’t make it…”
