Few sagas achieve popularity like he did. Kingdom Hearts. The Square Enix brand can boast of having behind it a good handful of titles on different platforms and a whole legion of fans of all ages.
One of the strengths of the franchise was the union of JRPG elements, action combat and a combination that undoubtedly became the star of the IP: the union of characters from Final Fantasy and Disney. And that may sound simple, but the truth is that few companies can boast such household names as Mickey
The story of the birth of Kingdom Hearts pops up in seconds and in an elevator, but let’s not go too fast. In the early 2000s, Square Enix was not at its best. After a frankly spectacular passage on PlayStation with games like Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX; The Japanese company was criticized following the film’s premiere Final Fantasy: Spirits Within.
You already know what the saying goes, which covers a lot of small cuts; and after spending a real fortune on the film and launching the new phase of the company after the split from Squaresoft, Square Enix was faltering. How to solve it? The thinking minds of the company, Hashimto, Nomura and Sakaguchi
Who better than Disney to get into the pockets of millions of users? Everyone knew its protagonists, its universes and finally the films. Luck was on Square Enix’s side. Hashimoto bumped into none other than the managers of Disney Japan in an elevator; it was the moment he had been waiting for.
Neither short nor lazy, Hashimoto raised the idea with the leaders of the Japanese division of Disney: create an action game that would achieve a success similar to Nintendo’s works and whose main focus would be Disney worlds and characters. A project that could only be carried out by Square Enix.
Disney Japan executives readily agreed and… the rest is history. From its first opus, Kingdom Hearts became a resounding success. Later would come the sequel, various installments for Nintendo and Sony laptops, as well as a legacy that extends to this day. Understanding the plot of Kingdom Hearts may continue to cause headaches (many blame it on Nomura, its director) but no one can deny the saga’s importance to the PlayStation brand.