Kingdom Hearts (universe)

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Kingdom Hearts (universe)
Developer(s)	Square Square Enix Jupiter h.a.n.d. BitGroove Inc. Success indieszero
Publisher(s)	Square Square Enix Disney Interactive Studios
Genre(s)	Action role-playing Hack and slash Rhythm action
Console/platform of origin	PlayStation 2
First installment	Kingdom Hearts (2002)
Latest installment	Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory (2020)
Article on Kingdom Hearts Wiki	Kingdom Hearts (universe)

The Kingdom Hearts universe (キングダム ハーツ, Kingdom Hearts) refers to the Smash Bros. series' collection of characters, stages, and properties that hail from the video game franchise created by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney, the official owner of the franchise.

Franchise description

The origins of Kingdom Hearts can be traced back to conversations between Shinji Hashimoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi in the late 1990s. Square was in a financially unstable position at the time and needed a blockbuster success to save them from going bankrupt. The two bemoaned about Square needing a game like Super Mario 64, but realizing only a company like Disney has characters that could rival the popularity of Mario. Tetsuya Nomura overheard these conversations and volunteered to create this project. By a stroke of luck, Square and Disney Japan shared an office building at the time. Hashimoto would have a chance encounter with a Disney executive in an elevator which allowed him to pitch the concept of using Disney properties in this game, which was eventually approved in 2000. It was eventually decided that the game would be a crossover game with Disney and Final Fantasy characters interacting with original characters. Disney approved the concept on the condition that all original characters, settings and assets would be fully owned by them. The game eventually morphed into Kingdom Hearts, which released for the PlayStation 2 on March 28, 2002.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Fighter

• 82. Sora (DLC): The main protagonist and main playable character of Kingdom Hearts, Sora was revealed as a playable character on October 5th, 2021 as the last character of Fighter Pass Vol. 2 and the last character to be added in Ultimate overall. He is set to release on October 18th, 2021.

Other

• The first Kingdom Hearts game marked the debut of Takahiro Sakurai as the consistent voice of Cloud Strife.
• Some of Sephiroth's moves (like Shadow Flare) were adopted from this series by Dissidia Final Fantasy, which then became the basis for their Smash appearance.
• Aerith's name was retranslated to better match her Japanese name.
• Sephiroth's one wing debuted in the original game; it was derived from the title of his battle theme in Final Fantasy VII, "One-Winged Angel", which reappears throughout the series and in other Compilation of Final Fantasy VII installments as Sephiroth's general theme.

Trivia

• Kingdom Hearts is the third major universe to be owned by a foreign company, being owned by The Walt Disney Company, an American company. The first two, Banjo-Kazooie and Minecraft, are both owned by Microsoft. Unlike the previous two, however, the series is mainly developed in Japan.
  • Out of the three Disney is the only one without a major presence in the video game industry.

External links

• Article on the Kingdom Hearts Wiki.
• Article on the Disney Wiki.