Kingdom Hearts (universe)

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Kingdom Hearts (universe)
Developer(s)	Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft) Jupiter h.a.n.d. BitGroove Inc. Success indieszero
Publisher(s)	Square Enix (formerly Squaresoft) 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.

Music

Source Tracks

• Night of Fate
• Destiny's Force
• Shrouding Dark Cloud
• Hand in Hand
• Blast Away! -Gummi Ship II-
• Hollow Bastion
• Scherzo di Notte
• Fragments of Sorrow
• Destati

Additionally, players with save data from Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory will unlock the track Dearly Beloved - Swing Version.

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.

Games with elements appearing in the Super Smash Bros. series

Kingdom Hearts

• Playable Character:
  • Sora debuts in this game as the main playable character.
  • Sora's design in this game is his P1 costume.
  • Takahiro Sakurai, Cloud's Japanese voice actor, reprises his role in all regions of Smash 4 and Ultimate.
  • Although derived from the title of his battle theme in Final Fantasy VII, "One-Winged Angel", Sephiroth's one wing debuted in this game.
  • Shadow Flare is based on the Kingdom Hearts incarnation.
• Other:
  • Aerith's retranslated name is canonized in this game.

Kingdom Hearts Final Mix

• Playable Character
  • Sora's down air, Hurricane Blast, first originated in this title.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

• Spirits
  • Axel and Roxas first appeared in this game.

Kingdom Hearts II

• Playable Character:
  • Sora's design in this game is his P2 costume.
  • Sora's Timeless River design in this game is his P5 costume.
  • Sora's Valor form from this game is his P6 costume.
  • Sora's Wisdom form from this game is his P7 costume.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

• Spirits:
  • Xion first appeared in this game.

Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep

• Spirits:
  • Ventus, Aqua and Terra are the protagonists of that game.

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

• Playable Character:
  • Sora's design in this game is his P3 costume.

Kingdom Hearts III

• Playable Character:
  • Sora's design in this game is his P4 costume.
  • Sora's Ultimate form this game is his P8 costume.

Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind

• Stage elements:
  • The Stations of Awakening depicting Aqua, Terra, Roxas and Riku are taken directly from this game.

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory

• Music:
  • The track "Dearly Beloved - Swing Version" orignated in this game.

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.
• Kingdom Hearts is the first universe to debut as a dependent universe and later become a major one.
  • By extension, it is the second universe to debut as a minor universe and later become a major one, after Tekken.
  • Before turning into a major universe, it was the first dependent universe that was dependent of the Final Fantasy franchise due to Japanese voice actor Takahiro Sakurai voicing Cloud in Smash 4, followed with both Square Enix's Chocobo sub-series and Spike Chunsoft's Mystery Dungeon franchise with the Chocobo Mii costume.

External links

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