Kingdom Hearts 4 Needs To Embrace Final Fantasy Like It Does Disney
When Kingdom Hearts was first revealed, you were either into it because you saw Donald Duck waving a staff around Tarzan’s jungle, or you saw Cloud, Squall, and Sephiroth and your inner Final Fantasy nerd had a meltdown.
If you say you bought it because Sora looked cool, or because the Keyblade is clearly the best weapon in gaming, you’re right on both counts, but you’re also a liar. Sure, 20 years later it can be argued that Sora has as much star power as the IP he adventures alongside (just look at all the screaming reactions to him joining Smash), but back then, you were in it for Disney or Final Fantasy, or maybe both if you had particularly good taste.
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That’s why Kingdom Hearts 3, completely devoid of Final Fantasy characters, was a bit of a let down for many. In an interview with Game Informer, Nomura argued that Final Fantasy inclusion isn’t a key part of Kingdom Hearts and confirmed its characters were initially included to “lend a hand for everyone to get to know these characters better.”
What Nomura is saying here is that Kingdom Hearts is a collaboration between Disney and its own original characters and that Final Fantasy’s iconic stars were just marketing. Even if this isn’t a surprise to many fans, it’s still insulting.
When I first got into Kingdom Hearts, I was seven years old and didn’t have a clue what a Final Fantasy was. The shot of Chicken Little running into Sora’s arms to help him in battle set to obnoxiously loud J-pop is what gripped me, not Cloud, Squall, or Sephiroth. They were just another set of spiky-haired anime boys to me.
Despite that, the Final Fantasy characters quickly became as important to me as the rest of the cast. Squall,
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