The Most Interesting Kingdom Hearts Facts You’ve Never Heard

The Kingdom Hearts series developed by Square Enix is legendary for many RPG fans out there in the wild as it mixes the compelling narratives of Disney and Final Fantasy-style storytelling together. While some of the games can be tough to follow with convoluted storylines, the overall experience is a delight. There have been many development secrets that have been told throughout the years, some of which that were meant to be hidden. Here are a few Kingdom Hearts facts you may not know about if you’re not a super die-hard fan.

Sora Was Originally a Lion

Revealed in the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 artbook, Sora was going to be a half-lion, half human character with a chainsaw-like blade before it turned into a keyblade. You can also see the keychain being close to the Lionheart symbol from Final Fantasy VIII. If you’re not familiar, this symbol is depicted on the protagonist Squall/Leon’s blade in that game. You can’t see in the picture above, but the hero also had a tail.

The oversized boots and the crown necklace remain, though. It’s an interesting piece of Kingdom Hearts history. If he were anthropomorphic, who knows if Kingdom Hearts had taken off? It’s somewhat of a turnoff for a general audience at points.

The Jungle Book Was Going to be a Birth By Sleep World

The Jungle Book has been a highly requested world as many grew up with Baloo and Mowgli as kids. Unfortunately, the jungle-focused film hasn’t been featured in a game yet. It was close to becoming a reality with the PSP game Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, though. Within the files, fans discovered assets based on The Jungle Book.

You can see parts of King Louie’s palace, in addition to multiple jungle areas. We can imagine the monkeys being fascinated with Ventus, Aqua and Terra’s fire and ice abilities. Perhaps the environments were too similar to Neverland or Square Enix ran out of development time to add in The Jungle Book to Birth By Sleep.

Related

Kingdom Hearts – 10 Best Members of Organization XIII

A list detailing the best members of Organization XIII in the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

Buzz & Woody Were Pulled as Kingdom Hearts 2 Summons

Before Sora met Buzz & Woody in Kingdom Hearts 3, they were originally going to be summons in the second game. According to 13th Vessel, two models based on Woody and Buzz can be found in the code of the Japanese release of Kingdom Hearts 2. We know they were supposed to be summons as the beginning of their code is similar to Peter Pan, Tinker Bell and Chicken Little. It’s interesting to consider what Buzz and Woody could have done to help Sora in KH2 as they are tiny toys in their movies and KH3 world.

The introduction of Pixar characters in the PS2 game, however, would have been fun to see for fans. Maybe Square Enix, Disney and Pixar couldn’t work out a deal in time to make it happen.

The Main Trio are Named After Elements

The names Kairi, Sora and Riku all mean elements of the world. Sora’s name is Japanese for sky. Riku means earth or land. Lastly, Kairi’s name derives from the sea in Japanese. All three names are involved with the formation of Destiny Islands, which is a neat reference. It’s also interesting that during the ending of Kingdom Hearts 2, Kairi helps bring back Sora and Riku and has them diving into the sea from the sky. They then arrive onto land.

Additionally, Terra, Ventus, and Aqua from Birth By Sleep similarly have elemental meanings. Terra is earth in Latin, Ventus is wind in Latin, and finally Aqua is water, via the same language.

Fantasia World Was Going to be Split Originally

During the development phase of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, the two protagonists Sora and Riku were going to experience two different Fantasia worlds. One would be based on the 1940 original, and the other would be on the 1999 Fantasia 2000, according to the Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance Ultimania (via KHInsider). Square Enix instead opted to focus the world wholly around the 1940 movie.

Perhaps Fantasia 2000 could appear in a future title in the series. The Symphony of Sorcery was indeed fascinating as it relied heavily on classical music as the background of the events. It was also a stunning world to look at in Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance.

Donald and Goofy Changed Outfits

When the initial trailers for Kingdom Hearts were released, Donald and Goofy weren’t in their knight outfits at the time. They were in their original clothes from the cartoons. Goofy had his green hat and blue jeans on. Donald had his blue sailors-like outfit on. Now, you can see their much more appropriate knight outfits on in the game. They also show up in their Kingdom Hearts gear as costumed characters in Disney parks from time to time, usually during Halloween events.

Donald and Goofy will be back in these costumes as they explore the Underworld and find Hades in Kingdom Hearts 4. Hopefully, we’ll find out more about how they’ll save Sora from Quadratum soon. English voice actors have apparently begun to work on the game, leading to speculation that we’ll hear something about the game in the near future.

Square Enix Reportedly Worked on Kingdom Hearts Before Disney’s Approval

According to the former VP/Managing Director for Asia Pacific at Disney Interactive Shuji Utsumi (via Otocoto and KHInsider), Kingdom Hearts had “very little hope that the project would be greenlit.” It had to be pitched by then Disney head Michael Eisner. Square Enix at the time believed it was approved, but it actually wasn’t while the game was in full active development at Squaresoft. After being pitched the game, Eisner reportedly said to Utsumi and others, “Keep at it and do it right.”

We now have a series that has been going on for almost 25 years. Under the direction of Tetsuya Nomura, hopefully the series continues into a bright new era as Sora is trapped within the Unreality realm of Quadratum and likely live-action universes, such as Star Wars.

Next

7 Best Worlds That Should Return in Kingdom Hearts 4

Kingdom Hearts 4 takes Sora and Riku to Quadratum, but which other worlds will they explore?