Kingdom Hearts (video game)

Kingdom Hearts
North American cover art featuring the main characters, from top: Sora, Riku, Goofy, Kairi and Donald
Developer(s)	Square
Publisher(s)	JP: Square NA: Square Electronic Arts EU: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Director(s)	Tetsuya Nomura
Producer(s)	Shinji Hashimoto Yoshinori Kitase
Programmer(s)	Hiroshi Harata Kentarou Yasui
Artist(s)	Tetsuya Nomura
Writer(s)	Jun Akiyama Daisuke Watanabe Kazushige Nojima
Composer(s)	Yoko Shimomura
Series	Kingdom Hearts
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release	JP: March 28, 2002 NA: September 17, 2002 EU: November 15, 2002 AU: November 22, 2002 Final Mix JP: December 26, 2002
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Kingdom Hearts^[a] is a 2002 action role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation 2 video game console.^[1] It is the first game in the Kingdom Hearts series and is the result of a collaboration between Square and The Walt Disney Company. An expanded re-release of the game featuring new and additional content, Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, was released exclusively in Japan in December 2002. The Final Mix version of the game was later remastered in high definition and released globally as a part of the Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix collection for the PlayStation 3. The game was later ported and released as part of the bundled Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix collection for PlayStation 4 in March 2017, Xbox One in February 2020, Windows in March 2021, and Nintendo Switch in February 2022.

The game combines characters and settings from Disney animated features with those from Square's Final Fantasy series, in addition to original characters and worlds created for the game. It follows the adventures of Sora, a cheerful teenager who fights against the forces of darkness alongside his allies, including Donald Duck, Goofy and other Disney characters. The game was a departure from Square's standard role-playing games, introducing a substantial action and hack and slash element to the gameplay. The score was composed by Yoko Shimomura. Kingdom Hearts has an all-star voice cast and includes many of the Disney characters' official voice actors.^[2] It was longtime Square character designer Tetsuya Nomura's first time in a directorial position.^[3]

Kingdom Hearts received critical and commercial success and was praised for its unusual combination of action and role-playing elements, its unexpectedly harmonious mix of Square and Disney elements, and Shimomura's music.^[4] It was a large presence in the 2002 holiday season, receiving numerous year-end game awards, and went on to achieve Sony "Greatest Hits" status.^[5] The game's success spawned a franchise and numerous sequels, with the Kingdom Hearts series going on to ship over 36 million copies worldwide and becoming one of Square's most popular franchises. Kingdom Hearts is the tenth best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time, and is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time.^[6]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).