That Green Dude

March 28th 2017 marked 15 years since the first Kingdom Hearts game was released in Japan.  I can hardly believe that the Kingdom Hearts series is 15 years old, it doesn’t seem that long ago that I was walking around Traverse Town with Sora, Donald and Goofy for the first time. Now that Kingdom Hearts is 15 years old I thought that I would write about some of my favourite memories about the series.

Seeing it for the first time in a video game magazine

I first saw Kingdom Hearts in a gaming magazine when I was kid and there was a picture of the main protagonist Sora and it immediately caught my attention. I thought that style of the main character Sora was similar to another character that I like, Sion Barzahd from The Bouncer. I was intrigued by the main character’s design and then I saw Donald Duck and Goofy, it was from that point that the game was sold to me. I carried on reading through to learn more about it and then I saw a picture of Squall, my favourite (and still is) Final Fantasy character. As soon as I saw Squall, I knew that I didn’t want the game, I needed it.

Walking around Traverse Town

I will always remember walking around Traverse town with Donald and Goofy in the first Kingdom Hearts and going into the item shop to see; Huey, Dewey and Louie. Another thing that I will always remember is the Traverse Town theme. I heard the music for Traverse Town so much that it is probably engraved into my brain. I also remember that cool yet weird-looking post box in the first district, I’ve always wanted one. I hope we see Traverse Town in Kingdom Hearts 3, the memories will come flooding back.

Fighting Ansem and beating Kingdom Hearts 1

Fighting Ansem at the end of the first Kingdom Hearts is very memorable and it never gets old (I’ve lost track on how many times I have beaten Kingdom Hearts 1). I remember struggling to beat him at first but then that feeling of joy when his health bar goes down to nothing. Only for Ansem to go ‘Hi! I ain’t done yet’. When I first fought Ansem this annoyed me but it made me more determined and focused to put him down, so off again for fight number two. As soon as I beat him I was happy, I remember calming myself down just in case I had to fight him again. Lo and behold I had to fight him again. I loved fighting Ansem because when I was a kid I thought he would never go away. After beating him again he was finally defeated. I was happy because I completed the game yet I was sad, I wanted more Kingdom Hearts. So off I went and played through the game again.

Roxas vs Axel at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 2

I enjoyed the first couple of hours of Kingdom Hearts 2 where you play as Roxas in Twilight Town, even if it does drag on a bit. One of the stand out moments for me during the Roxas section, is the fight against Axel. There were numerous about Axel that I immediately loved about him; his attitude, his style and his weapons. The fight was amazing surrounded by fire and I’m playing as Roxas wielding two keyblades. Roxas dual-wielding keyblades blew me away, it was awesome as hell and I enjoyed every minute of it. Axel’s saying “Got it memorized” will stick with me for the rest of my life, so yes Axel, I do have it memorized.

Fighting 1000 heartless

Kingdom Hearts 2 was filled with many memorable moments that I can’t mention them all. One moment however that I (and many others) remember very fondly is the battle against 1000 Heartless. Playing this part for the first time blew me away, fighting against a 1000 Heartless sounded like an insurmountable task. I defeated all of them and it was absolutely amazing, fantastic and wonderfully epic.

Terra vs Xehanort

I remember the fight between Terra and Xehanort incredibly well. I love Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep and its three playable protagonists; Terra, Ventus and Aqua. Xehanort who was voiced by the late and great Leonard Nimoy was a great villain and actually made me resent him towards the end of the game. Xehanort had caused so much anger and tension between the three friends that I wanted to get him back. The fight against Xehanort was brilliant and I remember not holding back and going full offensive. The best part though is that even though you beat Xehanort, he still wins.

The hatred I had towards Xehanort is thanks to the game’s story and great writing. An antagonist is supposed to make you hate them and I hated Xehanort so much that ended up liking the character in the end, because he was a true villain. In Kingdom Hearts 3 he is back and I can’t wait to defeat him once and for all.

Kingdom Hearts helped me during some tough times

Whilst these are not memories I think that I should write about how Kingdom Hearts helped me get through some tough times in my life. During high school I was bullied rather badly and I got depressed as result. I put on a brave face for my parents because I didn’t want them to know that I was being bullied. Video games provided me with an escape from the real world, they took my mind off all the bullying that I had endured at school. Three games especially helped me get through that tough period of my life and Kingdom Hearts was one of them. I love the characters, I was absorbed into the lore and world of Kingdom Hearts. I was happy.

For those wondering, I got past the all the bullying and depression by the time I finished high school. Back then I didn’t know how to deal with bullies, now I do.

Thank you Kingdom Hearts

I want to thank Square Enix and all of those involved in creating and developing Kingdom Hearts not just for the memories but also thanks for helping me in some bad parts of my life. Kingdom Hearts made getting through the tough days easier and for that I can’t thank you enough.