I’ve been playing a lot of Kingdom Hearts 3D lately for a review I’ll be publishing sometime early next week. And no matter what, whenever I play another Kingdom Hearts game, I always fall onto the same thought.
“These worlds are cool, but what about those that Square Enix have missed?”
There’s no question that the Disney catalog has some rich worlds and stories. The likes of Aladdin, The Lion King, Beauty And The Beast among others have already been explored to a masterful interpretation. With the inevitable third core game in the franchise coming sometime in the future, now’s about the time for Square to be thinking about what worlds to start virtualizing.
And I’m here to help them think of a few.
I’ve scoured the good and the bad of Disney’s history, and compiled a list of worlds that would be perfect for the Kingdom Hearts franchise. These are by no means the only worlds that would work for the game, however, they are definitely the ones that would be the most interesting, make the most sense in context of story or simply be the most fun. Some will make sense. Some won’t. Some will seem odd that it hasn’t happened yet. Some, yet, also are meant as total curveballs.
But without further delay:
10. Pocahontas
When not causing controversy for being historically inaccurate or making people feel uncomfortable for being politically incorrect, Pocahontas had a rich world with memorable characters and an Academy Award winning musical score. It followed the tale of a Native American tribe struggling against New World settlers, the governor of which believes that the tribe is hiding vast amounts of gold. Amidst the conflict, Pocahontas and settler John Smith fall in love, and wish to end the conflict between their respective groups.
The world of Pocahontas would be a perfect fit for Kingdom Hearts. Much of the franchise is about removing the darkness from worlds plagued by it, and what seems more dark than a corrupt governor willing to slaughter entire tribes of innocent people in the name of greed?
Imagine Sora coming to this world, not only finding Governor Ratcliffe on the attack again, but the Heartless have invaded the forest and caused many flora and fauna to become evil and rabid. Admit it, the thought of having a boss battle to knock some sense into a possessed Grandmother Willow is suddenly sounding really cool. It’s like Whispy Woods, but voiced by Linda Hunt! Take that nature!
Plus, Square’s love of trying to get original voice actors to reprise their roles mean that Mel Gibson, who voiced John Smith, could be involved in the project. Which is always a barrel of….something…..
9. The Jungle Book
Honestly, it’s somewhat surprising The Jungle Book hasn’t appeared in Kingdom Hearts yet. It also falls into the formula perfectly. Almost too perfectly. One could probably make the argument that this world would be too close to the Tarzan world that was already on Kingdom Hearts. But The Jungle Book had the plus side of having more silly characters, while Tarzan had more serious characters. And let’s not forget that The Jungle Book didn’t feature the easter egg of having the antagonist hanged at the end of the movie. That was horrifying.
Or maybe I just want to finally beat the snot out of that snake. He was annoying. Particularly because I couldn’t listen to him without thinking that he swallowed Pooh Bear and stole his voice. Jerk.
Okay, enough of being safe and picking Disney movies everyone knows about. Let’s explore something that barely anyone remembers. Let’s explore:
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