I doubt there has been a review that has been this long time coming in my life. Kingdom Hearts has been a series that I have followed throughout my gaming career, starting with the PlayStation 2 and ending with whatever the hell weird game dropped on the 3DS. It’s a series that shouldn’t work because it sounds more like a child’s imagination playdate than anything else. Marrying elements of Disney, Square Enix, and the smoldering remnants of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Kingdom Hearts has been polarizing as anything, creating diehard fans and critics along the way. In spite of its birth on a Sony platform, there’s something inherently whimsical and convoluted that spoke to me about being at home on a Nintendo console. Finally, after some false starts and hiccups, Nintendo Switch 2 owners can have the complete saga (to date) on their devices, not up in the cloud.

Sora’s been locked onto other platforms so long the light of Nintendo fans is blinding.

It’s hard to start the review of Kingdom Hearts  -HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX- (I long for normal naming conventions) off on the right foot. A monkey’s paw reward, we finally have the long awaited series on the device without needing to be connected to the Internet, allowing full mobile enjoyment of the strongest set of the new collection. However, it’s also the one creating the most frustration, as it’s available for Switch 1 or 2 with no cross purchase compatibility between them. Getting it for Switch 1 means relegating yourself to slightly lower framerates and slightly worse looking graphics, and getting it on Switch 2 means locking out your legacy device. My Switch Lite still works great and was my daily driver for years. I would much rather cart that around just for safety’s sake, but Square Enix has put their foot down. 1 or 2, not both.

That is the first and last time I will complain about the release situation, because everything after that is gravy in a specific and wonderful way. 1.5 + 2.5 contains six titles, though two of them are not playable. The DS exclusive titles, 358/2 Days and Re:coded, can only be enjoyed as longform movies, a stitched together collection of cutscenes (reduxed in HD) with some text-on-blank-background exposition to fill in the gaps. It’s…fine. I understand there’s elements of the games (especially 358/2 Days) that cannot be properly translated to the big screen because they require the unique dual screen environment the DS offered. Rather than put in back-breaking efforts to try and retrofit the games that are decent, but not magnificent, Square Enix still lets players get the media enhanced gist of the storylines and important plot points, albeit in a truncated way.

The additional four games available – Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II, Birth By Sleep and Castle of Memories, are perfect versions of the already existing ReMIX titles on both PlayStation and Xbox Machines. Kingdom Hearts I and II have gotten the HD treatment, been slightly buffed in terms of controls and interface, and that’s really about it. As they’re copying the Final Mix layout from the original PlayStation 2 versions, you only have the option for English audio with no Japanese track as a variant. Castle of Memories gets the greatest overhaul, bringing a Gameboy Advanced title to the big screen with a fully redone adaptation that adds 3D graphics and areas, voiceovers and a better experience overall. Birth By Sleep is mostly similar to the PSP title from which it originated, though, again, it’s been severely tuned up in order to work outside of the confines of the initial publication.

This was a golden opportunity to also dive back into these games that I haven’t had a chance to play for several years, but for them hold a tremendous amount of affection. Not only are these some truly fantastic JRPGs, they also were a starting point for many players who were put off by the entire Final Fantasy school of things at first. People will balk at trying to understand a worldbuilding lore where conventions and ideas are constantly shifting between fantasy and science fiction, particularly when naming designations are bizarre and seemingly arbitrary. But once you’re able to pepper in something familiar, like the Disney logo, suddenly it’s a whole new ball game. Who cares that Xehanort is trying to strip Roxas of his Heartless for Organization XIII? We can see the Lion King!

Don’t worry, Sora isn’t just shirtless: he’s also a merboy!

The first Kingdom Hearts is the most essential of these titles to play while also being the one that’s the most frustrating in terms of modern sensibilities. Setting the stage for all future games, this is where players will first step into the world of Sora, Kairi, and Riku, three people living on an island that just sort of exists without rhyme or reason. You don’t have a clear idea of how old they are, when they got there, or if there was even an existence for them prior to the game starting, yet all three of them talk about leaving the island while, in the background, we see that Mickey Mouse is the king of some distant castle, Goofy and Donald are two of his most trusted advisors, and Chip & Dale are engineers. There is so much weirdness from the very drop that it quickly becomes old hat thereafter.

Kingdom Hearts I also sets the general format for how the other games will evolve and progress. After some truly baffling moments where Kairi disappears and Riku sort of goes off on a quest for vengeance, Sora and his new crew of Donald and Goofy set out across different worlds to get answers, which, as it turns out, are different Disney IPs. Once entering the different world, the trio will change their appearance in some capacity to match the surrounding landscape. Sora, for example, becomes a merman in the famously difficult The Little Mermaid world, but simply dons a spooky costume when entering the Halloween world of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Entering these worlds also means teaming up with certain members of the IP, like Peter Pan or Hercules (the animated film, not the actual Greek myth).

Once you get on board with the basics of Kingdom Hearts, there’s not much to it. The RPG elements are dirt simple: whatever path you carve out through a personality survey is how Sora will progress for the remainder of the game, allowing you to build out a strength, magic or balanced hero from the beginning. The autotargeting system lets you keep up the assault on whichever enemy you want, allowing the hectic 3D environment to be fairly easy to navigate. The first game is a bit clunky in terms of the camera, but it never gets too irritating. The combat system is both intuitive and easy to control, letting you quickly move between standard melee attack combos, action moves like spells and items, and eventual summoning of Disney characters. There’s really nothing quite like beating back a metric ton of faceless, nameless beings by bringing Dumbo into the mix.

Plus, King Mickey is freaking badass every time he shows up.

Also…there’s the Gummi Ship. I don’t mean to beat a dead horse (as this has been criticized by players for literal decades), but it’s just such an air-sucking element of the gameplay. In theory, the idea is cool: customize a spaceship to go between worlds, and upgrade it as you unlock more elements and aspects. Kind of like FTL but with two chipmunks at the helm. Instead, it’s a desperately awkward combination shooter and puzzler that can grind you to a halt from actually playing the game. Failure to be the best pilot/gunner means you don’t get to enter the world. It’s frustrating, obtuse, and mirthless. Hint: if one of the later upgrades is the ability to completely skip over this mini game, doesn’t that inherently mean that players will want to avoid playing it? Which, at that point, maybe just take it out entirely?

For those coming into these games having only played the European or North American versions of the original game on the PlayStation 2, you really might want to dive back in to see what’s different in the Final Mix/ReMIX versions. There’s a massive uptick in terms of content, with a lot of additional Keyblades, different mobs, and even some extra cutscenes baked in to make the plot more cohesive and understandable. Remember how a bunch of people complained that Kingdom Hearts didn’t make any sense? The Japanese audience agreed, so Square Enix actually spelled it out more clearly, but decided that the Western audience could wait a few extra years. Really cool of them, but at least now it’s available and should absolutely be indulged by long running fans of the series.

As weird as it sounds, I find Kingdom Hearts to be the weakest of the series while still being crucial to play to better understand the overall story and experience. You can’t fully appreciate how wide the swings become without first seeing some really janky and simplistic fighting (comparatively) paired with a bit of camera jank and a rather simplistic approach from the main character. Sora is sweet and all, but he’s still green and innocent, two traits that surprisingly don’t work well in terms of this bizarre storyline. Plus, having the first game conclude on an ellipse instead of a period feels both assuming and immature (even though the series will do it again). This was a fledgling series and you really wanted to gamble that folks would care about Bigshoes McGee and his Disney cohorts trying to save King Mickey and formerly possessed shonen? That’s really brash.

It takes a moment to realize that this stunning environment is just for show.

Your instincts will tell you to go onto Kingdom Hearts II, because that’s what most of us did and were promptly even more confused, if that was possible. Instead, I do recommend (for multiple reasons) to go onto Chain of Memories, which is the greatest reveal in terms of makeovers in gaming history. It also speaks to the completely outlandish attempts at storytelling that Tetsuya Nomura embarked upon. You have a PlayStation 2 game that was arguably a solid seller, developed a fanbase positively hooked on the intricate storytelling, and then, before the immediate follow-up on the same platform, release a game on the Gameboy Advance with completely different mechanics. Also, it’ll be pixel art because GBA, it won’t be voiced, it’s a card battle game, and, if you skip it, it throws the series into even more chaos.

Thankfully, Sora’s journey through Castle Oblivion is an exciting and enjoyable one through the ReMIX lens. It’s a completely redone version of the game, blowing up the isometric 2D rooms into fully realized, polygonal 3D areas. Voice acting and cutscenes are dropped in to give it the full game treatment, though there was something almost quaint about the initial “cutscene” on the GBA. The game is infinitely easier to explore and engage with, as the cinematic treatment makes it more cohesive with the rest of the series. Even the 3DS title, Dream Drop Distance, had a more premium feel to it, so this upgrade is well worth the time if you’re focused on the storyline.

And even if you’re not, Chain of Memories is worth revisiting because it’s a wild but welcome departure from the standard combat that permeates throughout the rest of the games. As a card battler, you end up doing a glorified version of War while also thinking about card typing and combinations, with a matter of focusing on card points and trying to hedge when and when not to throw out certain cards. You can jump and move around, but it doesn’t do anything: like Dragon Quest XI, your location relative to combat being arbitrary. You get more cards throughout and get to customize the deck thanks to shops and defeating bosses. It’s spiffy and a nice changeup in gameplay. The only thing I don’t love is that this ReMIX version allows you to fire off a “Reaction” that does enemy specific damage: a bit cheesy in terms of balancing.

Sadly, Roxas will not be transforming into the Foundation Titan after this battle.

These previous two games set the stage for Kingdom Hearts II. While Kingdom Hearts is magnificent, it pales in comparison to Kingdom Hearts II, which improves on virtually everything from the first game. Combat is significantly more action oriented and dynamic. The graphics are an incredible uptick in terms of character design, animation and smoothness. The voice actors have really gotten their footing and deliver something magical. As much as I loved Haley Joel Osmont in the first game, he finds a better tone and cadence by the second, giving Sora some much needed depth. Yes, he’s a plucky, happy-go-lucky dude, but the events of the last two games have drawn some shadows. Plus, the inclusion of several other voices (whom I won’t spoil) help give some real gravitas to events that occur within the game.

And the Gummi Ship! This should have been a footnote, but, given my disdain for the original, it’s worth mentioning here. Simplifying it into a rail shooter, changing perspective to top down and asking players to only do it once per world makes all the difference. Now it’s not a chore you need to psych yourself up to do, but a light exercise you run once in a while. There are still upgrades, but they’re full ship upgrades, which is significantly more exciting. Honestly, would you rather get new tires for your Saab 9000, or throw the damn thing out and get a whole new car? At this point I should mention I haven’t driven in years and my references for cars is rather dated. I beg your forgiveness, but the point still stands.

Full stop, Kingdom Hearts II will either make you love or hate the series. While the combat is more versatile, it’s the beginning of things becoming almost unhinged in its kinetic approach. The Drive Form is insanely overpowered, and, at lower difficulties, the transformation all but guarantees success in most fights. While the camera has been fixed and it’s easier to keep track of Sora, the game rebalances this “fix” by increasing the number of enemies by an exponential amount, starting to border into musou territory. Plus, as much as I do like having different Keyblades, the sheer number of the ones that you find and experiment with slows down the ability to move forward with the game in a meaningful way. That is, if you actually want to experience the full “game” and not just drive the plot forward, you have to stop and slaughter the roses.

Birth by Sleep is probably the most polarizing of the titles, and with good reason. Set ten years before the events of Kingdom Hearts, this PSP exclusive title asks a LOT of players in multiple facets. You have a handful of characters that you’ve barely heard of or never seen before in any capacity. It’s only ten years earlier, but it feels like events from much further back. The designs and ideas are somehow antithetical from what’s been happening in the games: while you still visit places like the Olympic Coliseum and the Dwarf Woodlands, the trio of Ventus, Terra and Aqua are ill fitting, like they were photoshopped into the game. It’s something that takes some getting used to, like shoes that are half a size too small. With time, you can force yourself and the shoes to be more comfortable, but the initial setup is awkward.

This combat should be so much better but it just never quite pops.

Additionally, I’ve never liked the combat mechanics. Even though it made sense to try and simplify things for the PSP and to still go on a more upgraded path from Chain of Memories, it creates a lot of moving pieces that don’t come together well. The Deck system is fine, allowing you to “stack” commands and attacks you’d like to do in order to create better combat flow while respecting a cooldown timer. But the Shotlock is a lazy and overpowered way to clear enemies, giving PSP players some kind of analog for the FPS games they’d clearly rather be playing than Kingdom Hearts. And the D-Link system is a poor replacement for the cooperative components of Kingdom Hearts II, feeling like you’re giving up control instead of sharing in the experience with the areas’ primary characters.

But I actually rather like the Command Board. I’ve always enjoyed the bizarre minigames stuffed inside of JRPGs, going back to Triple Triad in Final Fantasy VIII, and Command Board is like a light version of Mario Party without the actual gaming and more about the board movements. It’s quaint, and actually a nice break from the very detailed and confusing plotline that is absolutely necessary to understand how The Keyblades and the entire existence of Xehanort came into being. With Command Board, you can just sort of move around, enjoy the characters and play a little board game against the CPU. 

And yes, in spite of everything, the way the plotline is handled is superb. Being asked to play through the game three times in order to get everything – once for each of the three leads – is a fascinating way to get the most mileage out of a smaller and more compact game. It lets you see how the power of Darkness and the balance of Light comes and affects each character in turn, leading to a final chapter that brings everyone together. I sincerely like the character of Aqua, and am glad she gets her own separate tale later on to extend beyond the beginning of the Keyblade War. By having each of the worlds appear the same but play differently for the trio in turn is pretty smart, and also let PSP players enjoy the game without being overwhelmed initially.

It’s also probably the least polished of the titles for the HD glow-up. While the original Kingdom Hearts got a massive facelift and Chain of Memories was completely rebuilt, Birth by Sleep just feels like someone connected a PSP to the TV and polished the pixels a bit. It’s not bad, per say, but it also feels like the least dramatic of all of them. Kingdom Hearts II was such late era PlayStation 2 gaming that it already looked great and could make the jump to HD easily. Birth by Sleep just has a touch of unwieldy nature to it, like the graphics needed a bit longer in the oven. Interestingly, I feel that, had the game been released as a standalone, I could have really appreciated its upgrade. Ironically, by being packaged together with older games, it feels the lowest effort was put into bringing it to the Switch.

This ominous quote is from RE:Coded and not a Midwestern teenager in the early 2000s.

Kingdom Hearts  -HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX- lays out the games in the recommended order of play/viewing, and players who are truly interested to understand the story should do as such. The plotline is rich, confusing and, occasionally, contradictory until something comes along to explain away the irregularity. The games rise and fall in what they seek to do, trying new styles and gameplay mechanics each time in an effort to make it better for players who follow along with the advancements. In that way, they’re almost like the Paper Mario titles, but with more cohesion and less quick sightgags. There are some under-the-hood additions, particularly to Kingdom Hearts I, that make getting through the game a breeze (one hit kill is almost hilariously unfair for the CPU). But mostly you need to play and really experience what Sora, Donald and Goofy have to go through.

This robust collection is a must-have for players who enjoyed the PlayStation 2 days. It’s sleek, it plays great and it’s got easily more than a hundred hours of legitimate exploration, and even more if you’re determined to be a Gummi Ship master. The music is unimpeachable, the voice acting is some of the best for English talent, and Nomura’s flair for the dramatic reemerges time and again. Themes of isolation, loneliness, hope and perseverance play throughout, and they culminate into the doorway to the future. It’s a lot, but it’s all genuine, and I cannot fault that. Welcome home, Kingdom Hearts. Welcome to the Nintendo Switch.

Kingdom Hearts  -HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX- is available now on Steam, Epic Game Store, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2.

A copy of Kingdom Hearts  -HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMIX- was provided by the publisher.