Kairi

• Chevron Down

Other

Information

• Home
• Audiomack
• Luma
• Cash App

• WeChat
• Carrd
• Gamepad
• Chevron Up

Kingdom Hearts

History

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Kairi was born in Radiant Garden, where she lives with her grandmother. One day, she is chased by a group of Unversed and encounters Aqua, who senses a pure light in her heart, since she is a Princess of Heart.Frightened, Kairi touches Aqua's Keyblade, unintentionally performing a Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony. As she and Aqua are about to be attacked, King Mickey arrives and Aqua evacuates Kairi before returning to fight alongside Mickey. After the Unversed are defeated, King Mickey and Aqua talk about the light they sense in Kairi's heart, and Mickey suggests that they team up, but is called away immediately afterwards. Kairi then gives Aqua the bundle of flowers she picked before the Unversed appeared as thanks for helping her (which becomes the Destiny's Embrace Keychain).In return, Aqua puts a protective charm on Kairi's necklace, and tells her, "One day when you're in trouble, the light within you will lead you to the light of another, someone to keep you safe". Kairi thanks Aqua and then returns to her grandmother, who begins to tell her the story of the light and the darkness, while Aqua believes their meeting may not have been a coincidence.After Terra-Xehanort's defeat, Kairi is seen picking flowers in a large garden. She looks up to the bright sky, looking as if she sensed something. As she does, her necklace emits a weak glow.

Between Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts

One year after the events of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Radiant Garden became shrouded by darkness and everyone was scattered across the universe. During this, Kairi was captured by Xehanort, after she was cornered by a group of Heartless. Xehanort told Kairi that their world was about to fall to the darkness, and that the only way to save it was for Kairi to assist him in an experiment. He told Kairi that he was under the suspicion that she was one of the Princesses of Heart, and as such, he was going to propel her off world to test any possible connection between the Keyblade wielders and the Princesses of Heart, and if the experiment is a success, Kairi's heart would resonate with a keyblade wielder's heart, which would lead Xehanort to that wielder's world. Just before Xehanort sent her on her way, he warned her that if she the experiment fails and she ends up "somewhere on the other side", then she was to abandon her search.The experiment was a success, due to the protective spell Aqua had cast on her one year earlier, Kairi's heart resonated with the heart of a boy named Riku and she appeared on the Destiny Islands during a meteor shower, appearing floating in the water on the beach. But, as a result of the experiment, Kairi's memories of her time on Radiant Garden were repressed, and she had no idea where she came from. She was then brought to the mayor's house, where she was presumably adopted by the mayor.

Kingdom Hearts

Kairi later becomes very close friends with Sora and Riku who constantly and playfully compete together. She often supports these competitions, although she does not know it suddenly turned into competition about her right before leaving the Islands. She claims to have no memory of her life before the Islands, and her mysterious past sparks curiosity in Sora and Riku, who are looking forward to leaving Destiny Islands and see other worlds.This leads the trio to build a raft in the hopes of traveling to other worlds. However, before they can leave, their islands are attacked by the Heartless, and Sora finds Kairi in their Secret Place. She turns towards him, looking sad, pale and a little ill, and then a huge gust of wind sweeps through a door in the back of the cave and Kairi flies towards him. Sora opens his arms to catch her, but she vanishes right as she is about to be swept into his embrace.During this time, it is speculated that Kairi's heart chose Sora as a vessel and when she passed through him, her heart was left behind in him while her body vanished to some distant world.She then becomes a part of the game's driving force of finding friends and saving worlds from the looming darkness.Riku finds her first, but she is in a comatose state, with a vacant, lifeless expression and a limp body. She'd lost her heart and because of her Princess status, her body remained untouched by the darkness that usually produced a Heartless. With empty promises by Maleficent, Riku was convinced that he alone could locate Kairi's heart and restore her to health. When inside Monstro, Riku attempts to kidnap Pinocchio in hopes to use his heart to restore Kairi's. This act confuses Sora as he hasn't learned of her fate. His attempt fails and he is forced to retreat.In Neverland, Sora finally encounters her body, along with a painful reunion with Riku; who is very defensive about her and ends up locking her in a room with Wendy so that Sora can't get to her. When Sora reaches the room below her cell, he extends his hand towards her, desperately hoping for a reaction as he is just now discovering the full lengths of Kairi's condition.Unconsciously, her hand twitches before going still again, much to Sora's relief. Riku then takes her away yet again, having new knowledge of where Kairi's heart might be. After the defeat of Captain Hook, Goofy ponders aloud whether or not Kairi had indeed lost her heart, but Donald, not wanting to upset Sora, promptly shushes him. Sora, however, appears to be in denial, pondering over his disbelief that he could fly and whether or not Kairi would believe him.Eventually, Sora follows Riku and Maleficent to the world of Hollow Bastion where he too learns of Kairi's fate. However, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, while possessing Riku, reveals that Kairi's heart has been resting within Sora all along, which explains all the visions he has had of her during his journey. Furthermore, Kairi is one of the Princesses of Heart, a maiden whose heart holds no darkness, and is needed to open the Final Keyhole. He then attempts to take her heart from Sora, but he defends himself to protect it.After winning a fight and driving "Ansem" from Hollow Bastion, Sora sacrifices himself using the Keyblade of Heart to free Kairi's heart, and is turned into a Shadow Heartless. Awakened as her heart is finally restored, Kairi runs towards him, but as soon as her fingers touch him, he vanishes. Refusing to believe that Sora is gone, Kairi prepares to fight the Shadow Heartless that surround her, along with Donald and Goofy.However, once "Ansem" reappears and Riku's spirit stops him from attacking Kairi, she flees. Devastated, she, along with Donald and Goofy, attempt to escape from Hollow Bastion. But just as they are cornered by the Heartless, she recognizes Sora's Heartless from the crowd and manages to bring Sora back from the darkness by embracing him and promising to protect him. The group escapes Hollow Bastion, revealed to be Kairi's home world, and find shelter in Traverse Town where she could be protected by Leon and the others.Sora finds Kairi in the underground water tunnel after talking with Leon. She states absentmindedly how much this place reminds her of their Secret Place. While lost in darkness, Sora witnessed one of Kairi's memories of her as a little girl wandering around the Hollow Bastion library with her grandmother. Sora mentions this and it is revealed that after her heart was restored, Kairi could remember certain things from her past.Though Kairi wants to help rescue Riku and stop the darkness from emanating, Sora convinces her to stay put, not wanting her to get hurt and also joking that she would be in his way; he also acknowledges that, since their hearts were one, they will always be together. During this conversation, it was revealed that Kairi's voice brought him back from the darkness. Kairi gives in and gives Sora her lucky charm, which doubles as the Oathkeeper Keyblade.In the game's final cutscene, she appears on a section of Destiny Islands after Sora's final battle with Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, likely confused. Sora runs up to her, a little too late as the world is breaking apart, restoring all the previously destroyed worlds. Just before she is sent back, Sora promises that he will come back to her as soon as he finds Riku and King Mickey. She is then transported back to Destiny Islands without him, wistfully watching the island regenerate around her with Sora's goodbye still fresh in her mind.After the worlds are restored, Kairi visits the Secret Place, looking at the pictures that she and Sora had drawn over the years. Once she sees the picture that Sora had drawn of him giving her a paopu fruit, she is moved to tears and adds to it; the picture now depicting herself and Sora exchanging two halves of a paopu fruit.

Chain of Memories

Although Kairi did not directly appear in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, she did play a very important role. She served as a figure of light for both Sora and Riku while fervently awaiting their return on Destiny Islands.In the credits for Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, Kairi is shown to still be waiting for Sora and Riku's return.

358/2 Days

During this time, Kairi is assumed to be living a normal life on Destiny Islands where she is waiting for Riku and Sora's return, though her memories of Sora have probably become vague due to Naminé's interference with Sora's and her memories. With the two of them away, her only company becomes Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka.Xion is an imperfect Replica of Roxas created from Sora's leaked memories as a fail-safe in case both Sora and Roxas proved to be useless to Organization XIII's plans. She takes the visible form of Kairi, since Sora's memories of Kairi were the strongest of the memories leaked when she was created.Roxas sees a memory of Kairi during a mission in Destiny Islands and remarks that she looks like Xion.

Kingdom Hearts II

Kairi, now fifteen years old, lives her life normally on Destiny Islands. She attends school regularly along with her friend Selphie and has noticeably aged, having longer hair and more defined features. It can be assumed that she has spent most of her time focusing on her studies, thinking about the boy she's forgotten, and hanging out with Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus - all of whom have returned to Destiny Islands safely. She's also become slightly more withdrawn because of Sora's absence, with wisdom beyond her years. She's not as brash and bold as she was in the first game, but she's still pretty sociable. She understands that both Riku and Sora have great destinies and duties to fulfill, but that still doesn't keep her from pondering taking action and searching for them on her own.She misses Sora, but most of her memories of him have faded away because of Naminé's interfering with his own memories. One day, while walking home from school with Selphie, her heart is put into contact with a young boy named Roxas, later revealed to be Sora's Nobody. It appeared that Roxas was trying to contact Naminé, Kairi's Nobody, and ended up reaching her instead.During this conversation, Roxas brings up Sora, and, when Kairi inquires about his name, Sora himself, despite being in stasis, somehow uses Roxas as a conduit to talk to her, chastises her for forgetting his name, and jokingly gives her a hint ("Starts with an 'S'!"). Soon afterwards, Kairi sends a letter in a bottle out to sea in hopes that it would reach Sora one day, and immediately remembers his name and possibly everything else about him ("Starts with an 'S'... Right, Sora?").One day, Kairi decides to look for Sora and Riku herself instead of keep waiting for them. Axel then comes to Destiny Islands and tells Kairi to come with him. She refuses until Axel summons a group of Nobodies. A bark behind her gives her another option. She then runs off into a nearby portal of Darkness with King Mickey's dog, Pluto, into Twilight Town and meets Hayner, Pence and Olette. She hits it off with them, immediately fitting in with the three and going as far as to explain for whom she is searching. To her joy, Hayner, Pence, and Olette know Sora, assuring her that she could stay in Twilight Town until his next visit.Unfortunately, she is found again by Axel and forcibly taken by him, Olette, Hayner, and Pence's attempts doing nothing to prevent it. However Saïx finds Axel with Kairi and takes her to the World That Never Was as a prisoner, stating that she is the "fire that feeds Sora's anger". Kairi is devastated, thinking all hope is lost until she is freed by her Nobody, Naminé. Naminé uses a Corridor of Darkness to allow them to escape the cell, telling Kairi to believe in herself.The two's attempt to escape is stopped by Saïx and two Berserker Nobodies who offer to take Kairi to Sora. Once she refuses, Saïx gets ready to send the Nobodies to attack the two girls only to be saved by a cloaked figure. Naminé hints at who the cloaked figure is, causing him to pause as Kairi strides towards him to remove the hood. Her guess is correct and it is indeed Riku even though his appearance has changed to that of Xehanort's Heartless, though she takes this in stride and is just happy to be reunited with Riku. Riku leads her to Sora and is attacked by a group of Heartless. He hands Kairi a Keyblade, and they successfully fend off the remaining Heartless. She is then reunited with Sora with a hug between these two. She stops Ansem (Riku) from leaving and shows Sora that Ansem is really Riku.The three along with Donald and Goofy face off with Luxord and Saïx to get to Xemnas. Kairi is a pillar of support during these battles more than an actual participant - as Luxord's battle leaves them caged by cards and Saïx uses a shockwave to force both her and Riku (using his body to shield her) behind a barrier so he can battle alone with Sora, Donald, and Goofy.After Sora and Riku defeat Xemnas, Naminé appears and creates a portal, where Donald, Goofy and Mickey go through leaving Sora, Kairi and Riku. Kairi walks towards her and Sora follows Kairi. Kairi thanks her as Naminé tries to make Sora remember her, but Sora gets confused. Roxas comes out of him. Naminé and Roxas accept their fate together to live inside Sora and Kairi as they fuse with their original selves. Kairi walks into the portal, but when Sora and Riku follow the portal disappears and they fight Xemnas again.After they defeat Xemnas, they arrive at the shore of Dark Meridian. Kairi's letter washes up on shore and Sora reads it. The Door To Light appears and the two boys go through it and arrive at Destiny Islands shores as Kairi shouts for them. Sora excitedly swims towards her but Donald and Goofy jump at Sora first and Mickey jumps at Riku. They hug Sora, then Sora shows her the lucky charm and replies to Kairi "W-We're back!" while Kairi corrects him, saying "You're home" and extends her hand. As Sora takes her hand, he simultaneously returns the lucky charm to her. For a brief moment, Roxas and Naminé are shown smiling back at each other, just as Sora and Kairi are.Shortly after King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Jiminy, Scrooge McDuck, Dewey, Louie and Huey return to Disney Castle, Sora and Riku talk about the Door to Light until Kairi appears running to them, shouting their names. Sora turns to her and asks "Hey, What's up?" and Kairi hands him a letter in a bottle that displays King Mickey's seal. The trio immediately open the letter and read it, though its contents are hidden from the player.

Coded

During a flashback that Data-Riku or Data-Roxas had shown to Data-Sora, Kairi appears alongside Riku in Neverland.After Mickey sends his letter to Sora. Sora, Riku, and Kairi read it, and Sora prepares to leave to meet Mickey.Blank Points
Sora sits on the Paopu tree while holding the message from King Mickey, staring off into the sunset. After Sora tells Riku that he has made a decision, Kairi walks up to them. Sora tells her that everyone needs him, and that he has to go because he is who he is because of them. She then hands him her lucky charm and tells him that she'll see him soon.

Dream Drop Distance

Kairi appeared in the trailer for this game, seen sitting next to Sora near the paopu tree. She also made an appearance in the Jump Festa trailer along with Naminé.Sora sees an illusion of Kairi when traveling in The World That Never Was, when being reminded of his friends.In the secret ending, Yen Sid sends Riku to bring Kairi to the Mysterious Tower. Yen Sid states she can wield a Keyblade and needs to talk to her, leaving confusion on Riku and Mickey as to why. In actuality, he wants to begin training Kairi in combat so she can defend herself from the newly revived Organization XIII, who Yen Sid believes are trying to capture the 7 Princesses of Heart to create the X-blade.Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-
Kairi appears at Yen Sid's tower, set immediately after the events of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. She stands with Mickey and Riku and listens to the flow of conversation between the other three for the most part. When the matter of her training as a Keyblade wielder is brought up, Yen Sid reveals to her that she will be training with the wizard, Merlin alongside Lea. Although shocked that he used to be Axel, the guy that kidnapped her, she agreed to it when Riku assured her that it'd be alright.

Kingdom Hearts III

Kairi is continuing her training with Lea in a place Merlin created, the Secret Forest. There, time doesn't exist so they can take as much time as they need for training. When Kairi is writing a letter to Sora (she explains it's more for herself), he surprises her with sea-salt ice cream to celebrate them summoning Keyblades. Kairi notices him staring at her and asks if he is still trying to remember something, which he admits. She tries to change the topic by expressing excitement for their duel in the ring, while telling Lea to not hold back, which makes him remember something. Overwhelmed, Lea starts to cry and Kairi attempts to comfort him. He tries to wipe away his tears and tell her it is nothing. Before leaving, Kairi asks him to stop apologizing for kidnapping her, which he agrees to on the condition that she calls him "Axel" for now on.Later on, while Lea is watching the sunset, Kairi shows off her new haircut and dress. He got a new outfit as well, but isn't too interested. Then, Kairi explains the desire to free Naminé, a similar case he shares with Roxas. He mentions to her about meeting Ventus when he was a kid and how they became fast friends, but never saw him again. Over the years, he almost forgot Ventus until Roxas joined Organization XIII since the two were identical. Roxas was never told, because he didn't want Roxas to dissappear as well. Lea is concerned that Ventus might not remember him, but Kairi gives reassurance as their training reaches an end.At Yen Sid's Tower, all of the Seven Guardians of Light (Lea included) meet up as well as Donald and Goofy to catch up. Aqua remembers when she saved her from the Unversed, but Kairi admits that she still doesn't remember her time before arriving at Destiny Islands, but she thanks her nonetheless. Yen Sid then tells the Guardians to prepare.Sora, Riku and Kairi head back to Destiny Islands to relax before their big fight with the Real Organization XIII. Riku leaves Sora and her alone, saying he needed "time to himself". Sora is curious on what he meant by that, but Kairi grabs his attention by offering to share a Paopu Fruit with him. The two promise to keep each other safe and share the fruits together.The Seven Guardians of Light head to the Keyblade Graveyard, where they are confronted by Master Xehanort, Ansem, Xemnas, Vanitas and Young Xehanort. They fight a wave of Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed before they are confronted by Terra-Xehanort. The possessed keyblade wielder attacks the group, making easy work of them. He goes to attack Kairi and she freezes in fear, causing Sora to shield her with his body. Donald then defeats Terra-Xehanort with Zettaflare, but this knocks him out. The group are then attacked by a hurricane of Heartless, which pulls Kairi away.Luckily, Sora used the Power of Waking to undo this, freeing the other Guardians from a powerful Heartless. Kairi uses her princess powers to light Sora back to before they were attacked by Terra-Xehanort. The same scenario plays out until a mysterious knight appears and attacks Terra-Xehanort, leading him away. The group then get overwhelmed by the Heartless, but Yen Sid appears and creates a path for them to advance through, allowing them to face the entire Organization.Kairi ended up paired with Lea, facing against Xemnas, Saïx and a mysterious figure. During their pre-battle talk, the mysterious figure suddenly attacked Lea, but Kairi protected him and realized the figure was a girl. The five of them fought, but the Guardians began to feel overwhelmed. Sora came to help, but even then they were overwhelmed by Saïx. Eventually it was revealed that the mysterious figure was Xion, Lea's forgotten friend, who begins to remember who she is. As Xemnas prepares to kill her despite Lea's pitiful attempt to stop him, Roxas's heart emerges from Sora in a beam of light, immediately traveling to Radiant Garden to obtain a replica body there before forcing Xemnas to jump back as the force of his return to the graveyard creates a cloud of dust. As the dust settles, Xemnas is horrified to see Roxas, questioning how he has returned. Roxas reveals that, like Xemnas, he is using a replica, and it was through his connections with his friends and their hearts that he was able to return.Suddenly Sora attacks Xemnas, prompting Roxas and Xion to do a double attack. This fails, but it leaves Xemnas open long enough for Kairi to attack him. She does fairly well, but is eventually restrained by Xemnas. After Lea, Roxas and Xion fight the two Seekers to a stand still, Xemnas realizes he was outmatched. Xemnas remarks that he doesn't need hearts and that he would scatter them to the winds before warping behind the heroes and abducting Kairi, telling the guardians that though they have more lights, the Organization has more darknesses to replenish their ranks before warping away with Kairi.She is then taken to Xehanort and used as a means to get Sora, Riku and Mickey to fight. With Ansem, Xemnas and Young Xehanort defeated, Xehanort strikes down Kairi in order to motivate Sora into clashing with him, shattering her into seven crystal fragments for insurance purposes. Luckily, a time travelling Sora from the future travels through the Hearts of the Guardians and retrieves these fragments, and Kairi is restored to life. But the two are almost immediately confronted by an apparition of Xehanort. The two fight together and eventually defeat this foe with the help of the other Guardians, before fading away into The Final World. Sora then introduces her to Chirithy, and they convince her to come home and reunite with her friend. The two of them then go on a victory tour of the world to restore their weakened connection, dropping off Chirithy with Ventus at the Land of Departure and restoring Naminé in the process, and eventually meet up with the other Guardians on Destiny Islands.Sora and Kairi sit together on the palm tree they always hung out on and watch the sunset. Sora then tells her something which makes her cry, before he fades away as punishment for messing with fate. Kairi is so upset by this that she allows Ansem the Wise to put her into a deep sleep for a year in order for him to analyze her dreams in the hopes of finding Sora.

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory

While asleep, Kairi sees all her memories of Sora and eventually uncovers her memories of her time at Radiant Garden, including the memory of Terra-Xehanort sending her out of their world. She is then confronted by a Master Xehanort illusion. Although she puts up a good fight, she is unable to defeat him. Suddenly, Kairi's link to Sora allows him to remotely control her and defeats the manifestation of Xehanort. Before Kairi wakes, Xehanort reminds her of a world on "the other side".Kairi informs Ansem, who concludes the "other side" is a world of fiction. Riku and Fairy Godmother arrive, with the latter sending Kairi and Riku to the Final World to find clues. They meet the Nameless Star, whom Riku tells of his dream of seeing Sora is a world of tall buildings. The star suspect that this must be her homeworld, Quadratum. Riku opens a portal to the world, while Kairi leaves to tell Yen Sid of their discovery. After Yen Sid sends Donald and Goofy to inform the other people searching for Sora of their discovery, as well as sending Mickey to Scala ad Caelum to investigate the ancient Keyblade Masters and how they may be connected to the other reality, Kairi tells Yen Sid that she wishes to continue her training under Aqua, which Yen Sid agrees to.

• Back

Fatal Flaw

Overzealous and Nosey

Kairi shows a lot of enthusiasm with everything she does, she doesn't believe that you should waste a day being sad or not doing it with all your heart. After being attacked at the park she makes sure all her friends are taken care of and will sometimes butts into conversation or tries to overhear what others are talking about so she can know how to provide, make everyone smiles and protected.

• Back

Occupation

Bakery Owner/Head Baker

Kairi always loved to cook since a young age. Her favorite memories were making cookies from scratch with her mother. As she grew so did her skills and knowledge. By the time she was in junior high school, she decided she wanted to open her own bakery. She did what she could, saved all the money she got from odd and ends job. When she finally opened the bakery the first thing she could think of were the stars. The only name that came to her was Paopu fruit which became the theme of her bakery.A lot of her treats are in the shape of the night time star but her most famous item that she sells is the Star Melon Bread. This bread has a golden outside while the inside tastes sweet and tangy like a Star Fruit. They are big enough that you can indulge yourself or share with someone special, like the legend states.

• Back

People held dear

Connections

• Back

Starfall

Biography

Throughout her childhood, her mother was friends with another mother in the neighborhood which brought Sora into her life. They grew up being the best of friends. When she was too quirky for others, Sora was there giving her a smile and believing in her. He gave her the confidence to keep moving forward towards her dream.As time moved on she went to college, to pursue her dream of baking. She honed her skills even more, even learning how to cook other dishes besides pastries. Something she now liked to do in her spare time; cook for her friends. (If they ever wanted to come over.)One day when Kairi was on a walk she made a turn the wrong way. She ended up in one of the gang's territories and in front of a low-ranking member pointing a gun at her. Trying to be reasonable with them, she stepped forward to talk and convince the group to let them go. Nothing was working until another female came from behind and started knocking the few members out. After she was saved, Kairi befriended. After that, Xion became someone who regularly came over for sleepovers.For now, she works in her shop which she lives right above the bakery. She tends to relax with a good book after work before heading to bed early. It's hard to keep her up at night when she has to be at work at 4 a.m. to start the breakfast rush.

• Back

Kingdom Hearts

Video Game

Kingdom Hearts games in chronological order

All Kingdom Hearts games in release order

Kingdom Hearts

Originally released on the PS2 back in 2002, Kingdom Hearts is where it all began. Introducing you to the main trio of original Kingdom Hearts characters, Sora, Riku, and Kairi, and plunging you into the magical worlds of some of your favourite Disney movies, the first game establishes the lore of the heartless and the keyblades. Venture out on your first journey as Sora, alongside Donald and Goofy, as you attempt to reunite with your friends, while also saving each of the worlds you visit from the malevolent presence of the Darkness.

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories (Or Re:Chain of Memories)

First released on GameBoy Advance in 2004, Chain of Memories is a direct sequel to the first game, taking place in Castle Oblivion, where you’re introduced to (and face off against) the mysterious Organization XIII. It bridges the gap between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, while also employing a unique mixture of RPG and card game mechanics, where every attack, spell, and party member is tied to a deck of cards you must rotate strategically in order to win.

Kingdom Hearts II

Delving further into the concept of the heart, Square released Kingdom Hearts 2 on PS2 in 2005 and it takes place after the events of Chain of Memories. You begin the story with Roxas, Sora’s Nobody who’s experiencing some weird glitches and anomalies in his life, before diving into another adventure with Sora, Donald, and Goofy, as they travel across multiple worlds. This time, you’re not only fighting the Heartless – you’re also facing off against the Unversed, and the ominous Organization XIII.

Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded

Originally released as ‘Kingdom Hearts Coded’, as an episodic mobile game in Japan, Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded was later turned into a Nintendo DS game for global release. It’s an action role-playing puzzle game set after the events of Kingdom Hearts II, revolving around two secret messages you find in Jiminy Cricket’s journal, written by an unknown person. After the journal is digitised for further analysis, these messages become corrupted, resulting in King Mickey and his friends making a digital Sora to send into the journal in order to repair and decipher it.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Set primarily between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, Square originally released Kingdom Hearts 358/2 on Nintendo DS, and focuses on Roxas’ time in the Organization. As the newly born Nobody of Sora, Roxas joins Organization XIII as its thirteenth member, and is highly valued for his ability to wield the keyblade. You join him on his daily life in the Organization, completing missions around familiar Disney worlds and befriending Axel and Xion as he attempts to piece together his identity. The gameplay is similar to the previous mainline entries, but features a mission system in place of an open map. It also introduces a unique mechanic called the panel system, where you can customise the character’s levels, items, equipment, and abilities.

Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep

A prequel set ten years before the start of the first Kingdom Hearts game, Birth By Sleep follows the intertwining stories of Terra, Aqua, and Ventus – three aspiring Keyblade Masters training under Master Eraqus. Released on PSP in 2010, it features ARPG and hack and slash gameplay, where you travel through multiple Disney worlds, both familiar and new, and go over the story from the three different perspectives of our feisty young keyblade wielders.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Predominantly set after the events of Kingdom Hearts II and Re:Coded, Square released Dream Drop Distance on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012. It follows Sora and Riku as they undergo the Mark of Mastery exam at Master Yen Sid’s request, to refine their control of the keyblade in preparation for Master Xenahort’s return.Throughout the game, you take control of both Sora and Riku, switching between them through the ‘Drop’ system as you travel through time and explore multiple sleeping worlds. Featuring the same ARPG, hack and slash combat from the previous games, Dream Drop Distance adds new features such as flowmotion, where you hop between walls and parkour around maps, and Dream Eaters, a Pokémon-style pet system where you raise animal companions, play with them, and have them fight alongside you.

Kingdom Hearts X (Unchained X/Union X Dark Road)

Kingdom Hearts X started as a Japanese web browser game, and later developed into a mobile game called Kingdom Hearts Unchained X. After this, Square released it globally as a mobile game under the title Kingdom Hearts Union X, which was then continued in Union X Dark Road. Set in Daybreak Town, the game takes place before the legendary Keyblade War, and follows the stories of the Master of Masters, the Foretellers, and the Dandelions. With a 2D art style, story missions, multiple worlds, and turn-based card combat, these games develop on much of the complex lore that acts as a foundation for the world of Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts III and Re Mind

Square Enix first released Kingdom Hearts III in 2019 on PlayStation and Xbox, 14 years after the first main instalment of the series. It picks up the story where Dream Drop Distance left off. Our favourite half-pint heroes, Sora, Donald, and Goofy make their return, joined by Riku, King Mickey, and a whole host of other familiar faces, as they seek out the seven guardians of light and attempt to thwart Xenahort’s plans to initiate another Keyblade War.Expanding on the combat of Kingdom Hearts II and borrowing elements from Dream Drop Distance, Kingdom Hearts III sees you once again travelling around multiple Disney and Pixar-themed worlds, slashing through Heartless and the Unversed and helping those in need. With some pretty jazzy reaction commands, new attacks, keyblades, and fresh worlds to explore, it plunges you into a vibrant, new adventure that maintains the spirit of its predecessors.In 2020, Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind came out as DLC for the base game. It takes place at the climax of Kingdom Hearts III and the Keyblade War, as Sora travels through the Keyblade Graveyard in search of Kairi, passing through the hearts of the seven guardians of light in the process.

Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory

A bit of an outlier in the series so far, Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory is a rhythm action game that came to the Switch in 2020. Zip through the familiar sounds and scenes of the series so far, as Kairi reflects on the events that lead up to this point. Bash buttons to the beat, and bonk some baddies on the head as you bop to those tunes. It acts almost as an abridged summary of the events of the Kingdom Hearts games to date, with access to 21 playable characters, 47 worlds, 33 black holes, and heaps of music.

• Back