ARCHIVE: Kingdom Hearts III

In 2003 I was seven years old and my parents bought two new games for the PlayStation 2. SSX 3 for my step-brother, and Kingdom Hearts for me. I have fond memories of that time in my life. Coming home from school and spending hours in front of the TV gliding down the snowy peaks of SSX and slashing my way through the Disney themed worlds of Kingdom Hearts.

I never could get past the Riku fight near the end of the game back when I was a kid. I eventually lost my copy of Kingdom Hearts and didn't return to complete it until after Kingdom Hearts 2 had been released.

I knew about Chain of Memories but I didn't get a copy of it for my GBA. I remember playing it a bit here and there when I would visit my friend Devin's house. I just didn't really like the card mechanic.

I remember when Kingdom Hearts 2 came out. I was at walmart with my dad and step-mom and practically begged them to buy it for me. They agreed and got my Kingdom Hearts 2. I even had them drive my back to my mom's house so I could get my PlayStation 2 and play the game while visiting them and my grandma.

Kingdom Hearts 2 started a little weird for me, like many others I assume. Where was Sora? Who were these characters? Organization XIII? Roxas? What? But, after the opening you regained control of Sora again and it was on. I absolutely loved this game. It took everything about the first game and made it even better. The combat was better. The graphics were better. The music was just as good. Over-all it was an amazing game for the time.

Devin, and I spent months and months playing that game together that year. There's a funny story about the ending though. You know the final battle with Xemnas? He spams lasers at you and you have to dodge them all with Riku/Sora? Yeah.. well we didn't know you could use the triangle AND X button! We only used triangle! We had a strategy where you'd put the controller on a flat surface and just spam the shit out of the triangle button. It took many, many tries (and a broken controller) but I eventually got it. A few months later our friend Kevin told us you could use both buttons and we were so shocked.

After I beat Kingdom Hearts 2 I decided I was going to go back and finish the first game. I still had my original save on a memory card and I'd found or got a new copy of the game. I loaded up my save and looked at my inventory/equipment. Naive seven year old me had the kingdom key equipped and had an entire inventory full of Elixirs and High Potions. After equipping proper gear and healing items I took care of Riku in one try. It didn't take much longer before I had completed the game. I had finally beated Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2.

I picked up a few of the spin-off tiles over the years. 358/2 days, birth by sleep, re:chain of memories. But, honestly I never beat any of them. I just couldn't get into those games like I did the first two. I knew Kingdom Hearts 3 had to be coming out soon. My friends and I would talk about it after school. Imagining what the game would be like. That was ten years ago.