Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square (video game company), Square). It is a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company and is under the leadership of Tetsuya ...

'' is a series of

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

s developed and published by

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...

(formerly Square). It is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and

Disney Interactive Studios Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and interactiv ...

, combining characters and elements from Square Enix's ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...

'' series and multiple Disney franchises. Currently the series includes seven video games released on various platforms, a manga series, a novel series, video game soundtracks released on audio CDs, and a

collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards, introduced with ''Magic: The Gathering'' in ...

. The video games provide the

canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical example ...

story of the series. The manga series is adapted by

Shiro Amano is a Japanese Mangaka, manga artist who has worked on several projects, including his adaptation on the popular Kingdom Hearts (series), ''Kingdom Hearts'' series. Career Amano worked on the manga adaptation of the ''Legend of Mana'' video game ...

and the novels are written by Tomoco Kanemaki and illustrated by Shiro Amano. The stories follow the events that take place in the video games with differences to account for the loss of interactivity that a video game provides. The manga and novel series are both divided up into three series based on each of the three main video games. Each series is further broken up into multiple volumes. The manga was originally serialized in Japan by Square's ''

Monthly Shonen Gangan is a manga imprint owned by Square Enix Holdings. It originated as a manga imprint for Enix before the company re-branded as Square Enix. It publishes manga in several anthologies aimed at different reader demographic groups in the Japanese m ...

'', but has since been released worldwide. The manga was released in the United States by

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed J ...

near the end of 2005, but was discontinued in 2008.

Games

Video games

Each game in the series has been critically and commercially successful, though each title has seen different levels of success. As of December 2006, the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series has shipped over 10 million copies worldwide, with 2.0 million copies in

PAL region The PAL region is a television publication territory that covers most of Europe and Africa, alongside parts of Asia, South America and Oceania. It is named PAL because of the PAL (Phase Alternating Line) television standard traditionally used in ...

s, 3.0 million copies in Japan, and 5.6 million copies in North America. The main games in the series were released in chronological order, with each new game following the events of the previous. The exception is the

V CAST V, or v, is the twenty-second and fifth-to-last letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''vee'' (pronounced ), plural ...

mobile game, which was developed independently of Square Enix's games. Three new titles in the series were announced at the 2007

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. The ...

. ''Coded'' and ''Mobile'' were only released for Japan. ''Kingdom Hearts III'' is the latest game of the series, being released in North America on January 29, 2019.

Collectible card game

The ''Kingdom Hearts Trading Card Game'' is a

based on the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series. It was first released in Japan to coincide with the release of ''Chain of Memories'' and was produced by

Tomy is a Japanese entertainment company that makes children's toys and merchandise. It was created from a merger on March 1st 2006 of two companies: Tomy (founded in 1924 as Tomiyama, changing the name to Tomy in 1963) and long-time rival Tak ...

. The TCG features starter decks, playing mats, and booster packs. In 2007,

Fantasy Flight Games Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) is a game company based in Roseville, Minnesota, United States, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, card, and dice games. As of 2014, it is a subsidiary of Asmodée Éditions. History Fantasy Flight Publish ...

acquired the rights to translate the game and market it in North America. In the game, the player takes the role of Sora from the ''Kingdom Hearts'' games. Using the cards, players travel to worlds to battle the Heartless. The game allows for two players with a deck and "Player Card" to play together. The game is distributed in a variety of

booster pack In collectible card games, digital collectible card games and collectible miniature wargames, a booster pack is a sealed package of cards or figurines, designed to add to a player's collection. A box of multiple booster packs is referred to as a b ...

s. The game was released in North America on November 15, 2007.

Soundtracks

The music of the video game series ''Kingdom Hearts'' was composed by

Yoko Shimomura is a Japanese composer and pianist primarily known for her work in video games. She graduated from the Osaka College of Music in 1988 and began working in the video game industry by joining Capcom the same year. She wrote music for several game ...

with orchestral music arranged by

Kaoru Wada is a Japanese composer and arranger. He has composed the scores for many anime series, including ''Inuyasha'', '' D.Gray-man'', '' Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas'', ''Samurai 7'' and, more recently, ''Tesla Note''. He also became known to the W ...

. Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack CD insert. Toshiba-Emi Limited. 2002. Kingdom Hearts II Original Soundtrack CD insert. Toshiba-EMI Limited. 2006. The original soundtracks of each game have been released on two albums and a third compilation album. The games feature two main theme songs, which were written and performed by

Hikaru Utada , who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan. Born in the United States to Japanese parent ...

, as well as music from Disney films.

Printed media

Manga

The plot of the

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

, drawn by

, stays true to the events in the video games, though it does diverge at certain points. Certain fights were shortened or excluded and some minor characters and worlds visited in the game were also excluded. The fourth series, ''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days'', is currently being serialized. The first series was re-released in three volumes in Japan in December 2006 as "Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix". The manga series has been well received. Several of the manga volumes were listed on

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

's "Top 150 best sellers". The highest ranked volume was ''Kingdom Hearts'' volume 4 at #73. Every volume listed stayed on the list for at least two weeks; ''Kingdom Hearts'' volume 4 stayed the longest at four weeks. However, due to Tokyopop's 2008 restructuring, the ''Kingdom Hearts'' manga series was cancelled after the 2nd volume of ''Kingdom Hearts IIs manga was released.

''Kingdom Hearts''

''Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories''

''Kingdom Hearts II''

''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix''

''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days''

Novels

A novel series has also been released in Japan. It is written by and illustrated by

. Like the manga series, it is divided up into separate series based on the games. Yen Press began releasing the novels in English-language omnibus editions in 2015.

''Kingdom Hearts''

''Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories''

''Kingdom Hearts II''

''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days''

''Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep''

''Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance''

Companion books

There have been numerous books that provide walkthroughs and supplemental information to the video games. Square Enix has released six Ultimania guides and one bonus book on the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series exclusively in Japan. The Ultimania guides primarily serve as strategy guides for their respective games, revealing secrets from the developers' perspective. They also contain interviews with the staff, extended information on backstory, and original artwork. In North America,

BradyGames Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media cong ...

has been given exclusive rights to publish strategy guides for the games.

References

External links

Kingdom Hearts Japan official portal

Kingdom Hearts North America official portal
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kingdom Hearts media Manga series Tokyopop titles Media lists by video games franchise Mass media by franchise