Besides Final Fantasy, the Square-Enix franchise with perhaps the most rabid and devoted fanbase is Kingdom Hearts. The first title, which released on March 28, 2002, managed to strike a delicate balance between the worlds of Disney and Final Fantasy to begin weaving a story that hooked a huge following.

After a literal elevator pitch from a Square executive to a Disney employee – the two companies once shared a building in Japan – the series started development in 2000. The first game followed Sora, a young boy who obtains a weapon called the Keyblade and must fight against the invading creatures called the Heartless. Alongside Donald and Goofy, Sora travels to a number of different worlds (most of which are inspired by various Disney films) to prevent the Heartless from invading them. Donald and Goofy, while concerned about the Heartless creatures, are also seeking out the missing King Mickey, who has left them only a cryptic note to go off of. Eventually Sora must face off against Maleficent, who herself has been manipulated by a greater evil known as Ansem.

While a crossover between a hardcore RPG series like Final Fantasy and the many different franchises of Disney animation might seem odd, Kingdom Hearts managed to prove that it’s a formula that works. The first game eventually sold more than 5 million copies worldwide, and is one of the bestselling PlayStation 2 titles ever. That economic success was matched by critical praise, especially for the bright, lush visuals of the games.

The success of Kingdom Hearts spurred a franchise that, while it only contains two “main” games, consists of several more total entries thanks to the numerous spinoffs. What started as a PlayStation 2 exclusive has been seen on the Game Boy Advance, the Nintendo DS, and even mobile phones. More recently, Square-Enix has released the entire series on the PlayStation 4 in a collection called The Story So Far, helping those who may be coming into the series fresh with the release of Kingdom Hearts III get caught up all on a single console.

The rhythm based Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory was released in 2020. Filled with 140 songs, the game follows players as they visit the stages on a Gummi ship. The game continues Kairi’s story from Kingdom Hearts III.

What started off as a quirky crossover between Square and Disney has since evolved into a massive over-arching storyline that has appealed to fans across generations.