In what order did the kingdom hearts games come out

Luxu was ashamed that Brain was so smart but had one life meanwhile Ephemer and the others were attacked by the other remaining Darknesses. Despite briefly beating them back but as of their previous encounter they couldn't be destroyed. Aware that all of them wouldn't survive desperate to save their friends, Player pretends to be controlled by the Darkness and attacked Ephemer and Skuld but before delivering the final blow Player and the remaining were sent to the cable connection lane afterwards the two remaining pods appear.

Daybreak Town is eventually rebuilt into the picturesque city of Scala ad Caelum , the "city of Keyblade Wielders. Xehanort is returned to his proper place in time, with his memories of the future gone.

Somehow he finds his way to Scala ad Caelum, and together with his friends Eraqus , Hermod , Bragi , Urd and Vor begins his training under the watchful eye of Master Odin. Seven upperclassmen from Master Odin's class disappear while hunting for Heartless. Xehanort and his friends are tasked with finding their whereabouts. Four years after the incident regarding the upperclassmen, Xehanort and Eraqus visit a cemetery in Scala ad Caelum. Xehanort places flowers on four gravestones, with a determination to see other worlds before undertaking the Mark of Mastery exam.

During his travels, Xehanort encounters the Master of Masters and is gifted a Black Coat , which will shield him from darkness and allow him to see even more worlds. Xehanort returns from his travels, now jaded and cynical of what he has seen of the worlds and of human nature. He confides the results of his journey with the Master, and with a little bit of coaxing from him, is now determined to become the Dark Seeker, with the aim to save the worlds from a "false light" and return balance.

Xehanort and Eraqus both pass their exams and earn the Mark of Mastery. Xehanort is bequeathed the No Name and begins his dark journey as a Seeker. Eraqus takes the role of a Guardian, and begins his dutiful watch over the Land of Departure. Many decades pass, with Xehanort and Eraqus both growing into old men.

In the Land of Departure, Xehanort reveals his intentions to restart the Keyblade War and learn its many secrets. Eraqus, outraged by his recklessness, confronts him and in the ensuing clash Xehanort scars his old friend's face. The two bitterly part ways. Some years later, Xehanort discovers Ventus and trains him as his apprentice. Ventus however fails to meet his expectations, and thus Xehanort extracts the darkness from his heart, creating the being Vanitas.

This severely damages Ventus's heart, and leaves him in a comatose state. Still comatose, Xehanort decides to lay Ventus's body to rest on his homeworld of Destiny Islands. Ventus, however, manages to regain some of his sentience back, summoning his Keyblade. Xehanort, now seeing opportunity once again in the young Ventus, takes him to Eraqus where the boy can train with his old friend's apprentices, Terra and Aqua. Meanwhile, what is left of Ventus's heart forms a connection with another young heart - of a boy named Sora.

With Sora's help, Ventus is slowly able to heal his own heart. Despite being welcomed with opened arms, when asked about his past Ven fell unconscious because of amensia and was watched over by Aqua until he awakens. When he does Aqua alerts her master and Terra. With time Ventus begins to recover and through training he along with Terra and Aqua become close friends as they all share the same dream of becoming Keyblade Masters.

The day before the exam Aqua makes Wayfinders for herself and her friends reminding them that they'll always be connected. Terra and Aqua prepare to take their Mark of Mastery exam.

Eraqus, wanting to bury the hatchet with Xehanort, invites his friend to observe the exam. Xehanort accepts, but unknowingly to Eraqus, kick starts his plans into motion. Aqua passes the exam, while Terra fails. Seeing opportunity in his instability, Xehanort coaches the young man into channeling his darkness, not resisting it, as the surest way of obtaining more power.

Shortly after, Xehanort disappears while Yen Sid informs Eraqus of a new threat: The Unversed , monsters who feed on negative emotions and have been causing a ruckus in many worlds. Eraqus tasks Terra and Aqua to deal with the threat, presenting Terra with a second chance at proving himself. Secretly, however, he tasks Aqua to observe and keep an eye on him, and to immediately bring him back should he be seduced by the darkness.

As Terra departs on his mission, Vanitas appears before Ventus and taunts him regarding Terra's well-being and future. Worried about his friend, Ventus rushes after him to Eraqus' shock. Eraqus tasks Aqua to immediately bring him back as she departs. Throughout a series of adventures on multiple worlds, Aqua and Ventus both try to catch up to Terra to no avail. Terra, however, has been in contact with Master Xehanort multiple times. Xehanort explains that Vanitas is the source of the Unversed and a monster of his own making, begging him to stop him at all costs.

As Terra departs, Xehanort can only laugh at the young man's naivete as his plans grow closer to fruition. Ventus clashes with Vanitas for the first time in the Keyblade Graveyard, but loses the battle. Yen Sid's apprentice King Mickey comes to his rescue, and the two manage to fight him back.

Slightly more satisfied with the second result, Vanitas places Ventus "on probation" and departs. The Star Shard Mickey used to reach Ventus begins to malfunction once again and throws him out into another world. All of the players gather in the city of light, Radiant Garden. Aqua encounters the young girl Kairi , a Princess of Heart and devoid of any darkness. In a fight against a pack of Unversed with Mickey, she unintentionally bequeaths Kairi a Keyblade.

After Terra, Aqua and Ven fight together against a powerful Unversed, their friendship begins to crack as Terra's insecurity clashes with Aqua's apparent callousness. Terra continues his mission on his own while Ventus continues to chase after him, leaving Aqua to ponder just how much her own task has hurt them.

Terra encounters the rough-and-tumble ruffian Braig , one of Radiant Garden's guards. The mystery man has apparently taken Master Xehanort hostage, hoping to wrest a Keyblade for himself either from Terra or Xehanort. In the ensuing battle, Terra gives into the darkness and horrifically injures Braig, forcing him to flee.

Terra, horrified at what he has done, accepts that he can no longer return to his home as he is. Xehanort comforts him and accepts him as his own apprentice, naming him "Master Terra. Aqua encounters Vanitas in Radiant Garden.

Despite barely winning, the masked boy laughs in her face and confesses she is a "backup" in case Ventus turns out to be a failure, then disappears into a Dark Corridor. Ventus, depressed and despondent, encounters the exuberant Lea and his sarcastic best friend Isa. He is immediately challenged into a friendly fight with Lea and wins.

His spirits lifted from the banter between the friendly Lea and Isa, Ventus returns to his own mission of finding Terra. Much to the annoyance and dismay of castle guards Dilan and Aeleus , Lea and Isa repeatedly infiltrate the castle dungeon where they meet and befriend a mysterious young girl, dubbed merely " Subject X. Sensing the earnestness and sense of justice in Riku's heart, Terra performs the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony , ensuring the child will one day wield a Keyblade of his own, and makes him promise to keep their meeting a secret.

Shortly after, Aqua meets the two boys herself. Sensing that Terra has already passed a Keyblade to Riku, she makes the two boys promise to always look out for each other. Confused, he returns to the Land of Departure and confronts Master Eraqus, demanding to know the truth. Once again heartbroken over Xehanort's intentions, Eraqus steels himself to eliminate Ventus, seeing that as the only choice to stop his plans. Master Xehanort informs Terra of Eraqus's intention to kill Ventus.

Rushing to his friend's aid, Terra engages in a fierce duel against his Master, fully giving into the power of darkness in the process. While he wins, it is Xehanort who appears and murders Eraqus, stabbing his friend in the back with his Keyblade. As his Master - and father - fades away in Terra's arms, Xehanort appears before Terra to gloat of his intentions.

Summoning a large orb of darkness, he lays waste to the Land of Departure before vanishing. Meanwhile, Aqua learns of everything that has transpired from Yen Sid. The three friends meet at the Keyblade Graveyard, ready to confront Xehanort and their own demons. As Xehanort and Vanitas appear before them, a fierce battle ensues that shakes the very foundations of the land. In the distance, Mickey appears ready to lend a hand.

Terra confronts Master Xehanort, enraged and ready to slay him. After they fight, Xehanort reveals that he planned on losing to begin with: With Terra succumbing to the darkness, his body has now become the perfect young vessel to host his Heart. With the power of the No Name, Xehanort extracts his own Heart and inserts it into Terra, his Keyblade Armor falling to the ground dismantled.

Now Terra-Xehanort , the old Master begins to walk away to enact the next stage of his plan when he is suddenly engulfed in a cage made of pure energy - Terra's own armor has taken a life of its own. Now nothing more than a Lingering Will , full of hate and regret, it engages Xehanort and defeats him. As they are engulfed by a powerful light, the Will vows to set things right. Ventus engages in battle against Vanitas, however he is not able to defeat him. However, in his own Station of Awakening , Ventus engages with Vanitas one more time.

Aqua prepares to assist Terra in his fight against Xehanort, but ends up in a fight against Braig instead. Despite losing, the thug reveals that his only goal was to buy Xehanort enough time to possess Terra and promptly skedaddles. Aqua is suddenly attacked by Vanitas and knocked out. Mickey shows up and comes to her aid and the two battle and defeat Vanitas. Aqua however managed to hold onto Ventus, protected by their Armor.

She resolves to return to the Land of Departure, the one place where she can keep him safe. Recalling a certain trick Master Eraqus has taught her, Aqua uses Eraqus's Keyblade and transforms the Land of Departure into Castle Oblivion , a labyrinthine world said to be impossible to navigate to anyone but her, content that Ventus will be safe within the Chamber of Waking. Sensing a strong darkness emanating from Radiant Garden, Aqua makes her way there, discovering Terra in a complete daze, his hair now white.

Despite repeated attempts to reach out to him, Xehanort once more takes over his body and engages Aqua in combat. She wins, however, and with a little bit of help from Terra, lands a definitive blow.

However, Terra begins to sink into the darkness. Desperate to save her friend, Aqua sacrifices both her Armor and her Keyblade to spirit him away out of the darkness, condemning herself to the dark abyss instead. Terra's body is discovered by the leader of Radiant Garden, Ansem the Wise , but identifies himself as Xehanort. Devoid of all of his memories, the young man becomes an apprentice scientist of Ansem, growing close to Braig in the process - who himself is suspect of the amnesia.

The Sage-King Ansem however looks upon this "friendship" with uneasy eyes. Unknown to everyone inside, deep within Terra's heart, the young man and Master Xehanort continue their "property dispute", debating over who will ultimately take control.

Xehanort reveals that Terra is simply one of many seeds he has planted for his future plans, while Terra reveals that Eraqus's heart has taken refuge in his. Due to their connection Sora senses Ventus' sadness and they meet again in the young boy's Station of Awakening.

There Ven asks if he could stay with Sora to help him mend the damage in his heart once more and the boy accepts stopping the wielder's heart from being lost. Aqua wanders the barren Realm of Darkness aimlessly, with her hope of getting out fading with each day.

Upon being confronted by numerous Darksides , Terra and Ventus's Keyblades suddenly appear to her rescue, renewing her sense of hope. After battling the vicious Dark Hide , she discovers to her horror that the Castle of Dreams has fallen to the darkness. Lea and Isa continue their infiltration into the castle to rescue Subject X. However, one day, Braig appears before her and proceeds to take her away.

The two become despondent to discover she is no longer there. Mickey appears before Ansem the Wise, warning him that his experiments are treading into dangerous territory. Ansem, now aware of the horrors he could have unleashed, orders Xehanort to immediately halt their experiments. Xehanort defies Master Ansem, not only continuing their ghastly human experiments, but ultimately betraying him and even stealing his name.

Shortly after, Xehanort turns his Keyblade on everyone else, transforming them and himself into Nobodies. Simultaneously, his Heartless - Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness - is born. Some time later, Lea and Isa too are turned into Nobodies. Radiant Garden, overrun with Heartless, is turned into nothing but a ruin, now known as Hollow Bastion. In the midst of the take over a young Kairi is found by Terra-Xehanort and cast out of her world to test the connection to the Princesses of Heart and the Keyblade wielder.

Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem, travels nearly 70 years back in time, to visit his younger self on Destiny Islands. Aqua continues her lonely trek throughout the Realm of Darkness. As time moves differently in this realm, ten whole years pass on the outside. He is assaulted by monsters - Heartless - and must choose a weapon to which to defend himself with; the Sword, Shield, or Staff.

After battling a Darkside, he finds himself drowning in darkness Only to discover it was all a dream. Sora, Riku and Kairi plan to sail away from their small island and see what lies beyond. Together, they build a raft that will take them past their own shores. Riku, however, grows impatient. He opens the Door that protects the Heart of their world, and allows a swarm of Heartless to render it asunder.

Riku vanishes into the Darkness while Kairi disappears without a trace. Now armed with the Keyblade, Sora once more battles a Darkside amidst the storm, but is whisked away to a brand new world - Traverse Town. King Mickey has been investigating the disappearances of the stars - signs of worlds fading to the darkness one by one.

He tasks Goofy , captain of his royal guard and Donald , his court magician, to head to Traverse Town and locate a man named Leon, who will lead them to the "key. Sora runs into Leon and Yuffie, while Donald and Goofy converse with Aerith on the state of the worlds.

They learn that Sora is the bearer of the Keyblade and only he can fight the Heartless, while a man named Ansem may hold the truth to everything. Together, they set out to find King Mickey and Sora's friends. The three half-pints experience a wondrous adventure through many different worlds, meeting many different faces - some familiar, some not; from the wild Tarzan to the tortured soldier Cloud Strife. As they journey to seal the keyholes and prevent the Heartless from ruining the worlds, Maleficent gathers her own forces - the Villains - to plot her domination and get in Sora's way every once in a while.

She manages to manipulate Riku into serving her, under the pretense of being able to save Kairi. As Sora continues his quest, he begins to have mysterious hallucations of Kairi. Sora and Riku reunite in Traverse Town. However, Riku has seemingly grown jealous that Sora simply "replaced" him and Kairi with new friends.

With further goading from Maleficent, Riku abandons Sora altogether. Sora and the gang continue their quest, with Riku now treating them with outright hostility. Everything culminates in a fateful encounter aboard Captain Hook 's ship in Neverland. Riku reveals that Kairi lost her heart and he has been safeguarding her lifeless body.

Now possessing control over the Heartless and the darkness, he summons a shadowy copy of Sora to attack them while he returns to the ruins of Hollow Bastion with Kairi in tow.

Sora confronts Riku in Hollow Bastion. Riku reveals that he was the original bearer of the Keyblade, with Sora as nothing more than a mere delivery boy. He takes his weapon, and along with it his companions, who are promised to follow whoever wields it. Beast , determined to rescue Belle from Maleficent, has arrived and joins forces with Sora to reclaim what they have lost. Goofy and Donald betray Riku, and along with the strength of his heart, Sora reclaims the Keyblade.

They battle and Riku loses, but he manages to flee. They learn that Maleficent plans to use the Princesses of Heart to open the keyhole in Hollow Bastion, granting her greater control over the darkness.

They manage to foil her, and she is destroyed - somehow traveling millenia back in time to Daybreak Town. Sora once again confronts Riku, discovering that his friend has not been himself for a very long time. Xehanort's Heartless, known as Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, has taken Riku's body as his own, and from the power of the princesses, has forged his own Keyblade of heart. They battle, and Sora narrowly wins.

He realizes that Kairi's heart has been inside him the entire time - and the reason why has been seeing visions of her. He uses the power of the Keyblade of heart to free hers, but in the process turns into a Heartless.

In Twilight Town , Sora's Nobody is born in the process. Unable to remember - or feel - anything, he is approached by Xemnas , Xehanort's Nobody. Despite his nature, he refuses to attack them and Kairi quickly realizes what - or who - the Shadow really is. Protecting him from the rest of the Heartless with an embrace, Kairi restores Sora's human form and the four escape the castle back to Traverse Town.

With Cid's help, the trio return to Hollow Bastion, as they must seal the keyhole and stop the outpouring of Heartless from it.

They discover the Princesses have been freed, but alarmingly they sense a strange power other than darkness. The trio seal the keyhole while Leon and his friends return to Hollow Bastion, their old home.

They learn that Ansem has fled to End of the World , and to truly stop the Heartless, they must travel there and put an end to him. Seven days later, Xion is also introduced to the Organization as their fourteenth member.

Roxas begins undertaking his first missions under the tutelage of Axel and the group's many colorful characters. He learns that his usage of the Keyblade is vital, as he is the only one who can supply their Kingdom Hearts with fresh hearts, in the hope that it will make them whole one day.

He explains that they must close the door lest ruin will befall more worlds. The two fight against wave after wave of Heartless to protect Riku as races to the Door. They successfully protect him, but in the attack Aqua is once again stranded in the Realm of Darkness while her Keyblade, the Master's Defender , is left behind on Destiny Islands.

The trio arrive at End of the World and confront Ansem in a series of epic battles. Ansem summons Kingdom Hearts, intent to take its darkness for himself. Sora, however, is certain that Kingdom Hearts is truly light. With the door open, the light engulfs and destroys Ansem, but they must close quickly it to begin restoration of the worlds destroyed.

King Mickey and Riku arrive to help, but the only way to close it fully is from both sides, trapping the latter two in the Realm of Darkness. The door is successfully closed, and Destiny Islands begin to return - with Kairi already back on the beach. Sora, however, is on the other side and cannot reach her, only promising her that he will return one day. Finding themselves on an expansive plain, the three catch glimpse of Pluto with a letter in his mouth - bearing the Hidden Mickey symbol, and begin to chase after him.

The Organization prepares to staff their newest headquarters, Castle Oblivion. Marluxia is made to be its lord, with Larxene, Vexen, Lexaeus and Zexion being sent as well. Saix orders Axel to Castle Oblivion as well, certain that some of the younger members plot to commit treason. In the middle of the grassy plains, Sora is confronted by a man in a Black Coat - Marluxia , and goaded into setting foot in Castle Oblivion, with the potential of maybe finding Riku or King Mickey inside.

As the three journey up the castle and experience the memories of their past adventures, their memories are slowly being rewritten by the witch Namine , while a copy of Riku, the Riku Replica constantly confronts them. Axel actively betrays and undermines their efforts however. It all culminates in a fierce battle against Marluxia at the top of the castle, and the powerful Nobody is destroyed.

Namine, however, has completely disrupted Sora's memories and replaced Kairi with herself in his heart. They all agree to restore his original memories and forget everything that has transpired in the castle, but to do that he must sleep inside a pod for a year. Meanwhile, Axel takes the Riku Replica with him to enact the next stage of his plan.

As Sora ventures upwards in Castle Oblivion, Riku is spirited away to its basement levels by an unknown "voice. One by one they fall, until Marluxia is finally defeated. Zexion confronts Riku in a final bid to turn him, but fails and is then executed by Riku Replica at Axel's behest. Riku defeats and destroys the Replica and proceeds onward, intent on not letting the darkness consume him. Finally reunited with King Mickey, the voice is eventually revealed to be a man named DiZ , who needs Riku to make a certain "choice.

Choosing the "road to dawn", Riku and Mickey don the Organization's black coats and ready themselves to protect Sora as he sleeps to regain his memories.

Roxas begins undertaking missions with Xion, and learns that she too is capable of wielding the Keyblade. He has been writing about tech and gaming for multiple years, and now lends his experience to cover news and reviews across everything on TechRadar from Computing to Audio to Gaming and the rest.

North America. The Kingdom Hearts series is notorious for being the most confusing convoluted adventure in all of gaming. Hamish Hector. See more how-to articles. Often, Sora's actions in these worlds follow closely to the storylines featured in their accompanying Disney films. In dialogue, Donald Duck tells Sora not to interfere with the world too much, since it would cause problems. Moogles, small creatures from Final Fantasy , are another common element in the games.

They allow the player to buy and sell items that they will need during the story, and provide the player with a synthesis shop to create items for use in the game.

So far, twenty-one characters from the Final Fantasy series have appeared in the Kingdom Hearts games. The Dark Seeker Saga , informally known as the Xehanort Saga , refers to the phase of the series that details the conflict against Xehanort and his various incarnations. Kingdom Hearts III concluded the saga, meaning later games will start a new one.

Many years ago, people thought that light was from Kingdom Hearts. Many people made Keyblades in honor of the X-blade. The war broke the X-blade into twenty pieces: Seven of light and thirteen of darkness. The hearts of children helped reawaken the world while Kingdom Hearts was swallowed by darkness. Xehanort, from Destiny Islands , wanted to leave it because it was too small. He was contacted by his future Heartless to find 12 versions of himself in the future.

Back in the present, Xehanort escaped to the Land of Departure. He wore Keyblade Armor until he wore a black cloak since he thought the armor would not accept the darkness. However, one day, a Keyblade Master, Xehanort , mysteriously disappears, and at the same time, a vicious species known as the Unversed begin spreading throughout the worlds.

Terra is sent to defeat the Unversed and locate Master Xehanort. Ventus is goaded into following Terra by Master Xehanort's enigmatic apprentice, Vanitas , and Aqua is instructed by Master Eraqus to bring Ventus back home. Along the way, Terra slowly begins to lose control in the darkness inside his heart but finds solace with Master Xehanort, who appears to understand him. Terra crosses paths with a young boy named Riku and chooses him as his successor. During the ensuing fight, Terra temporarily regains control of his body, but Master Xehanort quickly retakes control and attempts to force Terra's heart out of the body, but darkness spills forth and Xehanort starts to vanish.

As Xehanort begins to sink into the Realm of Darkness, Aqua follows and sacrifices her armor and Keyblade to save Terra's body while she remains in the darkness. Xehanort, now with amnesia, is found by the sage king of Radiant Garden, Ansem the Wise , and taken in as his apprentice.

Inside Xehanort, Terra continues to counter Master Xehanort, vowing not to stop until he has foiled Master Xehanort and expelled him from his body. Ten years later, the story focus shifts to Sora, Riku, and their friend, Kairi. The first game shows how Sora is separated from his friends when their world, Destiny Islands , is invaded by creatures known as the Heartless.

During the invasion, Sora obtains the Keyblade, as Ventus's heart is still within him. The three band together and travel to different Disney-themed worlds, sealing the Keyholes to the hearts of the worlds to prevent more Heartless invasions.

Along the way, they encounter a group of Disney villains, led by Maleficent , who is controlling the Heartless. Though they eventually defeat Maleficent, the three discover that Ansem, who has succumbed to the darkness, is the true mastermind. Ansem's plan is to open the door to "Kingdom Hearts", a door that holds the hearts of all worlds, in the hopes of attaining eternal darkness. Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeat Ansem and seal the door with the help of Riku and King Mickey on the other side of the door.

After sealing the door to Kingdom Hearts, Sora, Donald, and Goofy begin searching for Riku and King Mickey, finding themselves heading towards a mysterious fortress called Castle Oblivion.

Upon entering the fortress, they begin to lose their memories. The three encounter a group of dark hooded villains Marluxia , Larxene , Axel , and Vexen , part of a mysterious Organization.

At the same time, Riku finds himself in the basement of the castle and begins traveling to the first floor with the aid of King Mickey. Riku fights both the Organization's members Vexen , Lexaeus , and Zexion and the darkness in his heart, particularly the remains of Ansem, learning to accept his dual nature between light and dark.

However, a snag in the plan over the year forces Riku to go after a young man named Roxas , the thirteenth member of the Organization to enable Sora's reawakening. Roxas, who had defected from the Organization earlier on after doubting their true motives and desiring to meet Sora in person, encounters Riku and defeats him easily at first, but Riku succumbs to the Darkness inside him and takes on the appearance of Ansem.

With his newfound power, Riku subdues Roxas and takes him to DiZ, but the ordeal leaves him stuck in Ansem's form. Afterward, Maleficent is resurrected and joins with Pete , another Disney villain, to find a new base of operations before resuming her quest for power and revenge on Sora.

Sora once again travels to many Disney-themed worlds and resolves the troubles caused by not just Maleficent and Pete, but also Organization XIII whose members refer to him as Roxas. Meanwhile, Kairi is kidnapped by the Organization. They meet King Mickey, who reveals that the "Ansem" Sora defeated was the Heartless of Xehanort , who, sometime after being found by Ansem, betrayed his master and stole his name, and since then, Ansem the Wise has been missing.

Furthermore, they learn that Xemnas, the leader of the Organization, is the Nobody of Xehanort. While this occurs, Mickey finds DiZ, revealed to be a disguised Ansem the Wise, with a device to digitize some of Kingdom Hearts' power; as the others arrive, the system overload causes the machine to explode with Ansem consumed in the blast, apparently killing him, with Riku restored to his original state. At the top of the castle, Sora and his friends battle Xemnas, who uses the remnants of Kingdom Hearts to fight them.

Refusing to accept defeat, Xemnas separates Sora and Riku from the others to fight them in a final battle that ends with his demise. Though trapped on the other side, Sora and Riku can return to their world, via the Door to Light, which was mysteriously triggered from Sora's heart. With the threat of the Heartless and Nobodies over, Mickey, Donald and Goofy return to Disney Castle, where they stumble across a mysterious message written in Jiminy Cricket 's Journal , " We must return to free them from their torment ".

Mickey digitizes the journal and creates a Sora made from Data to uncover the mystery. Mickey sends Sora a bottled letter about this. Back in the Realm of Darkness, Aqua stumbles across Ansem, who survived the explosion of the Kingdom Hearts Encoder, which sent him there.

Ansem, with few of his memories remaining, fills Aqua in about his experiences with Sora, which brings Aqua to tears of joy, knowing Sora will come and rescue her and her friends. On Destiny Islands, Sora decides to venture out to find and rescue his predecessors from their fates. However, after successfully locating Aqua and Ventus's heart thus leaving only Terra to be found , Mickey also receives the shocking news from Yen Sid that the destruction of Ansem and Xemnas has led to the return of Xehanort, and this will eventually bring back Master Xehanort.

Seeing as Mickey alone is not enough to defeat what is not "a single one of [Xehanort]", Yen Sid orders Mickey to summon Sora and Riku to him to undertake a Mark of Mastery Exam to properly prepare them for their imminent clash with Master Xehanort.

Sora and Riku answer Yen Sid's call and he explains to them the details concerning Master Xehanort's rise and fall into darkness.

Though Sora initially believes himself to be capable of beating Master Xehanort without becoming a Master, Riku readily agrees, to prove himself worthy of wielding the Keyblade, which makes Sora accept as well. Yen Sid assigns them to enter the Sleeping Worlds, where they are to locate and awaken seven worlds which were revived following Ansem's defeat but remained submerged in sleep, and in the process unlock the Keyhole of Sleep.

If they are successful, they will be deemed Keyblade Masters. But along the way, Sora and Riku become separated and each end up encountering a mysterious young man in a black coat with ties to Master Xehanort and accompanied by Ansem, Xemnas and Vanitas, whom they believed to have been defeated long ago.

Ultimately, Sora's journey leads him to the World That Never Was instead of the Realm of Light, where he meets up with Xigbar and the young man himself, who reveals that he is Master Xehanort in his youth from the past , who was paid a visit via time travel by the disembodied Ansem, who sent him on a mission to travel to different periods to gather various incarnations of Xehanort to build the real Organization XIII.

Sora fights his way to the castle, but is intercepted by Xemnas and ends up with his heart damaged, whereupon he falls into a coma and is taken to the castle by Young Xehanort. Following the fight, Master Xehanort is finally revived and reveals his true intentions: following his failure to use the X-Blade to summon Kingdom Hearts by pitting a heart of pure light against a heart of pure darkness, he has learned an alternate way of creating the X-Blade, since years before, after the Keyblade War, the X-Blade was shattered into thirteen darknesses and seven lights, and if Master Xehanort creates an Organization out of thirteen incarnations of himself, he will be able to recreate the X-Blade and start another Keyblade War.

Riku brings Sora's comatose body back to Yen Sid, where he dives into Sora's Dive to the Heart and collects the fragments of Sora's shattered heart, in the process battling a corrupted Sora himself and winning.

Sora, undaunted by his failure, congratulates Riku and departs to continue his training elsewhere. Lea, meanwhile, shocks everybody present by summoning his own Keyblade, something he had only recently mastered and was unable to use against the Organization.

Kairi and Lea trained in a world where they could train as much as they like. Riku and Mickey managed to have found Aqua, but she was corrupted by the darkness, and so she fought the Keyblade masters.

Sora arrived and was able to save them all. Aqua and Sora visited Castle Oblivion, where they converted it back into being the Land of Departure, to wake up Ventus. As they arrived to the Keyblade Graveyard, the heroes were all wiped out by hordes of darkness. Sora was taken to the Final World, a limbo world where he managed to have survived. Sora was able to use the power of waking to save all of his friends, where they would be properly prepared to face off the enemy.

As the clash between good and evil prevailed, the Guardians of Light were able to defeat twelve of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness, while at the same time rescued other heroes such as Roxas, Xion, and Terra.

Sora faced Master Xehanort himself, who had struck Kairi down into nothing. Xehanort was able to forge the x-blade and prepared to use Kingdom Hearts to destroy the worlds to free them from Darkness. The Guardians of Light were able to transport Xehanort into Scala ad Caelum, where Sora entered to defeat the villain once and for all.

After a final battle, Xehanort was defeated and Sora was able to close Kingdom Hearts for good. While most of the heroes prevailed, Sora knew he had to bring back Kairi.

So he used the power of waking to find Kairi and bring her back home. Xigbar, having revealed to have survived the battle, summoned the Foretellers from the first Keyblade War. He is revealed to have been Luxu all along. He is seen with the Black Box. They were planning to make a game with freedom of movement in three dimensions like Super Mario 64 but lamented that only characters as popular as Disney's could rival a Mario game.

Tetsuya Nomura , overhearing their conversation, volunteered to lead the project and the two producers agreed to let him direct. A chance meeting between Hashimoto and a Disney executive in an elevator—Square and Disney had previously worked in the same building in Japan—allowed Hashimoto to pitch the idea directly to Disney.

The first Kingdom Hearts began development in February It was directed by Tetsuya Nomura and produced by Shinji Hashimoto, who had conceived the idea when he met with a Disney executive in an elevator. Square and Disney had previously worked in the same building in Japan.

While Nomura had done previous work in the Final Fantasy series as a monster designer and graphic director, he did not gain widespread recognition until he was the lead character designer for Final Fantasy VII. Kingdom Hearts marked his transition into a directional position. He also served as the game's character designer.

Originally the development focused on the gameplay with a simple story to appeal to Disney's target age range. After Kingdom Hearts executive producer Hironobu Sakaguchi told Nomura that the game would be a failure if it did not aim for the same level as the Final Fantasy series, he began to develop the story further.

However, Nomura could not get the IP with just "Kingdom", so the development team began to think about "heart" as a core part of the story, so they decided to combine the two to form "Kingdom Hearts". Nomura placed an unlockable trailer in Kingdom Hearts in hopes that fans would want a sequel. He was unsure if fans would want a sequel and felt that if they did not, then it would be best to leave certain events in the first game unexplained.

Nomura has stated that there were several obstacles to clear before development could begin on a sequel. One was the development team's desire to showcase Mickey Mouse more; Nomura had planned for the sequel to take place a year after the first and originally intended for the events of that year to be left unexplained. To bridge the gap between the two games, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories was developed. Nomura was hesitant about releasing a game on the Game Boy Advance because he felt that the 3D graphics of the original game would not translate well into 2D.

Director Tetsuya Nomura also worked as the character designer of the games. Though Disney gave Nomura freedom in the characters and worlds used for the games, he and his staff tried to stay within the established roles of characters and boundaries of the worlds. Nomura has stated that though many of the Disney characters are not normally dark and serious, there were not many challenges making them so for the story, and despite this, their personalities shine because they maintain their characteristics.

When deciding which worlds to include in the game, the development staff tried to take into account worlds with Disney characters that would be interesting and made an effort to minimize any overlap in the overall look and feel of each world.

The inclusion of specific Final Fantasy characters was based on the opinions of both fans and staff. Another criteria for inclusion was whether the staff felt the characters would fit into the storyline and in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Initially, Nomura was hesitant to use characters he did not design because he was unfamiliar with the background work of those characters.