I remember playing Kingdom Hearts for the first time in 2002. That was a game that just boggled my mind in a thousand different ways. Without a doubt, the element that drew me to it the most was the amount of Disney characters it included. There wasn’t just the big fishes of Disney either. We got to have Donald Duck and Goofy at our side from the beginning and their mission was to look for, you guessed it, Mickey Mouse.
Now I get it, this is an old game, so you gamers out there probably remember how the story went. You were an (occasionally) annoying teenager named Sora and your goal was to look for your friends, Riku and Kairi. But you didn’t have to embark on this journey alone. You had Donald and Goofy at your side, with Donald armed with a magical staff and Goofy armed with a shield with the Mickey Mouse logo on it. Oh yeah, it was pretty out there, but once you started playing the game, it was unlike anything you ever played.
Part of the game’s story was traveling to different worlds to look for Sora’s friends. Those “worlds” were basically the settings of past animated Disney movies. This included Agrabah (from Aladdin), Never Land (from Peter Pan), and Mount Olympus (from Hercules). It didn’t just stop there with the Disney characters, and I loved every minute of it. I mean, you got to go to Halloween Town and fight with Jack Skellington. Disney can always find ways to make things scary for kids.
So yeah, Kingdom Hearts was awesome, and I think many gamers would agree. I’ll be honest, I haven’t played the most recent Kingdom Hearts game. I feel like I’ve waited a tad too long for that game to come out and I heard it was mostly cutscenes. Somewhere, at some point, I might check it out, but I’m in no rush.
I have been thinking about something regarding Kingdom Hearts, however. What if, just bear with me here, we had a Kingdom Hearts video game not under the Disney banner? Yeah, that sounds weird, but what if we got a Kingdom Hearts game under the Warner Bros. banner? Whoa, now that’s a whole new realm we’d be entering.
I’ll just say flat out that it would probably be less appropriate, considering Warner Bros. isn’t known for having a cartoonish mouse as their mascot. However, speaking of cartoons, they are known for giving us one of the country’s most beloved cartoon characters. Disney has Mickey Mouse, Warner Bros. has Bugs Bunny. Can anyone imagine Sora going on an adventure to look for Bugs Bunny?
Who would take Donald and Goofy’s place? Well, Donald is a duck and so is Daffy Duck. Yeah, maybe Daffy isn’t usually as loyal to Bugs as Donald is to Mickey, but hey, things can be written differently for the game. Now who would take Goofy’s place? There really isn’t a character like Goofy, but if I had to pick one, I’d say Porky Pig. Donald is typically the more serious between him and Goofy, just like Daffy is typically the more voluble and more clever toon of the bunch. When it comes to Porky, he’s typically seen as the more gullible and light-hearted toon, just like Goofy. These two cartoon characters can take the places of Donald and Goofy and serve as Sora’s main cartoon allies.
But let’s not forget, it wouldn’t be a Kingdom Hearts game without the inclusion of famous movie characters. The Kingdom Hearts games had a colorful cast of Disney characters, including Tarzan, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Aladdin, and that’s just to name a few. I mean, the second Kingdom Hearts game had you fight alongside Jack Sparrow! That says it all right there. If the series is willing to include real, human-looking characters, I can perfectly picture a Kingdom Hearts game with the most popular characters under the Warner Bros. banner.
Why don’t we get the really big fish out of the way. And for the record, this is something that bothered me about the latest Kingdom Hearts game. What’s the biggest property that’s currently under the Disney banner? That would be the characters of Marvel Comics. Quite some time ago, I remember reading the rumors that the last Kingdom Hearts game would include some Marvel superheroes. Those rumors drove me crazy and needless to say, that never happened. Heck, the rumors also mentioned that Star Wars would even be thrown into the mix! Just imagine fighting alongside characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, or even Han Solo. Boy, what a missed opportunity.
So, if Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment did decide to pursue a Kingdom Hearts game, my suggestion is simple: throw in some DC heroes. How cool would it be to be Sora and fight with Batman or Superman? The Heartless would even fit in perfectly with the comic book villains of the the DC Universe. What else do you need to hear?
Well, DC superheroes can’t be the only famous characters Sora needs to fight with. What other WB video games would fit with the tone of Kingdom Hearts? Well, there is Mortal Kombat, but I don’t think those characters would mix well with Kingdom Hearts. The characters of Mortal Kombat are all about excessive violence and spilling gallons of blood. When that’s buttered down, we MK fans just feel like we’re playing the same characters. Then again, it would be cool just to have them in there.
If we’re sticking with animation, how about another beloved cartoon character? Who doesn’t love everyone’s favorite cartoon dog, Scooby-Doo? Having a Scooby-Doo world would be the funnest thing to do in a Kingdom Hearts game. Between chasing monsters and solving mysteries, you’d get to interact with Scooby and the gang. Would any of them actually fight with you? Well, maybe not Scooby, but maybe Shaggy when he turns into the super awesome version of Shaggy.
But why stop there? Let’s step away from animation and talk about how the second Kingdom Hearts game included Jack Sparrow. If Kingdom Hearts will have human-looking characters, then I say the Warner Bros. version can throw in their big guns. I’m talking about movies like Lord of the Rings and The Matrix. Heck yeah, now we’re going big. Would it be fitting for Sora to fight with Gandalf, or Legolas, or even Neo? Yes, yes, and a thousand times yes. I can even picture them all fighting against Heartless versions of the Orcs or the machines. Wow, just imagining it makes me want to play it.
So with all of that said, who else would take a Kingdom Hearts game under the Warner Bros. banner? There are a lot of possibilities a game like that can explore, but the funnest part would be just interacting with popular characters under Warner Bros. A man can fantasize.
Follow Us
