Twenty-one years ago today, before the digital marketplaces and the ability to download a game straight to a console, players walked into their local game stores and picked up a game that fused the Final Fantasy and Disney worlds called Kingdom Hearts. Today, those gamers feel super old.
Kingdom Hearts’ Twitter account reminded everyone who has been with the franchise since the beginning that the game is now old enough to drink alcohol in the U.S. Many players are sharing their favorite moments throughout the game’s storied history on social media, and there are quite a few gamers reveling in how old the milestone makes them feel.
In the 21 years of the franchise, 13 games have been released that players have been able to take part in. First released on the PlayStation 2 in 2002, Kingdom Hearts became an instant hit, receiving a score of 85 on Metacritic. The 2006 sequel, Kingdom Hearts II, garnered even more fanfare and is still labeled as the best game in the franchise by those who have played through it.
Fans then waited a painful amount of time for Kingdom Hearts III to release—over 12 years. Fast forward to today, and Kingdom Hearts 4 is in the pipeline, but there’s no release date yet, not even a release window, so players are rightfully concerned that they’ll be waiting another decade for the game to come out.
Kingdom Hearts 4 has been in development since 2020, and it was announced in April 2022, meaning that there are likely still quite a few years before players get to continue Sora’s story. Regardless, fans of the franchise are used to the long wait and will be chomping at the bit to get more information about the game and get their hands on it when it releases.
In the meantime, players around the world have been sharing their experiences with the game, including their favorite moments while playing, their first memory of the game when they picked it up in the store or had it bought for them by a loved one, and quite a few remarking how incredibly old they feel now that the game has been in existence for over two decades.
Kingdom Hearts has made itself such a staple in the gaming community with its compelling, although fairly confusing, stories, its lovable characters, and its fun gameplay mechanics. Many players have their opinions about which game is the best in the series, but the large majority of gamers look over all of them fondly and will continue to do so for years to come.
