Kingdom Hearts III was announced at E3 2013 during the Sony press conference to much whooping and cheering by the crowd. Kingdom Hearts is a beloved series, which has many devoted fans (myself included) because of its charm and complexity. It is such an endearing game franchise, because it seems like it shouldn't be happening. I have to pinch myself every time a new instalment is announced just to make sure it is real. Final Fantasy meets Disney in a cutesy but incredibly dark universe? Whoever first dreamed up the concept must have seemed mad and also deserves a medal (or his own keyblade). For those who haven't played Kingdom Hearts, it is a series that follows Sora, a boy who comes from a remote island and is mixed up in a quest to save the universe and become a Keyblade Master by jumping from world to world and destroying the evil Heartless that are there. Sora meets Donald and Goofy, who are on their own quest to save King Mickey, and they all travel through worlds based on classic Disney movies. That's basically just the first game, and it gets a lot more convoluted and confusing from there. To say that I am a Kingdom Hearts fan is an understatement, but I can't say that I've played all the games, and anyone who can gets a pat on the back. That's because you need a crazy amount of hardware to experience the entire saga. You needed a PS2, a PSP, a GBA, a DS and a 3DS. That's a lot of machinery and a fair amount of money, but luckily now the Kingdom Hearts HD remixes are making the games more accessible. Kingdom Hearts 1.5 for the PS3 allows you to play Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts re:Chain of Memories, and watch the cinematics from 358/2 Days. Kingdom Hearts 2.5 that will be coming soon collects Kingdom Hearts II , Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts re: Coded. So the story might make a bit more sense in Kingdom Hearts III. Despite initial fears that it would be a PS4 exclusive, Square has confirmed Kingdom Hearts III will also be released on Xbox One. One of the draws of Kingdom Hearts is being able to explore your favourite Disney worlds and interact with your favourite characters. The next gen systems promise that every world Sora visits can be bigger and better than before. So what would be the greatest new Disney worlds for Sora to traverse? Kingdom Hearts has dabbled in a lot of Disney franchises before, my personal favourites being Hercules, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Tarzan. But the great thing about Disney is there's never any shortage of content. This is 'Kingdom Hearts III: 7 Disney Worlds It Must Include'. Click 'Next' to dive into the wonderful world of Disney awesomeness...
Honourable Mention: Star Wars/Marvel Worlds
Disney acquiring the Star Wars and Marvel universes was a big deal and they are already putting the characters to work. A new Star Wars trilogy is in the works and Marvel is having a great presence in movies, TV and games. At first glance, it seems unlikely that Sora would get to go to Tatooine or zip across New York with Spider-Man, and to an extent it probably is. I don't really think that Square Enix would decide to expand the universe so much to accommodate these franchises. In terms of crossovers, Disney recently did a special of Phineas and Ferb called Mission Marvel. I think if anything, they are more likely to go with Marvel if Kingdom Hearts is going to 'go there' and it would likely be in a world like the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier with a small number of heroes onboard. Now I'm going to stop because it sounds incredible, even if the chances are slim.