10 PS2 Games That Still Blow Our Minds
9. Kingdom Hearts
If you own some of the most recognisable characters in media, it stands to reason you're going to be protective of their usage.
That's not to say that they weren't Disney games developed by outside studios before the PS2 but most of them tended to be very straight-forward adaptations or, at the very least, built clearly within Disney's given parameters.
Whilst crossovers are so common these days that they're almost a given, Kingdom Hearts was video game's first multiverse of hitherto unseen madness. Combining the development skills of Square-Enix, who were riding on a high after the massive success of Final Fantasy X, with Disney's back catalogue of the world's most recognisable characters resulted in sights and concepts that stopped gamers in their tracks.
Donald Duck and Goofy are cast as RPG warriors alongside the very on-brand spiky-haired Square protagonist Sora, and the game has them go in search of King Mickey and unwrap a convoluted story about darkness and hearts. They encounter Final Fantasy characters, fly through space, team up with the likes of Aladdin and Ariel and encounter a legion of Heartless monsters and the betrayal of Sora's childhood friend. American creative capitalist IPs combine with Japanese storytelling styles to creative something wholly unique.
It's sequel basically outdid it in every regard, but Kingdom Hearts still needs its praise one of video game's most insane crossover events.