History Trivia / KingdomHearts

** Several characters who end up basically alternate versions of one character share voice actors, such as Sora and Vanitas (Miyu Irino and Creator/HaleyJoelOsment), Roxas and Ventus (Kouki Uchiyama and Music/JesseMcCartney), and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and Terra-Xehanort (Akio Ohtsuka and Richard Epcar).
** In ''III'', Akio Ohtsuka not only reprises Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and Terra-Xehanort, but also voices Master Xehanort in lieu of his late father Chikao Otsuka.

** Kairi and Xion are an unusual example, due to being characters who have to be ActingForTwo. While initially Kairi was voiced by Creator/HaydenPanettiere, in ''358/2 Days'' both her and Xion are voiced by Creator/AlysonStoner. Panettiere would later return to voice both Kairi and Xion in ''Birth by Sleep'' and ''Dream Drop Distance'', essentially making her TheOtherDarrin to Stoner's Xion. However, due to Panettiere both being busy with ''Series/{{Nashville}}'' and her subsequent health troubles, Stoner returned in the CompilationRerelease ''1.5 HD Remix'', ''0.2'', and ''III''. This will likely cement Stoner as their permanent voice actor.

** Eddie Carroll (voice of Jiminy since the mid-70's) died in 2010. Phil Snyder replaced him in subsequent games. Then Snyder quit acting and Jiminy was played by Joe Ochman in ''Ⅱ.5'''s ''Re:coded'' cinematics.
** A similar situation happened for the Genie. Initially played by Robin Williams in ''II'' of the films, Dan Castellaneta, who'd filled in for him in ''Return of Jafar'' and the TV show, played him in ''I'' and ''II''. In ''Ⅱ.5'', however, he was replaced by Jim Meskimen for the ''Re:coded'' cinematics, who was a closer voice-match to Williams than Castellaneta's already-pretty-close take. This might have been part of an overall thing for Disney properties, as Meskimen played the Genie in other Disney-themed games contemporary to ''Ⅱ.5'''s release.

** Japanese: Creator/ChikaoOhtsuka (Master Xehanort and Captain Hook) is the late father of Creator/AkioOtsuka (Ansem). Incidentally, Akio Ohtsuka took over the role of Master Xehanort in ''Kingdom Hearts III'' after his father passed away.

* GodNeverSaidThat: A popular claim is that that the games prior to ''III'' hadn't been announced to be coming to the Xbox One yet is because of a supposed exclusivity deal with Sony for the first two main games to stay on UsefulNotes/PlayStation. Not only does this not make ''any'' sense, seeing as the series has been multiplatform since ''Chain of Memories'', which was originally on the GBA, but no one at Square or Sony has said anything of the sort. The most probable reasons for those games being on UsefulNotes/PlayStation, and nowhere else, thus far is that the [=PS2=] was the most popular gaming console of the 6th generation and Square has a good working relationship with Sony, as well as Square not having another team available to port the games to the Xbox One while ''III'' and several other big projects were in the works.

* AllStarCast: Though some of them are replaced with TheOtherDarrin sometimes, the voice acting credits of the series include Creator/HaleyJoelOsment, David Gallagher, Creator/HaydenPanettiere, Music/JesseMcCartney, Creator/BillyZane, '''Creator/ChristopherLee''', '''Creator/LeonardNimoy''' and '''Creator/MarkHamill'''. And that's just the original characters; we're not listing the Disney and ''Final Fantasy'' credits where many famous voice actors reprise their original roles, or characters who got famous voice actors for their first vocalized appearance. Those credits include Music/MandyMoore, Creator/JamesWoods, Creator/DavidBoreanaz, and Creator/DanCastellaneta.

** Creator/HaleyJoelOsment, Creator/HaydenPanettiere and [[Series/SeventhHeaven David Gallagher]] have become this in the course of production. When the first ''Kingdom Hearts'' came out, they were 14, 13 and 17 respectively, playing characters who were 14, 14, and 15 respectively. However, by the time ''Dream Drop Distance'' came out, ten years had passed in real life while only two have passed in-universe. Luckily, David Gallagher's voice hasn't changed a bit in the almost 20 years the series has gone on, but with Haley, it's the most noticeable when he voices Sora in a game where Sora is de-aged to 14 again since they don't seem intent on casting a younger voice double.

** [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Jack Sparrow]], played by Creator/JohnnyDepp in the movies, is voiced by Creator/JamesArnoldTaylor (the voice of [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Tidus]] and [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank Ratchet]]) in ''Kingdom Hearts II'', who does a not-so-convincing impression of Depp because of mold in his throat at the time of recording. When Jack Sparrow returns in ''Kingdom Hearts III'', the role has now been taken over by Jared Butler. This was most likely a similar situation with the Genie, as Butler has already played Jack in ''VideoGame/DisneyInfinity''.

*** Creator/ChristopherLee voiced [=DiZ=]/Ansem the Wise in ''II'' and ''358/2 Days'', but his advanced age and health problems forced him to step down. Corey Burton, just as he did for Lee's character Count Dooku in ''Franchise/StarWars'', took on the role for all subsequent appearances. It's impossible to notice a difference, as even Lee had praised Burton's perfect impression of his voice.
** John Fiedler, the only other voice actor besides Kathryn Beaumont to have worked with Creator/WaltDisney, reprised his role as Piglet for the first game only. After his death, he was succeeded by Travis Oates, whose debut in the role was in ''Kingdom Hearts II''.

** Eddie Carroll (voice of Jiminy since the mid-70's) died in 2010. Phil Snyder replaced him in subsequent games. Then Snyder quit acting and Jiminy was played by Joe Ochman in ''2.5's'' ''Re:coded'' cinematics.
** A similar situation happened for the Genie. Initially played by Robin Williams in 2 of the films, Dan Castellaneta, who'd filled in for him in ''Return of Jafar'' and the TV show, played him in ''I'' and ''II''. In ''2.5'', however, he was replaced by Jim Meskimen for the ''Re:coded'' cinematics, who was a closer voice-match to Williams than Castellaneta's already-pretty-close take. This might have been part of an overall thing for Disney properties, as Meskimen played the Genie in other Disney-themed games contemporary to ''2.5''[='s=] release.

* TheWikiRule: Has a wiki [[https://www.khwiki.com/ here]].

* TropeNamers:
** AnotherSideAnotherStory (''I'')
** TheHeartless (''I'')
** ResignationsNotAccepted (''358/2 Days'')
** TheWarSequence (''II'')

** Several veteran Disney actors voice multiple characters such as Creator/CoreyBurton, Creator/JimCummings, and more.

* CreatorChosenCasting: Being the huge nerd that he is, Creator/TetsuyaNomura chose Creator/LeonardNimoy and Creator/MarkHamill to voice Master Xehanort and Master Eraqus specifically so he could pit Spock of ''Franchise/StarTrek'' and Luke Skywalker of ''Franchise/StarWars'' up against each other.

** ''Kingdom Hearts'' was, for a time, infamous for including plot-relevant content in Japan-only ''Final Mix'' re-releases. Eventually all this content reached the international audience in the form of the ''1.5 HD Remix'' and ''2.5 HD Remix'' (then ''1.5+2.5'') compilation disks. This was due to releasing only on the [=PS2=] (and PSP for ''Birth By Sleep'') at the time, when Sony had a policy of not allowing games to be rereleased outside of Japan, or possibly just their country of origin, like the way ''Kingdom Hearts I'' and ''II'' were, without significant enough changes to the base game to justify it. Additional cutscenes, secret bosses, revamped gameplay elements, and additional difficulties were not deemed enough to justify it to Sony at the time. The HD remixes were literally the first possible way to release the content overseas for Square, same with some of their other games that got redone versions of them at a later date in the [=PS2=] days.

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/ChristopherLee as a noble king who refuses to allow darkness to consume him even at his most morally ambiguous.

** Though a CashCowFranchise for Disney, now, ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' was little more than a CultClassic, at first. Thankfully, the movie being [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff massively popular in Japan]] worked in its favor, as it recieved a world in the first Kingdom Hearts game, and soon became a franchise in and of itself.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' seems to be getting one. Like ''Hercules'', HOND underperformed financially, and only had a DirectToVideo [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameII sequel]] to show for it. Since being featured in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', however, it's gained a substantial amount of notoriety, as the song ''Out There'' from the movie has gotten its own segment during the Magic Kingdom fireworks show ''Happily Ever After''. Also, Esmeralda now has [[https://www.shopdisney.com/esmeralda-classic-doll-the-hunchback-of-notre-dame-11-12-460019650014.html?isProductSearch=1&plpPosition=1&searchType=regular her own doll]] among the Disney Classic Dolls line alongside characters such as [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Elsa]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel]].

* SleeperHit: It can not be understated that the announcement of a Disney/''Final Fantasy'' collaboration was [[AudienceAlienatingPremise derided by majority of gamers]] when first announced. ''Kingdom Hearts'' was released during a time when Disney Studios was going through a DorkAge, so most gamers felt that the collaboration would bomb. The end result was popular reviews, the game ending up as one of the top 10 selling [=PS2=] titles, and [[CashCowFranchise the start of one of Square's biggest franchises.]]

* TalkingToHerself: Xion's voice, Alyson Stoner, also voices Kairi in a [[FlashbackWithTheOtherDarrin quick flashback sequence]] in ''358/2 Days''.

** For ''KHIII'', Creator/AkioOhtsuka and Creator/RutgerHauer take over as Master Xenahort in Japanese and English, respectively, after Creator/ChikaoOhtsuka's and Creator/LeonardNimoy's deaths in 2015. Ironically enough, Hauer died later that year, and was subsequently replaced with Creator/ChristopherLloyd in the ''Re Mind'' DLC.

** Japanese: Creator/ChikaoOhtsuka (Master Xehanort and Captain Hook) is the late father of Creator/AkioOhtsuka (Ansem). Incidentally, Akio Ohtsuka took over the role of Master Xehanort in ''Kingdom Hearts III'' after his father passed away.

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: [[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Deep Jungle]] has never reappeared in any game after [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI the first]], probably never will, and just about any references to it have been essentially forgotten thanks to a dispute with the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate (Who still own the trademark rights to Franchise/{{Tarzan}}). The remakes have maintained the Deep Jungle level, but only of the first game.

** [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Jack Sparrow]], played by Creator/JohnnyDepp in the movies, is voiced by Creator/JamesArnoldTaylor (the voice of [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Tidus]] and [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank Ratchet]]) in ''Kingdom Hearts II'', who does a not-so-convincing impression of Depp because of mold in his throat at the time of recording. When Jack Sparrow returns in ''Kingdom Hearts III'', the role has now been taken over by Jared Butler. This was most likely a similar situation with the Genie, as Butler has already played Jack in VideoGame/DisneyInfinity.

* ScrewedByTheLawyers: [[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Deep Jungle]] has never reappeared in any game after [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts the first]], probably never will, and just about any references to it have been essentially forgotten thanks to a dispute with the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate (Who still own the trademark rights to Franchise/{{Tarzan}}). The remakes have maintained the Deep Jungle level, but only of the first game.

* SleeperHit: It can not be understated that the announcement of a Disney/''Final Fantasy'' collaboration was derided by majority of gamers when first announced. ''Kingdom Hearts'' was released during a time when Disney Studios was going through a DorkAge, so most gamers felt that the collaboration would bomb. The end result was popular reviews, the game ending up as one of the top 10 selling [=PS2=] titles, and [[CashCowFranchise the start of one of Square's biggest franchises.]]

** Creator/CoreyBurton is TheOtherDarrin to a few of characters, most notably [=DiZ=]. He played MCP and Sark in ''II'' when those characters original actor, Creator/DavidWarner, was unable to work on the game due to a previous commitment.
*** Before Creator/ChristopherLee's passing in June 2015, Corey Burton filled in for [=DiZ=] whenever Lee wasn't available. But from 2010 onwards, Burton has taken the role full time, especially after Lee's passing.
** John Fiedler, the only other voice actor besides Kathryn Beuamont to have worked with Creator/WaltDisney, reprised his role as Piglet for the first game only. After his death, he was succeeded by Travis Oates, whose debut in the role was in ''Kingdom Hearts II''.

*** Before Creator/ChristopherLee’s passing in June 2015, Corey Burton filled in for [=DiZ=] whenever Lee wasn't available. But from 2010 onwards, Burton has taken the role full time, especially after Lee's passing.