History Trivia / KingdomHeartsI

** Several Disney characters from older films had different voice actors, due to their original actors being deceased. This includes:

** From ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'', Creator/TonyGoldwyn as Tarzan and Creator/BrianBlessed as Clayton

* {{Blooper}}: When Oogie Boogie is defeated the first time, his Brain Bug will not vanish behind Sora, and in fact will clip over him, during the ItemGet. This error appears in the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 and UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 versions.

** From ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', Scott Weigner, Linda Larkin, Creator/FrankWelker, and Jonathan Freeman return as Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, and Jafar with Creator/DanCastellaneta reprising his role as the Genie from ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'' and [[WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries the animated series]].

*** Russi Taylor replaces Verna Felton as the Fairy Godmother.

** The German voice of Hercules is an interesting case. In the movie, he was voiced by Til Schweiger, while in Kingdom Hearts, he's voiced by Dominik Auer...who actually voiced young Hercules in both the movie and the TV show.

** From ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'', Creator/JamesWoods as Hades
** From ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', Creator/JodiBenson as Ariel, Creator/KennethMars as King Triton, and Creator/PatCarroll as Ursula
** From ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'', Creator/ChrisSarandon as Jack Skellington and Ken Page as Oogie Boogie

** A sequence from ''Kingdom Hearts III'', [[spoiler:The Final World]], was originally meant to be portrayed in this game, but it was changed to Sora turning into a Heartless.
** Kairi's role in Hollow Bastion was going to be larger due to Sora [[spoiler: going to the Final World]]. Additionally, it had been toyed around with to make her playable at some point within the game, but that never materialized until years later with ''Videogame/KingdomHeartsIIIReMind''.
** Bahamut, a recurring ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' character usually included as a Summon, was originally going to be featured. While it is possible to hack the game to include Bahamut in the Summons menu, choosing him will crash the game.

** Before Ansem was created, Chernabog was going to be the final boss, being the embodiment of all darkness. This was changed for various reasons. Some concept art shows that the battle would take place at Hollow Bastion as he would have emerged from the Final Keyhole (End of the World was not created until after Ansem was.)

** A world based on ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' was planned, but Square did not have the technology necessary to make Sora's lion model function properly. Instead, Simba only appears as a summon and the world was eventually featured in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''.

** Disney Castle was going to be a playable world and was shown in the game's beta trailer. Although it was removed, it can be accessed with a cheat code (since it still appears in cutscenes).
** Aerith was originally going to have her name spelled the same way it was in the parent game. But as it was changed late in development, you never hear the other characters say it aloud. Her name is not actually spoken aloud in the Compilation until ''Crisis Core''.

** Sora's famous quote of "I've been having these weird thoughts lately." was originally set to be [[BookEnds repeated in the ending]], with another unidentified individual saying it alongside him. [[spoiler: Anyone who has played ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIIIReMind'' [[RefittedForSequel know this eventually happened]] with Sora and Yozora in the secret ending]].

* This is the only game in the series to be released under the Squaresoft name, as their merger with Enix to become Square Enix happened a year after the initial release. The Square Enix logo would then appear on the packaging for the Greatest Hits rerelease, though the Squaresoft logo still appeared as part of the logo and in the game itself; the logo would be updated in-game to have the Square Enix logo in the HD remaster of ''Final Mix''.

* ActingForTwo: Creator/KathrynBeaumont voices both [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland Alice]] and [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Wendy Darling]].

* DawsonCasting: Kathryn Beaumont, who provided the voice and physical model of WesternAnimation/{{Alice|InWonderland}} and [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Wendy]] as a child in the 1950s, reprised both roles in the game in her mid-sixties, and remarkably sounded almost no different. She's also one of only a few actors/actresses who worked with Creator/WaltDisney directly to be involved with the ''Kingdom Hearts'' games as well; John Fiedler, who voiced Piglet, did the role in the games as well until his death.

* ColbertBump: Prior to ''Kingdom Hearts''' release, ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' was more of a CultClassic than a money making franchise for Disney. Having a world based off of the movie in the game brought it into mainstream recognition.

** Squall from ''Final Fantasy VIII'' was originally designed with longer hair -- and Leon's appearance here is a reference of that.

* DummiedOut: According to unused files and code, It was originally planned for Sora to also be able to summon Bahamut, a ferocious, dragon deity that is a recurring character through out the ''Final Fantasy'' series.

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: Several months after the game was released in Japan, a ''Final Mix'' version was made with extra content and a new secret ending. This version later got included in the ''1.5 [=ReMix=]''.
* OrphanedReference:
** Disney Castle was intended to be a playable world, but it was removed relatively late in development. Despite this, its icon still appears on the world select map, unable to be interacted with by the player.
** Early trailers suggest that Donald and Goofy were supposed to wear their classic outfits from the cartoons before they were given new, more fantastical clothing designs. In the final scene of the game, for no reason given, the two appear in their classic outfits which they hadn't worn at any prior point in the game.

* {{Blooper}}: When Oogie Boogie is defeated the first time, his Brain Bug will not vanish behind Sora, and in fact will clip over him, during the ItemGet. This error appears in the [=PS3=] and [=PS4=] versions.

** Kairi being voiced by Hayden Panettierre is a borderline example. She'd had a few roles, but it was right before her recognizable ones in ''Film/IcePrincess'', ''Film/RaisingHelen'' or ''Series/{{Heroes}}''.

* DawsonCasting: Kathryn Beaumont, who provided the voice and physical model of [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland Alice]] and [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Wendy]] as a child in the 1950s, reprised both roles in the game in her mid-sixties, and remarkably sounded almost no different. She's also one of only a few actors/actresses who worked with Creator/WaltDisney directly to be involved with the ''Kingdom Hearts'' games as well; John Fiedler, who voiced Piglet, did the role in the games as well until his death.

* DuelingWorks: With the 2002 ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'' remake. Director Creator/ShinjiMikami blamed the remake's poor sales on ''Kingdom Hearts'''s success.
* DummiedOut: According to unused files and code, It was originally planned for Sora to also be able to summon Bahamut, a ferocious, dragon deity that is a recurring character through out the Final Fantasy series.

*** Tress [=McNeille=] replaced Verna Felton as the Queen of Hearts.
*** Susanne Blakeslee replaced Eleanor Audley as Maleficent.
*** Corey Burton instead of Joseph Kearns as the Doorknob, Paddi Edwards as Flotsam and Jetsam, and Hans Conried as Captain Hook.

** Sean Astin provided the voice of Hercules, who was voiced by Tate Donovan in his film. Donovan reprised his role in the second game.

** Kevin Michael Richardson replaced Samuel E. Wright as the voice of Sebastian. This was the first time someone other than Wright voiced the character.
** Due to the characters being much younger than their canon counterparts, Tidus and Wakka have different voice actors. Tidus is voiced by Sean Fleming instead of Creator/JamesArnoldTaylor[[note]]and Creator/CreeSummer as a kid, making Fleming a double Other Darrin[[/note]], while Wakka is voiced by Creator/DeeBradleyBaker instead of Creator/JohnDiMaggio.

* RoleReprise: Quite a few
** The major example is Creator/KathrynBeaumont, who returns after nearly fifty year as both [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland Alice]] and [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Wendy Darling]].

%%** Returning Disney regulars include Tony Anselmo as Donald, Bill Farmer as Goofy, Wayne Allwine as Mickey, Eddie Caroll as Jiminy Cricket, Tress McNeil as Daisy, and Russi Taylor as Minnie.
* ScrewedByTheLawyers: The reason Mickey doesn't have a major role in the game is because he was being used for Capcom's ''VideoGame/DisneysMagicalMirrorStarringMickeyMouse'', and they weren't willing to share the character rights with [[Creator/SquareEnix Square]]. After heavy negotiation, Capcom agreed to allow Mickey in one scene as long he was in silhouette.

** A popular story regarding the original concept for the game had Mickey as the main character, with Donald and Goofy helping out. The development team eventually became divided over whether Mickey or Donald should be the true main character. As a result, they compromised by creating [[OriginalGeneration Sora]]. No citations have been made towards where this story originated, on top of contradicting with the above red-tape with Capcom and how [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] was the basis for gameplay.
** It's rumored that Ariel was going to be a Princess of Heart originally, but they couldn't find a way to work her getting legs and captured by Maleficent after defeating Ursula -- and thus was hastily replaced with Alice at the last minute. However, given that she is that world's party member, this is unlikely to have been the case.
** Rumors also existed that defeating Riku on Destiny Islands caused the initial fight with him in Hollow Bastion to become more difficult, but these rumors are false, as Riku's stats are the same regardless of whether you win or lose the fight on Destiny Islands.

* DawsonCasting: Kathryn Beaumont, who provided the voice and physical model of [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland Alice]] and [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Wendy]] as a child in the 1950s, reprised both roles in the game in her mid-sixties. She's also one of only a few actors/actresses who worked with Creator/WaltDisney directly to be involved with the ''Kingdom Hearts'' games as well; John Fiedler, who voiced Piglet, did the role in the games as well until his death.

** Many early screenshots for the game showed Donald and Goofy wearing their classic outfits from the original Disney shorts. This was changed to the current attire they wear in the game, presumably to give them more adventurous appearances, and they can only be seen wearing their classic attire in the game's epilogue.

** Sephiroth was voiced by [[Music/NSync Lance Bass]].

%%** Returning Disney regulars include Tony Anselmo as Donald, Bill Farmer as Goofy, Wayne Allwine as Mickey, Eddie Caroll as Jiminy Cricket, Tress McNeil as Daisy, and Russi Taylor as Minnie

** Kairi's role in Hollow Bastion was going to be larger due to Sora [[spoiler: going to the Final World]]. Additionally, it had been toyed around with to make her playable at some point within the game, but that never materialized until years later with ''[[Videogame/KingdomHeartsIII Kingdom Hearts III Re:Mind]]''.

** The original concept for the game had Mickey as the main character, with Donald and Goofy helping out. The development team eventually became divided over whether Mickey or Donald should be the true main character. As a result, they compromised by creating [[OriginalGeneration Sora]].

* ContestWinnerCameo: Kurt Zisa, a Heartless BonusBoss present in the international and ''Final Mix'' versions, is named after the winner of the contest held in the USA two months prior to the game's North American release. The boss appears if you try to fly to the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin's house after visiting Hollow Bastion.

* DawsonCasting: Kathryn Beaumont, who originated the roles of [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland Alice]] and [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Wendy]] as a child in the 1950s, reprised both roles in the game in her mid-sixties. She's also one of only a few actors/actresses who worked with Creator/WaltDisney directly to be involved with the ''Kingdom Hearts'' games as well; John Fiedler, who voiced Piglet, did the role in the games as well until his death.

* DawsonCasting: Not uncommon in voice acting, but Kathryn Beaumont [[ChildrenVoicingChildren averted this trope]] when she originated the roles of [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland Alice]] and [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Wendy]] as a child in the 1950s. Here, she reprises her roles despite being in her mid-60s at the time. She's also one of only a few actors/actresses who worked with Creator/WaltDisney directly to be involved with the ''Kingdom Hearts'' games as well; John Fiedler, who voiced Piglet, did the role in the games as well until his death.

** From ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid'', Creator/JodiBenson as Ariel, Creator/KennethMars as King Triton, and Creator/PatCarroll as Ursula

* RoleReprise: Interestingly, Seth Adkins reprises the role of Pinocchio -- not from any previous appearance of the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon version of the character, but from ''Film/{{Geppetto}}''.