History YMMV / KingdomHeartsI

* [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Best Level Ever]]: There just hasn't been a world in this series yet that has been able to top this game's visit to Hollow Bastion in awesomeness. Aside from, perhaps, the sheer unnerving beauty (and [[NightmareFuel frequent terror]]) of End of the World, the game's final world.
** Halloween Town is also very highly regarded, due to the connections to the cult classic ''[[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Nightmare Before Christmas]]'', great final boss akin to ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'', the redesigns for the party to fit with the aesthetics of the film and just the generally charming atmosphere.

** Halloween Town also developed a strong fandom. In fact, according to [=BradyGames'=] strategy guide for ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the reason why it was included the subsequent games was because of its overwhelming fanbase. It even got some the merchandise based on that single world. Ironically, it was the only world[[note]]excluding the [[ScrewedByTheLawyers now-illegitimate]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Deep Jungle]][[/note]] to not appear in the manga, and was even excluded from the novel.

* PolishedPort: In contrast to the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 PS4]] port, the UsefulNotes/XboxOne version benefits from being released three years after it, allowing for it to be the most up-to-date version without any noticeable problems. It also contains Theater Mode as a part of its code instead of it being DLC (which, unfortunately, made ''1.5 + 2.5'' too big to fit on Blu-ray discs due to now being over 50GB) and allows for skipping of the opening cutscenes that the [=PS4=], [=PS3=] and [=PS2=] versions lacked.

** Halloween Town is also very highly regarded, due to the connections to the cult classic ''[[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Nightmare Before Christmas]]'', great final boss akin to ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' and the redesigns for the party to fight with the aesthetics of the film.

* CatharsisFactor: You can walk up and smack the Queen of Hearts, causing her to flip upside down. You don't have to do this, but it feels so great to just knock her upside the head.

* OneSceneWonder: The prostitute who seduces Sora once he arrives in Traverse Town. She only has two panels worth of appearances (and we don't get a very good look at her) before she's killed off by a Heartless but she's definitely well-remembered by people who read the manga if only because of the fact that there's a ''Disney-approved product that features a prostitute coming onto a young teenage boy'' so it makes for some good shock value. She even got a couple of fanarts here and there.

** "Unchanging Heart" in both the PS3 and PS4 versions of the game. You have to play through the whole thing without ever, not even ''once'', changing the equipment loadout of '''any character''' - and yes, that includes slotting items into their inventory. Even on the lowest difficulty, it can be a tall order sometimes to get through all the non-optional bosses with only your starting weapons and no accessories (especially the ones that would be granting you extra AP).

* ThatOneAchievement: The Gummi Ship Collector trophy in the ''1.5'' version, which involves getting every Gummi Ship blueprint in the game. For the majority of obtaining the blueprints, this means fulfilling some truly insane mission requirements traveling between worlds with the Gummi Ship, like doing Atlantica's third mission (do not collect items, and get a high score of 260 points or more; it's a LuckBasedMission if Monstro is first encountered on this route), in a minigame widely considered a ScrappyMechanic prior to its revamp in ''Kingdom Hearts II''. The ''1.5 + 2.5'' [=PS4=] version made it a bit easier by making it so you "only" need 30 blueprints instead of ''all'' of them, but it's still a pain.

** [[spoiler:Xemnas's]] EarlyBirdCameo due to being such a damn enigma, giving no clues as to what he's talking about, and still giving you perhaps the hardest fight of the game. His appearance caused endless speculation and hype for Japanese players who encountered him after already beating the original edition of the game, deftly upping suspense for the future of the series. He also makes a significant impression even on players who have played later games and actually ''do'' know what he's talking about. Disappointingly, much like Phantom and Kurt Ziza, you can't refight him once you've defeated him.