History YMMV / KingdomHeartsII

** The end of the ProlongedPrologue, where Roxas says that it "looks like [his] summer vacation is over" upon seeing Sora. Despite Roxas being only on-screen for a short time, this scene really hits the CloningBlues for him, and it's considered a big TearJerker because of Roxas realizing that he'll never have the chance to have what Sora has.

** Atlantica returns completely revamped as a bizarre MusicalEpisode. This draws ire from many fans for the various shades of saccharine, {{Camp}}, as well as Donald Duck's singing voice, which is just as dreadful as you'd think. The pseudo-RhythmGame mechanics are also incredibly basic and unengaging, making the entire world a slog to play. While Atlantica is optional, clearing it is necessary for OneHundredPercentCompletion and obtaining the Ultima Weapon.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: During the Heartless War arc, the fact that a major character has something big happen to them is less emotional than it should be because of the nature of the event, how suddenly it comes up, and the character in question being too "important" for the ramifications to stick. [[spoiler:Disney allowing this game to kill Goofy? Not likely. But letting Goofy die with a sudden, out-of-nowhere, unexplained rock to the head as the cause of death? Even less likely. But the fact that Goofy's apparent death scene is played completely and totally straight makes it [[{{Narm}} unintentionally funny]]. A player can guess pretty easily that [[DisneyDeath Goofy isn't actually dead]] even on a first-time playthrough, there's no way Disney would let one of their most iconic characters die in a ''Kingdom Hearts'' game, much less in such an anticlimactic way.]]

%%** "Looks like my summer vacation is... over." Lacks context - Why are these scenes famous?

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: During the Heartless War arc, the fact that a major character has something big happen to them is less emotional than it should be because of the nature of the event, how suddenly it comes up, and the character in question being too "important" to let it affect them for long. [[spoiler:Killing Goofy? Not likely. Killing him with a sudden out-of-nowhere rock to the head? Even less likely. But the fact that Goofy's apparent death scene is played completely and totally straight makes it unintentionally funny, since a player can guess pretty easily that there's no way Disney would let one of their most iconic characters die in a ''Kingdom Hearts'' game, much less in such an anticlimactic way.]]

* MemeticMutation: [[Memes/KingdomHearts ""I need...more rage. I need more... memes..."]]

** Ursula. Aside from Atlantica's shift to being a RhythmGame, "Ursula's Revenge" is the song that introduces the "mash the button when the prompt appears" mechanic, and the song gives more than enough of them to clear it with ''just'' them; you can ButtonMash your way to victory with no sense of rhythm of timing at all. For that matter, in-story Ursula loses when Sora lands a single Keyblade hit on her hand, sending Triton's trident flying into Eric's boat, and he hurls it through her torso. In the meantime Ursula's shows of power with the trident during "Ursula's Revenge" amounts to just waving it back and forth as the heroes duck under the water to avoid it.

** Halloween Town for expanding on the already well-recived world of ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' from the last game and adding so much more. The ''Final Mix'' edition adding new Christmas-themed costumes for Sora, Donald, and Goofy certainly helped as well.

* BreatherBoss
** Barbossa shares the magic weakness that the Cursed Pirate {{Mooks}} have, so he can be completely shut down by occasionally hitting him with Blizzard to freeze him and pushing him into a corner to ensure he's always in the moonlight. It's easily possible to go through his entire fight without the Illuminator spawning again or letting Barbossa attack at all by doing this.

* EndingFatigue: The World That Never Was is long, large dungeon full of powerful enemies. While this is to be expected of TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, it's long even by that standard. There's no less than three bosses along the way (as well as a fourth in ''Final Mix''), and there's also a lot of long, story-critical cutscenes to watch. Then you finally get to Xemnas and beat him, and as expected from Square Enix he goes OneWingedAngel for a SequentialBossFight. However, as the heroes begin to walk away, it turns out Xemnas is NotQuiteDead, leading to a ''second'' SequentialBossFight, and finally, at long last, his final form. By the time Xemnas pulls you back to the third round, you're probably screaming "Will you just ''die'' already?!" when Xemnas shows up on your monitor.

* NeverLiveItDown: The scene where Sora reunites with Kairi and Riku. Upon reuniting with Kairi, the two share a hug, whereas with Riku, he falls to his knees and breaks down in tears upon seeing him again. His reaction is completely justified, as Sora knew that Kairi was safe on the island the whole time and that she wasn't in any harm when Organization XIII kidnapped her, while with Riku, the two had not seen each other since they closed Door to Darkness and that he could have been dead for all he knew. Despite this, some fans believe that Sora's reaction was anything ''but'' platonic and that he actually harbors romantic feelings towards Riku instead of Kairi, even though the game clearly shows that this is not the case.

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: Killing [[spoiler:Goofy]]? Unlikely.

* EndingFatigue: The World That Never Was is long, large dungeon full of powerful enemies. While this is to be expected of TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, it's long even by that standard. There's no less than three bosses along the way (as well as a fourth in ''Final Mix''), and there's also a lot of long, story-critical cutscenes to watch. Then you finally get to Xemnas and beat him, and as expected from Square Enix he goes OneWingedAngel for a SequentialBossFight. However, as the heroes begin to walk away, it turns out Xemnas is NotQuiteDead, leading to a ''second'' SequentialBossFight, and finally, at long last, his final form. By the time Xemnas pulls you back to the third round, you're probably screaming "Will you just ''die'' already?!"

** Hades calling Auron the "mother of all bad guys" isn't technically wrong if you understand historical context. If you were charged with protecting someone and you failed to do so, with you surviving when they didn't, you are considered scum, a lowlife. It would be ''less'' dishonorable if you killed them yourself, because at least then the worst you're seen as is a traitorous dick and not a ''failure''.

* EndingFatigue: The final world, The World That Never Was. It's a long, large dungeon full of powerful enemies, there's no less than three bosses along the way (as well as a fourth in ''Final Mix''), and there's also a lot of long, story-critical cutscenes to watch. Then you finally get to Xemnas and beat him, and as expected from Square Enix he goes OneWingedAngel for a SequentialBossFight. However, as the heroes begin to walk away, it turns out Xemnas is NotQuiteDead, leading to a ''second'' SequentialBossFight, and finally, at long last, his final form. By the time Xemnas pulls you back to the third round, you're probably screaming "will you just ''end'' already?"

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: "Oh, we do too have hearts! Don't be mad..." Was Demyx lying in order to weasel out of fighting Sora and company or was he saying what he thought was the truth? Furthermore, was his temporary change in demeanor after Sora and Donald call him a liar due to him deciding to drop the charade or him entering a state of TranquilFury? While Demyx doesn't really have enough screen time in the games to make one interpretation more likely than the other, the manga adaptation goes with the latter interpretation in both cases.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Port Royal is often criticized by modern audiences for its UnintentionalUncannyValley and the visual dissonance going on between the realistically designed locals and the cartoonish Sora and friends, but the world's art design was seen as incredibly groundbreaking when the game was new. "Realistic" character models with that level of detail weren't really a thing in 2005, especially for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, so it was actually ''super'' impressive that Square was able to get them to work and move in an action game. On top of this is the fact that [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome the pirates change between their cursed and human forms without skipping a beat in battle]].

** With some fans feeling disappointed in the story and ending that ''III'' presented to the Xehanort Saga, ''II'' is considered as feeling a bit more like a definitive ending.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Atlantica's musicals have their ups-and-downs, with "Swim This Way" being outright loathed, and Ariel [[TookALevelInDumbass taking levels in dumbass]], but general reaction is mixed ([[AmericansHateTingle unless you're American]]), since at least "Part of Your World",[[note]]Jodi Benson returning from her role in the movie definitely helps[[/note]] "Under the Sea" and "Ursula's Revenge" are tolerable, and "A New Day is Dawning" being mediocre but not as irritating as "Swim This Way".

* SoOkayItsAverage: Atlantica's musicals have their ups-and-downs, with "Swim This Way" being outright loathed, and Ariel [[TookALevelInDumbass taking levels in dumbass]], but general reaction is mixed ([[AmericansHateTingle unless you're American]]), since at least "Part of Your World",[[note]]Jodi Benson returning from her role in the movie definitely helps[[/note]] "Under the Sea" and "Ursula's Revenge" are tolerable.

* SignatureScene: [[spoiler:Sora vs. Roxas]], particularly in ''Final Mix'' where it's an iconic and [[ThatOneBoss very difficult]] fight, making it the equivalent of the Ansem-Riku scene and battle in the first game.

%%** The Battle of 1,000 Heartless, particularly the mid-plot twist in the following cutscene. Context?

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: The casting of Music/{{Jesse McCartney}} as the voice of Roxas was initially met with skepticism, since he was best known as a TeenIdol at the time and some weren't aware of his acting resume. His performance when the game came out dispelled all doubt, and consensus is that he's only gotten better in subsequent games.

* SugarWiki/BetterThanCanon: Cloud actually has a HappyEnding with Tifa rather than chase Sephirtoh

* BetterThanCanon: Cloud actually has a HappyEnding with Tifa rather than chase Sephirtoh

** The game's title song being called "Sanctuary" is this given that ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', which, like its source material, has Quasimodo declaring sanctuary after saving Esmerelda from being burned at the stake as its SignatureScene, wouldn't be featured in the series until ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsDreamDropDistance Dream Drop Distance]]''.

** Combining two Negative Combo skills, two Finishing Plus skills, and a Combo Master skill can allow you to use [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK4BMz2SHQ4 a devastating infinite combo]]. Just make sure not to use the last combo hit until it's time for the killshot, and don't drop the combo, and {{Bonus Boss}}es can go down like dominoes.

* ToughActToFollow: ''II Final Mix'' is considered the pinnacle of the series' gameplay by many (especially players who have done ''Critical Mode'' or done other challenge playthroughs), thanks to its robust combo based battle system, solid boss and enemy design, a wide variety of combat options which remain viable and useful throughout the game, and a lot of fun optional and postgame content including a plethora of challenging and memorable {{Bonus Boss}}es. Many of the games released afterwards have been criticized for their perceived failure in matching or exceeding [=''KHIIFM''=] in these areas.

** Unless they're playing the Final Mix version on [[HarderThanHard Critical Mode]].

** Gameplay-wise, the Gummi Ship segments, which are a whole lot cooler to look at if nothing else, and also your ship gets an automatic upgrade with each segment passed, so you don't have to spend the time tediously doing it for yourself.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** They wasted a perfectly good ''world'' with Atlantica, making it a series of rhythmic minigames with all the actual story of the original film crammed into cutscenes, and the need for the musicals to progress things is an ExcusePlot. Would it have been so difficult to find a way to adapt the movie's plot to traditional gameplay? Or instead of Atlantica, another unused property could've been fitted to work as a rhythm level instead of bringing back an already explored world from the previous game.
** Agrabah's story is based on ''The Return of Jafar'', which makes perfect sense. So do we get a battle with Abis Mal and his men where Sora and Aladdin infiltrate their lair? Do we re-enact the chase sequence against Jafar's army of winged riders? Do we have to raid the palace under Jafar's control to free Aladdin's friends? We do none of that. We revisit the Cave of Wonders from the first game (which is significantly smaller, just four rooms, one of which is a puzzle room), before heading back to Agrabah, and then for the return visit we go to the Oasis ruins to play some minigames before returning to Agrabah to fight Jafar outside of the palace after the ''only actual scene Jafar has in the game''. Despite Jafar's status as a genie, neither Pete nor the Organization bother to release Jafar or make use of the three wishes he could grant, only trying to turn him into a Heartless. Compared to every other world, even the reviled Atlantica, Agrabah just seems bland in this game.

* UnintentionalUncannyValley

** [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX Vivi.]] [[ButtMonkey Yes, even here.]]

* SignatureScene:
** "Looks like my summer vacation is... over."
** The Battle of 1,000 Heartless, particularly the mid-plot twist in the following cutscene.
** [[spoiler:Sora vs. Roxas]], particularly in ''Final Mix'' where it's an iconic and [[ThatOneBoss very difficult]] fight, making it the equivalent of the Ansem-Riku scene and battle in the first game.

* ReplacementScrappy:
** Atlantica's musical mini game was one to how the world was in the original game (where it was still very divisive). Fans would rather fight battles than hear Sora sing (let alone [[RefugeInAudacity hear Donald sing]]).
** Roxas was this initially for fans of the first game, with most of them wondering when Sora would show up. However, as his story continued to show who Roxas is and what was going on with him, he started getting less hate and became more popular among fans.
** Some of the new Keyblades for returning Disney worlds are subject to this, for replacing the designs from the original game. Rumbling Rose stands especially when compared to the Divine Rose keyblade from VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI.

** Rikku being a fairy makes a lot more sense once you learn that her Japanese voice actress, Creator/MarikaMatsumoto, would later voice [[Anime/PokemonDiancieAndTheCocoonOfDestruction Diancie]]. Moreso when you realize that one of the pursuers, Ninja Riot, shares the same voice actor as Donald Duck.
** In another Pokémon-related example, the female protagonist of ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' greatly resembles Olette.
** Later in the game, the Master Control Progam [[spoiler:hijacks the Heartless creator under Hollow Bastion to start sending his troops into the analog world. This is more or less what CLU would attempt in ''Film/TronLegacy'', though it may also count as HarsherInHindsight]].
** Luxord first appears (independently) in Port Royal, a pirate-themed world. His [[Creator/RobinAtkinDownes English voice actor]] would later voice Davy Jones in ''VideoGame/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnline'', in addition to SpacePirate Captain Romulus Slag in the ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank Future'' Trilogy. ''And'' Luxord and Davy Jones reappear in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', both voiced by Downes and both in the new iteration of The Caribbean.