8. A World Restored
Nobody really needed 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage- to be made. It’s a glorified Kingdom Hearts III tech demo that seems to mainly exist to explain why Micky Mouse had no shirt on at the end of the original Kingdom Hearts. However, it did give everyone a bit more quality time with fandom favourite Master Aqua, who had been trapped in the Kingdom Hearts universe’s equivalence to hell since the end of Birth By Sleep.
As you might expect from a midquel sandwiched between two well-known games, not a lot is going to change in terms of the status quo. We all knew we wouldn’t be able to save Aqua here because she’s still trapped in the seven games set after this in the timeline. This means that 0.2 is a torture rollercoaster, where poor Aqua is constantly harassed by memories of her lost friends, ruined worlds that she used to visit, and even her own reflection brought to life.
Despite having a wide variety to choose from, I think the saddest moment of the game is the very end. Aqua has a chance to escape with Micky and Riku who are here doing the ending of Kingdom Hearts but has to stay back at the last minute to buy them time. As she is sealed up for good she decides to keep fighting and never give up, keeping anyone else who gets trapped here safe until she can leave.
Why is this sad? Because we had already seen from Kingdom Hearts III trailers that she has become corrupted by darkness by the time we actually bother to go and save her. If only King Micky cared enough about her to go get ger earlier.
7. The True Master
This series does a great job building the bonds between Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Fans of the newer games know that these three would go to the ends of the Earth for each other, and have done on several occasions. However, some may have forgotten that this unbreakable bond started off rather rocky, and even came close to shattering towards the end of Kingdom Hearts.
Upon reaching one of the final worlds, Hollow Bastion, Sora is confronted by his rival Riku. Surprising everyone, Riku has learned that by proving his heart is stronger he can make a claim to the Keyblade. Stealing it from Sora, we’re left only with a stick to defend ourselves with, reducing our attack stat to nothing and forcing you to only fight using magic for a while in the game.
As if this moment weren’t humiliating enough for Sora, we get a bitter reminder that Donald and Goofy are here under specific orders from King Micky to find the “key to their survival”. With the Keyblade now treating Riku as it’s master, Donald and Goofy choose to leave with him and abandon Sora. While they’d never do it now, I still remember how hurt I was that even Goofy would just throw me away the minute we weren’t the chosen one anymore.
Click the next page to see the rest of our heartbreaking moments in the Kingdom Hearts series!