It is still kind of nuts that Kingdom Hearts is a thing that exists
When the first Kingdom Hearts arrived on the PlayStation 2, it was the most unlikely of team-ups. On one hand you had Square, the Japanese geniuses behind Final Fantasy; and on other, you had Disney (we don’t really need to explain who Disney are, right?).
Somehow though, mixing classic Disney characters into a traditional JRPG world totally worked. New character Sora was joined by Donald Duck and Goofy, as he traveled through world based movies like Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin and Hercules.
There have been plenty of spin-offs since, but no proper entry in the series since 2005’s Kingdom Hearts II.
But now, Kingdom Hearts III is finally on its way. After years of patiently waiting, fans will finally get to see the next installment of Sora’s story in January next year.
Yet there was still the question of what Disney characters and worlds would appear – now however, Square Enix have reveal the voice cast, and there are some very big Disney and Pixar heavy hitters involved.
Key names include Josh Gadd, Idina Menzel and Kristen Bell as Olaf, Anna and Elsa from Frozen, John Ratzenberger and Wallace Shawn as Hamm and Rex from Toy Story, and Tate Donovan as Hercules.
The full list of announced characters are:
- Josh Gad (Frozen, Beauty and the Beast) as Olaf from Frozen
- Kristen Bell (Frozen, Veronica Mars, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) as Anna from Frozen
- Idina Menzel (Frozen, Enchanted, Rent) as Elsa from Frozen
- Jonathan Groff (Frozen, Mindhunter, American Sniper) as Kristoff from Frozen
- Zachary Levi (Tangled, Chuck, Thor: The Dark World) as Flynn Rider from Tangled
- Donna Murphy (Tangled, Center Stage) as Mother Gothel from Tangled
- John Ratzenberger (Toy Story, Cheers, The Incredibles, Coco) as Hamm from Toy Story
- Wallace Shawn (Toy Story, The Princess Bride, The Good Wife) as Rex from Toy Story
- Tate Donovan (Hercules, The O.C., Argo) as Hercules from Hercules
- Kevin R. McNally (Pirates of the Caribbean Series) as Gibbs from the Pirates of the Caribbean series
- Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
- Bill Farmer as Goofy
Hayley Joel Osment also returns as Sora.
Kingdom Hearts was the introduction to RPGs for many gamers of a certain age, and it’s great to have it back.
