Video: What Order Should You Play Kingdom Hearts?

I still feel like I chose the best route. I played the first one for ten hours and put it down for Okage Shadow King.

Which Kingdom Hearts should you play?
Not the Cloud versions, that's for sure.
Seriously Square, still haven't forgiven you for that. 3 I kinda get though I would rather have no port rather than a bad one, but the others have little excuse.

@YourDaddy Yes.

I simply follow the order from 1.5 -> 2.5 -> 2.8 -> 3.
But I played whichever version I got first from my purchase.
Currently I have the 2.8 on PS4 version.

Why wouldn't you just play them in the order they released

HINT:
Do not play Kingdom Hearts )

There is only one way to properly play the Kingdom Hearts series: in release order.

Why? Because they made this stuff up as they went. Going in chronological order is just gonna hurt your brain.

Chronological order is not the way to go. The best order is the release order. It keeps certain things a mystery for an appropriate amount of time. For example, playing 358/2 Days before KH2 spoils certain things in KH2 and makes them less impactful in my opinion.

@BlackenedHalo Man, I love FFIX soooo much. I really hope that we get a proper remake.

I’m pretty sure I did it half Chronologically I think, but I might had just did it in the order the collection had them listed I can’t remember completely. I don’t think you really can really go wrong either way, personally i think it will still be confusing no matter which way you play them.

Having said that though I really love the series and well not all of their games but I love the series none the less. And this might be a really unpopular opinion but I do enjoy the story…even if I don’t always know what it is.

Still ticked that it got into Smash BAH!

Play Xenoblade Chronicles instead

I played it in the worst order possible and still ended up enjoying the series.

358/2 Days
Chain of Memories on the GBA
BBS
Re:coded
DDD
KH1 (still playing it)

I think 358/2 Days gives you a good intro to the series, it leaves you wanting more and jumping to the others certainly feels like an improvement.

A series where I'm glad, I don't care about it.
I played the 1st Kingdom Hearts as a kid on PS2 and I loved it.
But also, I completed it because of story, the combat was pretty decent and the levels were a bit bland.
I played a bit of Kingdom Hearts 2 and it felt so much more repetitive and even more bland than the first one.
In the meantime, there are too many entries. I'm out, no interest.

@Axecon yeah, it's the better game.

The Kingdom Hearts games are fun, but the plot after the first game isn't great and if you missed any of the non-numbered entries you'll be very confused, (possibly even if you did play them!)
I wasted so many hours watching the PS4 collection videos for the non playable games, as well as a youtube summary of Chain of Memories as I couldn't stand that game. In my opinion they are best enjoyed as fun action rpgs with Disney worlds to explore, if you don't want to waste time I'm sure there are Youtube summaries that will fill in the gaps.
I personally played KH1>KH2>Birth by Sleep>Dream Drop Distance>KH 0.2 fragmentary passage>KH3 and filled in the gaps. Why they decided to make it this complicated, I have no idea.

Release order.

i'm sure main series will get native ports on switch 2..

I only play Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance on their native platform. The rest I just watch on Youtube for free.

Cloud Versions I would like to introduce you to a long walk and a pier.

I have no horse in this race, but some of the comments here made me realize I was logged off and nobody was blocked/ignored.

Play 1 and 2, don’t bother with the rest.

Playing 3 on Steam Deck and can’t see why you wouldn’t get a version that runs ok on Switch.
It’s the only one I’ve played the remix and 358/2 days naming confuses me and I’ll never get through all of them so will play this and wait for 4!

Trick question! You shouldn’t play Kingdom Hearts at all.

@rushiosan yes I'd go with your route too!

• KH1,
• Emulate Chain of memories because the GBA is the only way to play it (or just watch a ten minutes recap.)
• KH 2
• Birthday by sleep
• Dream drop distance (watch a movie is an option, I just thought the game itself was too much fun too skip.)
• KH 3.

@LastFootnote Have you played KH1 or KH2 past their way too long intro's? I feel the games are really good when visiting all these worlds and fighting the unique bosses! What did you hate about it?

@garfreek No, I was being flippant. Apologies! I haven’t played any KH game at all. I have seen the intro of the first game played and it did not impress, but I am no kind of authority on the series.

I do strongly dislike Tetsuya Nomura’s character designs and low-key blame him for ruining the Final Fantasy series, so I don’t have any compelling reasons to give KH a real shot. Well, plus the fact that they’re only available as cloud versions on Switch.

That all sounds waaay to complicated for a game with Disney characters.. I just choose not to play

Like @Nintendo4Sonic I played 1 and half of 2, stopping after the “defeat 1,000 enemies” part b/c I realized I just wasn’t interested any more. I do own everything else on a couple of collections, except 2.8 and the 3 dlc, and even with all of that, today is the first time I’m hearing about a “dark saga”.

Jumped the shark, set it on fire, exploded it, sent the pieces into the sun.🏍️ 🦈🔥🧨🚀☀️

@PedroMatos that would be too simple

Dang a lot of people hate kingdom hearts. :/
Honestly their pretty fun and I played melody of memory and it explained the story pretty well while also being fun to play.

Those are actually two halves of the same order.

If it ever gets a proper release I'll do the 1.5 + 2.5, 2.8, III-- Essentially the main entries order. Man this convoluted named series lol!

Does anyone actually play the cloud version of... any game on Switch?

Woah. I thought there were about 3. Maybe 4.

I think Kingdom Hearts 1 is special and properly establishes the main cast and as such I think Kingdom Hearts 1 is a great starting point. Especially if you want to see if the franchise is for you. Then I'd say you could play the prequels if you wan't before playing the sequels.

However I do believe playing the prequels could spoil some "Aha!" moment's in the sequels.

Therefore I kind of think it's best to play the games in the order of release to get the intended experience and have plot points revealed as they were intended.

However if you only really care about getting up to speed on the story and don't care about spoilers and such then I am sure there's YouTube videos covering the entire story of the kingdom hearts franchise.

@LastFootnote
I played the game, since from PS2 era.
And I already have the 2.8 on PS4.
Gotta get them all on PS4 (And also the PS3 version).

Birth by Sleep, then 1, 2, DDS, and 3. That's it. Chain of Memories, Days, and Coded are all garbage.

Not too familiar with the series. Kid is tied to disney characters, some that I like so that is cool I guess. This is a game I like to sit back and watch not to pick up tbh. Reminds me of that weird yet interesting Fantasia fever dream light show back at Disney World.

I played the first one about 20 years ago for a few hours. Put it down, never picked it back up. Not a decision I regret.

What about birth by sleep?

No thanks on cloud versions. Forever.

I’ll stick with 3D dream drop on 3DS.

My recommendation:

Play the first game on PS2.

Then forget the rest of this garbage series exists.

You're welcome.

Spoiler it does not really matter as the narrative got completely convoluted in the process to the point where it hardly makes sense.

Gameplay is fun though. Play the 3ds game it's the unsung hero of the bunch.

@axelhander
Naaah you should also give the 3ds game a go. It's a surprising game really. At this point I had completely given up on this series but still found myself playing through this one.

Oof — I really tried with the original KH1 on PS2 and just couldn't get into it, even though on paper it looked my absolute dream game. Don't know if I'd have it in me to attempt a full series playthrough, but I would imagine that (like with most things) release order would probably be best.

release order, like in 99% of cases

Many have said it already but Jesus Pole-vaulting Christ steer clear of the lot.

@garfreek I've attempted, on too many occasions, to enjoy the KH series and it has always been an exercise in futility. They are bland and boring, or they get to that point rapidly. The only one I put notable hours into was 3DS Dream Drop Distance, it was fun and the way to traverse the worlds was cool, but only for a limited number of hours. Then it turned to ash in my mouth and lost all flavor. Kudos to anyone that enjoys the series, but it is just not fun and any character outside of the disney characters, is just ugly, in design, and boring. The DS entry looked like it had promise, but every cutscene (that I endured) was no less than 15 minutes and it was always boring.

Again, I applaud anyone that enjoys this franchise and hope that you continue to enjoy it.

Note: I was enticed to play the KH games because of a great friend and even his die-hard fandom for it died after KH2.

@Axecon While the combat isn't as engaging in Xenoblade the whole game is more engaging than KH series.

@Unit_DTH I never made it to the end of 1, so I was mercifully spared the more... esoteric parts of the plot, but what broke me was the core gameplay; it was just so slippery and imprecise it made combat and platforming an absolute chore — and (I'm not sure how this is the case as both Disney and SE are known for having amazing soundtracks) the music was just unbearable - the overly chipper track that plays around the town level that seems to loop after about ten seconds made me want to stick that keyblade through my ears

For every piece of work (books, comics, games, movies, etc)

You should always consume them in the envisioned order by the authors: by release date.

If you don’t mind about the story, and climax in plots, you go whatever order internet wants you to follow.

@Andee I would dare to use the word "horrible" to describe KH and I have a great disdain that Sora was added into Smash Ultimate. Bionic commando would have been a better choice imo. But in reality, I didn't direct the game, nor make any choices about it's roster so I will just have to continue to destroy anyone who plays as Sora when I'm playing.

I think the story is so bad and nonsensical that it does not matter. Hopefully the new story will be more coherent and be good for Disney fans also.

When kh3 came out my young son at the time wanted me to buy it as it was Disney worlds. I had never played any of the KH games. I started it and was pretty lost as far as the story goes. I tried to lookup summary videos and ended up even more confused. While KH3 was an enjoyable game to play, trying to get into any of these games as a newcomer is not easy.