Game News
Thanks to photobucket user Nathan McMahon, old design documents from the original Kingdom Hearts game for PS2 have been unearthed. The documents contains mostly unsurprising information and finalized artwork of some of the characters. However, three interesting pieces of information have come from these documents.
To start, the game actually was going to be called “Kingdom of Hearts” for a lengthy amount of time in the development cycle. Also, the documents gave the initial character descriptions for the main cast which can be read below.
”
Sora:
The hero of this story. Sora is a fourteen-year-old boy who has his own personal issues like every other teenager does, but he always keeps a positive attitude towards everything.
Simple-minded at times, but his sense of justice is very strong.
“Sora” means “sky” in Japanese, representing his adventurous spirit.Kairi:
The heroine of this story. Also aged 14.
A few years ago Kairi moved into the island where Sora and Riku live.
She may appear gentle and fragile, but inside she has a strong will that does not bend to any force.
Her name, “Kairi”, bears the meaning of “sea”, home of all life forms.Riku:
Sora’s best friend. He may seem a lot more collected and cooler than his same-age best friend, yet he remains expressive of his own thoughts.
Always curious towards the unknown, he begins to question the small, closed world in which he lives.
His name, “Riku” means “land” in Japanese.Donald:
The court wizard.
With the order left by the king who disappears in the beginning of the story, Donald goes for an adventure searching for the hero. His vibrant character and quack-talk is sure to complicate things, adding even more fun to the story.Goofy:
Captain of the royal cavalry.
Goofy, though a captain of his own troops dislikes battles and carries only a shield with him.
Goofy becomes Donald’s partner in this journey, complimenting wacky Donald with his slow-talking, easy-going style.Minnie Mouse:
King Mickey’s queen.
As the queen she takes charge of the castle after Mickey’s disappearance, appoints Goofy and Donald to search for the king in her place.Daisy Duck:
A noble lady.
A sweet maid who fancies Donald, she collects her courage(?) to send him off to his mission.Chip:
The mechanical engineer working for King Mickey.
The underground airship hanger is his working place as well as playing grounds.
It is Chip who designs the SS GummiBlock, allowing our heroes to reach other worlds.Dale:
A mechanic working with Chip.
He maintains and, if necessary, primps up the SS GummiBlock which Donald and Goofy boards for the trip.”
It’s interesting to note that the Gummi Ship was going to be called the SS GummiBlock, something tells me that change came during the English translation. Lastly, as seen in this image below, there was an unused world that was supposed to be in the first game.
That’s right, a Toy Story world was planned to appear. There have been other worlds that were planned for the first game as well, but most of them ended up being used in later entries, such as The Pridelands. From the icon, it can be gathered that part of the world would take place in Andy’s House while the other part would take place in Pizza Planet since Andy’s House is on top of a rocket. Here’s hoping that these plans come to fruition in a future title in the series.
