Pap the
Disney Gamer's Highlights: Pap's
Dream Worlds for Kingdom Hearts
III Part 1: The Animated Lands
Kingdom Hearts
III has FINALLY been announced,
and I couldn't be more excited
for it. The conclusion of the
massive storyline is one of the
many reasons why, but my number
one reason for my excitement is
the possibility of stunning new
Disney worlds. Since Kingdom
Hearts II, Disney has released
so many classic films, and has
obtained many new licenses and
characters. This means that
Square Enix now has even more
Disney material to create worlds
out of, and if the inclusion of
Port Royal (Pirates of the
Caribbean: The Curse of the
Black Pearl) and Space Paranoids
(TRON) in Kingdom Hearts
II were out there, I am willing
to bet anything that Kingdom
Hearts III will throw us on a
loop once it is eventually
released in a few years.

I've been
dreaming about the worlds we
could visit since the game's
announcement, so today for Gamer
Tuesday, I will be listing the
Disney worlds I am hoping to see
in the next game. Note that this
is a personal dream list. While
there is the chance that Square
Enix might turn them into
playable worlds, the list is
mine and mine alone, and should
not be taken as confirmation
that we will see any of these
worlds in the final game. In
addition, this will be done
across several articles as the
possibilities are almost so
endless, I need to elaborate on
them further.
That being said,
let us plunge into my
imagination and see what I can
come up with...

The Kingdom of Corona (Tangled,
2010)
The Story:
Sora, Donald and Goofy arrive in
the middle of a lush forest,
wondering where they have ended
up. As they try to figure out
their surroundings, a thief
passes them in an extreme hurry.
That thief is none other than
the notorious Flynn Rider, and
he is on the run from Corona's
guards, as well as the
Stabbington Bros. Sora and
friends follow him to a
mysterious tower, which they
climb. Upon reaching the
entrance, they see the thief
knocked out on the floor. A
young girl then addresses Sora
in an aggressive manner. Once
she has calmed down, she
introduces herself as Rapunzel,
a maiden of almost 18 which has
been raised in this tower and
has long hair. Rapunzel sees
both Sora and Flynn as the
perfect opportunity to escape
the tower and see the kingdom's
floating lights on her birthday.
They agree to help Rapunzel out,
because Sora can't pass up the
chance of helping a beautiful
young lady in need. What they
don't realize is that Mother
Gothel's dark, selfish desires
to keep Rapunzel in her tower
attract the dark forces of the
Heartless to this world, leaving
Sora to figure out why a
seemingly calm kingdom has
attracted the Heartless, and
just what makes Rapunzel so
special.
Why I think it
should be in Kingdom Hearts III:
Out of Disney's recent
output of animated classics,
Tangled has seen the biggest
success of them all. The mixture
of comedy with adventure,
romance, music and drama has
made the film a modern animated
classic that has seen
generational appeal throughout
the world. Tangled also
offers plenty of action
sequences that lends itself to
be presented in an action-RPG.
In addition, the Kingdom Hearts
series has presented nearly all
of the fabled Disney Princess
films in their games. This is
because both the Disney Princess
line has been one of Disney's
strongest franchises, and the
Princess films are often the
best and most popular of the
canon. Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella,
The Little Mermaid,
Beauty and the Beast,
Mulan and many more have
been presented as playable
worlds, so it makes sense to
turn the Kingdom of Corona into
a world in Kingdom Hearts III.
Its status as a popular Princess
film and successful modern
classic raises the chances of it
being a world in the new game.

The Land of Jazz (The Princess
and the Frog, 2009)
The Story:
Prior to Sora and friends
landing on this world, we see a
young woman in a blue princess
outfit. Her name is Tiana, and
her wish is to own a restaurant
and fulfill her dad's dream. Out
of desperation, she wishes upon
a star. Seconds later, a talking
frog appears by her side. He
calls himself Prince Naveen. He
tells her that he has been
cursed by a witch doctor named
Facilier, and needs to be kissed
by a princess to be turned into
a human again. Tiana
begrudgingly agrees, but turns
out the kiss turned HER into a
frog! Both end up on the bayou
where they meet Sora and
friends. They agree to help them
find Mama Odie and see if she
can help them undo the curse. We
then learn that Facilier is in
leagues with Maleficent as she
tries to conquer the Disney
worlds. She then grants Facilier
the power to control the
Heartless. The end of the level
has Sora, Donald and Goofy
battling him on a New Orleans
graveyard.
Why I think it
should be in Kingdom Hearts III:
Much like Tangled,
The Princess and the Frog is
a modern day animated classic
and successful Princess film
that introduced the world the
first of the millennial
princesses, Tiana. Kingdom
Hearts is a series that places a
lot of emphasis on the Disney
Princesses as they are the key
to opening up Kingdom Hearts,
the world of pure light. It is
unknown if Kingdom Hearts III
will be placing focus on the
princesses yet again, but
Tiana's determination to make
her dreams come true through
hard work makes her a princess
of pure light, which would
prompt a visit from Maleficent
to try and take over her world.
Plus, Facilier lends himself
well as a boss you get to do
battle with at the end of the
level. Just imagine the 'Friends
on the other side' scene, except
you get to battle through it.
Doesn't that sound awesome?

Monstropolis (Monsters Inc.,
2001)
The Story:
Sora, Donald and Goofy turn into
monsters as they enter this odd
domain. Despite their confusion,
the denizens of Monstropolis
have accepted them because of
their monstrous looks. They
learn that the city is in peril
due to both a toxic child
running around the city, as well
as random attacks by shadow
monsters. Both of these events
have paralyzed the city in fear.
They learn that they could find
the solution to their problems
at Monsters Inc, a company
dedicated to turning the screams
of children into energy. There,
Sora meets Mike and Sulley,
where they learn that they have
befriended the toxic child,
which they have named Boo. Boo
and the Heartless are somehow
connected, and the answer lies
within Monsters Inc. Sora teams
up with Sulley and Mike to put
an end to this.
Why I think it
should be in Kingdom Hearts III:
I'll just come out and say
it; it is high time we got a
Pixar based world in a Kingdom
Hearts game. But first, some
history. Back when the first
Kingdom Hearts was released in
2002, Pixar was still an
independent studio whose films
were still being distributed and
marketed by Disney. Yes, Pixar
had seen growing popularity on
the Disney fandom thanks to
films that felt like classic
Disney, but done in an amazing,
modern way. This would explain
why Kingdom Hearts had yet to
feature a world based on any
Pixar film. Since then, though,
Pixar has become part of the
Disney family. Out of that, we
have a brand new Disney Princess
(Merida from Brave),
increased Pixar presence at the
theme parks (complete with a
brand spanking new land at
Disney California Adventure
called Carsland), and Pixar
mogul John Lasseter has
executive produced many of
Disney's modern hits.
In addition, fan
demand for a Pixar world in a
Kingdom Hearts game is fairly
high, and with Kingdom Hearts
III being the first console game
in years, it would make for a
momentous occasion for Disney
and Pixar. Regardless, the way
worlds are chosen at Square Enix
is if Disney agrees to a world
being created, and if the
developers at Square Enix can
create a clever concept for the
world as well as tie it to the
main storyline. What I am saying
is that in the end, the decision
rests on Square Enix and
Disney's hands.
Now, I would
love to see ANY of the Pixar
films be represented in the
game. The Toy Story series has a
higher chance of appearing since
it is Pixar's first and most
successful series. But me? I
want to see Monstropolis come to
life in a Kingdom Hearts game. I
want to see Sulley be Sora's
partner in battle, and have the
world end on a giant Heartless
battle on top of the moving
doors. I just want more Monsters
Inc, period.

Jolly Holiday (Mary Poppins,
1964)
The Story:
In one of the original worlds
Sora gets to visit, he
encounters a magical sidewalk
chalk drawing portraying several
colorful worlds. Unfortunately,
the Heartless have erased a lot
of the drawing, leaving Sora to
just enter one basic world. As
he jumps into the drawing, he
meets Bert, and learns that his
friend Mary Poppins is somewhere
in the unfinished drawing. After
completing a task, Sora draws in
part of the scenery where we
finally get to meet Mary Poppins.
Why I think it
should be in Kingdom Hearts III:
In almost every Kingdom
Hearts game, there is a world
that is not battle or story
heavy. That is, the world mainly
exists to provide a fun
diversion away from the battles
and the melodrama of the story.
In the first Kingdom Hearts, the
100 Acre Wood, where Winnie the
Pooh and friends live, served as
the world that hosted
mini-games. In Kingdom Hearts
II, Atlantica (The Little
Mermaid), was presented as a
musical world where players
partook on rhythm challenges set
on top of music from the film as
well as original compositions.
So if Kingdom Hearts III were to
follow that tradition, then a
world based on the colorful
animated segments of Mary
Poppins would be fantastic.
Mary Poppins is
a story that doesn't lend itself
well to a battle heavy concept,
so making it into a mini-game
world would be great. You could
dance with the penguins,
participate in a rhythm game
with the Pearly band, race in a
horse derby, and just have a
jolly holiday away from the
Heartless. Not to mention that
Kingdom Hearts III will be
implementing a new graphics
engine called Kingdom Shader,
which makes the characters blend
into the environment, as well as
giving them a rich animated
look. With the chalk drawing
world and its characters being
so colorful, Jolly Holiday could
be a really beautiful world to
look at.
All of the
worlds I mentioned have one
thing in common: they are worlds
that take place within an
animated universe. Oh sure, I
know Mary Poppins was a
live action film, but the world
I picked takes place within an
animated universe. As I stated
at the start of this article,
Kingdom Hearts II broke new
ground in Kingdom Hearts
mythology by allowing worlds
based on Disney's live action
films be part of its collection
of worlds.
Tune in next
time when I talk about the
worlds I want to see based on
the live action film library!