Kingdom Hearts' place in pop culture

[MrFranklin95]

This was on my mind today and wanted to get some general opinions on it. Kingdom Hearts is a popular series but I never realized how mixed it was as far as it's place in the mainstream mindset it is. I mean, people have heard of it, of course, but in this current generation, most kids and teens and even adults don't know what Kingdom Hearts is and is shocked that it exists. Others only have heard of KH1, chain of memories, KH2 (mostly) and the fiasco of KH3(whether it was coming out or not, general fan confusion despite Noruma's statements on it prior). Many don't mention or even count the handheld games and see that after KH2, the series made a decline and that the plot is too complicated and full of itself for previous fans to stick with. And despite is being a well known series in the gaming space, it's not as popular, even when comparing it to other JRPGs franchises. And even though KH3 will most likely make the most money out of all the games, it won't make as much money as it could if it was seen in a better light (hurr, hurr) or was as popular as other mainstream titles. But these aren't my opinions, this is just from what I've rather from other opinions perpecetions of the series and there doesn't seem to be many positives outlooks on it.

What do you think? What do you is Kingdom Hearts' place in pop culture? Good, bad, or mixed bag all around?

 

[Veevee]

Depends on what you consider "pop culture". To me, pop culture is mostly about films and music and less about video games - if we consider video games pop culture, I guess only franchises like Super Mario or Zelda make it into it, franchises that, you know, even people know who are not into games. Within gamers, I guess many have at least heard of Kingdom Hearts and it's most well-known beyond JRPG fans and it's a pretty mixed bag there. There are people who consider it to be just some light-vs-darkness-story, neither especially good nor especially bad, those who find it terribly cheesy, those who basically like it and find it confusing (or only did play the numbered games) and those who love it. From what I've experienced myself, people are either really into it or dislike it. I tried to get friends into playing the games one or two years ago and started with what makes most sense - KH1 - and they got bored quite quickly. The way Kingdom Hearts is designed just doesn't appeal to everyone and for many people who do not really know what it's about it's "the game that mixes Final Fantasy and Disney" (which is not as true as many people might think, because, well, Final Fantasy isn't doing much of importance in the series). JRPG is a tough genre anyway - it's hard to stand out and (as far as my personal experience goes) for those who are not into it, most games seem to be pretty much the same because they feature anime-like characters in a "save the world"-story.

Long story short: I don't think Kingdom Hearts is very famous in pop culture, but it also never had great marketing. For example in Germany the games don't get TV spots, there's hardly ANY merchandise outside gaming conventions, there's no anime, no movie, no references in other media (e.g. Disney could make them in their series, but no), so it hardly goes beyond gaming.

 

[Deleted member 246005]

I remember KH2 got a focus on Disney Channel back in the day (i feel old now). I remember Jeremy McCartney playing as Roxas during the Twilight Thorn fight.

I don't think Disney channel has done a feature on it since then. Granted if that KH cartoon ever comes out that might change.

 

[Neo_]

Really interesting topic; I have thought about this before. I would put Kingdom Hearts in the same class as me being a fan of the Muppets and Todd Rundgren; two things that certain people you ask will say "yeah, of course I know what that is - that's cool!", and then some will say "I don't know what that is; that's weird". Of course there are going to be naysayers in the world of "Nintendo isn't cool and CoD and Madden are the only games you're allowed to play".

I disagree about KH3 not bringing in much money though; this game will sell well, and it will be hot when it's released. The gaming world is always looking for that game to be fixated on for a week or so and then just move on from, and the buildup is so immense it will draw non-fans in.

I don't know if it's fair to call Kingdom Hearts a cult thing (because it's bigger than that), but it's comparable to that.

This might be a horrible way of explaining it, but there are some things so genius, so personal that they make people uncomfortable. The concept of Kingdom Hearts (the name, everything) makes certain people uncomfortable; I can tell. It's the reason you don't see people standing on rooftops shouting how great KH is as opposed to CoD.

those who basically like it and find it confusing (or only did play the numbered games)

lol this is me. :redface: