Missed Connections Gaming: My Summer of Kingdom Hearts

Hello, gamers, book nerds, and humans of the internet, and welcome to Missed Connections Gaming. So often, working in games journalism means pushing on to what’s shiny and new. Chasing the hype cycle and making we cover the hot new game. And yes, I love throwing some muppet arms about upcoming cozies and RPGs, but it’s so easy for the great games that are already out there to get lost in the shuffle. So, here is our space to wax nostalgic about the games we love from our youth or from the not-so-distant past.

Today, I’m going to tell you about my shameful “professional gaming nerd” secret, also known as my lost years. When I was a kid, the gaming consoles in the house always came in by way of big holiday or birthday gifts for my younger brother. As the resident boy of the house in the “video games are for boys” era that was my youth, the PS2 and Xbox 360 defaulted to being his gifts.

My games were there on borrowed time, snatched from the used shelves at GameStop and played when he was busy with other things. So, when I left for college, I left my gamer self behind. Or at least, my console-gamer self. The current iteration of The Sims never left my laptop, and when I wasn’t busy with school work, I would sink hours into that and online flash games like Papa’s Pizzeria.

Why am I telling you this? Because that, in part, is what inspired me to write this column. Since I started writing about games for a living, I’ve had more time to realize just how many amazing games I missed. And I want to go back for them, to the extent that I can, with my limited time and limited funds, to shell out for every retro console I’d need to make it really happen.

We all have those games we love, that we keep wanting to go back to. Whether its titles from our childhood that formed some part of our identity (hello, Pokémon and Kingdom Hearts) or those we picked up at the perfect time (hey there, Skyrim). I have them too, but I’m also confident I missed out on some of your favorites. So here I am, with a twofold mission in this column.

First, we’re going to talk about some of the best games we ever played. Some weeks, I’m going to sit back, dive deep, and revisit some of the games I’m still thinking about, all these years later. Because I bet some of you are still thinking about them, too.

Second, I’m going to bring you with me on my journey through the games of the past. As I load up my backlog with games that came out years ago, I’m bringing you with me. Does Digimon World: Next Order hold up after all these years, or is it pretty much always on sale for a reason? What happens when a former Pokemon lover goes back for Sword and Shield and becomes obsessed with why Hop gets a Wooloo, but you can’t seem to find one in the wild?

Basically, this here is a love letter to the games that aren’t so shiny and new anymore, but are still worth talking about. Because of course they are. And first up, I want to take you back to the summer of 2020, when I settled in with my brand-new Nintendo Switch and reconnected with Sora and his friends.

My Summer with Nintendo Switch and Sora

For my birthday in 2020, my husband (then-boyfriend) bought me a Nintendo Switch. It was the first game console I’d had in years, and I was ready to… absolutely not play a single new game and find out what older games I could get instead.

When I heard the next Kingdom Hearts game was on its way, there was only one option. Grab the collection from the Nintendo Switch eShop and go to town. Twilight Town, that is.

Back in middle school and early high school, I played the first Kingdom Hearts with friends. We took turns, but mostly, the gaming bits were up to me. Because I didn’t play the entire thing myself, my memories of it were a bit foggy. Ditto Kingdom Hearts II, which I also wasn’t entirely sure I’d ever actually finished.

That summer, as you may recall, there wasn’t much to do outside of the house. We didn’t get our dog, Azula, until August, and I wouldn’t have to head back to the office to print student IDs until late July. So, I settled in on my boyfriend’s couch with my Nintendo Switch and the first two Kingdom Hearts games.

It’s funny, going back to something you remember from when you were young. There were many moments that felt familiar and many more that felt entirely strange. Of course, Kingdom Hearts is a weird mix of Disney, RPG, and Final Fantasy already, so it was a particularly bizarre place to begin my journey to the past.

Playing those games again was exactly what I needed that summer. I spent my work days processing the overwhelming number of Student Emergency Fund applications coming from college students who’d lost their part-time jobs due to widespread pandemic closures. It felt good to do something, but it was also emotionally exhausting to read all of those applications and see just how much our students were hurting. So, by nights and by lunch breaks, I entered a fantasy world where I could clomp around in Sora’s massive shoes, meeting Disney characters and always managing to have the Keyblade for the task at hand.

Honestly, those games hold up. In part because they’re such an odd mix of everything, it remains fun to fight Disney villains like Ursula alongside Donald and Goofy. As for Kingdom Hearts II? I still don’t know if I finished the thing the first time I played it, but I definitely managed it the second time around.

I did stall out somewhere around the 3000 Soras in Kingdom Hearts III, but the return to the gummy ship and all the worlds it travels to was well worth the price of (re)entry. It had been so many years since I fully sank into games the way I did into these, and it kept me feeling some sense of forward momentum in a period of my life when that was hard to come by. And for that, along with sparking my journey to revisit the games I loved and the ones I missed, I will always be grateful for my summer with Kingdom Hearts.

About the Author

Amanda Kay Oaks

Editor

Amanda Kay Oaks is a writer, book witch, and video game enthusiast based in Latrobe, PA. She writes about books, games, and more from an office packed with crystals and Pokemon plushies. When not engrossed in work or fictional worlds, Amanda can be found in the kitchen, on her yoga mat, or walking her dog, Azula.

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