The 11 Best 'Kingdom Hearts' Games, Ranked

It was only a matter of time before Kingdom Hearts made its way onto mobile devices. Most of Square Enix's major IPs, such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, have been attached to mobile games of varying degrees of quality. This mobile foray into the world of KH is a prequel to its overall story and went through a few transitions - what started out as Kingdom Hearts χ became Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] and then Kingdom Hearts Union χ Dark Road, which includes an extra gameplay chapter in the form of Kingdom Hearts Dark Road. But to be quite honest, there's not a whole lotto love here. This game has your usual simplistic turn-based RPG mechanics, repetitive gameplay, an unappealing art style, and your usual egregious mobile gaming attempts at getting your money. The one highlight of this game worth calling out is its fun co-op mode that lets online players gang up on powerful "Raid Bosses."

We'll award a little bit of praise to Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded for its energetic combat system - Sora's spry maneuvering, powerful Keyblade sings, and flashy magic abilities came back into play on this Nintendo DS series entry. And on the visual front, this handheld take on Sora's whimsical adventures and battles with the Heartless looks pretty decent considering the hardware it's on. But when it comes to this game's story, which is more of a retread of the events that occurred in the first game, there's really nothing to see here. Add in some less-than-responsive platforming controls and an unwieldy camera and you have a KH series entry that's more of an oddity than an essential franchise installment.

Now let's take a look at the much preferred Nintendo DS KH game, 358/2 Days. Following this game's plotline is actually worth the time and energy investment since it revolves around Sora's Nobody Roxas and everything surrounding his attachment to the sinister Organization XIII. Playing through this handheld KH adventure also led to fans falling in love with the likes of Axel and Xion, plus your usual Disney icons popped up to join the exciting festivities. 358/2 Days is a commendable take on taking the KH series into handheld territory thanks to strong visuals, combat mechanics, and storytelling, However, we have to dock a few points from this game's overall quality score due to some unwieldy controls and several instances of annoying backtracking.

Navigating the majestic locale of "Castle Oblivion" makes up the focus of the second entry in the long line of KH game releases. The version that launched on Game Boy Advance is still worth checking out thanks to its better-than-expected cartoony visuals and implementation of Sora's memories from the first game being the basis for his adventures. The version we've chosen to give praises to here is the PS2 remake, which features the 3D visuals fans have come to expect. While the card-based combat system definitely took some getting used to (it certainly has its fair share of detractors), most players came around to its intricacies and gained a greater appreciation for it over time. As a stopgap between the first and second games, this side journey provides meaningful plot points that make it worth pursuing.

We're so glad Square Enix went the Theatrhythm route for this next selection on our list of the best Kingdom Hearts games. The franchise has a litany of incredible songs such as "Simple and Clean," "Dearly Beloved," and "Rowdy Rumble." Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory does an amazing job of letting fans bask in the greatness of those tunes and hundreds more in a pretty solid rhythm game. What makes this game so important to the KH timeline is that it takes place after Kingdom Hearts III and follows Kairi as she searches for her lost friend Sora. Jogging through musical tracks and knocking down enemies to the beat of each wonderful song in this game is super rewarding and forever joyful. While there's a shockingly low number of boss battles here, Melody of Memory's long tracklist still provides plenty of standard stage playthroughs to enjoy.

As far as the best Kingdom Hearts games go, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance earns itself a solid spot on this list. The debut of those helpful "Dream Eaters" during battle added another cool element to the already strong combat foundation for the series. And it's so cool how this game offered some fresh Disney worlds to dive into including the ones inspired by Tron: Legacy, Fantasia, and Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers. Sora and Riku pop up here as playable characters, which is worth the price of admission all by itself. While the plot of this game can be utterly confusing at times, Dream Drop Distance still deserves its flowers for providing a rewarding gameplay experience powered by great combat and gorgeous graphics for a handheld game.

Before everyone finally got their hands on Kingdom Hearts III, Square Enix provided everyone with a playable prologue in the lead-up to the final chapter in the "Dark Seeker Saga." Another fan-favorite character got the main protagonist role in yet another quality KH spinoff game. Birth By Sleep's Aqua steps up here to make her way through the dreaded "Realm of Darkness." Playing through her struggle ended up being the perfect appetizer for everything KH III had in store - the amazing visuals and expanded battle options afforded to Aqua made this short yet sweet experience a great one. Activating a devastating attack or spell via "Situation Commands" and blasting multiple foes via "Shotlocks" is supremely satisfying with Miss Aqua.

It's still wild how the worlds of Final Fantasy and Disney came together to produce the very first Kingdom Hearts. That first attempt was an illustrious action RPG with quality visuals, combat, storytelling, music, and crossover appeal. The huge sense of magic and wonder that comes from galavanting around the worlds of Alladin, Alice in Wonderland, and more was great back then and definitely elicits the same emotions for first-timers today.

When it comes to the less-that-desirable portions of this game, they're most definitely the tedious "Gummi Ship" flight combat settings and cumbersome camera. And that rhythm game interpretation of The Little Mermaid movie is one of the worst things ever implemented into any KH game. Even still, you can't make a list of the best Kingdom Hearts games and not rank the first series entry in the top five. Thanks to the updates and changes Kingdom Hearts Final Mix brought on, the first KH is in a much better state in comparison to its original PS2 self.

The wait for Kingdom Hearts III was excruciating! KH fans first witnessed footage of the highly anticipated sequel back at E3 2013 and had to wait until January 29, 2019, to finally take it for a spin. For the most part, it ended up being worth the hype. Graphically, KH III is easily remembered as the best-looking entry in the series - the power of the PS4 truly brought the debuting Disney-inspired worlds to life in the most striking ways possible. The Pixar greatness featured in Toy Story and the realistic portrayals of the actors from Pirates of the Caribbean look incredible in motion.

The combat, while a tad bit too easy due to a less-than-formidable set of foes, is always exciting thanks to the larger party member setups, extra playable characters, theme park attraction-inspired "Attraction Flow" mechanic, and more. From a storyline standpoint, everything didn't quite flow and make sense due to the fact that you had to follow along with all the plot details of the mainline and spinoff games to be up to speed on the events of KH III. And those Gummi Ship sections didn't get any better, to be quite honest. KH III and its Re Mind DLC's expanded plot points & higher difficulty attached to its bosses all come together to put forth a good yet slightly flawed KH mainline series entry.

When Birth By Sleep landed on the PlayStation Portable, it got plenty of love and adoration from KH fans as a must-play series entry. And that sentiment still rings true for folks who tried the game out for themselves within the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix compilation. As another prequel series installment, it was much easier to follow along with the story being told here - following along with the epic journey of Terra, Aqua, and Ventus while they get involved in the crusade against the plans put in place to kick off the "Keyblade War" is a thrilling endeavor.

There's tons of variety injected into the combat mechanics of this game thanks to the varied approaches to melee and magic-based offense the three main Keyblade wielders utilize. The addition of the Shotlock and "Dimension Link" (D-Link) battle commands did an amazing job of making every combat a total blast. Birth By Sleep's overall gameplay, graphics, music, and storyline are the strongest points of it, for sure. So what we can knock it for? That board game-inspired "Command Board" mode is not good!

To this very day, every diehard KH fan most likely looks to Kingdom Hearts as the series entry that must take the top spot on everyone's list of the best Kingdom Hearts games. This sequel is such a step up from everything that was introduced in the first game from a graphical, storytelling, musical, and combat standpoint. There's a ton of graphical greatness to bask in while exploring "The World That Never Was," "Timeless River," "Space Paranoids," and "Halloween Town."

KH II's intro sequence caught everyone off guard as it placed someone other than Sora in players' hands and had them explore a mysterious locale before they rejoined with the familiar trio of the first game. Over the course of this game's campaign, the concept of the Heartless and Nobody beings having an impact on the KH world at large and the influence of Organization XIII all come together quite nicely. Sora's combat options are expanded here to a great degree thanks to the use of flashy "Drive Gauge" abilities that adorn Sora in some of his finest fits to date. Those Gummi Ship sections still aren't great, mind you. But the rest of KH II's package makes up for that one main gripe and helps it maintain its status among KH fans as the best series installment to date.