Awesome / Kingdom Hearts III

Back-to-Back Badasses plus High-Altitude Battle equals one awesome scene!

With all the wait and excitement that Kingdom Hearts III has built up these years, then it's only obvious that it has all brought in some truly awesome moments!

WARNING: Spoilers Off applies to Moment of Awesome pages. All spoilers will be unmarked!

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Pre-Release

• Among the many highlights of the E3 trailer, we have Sora running up a vertical wall toward Lythos, the Rock Titan. When he reaches the top, we find that Lythos is much bigger than he's been in previous games, and Sora effortlessly takes several huge flying leaps up his body. Scaling a mountain and battling a Titan at the top? The whole thing has the air of a faster-paced Shadow of the Colossus or a less-bloody God of War. These kinds of maneuvers were semi-regular in previous games with the Reaction Commands of Kingdom Hearts II and the Flowmotion of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], and the trailer seems to indicate that these two systems have been combined to give Kingdom Hearts III the wildest combat system we've seen yet. And the kicker? Lythos is the first real boss in the game!
  • And that's not even the tip of the iceberg: Transforming keyblades like the BBS trio used, seeming special attacks, Shotlocks, Flowmotion, Drive Forms, Dream Eaters, Summons... you name it!
  • The game proper actually TOPS the Lythos fight because you finally, finally, FINALLY get to fight the other Titans in a Kingdom Hearts game. No, not JUST the Ice Titan Hydros—but the Fire Titan Pyros and the Wind Titan Stratos as well. And you fight all three simultaneously. And this is the end of just the first world.
• Another from the trailer, in the subtleties of the environment. Enemies burst out of a river and create splashes. Sora casts a wind spell, and the surrounding grass gets blown around. Anyone who knows how difficult that sort of thing is to render in CGI can surely appreciate it, and even though most video games have that much detail these days, it's an extremely satisfying art upgrade for the series. It's also a nice and sneaky way to reassure us that the game engine will be able to handle one of the most difficult pieces of CGI artistry in history: Rapunzel's hair.
  • And the D23 2018 trailers reveal that they were, in real time gameplay, no less.
• This artwork of Sora flying on Baymax to fight a Heartless-possessed version of Baymax's original body.
  • The entire premise of the Big Hero 6 world - ever since Kingdom Hearts II, new worlds in the series have had a tendency of following their movie's plot exactly, making this brilliant original story a very pleasant surprise.
• The Jump Festa 2015 Trailer. Nothing short of amazing in the gameplay department. As for 2.8, new story, and Riku, Kairi, and Mickey are rendered in the new style!
• The Kingdom Hearts Orchestra 2017 trailer that debuted at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, June 11, 2017, all but shook the entire place down. A lot more showing off of Sora in combat in Olympus Coliseum, such as a Tag Team moment with Goofy, the return of Maleficent and Pete, now searching for a mysterious black box, and Xemnas daring Sora to use the darkness to bring back Roxas!
  • Another point is that following the end of 0.2, Sora is going to Olympus. So everything we see in the trailer is going to be at the start of the game.
  • The trailer starts with a catchy tagline. Come next scene, Sora exemplifies this tagline by literally skydiving into the fight, giving a breathtaking skyview of the Mount Olympus along the way. Oh, the wonderful things you'll be able to do in this game...
    Tagline: Don't assume your dreams are just fantasy. If you can imagine a world, believe in it... and dive in.
  • During the battle, Sora is accompanied by Donald, Goofy, and Hercules, with Herc having his own Guest-Star Party Member emblem. No more Arbitrary Headcount Limit! It's hard to say whether it's cooler that we'll have three allies active onscreen at once... or that Sora's fighting is so high-flying and fast-paced that we barely see his allies at all. Now that's combat!
  • Sora uses a Shotlock command, basically solidifying the notion that this combat system uses every combat mechanic the series has ever had and then some.
  • Sora's new Drive Form, Countershield (also referred to as Guard Form), displayed some incredibly awesome moves, including summoning giant golden fists to pummel Heartless and raining down large bolts of electricity.
  • The fact that Hades has decided that he's not having any of Maleficent and Pete's meddling and tries to shoo them out the door as soon as they arrive.
  • In general, next-gen versions of "Ansem" and Xemnas being Back-to-Back Badasses!
• If these trailers and Word of God are anything to go by, this game will see Sora not only as a Keyblade Master, but watch him have powers and moves worthy of his new title.
• The D23 2017 trailer reveals a brand new world, which is none other than Toy Story!! And it features an all-new story written by some of the original staff in the film! And you get to fight with both Buzz and Woody (that's right—five party members at once)!
  • You also get to take control of giant (well, giant to a toy) mechs!
    • When Sora is fighting in the Mechs, check the background. He causes at least one display to TOPPLE.
  • Character animation that looks like the cast stepped right out of Toy Story 3. Yes, 3.
  • The events of Kingdom Hearts 3 are set after Toy Story 2. Not an Alternate Continuity, not a Broad Strokes retelling with Sora and friends shoehorned in. No, the events of the Toy Story world in Kingdom Hearts III are set within the same continuity as the original films.
  • In a minor note, the trailer is in Japanese and at one point we get a close up of Andy's bulletin board. If you pause, the English is surprisingly good and the prices for the toys are fairly accurate, though this could be explained by the fact that parts of the Toy Story production team helped with the writing and art design for the world.
  • Woody and Sora shaking hands. It’s a small little moment, but considering how long Nomura has wanted Toy Story, how long fans have wanted Pixar in general, with it all finally coming together, its a nice warm and fuzzy moment for those that have really followed the series' production history.
  • The Toy Story world goes a step further from the original story of the Big Hero 6 world—much of it is set in a toy store which has never been seen in any Toy Story film, a totally original location.
• After all the years the game was anticipated, the fans can rejoice in finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, for the release year is FINALLY announced to be on 2018.
• A bit more subjective, but just the fact that the game was somehow able to out-hype Avengers: Infinity War and The Last Jedi at the D23 expo.
  • Take it from someone that was there; Kingdom Hearts 3's presence was extremely palpable. Whenever the game was mentioned, the crowd sent nuts, there was a almost literal sea of cosplayers, and it could all even be considered a CMOA or CMOH depending how you look at it, because Nomura and the Disney executives got to hear and feel the love. Add onto that the passionate reactions to the stream, and by the people that were there, its good feelings all around. Only Kingdom Hearts could elicit so many feels from a Goddamn TRAILER.
• Just the sheer fact that Donald and Goofy are back in the party. The original trio are back together, travelling worlds, kicking ass, and generally fucking up all of Xehanort's shit…
• Goofy figuring out to use his shield to sled through flames and stun Marshmallow might be minor, but the last or first time we've seen Goofy have these kinds of ideas were back in the Musketeer world. Seems like waking those worlds did more than bring them back to the light.
• In Corona, you team up with Rapunzel. Yes, Rapunzel is officially taking on Heartless… armed with just a frying pan. She'll still probably win.
  • With the D23 2018 trailer we now know the truth - Flynn has the frying pan. Rapunzel? Rapunzel uses her seventy foot long hair as a weapon!
    • As revealed by the most recent trailer, when she isn't using her hair as a whip or a lasso, she uses it to swing around a tree and kicks Heartless in the face with her bare feet.
• The February D23 trailer revealing not only more details of the Toy Story and Tangled worlds, the reveal of the Monsters, Inc. world, but the return of Vanitas and Marluxia!
  • Alongside this, the reveal of the new theme song, sung by none other than Utada Hikaru! The trailer shows off the new song ("Chikai/Oath" in Japanese, "Don't Think Twice" in English), as well as Riku and Mickey's new outfits in a cutscene in the Realm of Darkness and hinting at the return of the Riku Replica!
  • This is the first trailer that really shows off not only the design of the Disney characters, but also the animation as well. The characters move and act so naturally, you could swear you were watching the movies!
  • If you look in the background of the Scare floor in Monsters Inc, you’ll see that it’s filled with balloons, which indicates it’s taking place after the film when Mike and Sulley are running the factory and Boo is returning.
  • In Monsters Inc, Sora takes to using a door as a Keyblade. He's officially getting inventive now...And unleashes a metric tonne of Dream Eaters at some enemies. And uses Mike Wazowski as a bowling ball!
  • Ariel is a summon, y'all!
  • One of Toy Story’s boss battles has them fighting a giant spaceship Heartless inside a toy city in an alternate dimension.
  • Buzz and Woody’s Limit Break includes them riding on top of a rocket.
  • The sheer size of Monstropolis and inside the factory shows how dedicated Nomura and his team were dedicated to recreating Disney worlds just like in their own movies.
  • We only get a few glimpses of Rapunzel's hair, but it looks fantastic. In fact, they said the reason why we didn't see her in the first trailer is they wanted to get her hair right. AND IT SHOWS. We see her carrying it, using it to whirl around a tree, a (leaked) photo has it in the braids, and an interview discussed other ways it works too. Someone spent 3 years making sure they got the hair right. And it has paid off.
  • When we see Vanitas confronting Sora and company in the Monsters Inc. world, he wears a black coat similar to that of the Organization, implying Xehanort brought him Back from the Dead to serve as one of his Recusants.
    • The trailer takes it one step further for Vanitas' grand reveal. An orchestrated remix of "Unbreakable Chains" (from the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra Character Medley Heroes and Heroines) plays and it is glorious!
  • We are also getting background character NPCs instead of just empty towns and invisible crowds.
  • When Sora and company are facing Vanitas in Monsters Inc., Mike Wazowski of all people stands up him. He has to get held back by Sulley in order to keep him from getting too close to Vanitas.
  • In an interview, Nomura mentioned that each world is the size of one of the older games! Even if it's one of the 'smaller' ones, like say, 358/2 Days or Birth By Sleep, that's still positively immense, especially considering that the worlds in previous games tended to max out at an hour or so for Disney worlds and maybe a few hours for plot-critical worlds.
• The Classic Kingdom trailer revealed LCD, Game and Watch style minigames for Kingdom Hearts 3! Nomura said there will be twenty of them, and what's more amazing is they are all old school Mickey Mouse cartoons, but turned into video games!
  • Also of note; we FINALLY see Hayner, Pence and Olette again! Their new outfits look great and keep up with Nomura's new plaid kick.
• Wreck-It Ralph game-jumps from his own game to the world of Kingdom Hearts as a summon!
• The main theme for the Toy Story world? None other than “You Got a Friend in Me”!
• A boss fight against three giant dinosaur toys has them moving and attacking in stiff jerky bouncy ways, both because they're articulation-limited and to look like a child is playing with them. Now THAT is attention to detail!
• Hearing Woody; from the cutscenes, joining the club of saying Sora, Donald, Goofy, in the order we all remember in English finally, is incredibly satisfying.
  • Woody standing up to Young Xehanort.
• And if all of the above wasn't enough to put a smile on your face, we are all but confirmed to get a release date at E3 2018.
  • Speaking of which, we finally get one at the 2018 Orchestra event before E3: January 29, 2019.
• The E3 2018 trailer gives us the next new world to be introduced: The legendary blockbuster hit, Frozen!
  • The trailer also confirms that like Ariel, Simba - the very first summon Sora ever got - is returning.
  • Larxene is back and is the main antagonist for the Frozen world, now having her eyes on Elsa.
  • Marshmallow is a boss fight!
  • You can snowboard on top of Goofy's shield!
  • Hercules gets a chance to be a hero and save people from being crushed under rubble!
  • Gummi Ship missions are back and looking better than ever!
  • Combined with Nightmare Fuel and Tear Jerker, Xehanort successfully possessing Aqua is a big one just for how unexpected it was.
• The Sony E3 trailer brings us yet another world reveal: Captain Jack Sparrow returns! Along with his entire crew!
  • Three words: Pirate ship battles!
    • In one of the gameplay clips, Sora is able to destroy a ship with 12 bars of HP in a single volley!
    • There's apparently even underwater battles as well.
    • And Sora uses Shotlock to instantly close in and ride one of the flying Heartless as a mount.
  • Luxord is back as well!
  • The end of the trailer reveals Riku Replica is alive and well!
  • When Vanitas remarks on how he's been using his Unversed to terrify children (so as to harness their scream energy), and wrecking Monstropolis in the process, Mike is so furious that it takes Sully to hold him back from charging at the Humanoid Abomination.
  • If they didn't get Johnny Depp to return as Captain Jack Sparrow, then they got a pretty good impersonator for him.
  • The graphics for the world has also vastly improved since Kingdom Hearts II, and as such, the original characters's now are not as differently as II. In fact, they barely look any different!
• Kingdom Hearts is confirmed to have a presence at 2018 Comic Con. A pretty BIG presence by the look of it.◊
• After being announced at D23 2015, 3 years ago, the PlayStation Lineup Tour 2018 trailer finally shows off San Fransokyo! And the full version of the trailer shown off at Tokyo Game Show has even more exciting story and gameplay details!
  • While he was shown off in the release date trailer shown privately at the 2018 Orchestra event, this trailer has now publicly confirmed that Randall will be in the game!
  • Both Vexen and Demyx have returned.
  • Ansem the Wise reuniting with Ienzo.
  • Master Xehanort is finally shown confronting Sora and co.
  • You get to confront the Kraken and Davy Jones in the maelstrom battle!
  • Guys... guys... the box art.◊ It's here it's wonderful. It's beautiful.
  • We now know what one of the major boss fights is going to be: Sora versus Darkness-corrupted Aqua.
• One of the Nobodies in The Kingdom of Corona attacks Sora - he dodge rolls aside and lands right by Donald and Goofy and all three are in perfect synch. They're back, folks!
• The X018 trailer has given us more goodies:
  • Terra's Lingering Will has returned, and he's finally going to fight Terra-Xehanort again!
  • 100 Acre Wood is back again, with new puzzle minigames.
  • To cap it off, Sora and company (meaning Sora, Donald and Goofy plus Riku, Kairi, Mickey and Lea) will fight a gigantic army of Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed—from the looks of it, even bigger than in the Battle of 1000 Heartless.
  • Riku races into battle and Mickey is barely a foot fall behind him. You've screwed their lives, Xehanort, and now they are here to kick all the ass! And, don't forget, Xehanort, that Riku is deadly and Mickey is the Kingdom Hearts version of Yoda!
  • Don't forget Hayner attempting to attack Ansem from behind. Sure it's likely he'll get beaten up, but good for him!
• This. The development has wrapped. The game is locked in. It cannot be delayed. IT IS HAPPENING!
• Organization XIII? Check. The Keyblade Graveyard? Double check! XEHANORT ON A MASSIVE GODDAMN PLINTH WITH SCARY MUSIC? Triple check!
• An aspect not quite mentioned, but deserves to be brought up; the extent Square has gone to bring in the original actors for Tangled, Frozen, Hercules and Big Hero 6. And for Mr. Gibbs.
• The opening cinematic has dropped and it. is. glorious!
• The first trailer to Re:Mind released at E3 shows us the ability to play as Riku, Aqua & Roxas during the Keyblade Graveyard climax, the grand return of the Oathkeeper Keyblade and the implication that Luxord might know about the connections between Xigbar & Luxu before Xigbar implies back that there's more to Luxord than meets the eye.
  • The second Re:Mind trailer from Tokyo Game Show brings out team attacks performed by the Sea-Salt Trio and Aqua & Ven, hints towards Data Battles returning from II, the Oblivion coming back in addition to Oathkeeper, Namine playing a bigger role than in the base game and finally, THE EPIC SHOWDOWN BETWEEN TERRA-XEHANORT AND THE LINGERING WILL!
• The third trailer released in December 2019 had so many things going on that it can only be listed off.
  • The Restoration Committee returns.
  • More cutscenes centered on interactions between the heroes, including one with Riku and Aqua at the Land of Departure.
  • All the other Guardians of Light helping to fight the Xehanort copies from Scala Ad Caelum, presumably while Sora has his final battle with the real Xehanort.
  • Further confrontation between Luxord and Xigbar with the former asking why are they only looking for the box now if it's so important.
  • Demyx has more scenes, most notably one where he meets Riku following the fight against Xigbar & Dark Rku in the Keyblade Graveyard.
  • Further footage of the fights against Data-Org, this time showing the fights against Terranort, Xemnas, Dark Riku, Ansem SoD and Larxene with all new abilities.
  • Kairi visits the Final World and is FINALLY Promoted to Playable!
  • Scala Ad Caelum gets bigger and potentially becoming a fully realized world now.
  • And finally, Sora reciting the famous "I've been having these weird thoughts lately" line with another character in The Final World. That other character? YOZORA!

Gameplay

• Fittingly as the Grand Finale for the the main story arc started with the original Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts III combines some of the best gameplay elements from all the previous games to give players access to the most versatile and fluid moveset the series has seen so far.
• This game gives us Forms, which are essentially Drive forms mixed with Command styles, that usually allow you to transform your current Keyblade into a different weapon.
  • Kingdom Key and Starlight give you access to Second Form, which gives you access to your moves and special commands from previous games. If you fill the Situation Gauge, then you can cap it off with either the ever-useful Sonic Blade, or if you can fill it twice, Ars Arcanum. Or, if you're using Starlight, replace Ars Arcanum with the devastating and wide-reaching Ancient Light.
  • Hero's Origin gives you Counter Shield, which allows you to not only block attacks, but retaliate by producing a giant fist (or several, depending on how many attacks you block before using it) from the shield after the fact. And that's when you aren't just throwing it at enemies. And for the Finish Command, Sora jumps in a chariot pulled by a glowing Pegasus to rain down electric wrath from above. Grand Chef does the same thing, only with massive gouts of flame and a Frying Pan of Doom for the Finish Command.
  • Shooting Star grants you Double Arrowguns, an unholy combination of Wisdom Form and Xigbar's guns that lets you float around and unload magic projectiles into everyone around you when you aren't just freefiring. And if you do well enough, you can turn the Keyblade into a massive bazooka known as the Magic Launcher. The Finish Command involves lots of Stuff Blowing Up. Hunny Spout does the same thing, only replace "magic projectiles" with "globs of sticky honey".
  • Favorite Deputy gives you Hyper Hammer, an absolutely massive hammer capable of cracking the ground with its strikes. And doing well enough lets you turn it into the Drill Punch, perfect for rapidly doling out hits, or slamming a claw all around as the Finish Command. Classic Tone has the same weapons, but with a Finish Command of Sora damaging enemies by using the drill to turn the hands of a spontaneously-appearing giant clock.
  • Ever After gives you access to the Mirage Staff. Powerful enough by itself, but with every dodge, Sora leaves behind a clone. And with his next attack after that, he and up to three clones unleash a barrage of projectiles at his current target. The Finish Command has Sora produce a massive onslaught of lasers from atop a spontaneously-produced tower.
  • Crystal Snow gives the Blizzard Claws, a pair of icy Wolverine Claws that let Sora quickly rip anything in front of him apart. Filling the Situation Gauge will let you turn them into the Blizzard Blades, a pair of blades extending from Sora's elbows that also allow him to skate around the arena gracefully dicing enemies apart. And for the Finish Command, Sora hops around producing a tower of ice that he then shatters from on high.
  • Happy Gear will give you Agile Claws, a mechanical set of claws that are fairly similar to the Blizzard Claws. But filling the Situation Gauge turns the Keyblade into the Twin Yo-Yos. These are effectively a pair of sawblades on strings that Sora can also use to zip close to enemies. The Finish Command has Sora grab an enemy and crunch them up in a set of mechanical jaws formed by the yo-yos.
  • Wheel of Fate has Highwind, which allows for far-reaching attacks by turning the Keyblade into a giant halberd. And filling the Situation Gauge turns it into Storm Flag, which lets Sora batter enemies into submission with a giant flag, with a Finish Command involving a visit from the tentacles of the Kraken.
  • Nano Gear gives Nano Arms. Can't choose a favourite Formchange? This Keyblade gives you most of them in one, morphing into various weapons and ending its combos with a huge rocket fist. And as the Finish Command, Sora dives into a portal that a horde of microbots erupt from.
  • The Ultima Weapon will grant the appropriately-named Ultimate Form. For the Infinity +1 Sword of the game, you'd expect a good Formchange, right? Well, how does becoming a one-man Storm of Blades in a new version of Final Form sound? And a Finish Command that sends lasers and Keyblades everywhere?
• The Team Attacks you can perform with the various Disney party members are not just powerful, but great fun to watch.
  • Hercules - Heroic Swing: Herc grabs Sora by the ankles and swings him in circles to clobber any Heartless unfortunate enough to be in the way. And when done, Herc flings Sora skywards, who comes back down in a huge shockwave.
  • Rapunzel and Flynn - Tangled Twist: As Rapunzel wraps Sora, Donald and Goofy in her hair, Flynn takes hold of it and swings them around in a huge circle before all three are thrown into the air, making a trio of shockwaves on landing.
  • Woody and Buzz - Rocket Ruckus: From straight out of the first movie, Woody, Buzz and Sora all mount the Big One firework and take to the skies, letting the player take control and fly freely to whack the crap out of the Heartless before finishing off by hurling the exploding rocket forwards.
  • Marshmallow - Mighty Avalanche: Sora goes for a ride atop the giant snow monster as the latter uses his claws to shred everything that gets near, finishing up by producing a circle of ice spikes around him that then shatter.
  • Sulley and Mike - Scream Strike: Sora, Donald and Goofy get together with Sulley and Mike to damage enemies with a huge roar, before Sora grabs Mike and goes bowling for Unversed.
  • Jack Sparrow - Never Fear: Sora and the good captain stand back to back and become a whirling dervish of blades, floating around and demolishing any who get close, finishing up by unleashing a hailstorm of bombs.
  • Baymax - Interceptor Wing: Sora climbs aboard Baymax's back and takes off, getting to either make use of Baymax's martial arts moves, or rapid fire energy blasts from his Keyblade, ending it by having Baymax charge forward, unleashing a flying barrage on anyone he hits.

Main Game

• The entire "Let It Go" sequence is a pitch perfect recreation of the scene from Frozen, and it's all rendered in engine. The fact that the game can be on par with a big budget film without having to pre-render the scene is truly a herculean feat of technical engineering. They didn't just recreate the scene frame by frame, they fixed the infamous animation error of Elsa's hair clipping through her arm.
• On the subject of Arendelle, all of your options are rendered moot (Anna and Kristoff aren't fighters, the former's heart is frozen, Olaf's too easily taken apart, Elsa's reluctant to fight and has been detained by Hans, and Sven is a reindeer). So who ends up joining the party? MARSHMALLOW, who only recently lost fights against Sora and (presumably, based on the movie's events) Hans, struts on over to Arendelle to save Elsa and ends up becoming your Guest-Star Party Member. That is Undying Loyalty.
• The two Pixar worlds in particular stand out from the crowd^note Both having had much more intensive technical and creative input from Pixar themselves, by Nomura's account and it's all to the tune of the better. Not only do both tell original stories, whereas nearly all of the Disney worlds retell their film's plot, but the Pixar worlds both have some of the most memorable moments from the supporting cast lineup^note Woody's infamous "no one ever loved you" and Sully's gut-busting "Yeetus Vanitas" but they get to contribute to the greater story. Young Xehanort comes to the Toy Box because the way empty toys take on hearts via connections is essential to completing their work on the replicas^note Ends up being how Roxas comes back, by the by, and Monsters Inc.'s previous work in extracting Scream from children is key to reviving Vanitas.
  • To make things even better, the Toy Box actually foreshadows what's to come in the series by way of Verum Rex.
• Just as Donald and Goofy are defeated and Vanitas is about to take Ven’s heart, Sulley comes in to pick him up and throw him in a door. Then he throws that door through another, and repeats half a dozen times that ends with shredding the last one. Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?
  • It can't be overstated how awe-inspiring the moment is. Before tossing Vanitas through the first door, Sulley shows off just why he was the top-scoring scarer back in the day, roaring with such ferocity that Vanitas drops his Keyblade out of sheer terror. You heard right: Sulley made a tough as nails warrior who is literally negative emotion incarnate feel overwhelming fear.
    Sulley: Made you look.
• The very first moment when Hercules joins you alone is badass enough, yet there is something else much more awesome about seeing four characters in your party at once.
  • Hercules can throw a building-sized statue across the city and walk out of a fallen building without a scratch, though him punching Hades in the face is probably his best moment.
• When Xigbar arrives to mock Sora and Hercules’s altruism, Hercules has none of it and tells off the veteran Organization member, still proud of nearly giving his life to save Meg’s. He probably only has limited knowledge of who the Organization is, but he recognizes Xigbar for what he is (so to speak) and immediately stands up to him. For a franchise where the Disney-original character interactions are becoming more and more sparse, this confrontation is all the more sweet.
  • Xigbar actually counters with an Armor-Piercing Response, pointing out that Hercules puts a lot of faith in his natural advantage being a god, and that jumping into danger to save someone usually means you need to be saved in turn. Xigbar’s character report later has him condescendingly refer to Hercules - showing just how powerful Luxu must be if he’s talking down to a literal god.
    • For Hercules’s credit, once Xigbar leaves, he assures Sora they’ll keep going and ensure their sacrifices haven’t been in vain, no matter what their enemies say.
• Upon Maleficent and Pete’s arrival in Olympus, Hades is completely unimpressed, and calls them out for how none of their previous attempts at universal domination ever worked out or benefitted him. He then shoos them out, insisting he’s cutting his losses and going back to his original plan, knowing a sinking ship when he sees one. And Maleficent is completely unperturbed, as if to acknowledge her past failures, and instead politely asks for information on the Black Box, knowing that playing the long game will be worth more than trying to rally another Legion of Doom that will probably fall to Sora again.
• Ascending Mount Olympus in one continuous location, with no having to change rooms, is a remarkable and stunning achievement for the series. In past games due to technical limitations, Olympus likely would’ve been broken up into three rooms or so with loadtimes between each one. Olympus is one big location until you enter the Realm of the Gods!
  • Towards the top, the Rock Titan attacks, and you have your first major Disney Villain Boss of the game. The behemoth is massive and powerful, and while he’s still not that difficult, especially since he’s fought so early in the game, he’s not the mostly static boss he was in the first game, either. He even gets back up from falling down the mountain and makes his way up to Olympus by himself!
  • The clash with the rest of the Titans. In the first stage you’re fighting the Ice and Lava Titans with the occasional assist from the Tornado Titan. Pay close attention, and you can see the Ice Titan (which just like the Rock Titan is far larger than in any previous game) using the same moves he used in his past appearances, albeit on a more palatable level. The Lava Titan also makes a good show in his debut appearance, often able to keep you away from the spire where Zeus is imprisoned due to his constant barrage of lava.
  • The final phase is facing off with the Tornado Titan. He picks up the slack for having sat out the series until now, as due to his speed and high level of mobility, he’s definitely the Final Boss of the Titans for a reason. He shoots debris at you from his hands, can quickly zoom away from you, and assaults you with matter from his downed cohorts, siphoning lava and ice from them and weaponizing their very bodies against you.
  • To top it all off, all four Titans get back up from their beatings unfazed and ready to keep going. Herc answers this by freeing Zeus, who like in the film, sends the Titans scurrying for their lives after tasting a bit of Zeus’s lightning. Not having this, Herc grabs the Tornado Titan, uses him to vacuum up the other Titans, and flings them all into the cosmos, where they spectacularly explode. All in all, it was worth the wait to get this showdown adapted for the series.
• It’s small, but Buzz’s Armor-Piercing Response to Woody when he says every toy deserves a fair shot (referring to Sora and company) - “tell that to that toy over there”, pointing at the Gigas toy they just attacked. Woody has to pause and think about this.
• Woody's verbal beatdown of Young Xehanort before the boss battle in Toy Box, claiming Xehanort is "hollower than any toy". It's clear Xehanort's speech has gotten to Sora (he recoils and looks upset) when Woody puts a hand on Sora's shoulder, steps in front of him protectively, and SHUTS XEHANORT DOWN. Woody tells him he doesn't care what Xehanort's saying and to fix Buzz and get lost. When Xehanort dismisses him for being a toy, Woody acknowledges that he's a toy, and that he's also a friend. He then begins to advance on Xehanort, saying that no one must have ever loved Xehanort before, because he knows nothing about love and hearts. And when Woody steps forward, the darkness surrounding them pulls away from him. Xehanort is actually taken aback, and finally gets off his ass to confront them by hand.
  Woody: Whatever you're talking about, I don't care. Put Buzz back the way he was and get lost!
  Young Xehanort: Or else what, toy?
  Woody: Yeah. I am a toy. And a friend. My guess is no one's ever loved you before. Because you know nothing about hearts and love!
  • This may be Jim Hanks' all-time best performance as Woody. Proof that he's not just in the cast because his voice sounds a lot like his brother's.
  • A blink and you miss it moment; the foot Woody steps with is the one that has Andy's name on it. Even when he's not there, Andy's love for the toys shines through.
• The climactic battles against the "Grim Guardianess" and "Sköll", the Heartless of Mother Gothel and Hans Westergaard, respectively, are awe-inspiring battles that cap off their respective worlds with a bang. Both involve taking on each world's respective main baddie in the form of especially huge and frightening Heartless. Gothel becomes an enormous plant-based Gorgon creature, assailing you with seed-bombs, toxic pollen, and stabbing vines, and at some points it climbs up Rapunzel's Tower and you get to free-run up the tower after it, knock it back down, and hit it with a diving strike for massive damage. Hans, meanwhile, becomes a huge ghostly/demonic wolf called Sköll that hits like a speeding truck, soaks up hits like a sponge, and moves & attacks in the blink of an eye, summons entire packs of ghostly wolf packmates, and for a desperation move can summon a titanic orb of darkness big enough to blot out the sky, and if you don't build up charge and reaction-command it in time, it's instant death for you. And, of course, these two epic bosses share a powerful new battle soundtrack that perfectly conveys the power, fright, and emotional impact of the battles.
• Aqua fights Ansem unarmed in the Realm of Darkness in an attempt to protect Ansem the Wise. Although she loses after falling into the abyss, she manages to land not one but two dropkicks on him.
  Ansem: Where's your Keyblade?
  Aqua: Don't need it!
• A bit of Fridge Awesome, but the Caribbean world is already awesome enough for transitioning to being a mini-Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag in that you get to pilot a ship (The Leviathan) around a small section of the open waters. How do you learn the ship controls in this game? From Jack Sparrow after escaping Davy Jones' Locker. Before you land on another island. Longtime Pirates of the Caribbean fans...let that sink in for a moment. That's right: You get. To pilot. THE BLACK FUCKING PEARL.
  • And as if THAT wasn't awesome enough, you UNLOCK the Black Pearl for your own use after fully leveling up the Leviathan! Although it actually has fewer cannons than the Leviathan does by the time you get it, and none of them are at the front of the ship.
    • Towards the end of The Caribbean, Luxord tries to invoke Parley again. Jack ain't having it, and just breathes on him before Luxy can finish saying the word, knocking Luxord into the maelstrom.
    • The final fight of The Caribbean is Davy Jones. And it is very satisfying, including a fight with him, the Flying Dutchman, and a zombified Kraken.
    • When Sora sees Davy Jones stab Will, he (as well as Donald and Goofy) gets so angry he tackles Davy Jones, jumps on his back and punches him in the back of the head. Yes, you read that right. He got so pissed that he forgets he's in a kid's game, and fucking punches Davy Jones in the back of the head with his own two God-given fists. It's genuinely jarring for the Kingdom Hearts series to reach this level of physical violence, something it normally shies away from explicitly showing.
• After Pence distracts Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, Olette is able to rescue Ansem the Wise from under his nose.
• All of Sora's interactions with the cast of Big Hero 6. Not only does Sora strike up a fast friendship with the superheroes, but they actually take an interest in the Keyblade and what it can do, using it to develop their own powers in new ways based on the skills Sora demonstrates. The plot of the world itself develops naturally as a sequel to the film and leads to several visually spectacular boss fights. Appropriately, the Keyblade Sora gets from this world is one of the flashiest the game has to offer, with its unique transformation combining all the best aspects of all the previous transformations.
  • Notably as well, after spending majority of the game being the butt of the joke up to this point, the story of this world actually portrays Sora as The Ace completely straight.
  • Not to mention that music from Olympus plays a bit here. Sora's heroism is not limited to one world.
• While facing off against Anti-Aqua, Riku gets a pretty spectacular one-liner (which also doubles as a funny moment for how jarring it is).
  Anti-Aqua: All that's left in my heart is misery and despair...and now, you can share it!
  [long, dramatic Beat]
  Riku: There's no need. Got my own.
• While controlling Riku you get a rematch with the Demon Tide, only this time it's being backed up by Anti-Aqua. You can reduce the boss to 1 HP, but in order to end the fight you have to use the command provided. What's the command called? "Sora". And sure enough, activating it causes Sora to air drop in through a door of light and help Riku finish off the Demon Pillar using the same Combination Attack they had access to at the end of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance].
• Aqua's battle with Vanitas in The Land of Departure. It's been over ten years since she's been in the Realm of Light, and in trying to rescue her friend she comes across one of the same monstrous villains that caused her and her friends so much grief so many years ago. The emotion and catharsis he is incredibly palpable. You play as Aqua in this fight, complete with an epic rendition of "Enter The Darkness".
  • In addition, let's not forget that she's only recently recovered her corruption and subsequent battle with Sora and is likely in no condition to fight. And yet she still fights Vanitas, only losing when he forces her into Taking the Bullet for Ventus, who gets one of his own upon awakening.
• The entire Keyblade Graveyard finale.
  • The World kicks off with a bang, by throwing you into a massive Multi-Mook Melee, similar to the 1000 Heartless Battle from Kingdom Hearts II, only this time, not only are there giant Heartless among the small fry, but the Nobodies and some of the Unversed want a piece of you too. It becomes such an insurmountable melee, that Sora, Donald, and Goofy summon, for the second time in the game summon Mountain Coaster^note formerly known as Big Magic Mountain in the early trailers to mow down the titanic horde.
  • "Zettaflare!" - cue the ear splintering, Earth shattering, bone rattling Kaboom, and Donald literally burning out his life energy to save his friends and using a spell so powerful that it singlehandedly makes Terra-Xehanort helpless against it (and considering the "Game Over" pose he makes before he fades into the beam, it might have killed him). Unfortunately, he passes out from the strain and is useless against the giant wave of Heartless that follows. Still, Lingering Will’s own Wave-Motion Gun just sends him flying, and they need to continue the duel off screen. Donald one shot the final boss of Birth By Sleep!
    • This needs to be elaborated even more. When Terra-Xehanort starts fighting he knocks out Ventus immediately, disarms Sora, knocks out Lea who was protecting Kairi. The only person able to even stop him is Goofy and the two of them knock each other back. Throughout this entire scene everyone else is either staring in disbelief or useless, maybe Cutscene Incompetence or stuff happening too fast. Not Donald, the second Terra-Xehanort is disabled by Goofy he brings out the biggest spell he's got and ends it. Scrooge would be proud, you Bad Ass Duck.
    • Even more impressive? Scrooge raised Donald and Donald has a furious temper... which he has learned how to weaponize! Scrooge McDuck really can do anything - he managed to get Donald to channel his anger instead of letting it run rampant!
    • And if the above wasn't enough awesome, Zettaflare is one of the most powerful spells in the entire Final Fantasy series, both in gameplay (being a spell capable of easily party-wiping you if you're unprepared), and in the lore. However, despite its existence in FF's lore, it has only been used once in the entire series, and it was from a Final Boss that was superpowered and in their final form. And Donald cast it without any sort of outside power increasing his own, even if casting it made him pass out from the strain. This means that, as funny as it sounds, Donald Fauntleroy Duck is currently, and canonically, the most powerful red mage in all of Square Enix's games. "I am the storm", indeed.
    • Even more epic? This spell is more powerful than the spell that effectively destroyed an entire region and even destroyed the game that housed said region.
    • Goofy's reaction to the above also implies that Donald's done it before.
    • Mickey's reaction implies he's never seen Donald do it before. One can't help but wonder just what Donald and Goofy have been up too in their many years of life.
    • Even better? He and Goofy are working in synch; Goofy knocks Terranort off balance and into the air and is out of the way of Donald's attack due to recoil... and then Donald obliterates Terranort. And, just to top it off, when we see the symbol appear on the floor, Sora and Kairi are inside it. Donald is so sufficient at controlling his rage that his best friend was completely unharmed...
    • Goofy deserves some recognition in this scene too. Donald may have had the big spell but while the rest of the party was being physically one-shot by Terranort's overwhelming strength and speed, Goofy just jumps in and parries him effortlessly, his most impressive shielding feat since defending Sora from Riku in Hollow Bastion back in Kingdom Hearts. Terranort is probably the physically strongest of all the bosses, and Goofy just hops in ready to match his power while all these bonafide Keyblade masters are dazed and confused.
  • Ephemer sending the keyblades of the dead keyblade wielders of the past to help Sora. What's more if people who completed the contest of Union X that lets you get your username in the game, the usernames and the union they belong to, at the point of time when they played the contest, appears in the situation commands. Luckily it's different for Japanese and Global versions of both games, since they are separate, so the players still get their names of either or both, depending if the person plays both versions of Kingdom Hearts 3.
    • It's even more awesome if your name - either your username or your real life name - appears in the list. A surprising number of the names, despite being obvious internet usernames, are common first names like Alex, Jay, Tony, Katie, or Jen.
  • Before that, Sora single handedly charging a tornado of Heartless the size of a mountain. Suicidal Overconfidence? Maybe, but a far cry from his Heroic BSoD last time. And it’s implied that his Heroic Spirit is what summoned Ephemer in the first place.
  • Thanks to Namine's help from the final world, Lingering Will swoops in to clash with Terra-Xehanort, Save Ventus and other guardians from him. When Terra-Xehanort is finally aware who Lingering Will is, he can only utter "This is Impossible!". Terra's Lingering Will fights Terra-Xehanort in the cutscene, complete with his signature Whip Key-Transformation, before pushing him to the point where Terra-Xehanort is forced to flee after hitting him directly with his Ultima Cannon Key-Transformation. Also, he talks for the first time. All this while "Rage Awakened" is played.
  • Yen Sid does not normally get out of his chair, but when he does, he's dangerous. This game, we see why he remains in the chair as he shows us what happens when he gets out of said chair. He holds back a massive swarm of Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed by himself. Then he, Donald and Goofy hold them off while the others go fight the Xehanorts. Though Yen Sid has to resend his magical barriers to hold back the horde, and insists the Guardians hurry, he doesn’t show any true strain in holding them off. The retired Keyblade Master can part the sea with just a wave of his two hands!
    • Mickey survived training under this man. Explains why he's so powerful - Yen Sid can do that when he's angry. Would you defy him? I wouldn't, but Mickey has and he's still alive...
  • After nearly two decades out of universe and a decade of suffering and misery In-Universe, the moment when, at the crossroads of the Keyblade Graveyard, the Guardians of Light and the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness face each other. Sora sees the large group of foes appear on the horizon, and they walk in a perfect wedge formation, with Master Xehanort at the back and center of the group, and a hooded Xemnas and Ansem at his left and right. Master Xehanort makes no bones about what they are about to do, acknowledging that their clash will go down in history and openly declares the start of the Keyblade War. He then plunges No Name into the ground, creating a massive labyrinth of earth for the battle.
  • Having to fight through all of Xehanort's incarnations, and not one by one, but in groups. It's as difficult and high-tension as it sounds, but it brings about pure cathartic vengeance for all the times they were That One Boss, as you finally put them in the ground for good.
  • Mickey is found facing off with Luxord, Larxene, Marluxia, and Xemnas himself, and not appearing to be in any trouble when you first find him!
  • Kairi and Lea managing to hold their own against Saix and Xion until Sora arrives. The two of them have only started training with Keyblades (in a controlled environment, no less) and now they're facing against two hardened fighters, one of whom has been a Keyblade wielder for as long as she has lived. Kairi, especially, as she never received combat training before III and has only been in a battle once previously, while Lea at least has plenty of experiences during his time in the Organization XIII.
    • Seeing Kairi fight alongside Sora, complete with HP and MP bars. The fight gets cut short early and Kairi resumes being a Damsel in Distress, but it's still mildly awesome seeing her actually be in a (playable) battle after more than 16 years as an NPC.
  • It's revealed that one of the True Organization XIII members is none other than Xion. She stops Xemnas from killing Lea by grabbing his Ethereal Blade with her bare hands, while still under the Organization's control. Thankfully, with the help of Sora, she manages to break free from their hold. And just as Xemnas is about to kill her and Lea, who comes to save the two of them? Roxas. Who beams down from the sky and saves his two best friends while "The Other Promise" plays in the background. Then, Sora, Roxas and Xion get to go to town on Saix. On that note, your presence is only required to deal the finishing blow to Saix, as Roxas will beat the crap out of him for you with incredible ease, flash-stepping everywhere on the battlefield and delivering a continuous barrage of attacks that will melt Saix's very big health points bar in no time. Special mention goes to Lea, who tried to stop Xemnas from killing Xion, despite deep injuries Xemnas had given him, which bought precious seconds Xion needed. And before said injuries, giving Xemnas the verbal middle-finger when for all he knew he was going to die.
    Xemnas: There was a time when I trusted you to deal with traitors. And now, your betrayal outstrips them all. What final words do you have for your superior?
    Lea: Well, let me think about it. How about, "You were never my superior."
    Xemnas: Ah, ever the rogue pawn. Knocked from the board early in the game. Utterly useless and forgotten.
    Lea: You kidding? Do you know how popular I am? I got loads of people rootin' for me. Sorry boss, no one axes Axel. Got it memorized?
    • Roxas and Xion returning deserves special mention: one is Sora's Nobody and the other is crafted through Sora's memories. Saix is standing up against three Soras. No wonder this turned into a total Curb-Stomp Battle!
  • Terra-Xehanort manages to chain Sora, Aqua and Ventus, using the bonds Terra had with them to make the chains unbreakable. When he drops Aqua and Ventus to kill them, The Heartless Guardian swoops in, and catch them before they fall, while Terra's theme starts to play. He breaks the chains like nothing, and procceds to put Aqua and Ven gently down on the ground, before facing Terra-Xehanort with a Death Glare. Terra-Xehanort can only ask in utter horror "HOW?! You fell to the dar-" before The Guardian grabs him, then rips off the bindings on his face, and starts to finally speak "One day... I... will... set... this... right...", the last speech of the Lingering Will in Birth By Sleep, showing that Terra's heart is inside of the Guardian. With Sora's help, Terra's heart and mind finally return to his body removing the Xehanort part inside of him once and for all.
  • The penultimate fight before dealing with Xehanort. You're dealing with Ansem, Xemnas, and Young Xehanort at the same time. Two final bosses and one Climax Boss. And at your side is Riku and Mickey, providing all the assistance they can to keep them from kicking Sora's butt. It also shows how far the gang's come, having barely held their own against these incarnations in the past, but now being able to go toe-to-toe with them with little issue.
    • Ansem, Seeker of Darkness is deprived of his Guardian. Thus, he decides to use attacks that he previously used as part of The World of Chaos, his strongest form in the first game, and uses them very creatively.
    • Just seeing the sight of the three strongest Guardians of Light being confronted by Xemnas, Ansem, and Young Xehanort, who clearly have been saved for last by Master Xehanort given how the former two exited the fights they were aiding in previously. You’re facing off with the lions of the Thirteen Darknesses, and it’s a long, grueling fight indeed.
    • Whenever Master Xehanort, who is observing the battle from his perch (which itself is a pretty awesome detail), summons the storms of Keyblades, his three henchmen attack you, one after the other. Young Xehanort declares “that's checkmate!”, Xemnas mockingly asks if you’re ready, and Ansem gets some truly awesome evil laughter in. This triple attack is damn near impossible to avoid.
    • Riku and King Mickey are arguably the most competent guest party members you get besides Roxas and Xion. Riku’s Dark Firaga can ferociously deplete the Xehanort’s health, and Mickey proves to be a much more competent healer than Donald has ever been as he routinely keeps you and Riku’s health in check. Their AI is also to be commended as not just practical but cool, as when you lock onto a single foe, they usually end up targeting another one, making it really look like you’re all taking on one each.
    • Young Xehanort also gets one when he's defeated; instead of having a tragic, heartfelt moment like the others, he's perfectly content with continuing his plans in the past and just leaves while verbally flipping the trio off. Give the man points for tenacity.
    • It’s small, but Xemnas finally offers praise to Sora, acknowledging that he is much stronger than him for being able to withstand the pains of having a heart.
    • Ansem, the first major villain Sora and Riku faced, also congratulates the latter (and the former by extension) for having grown far stronger than his darkness. He also genuinely wishes them well and instructs them to move on with their lives and seek new things after he dies.
    • And all the while you're fighting, the most incredible arrangement of their three final boss themes "Forza Finale" plays in the background, which truly adds a layer of awe and tension.
  • The final battle that was 17 years in the making... Sora, Donald and Goofy vs. Master Xehanort. It has all come down to this.
    • Before the battle proper, there should be special mention for where it's being fought—Scala ad Caelum. The seat of power for all Keyblade wielders. The nexus from which all worlds spawn from. And it's absolutely beautiful.
    • Before you fight Xehanort though, you need to fight against the replicas of the remaining Organization XIII members. At the same time. Thankfully, each of those enemies all share the same health meter, so taking just one of them out is all it takes to defeat them all.
    • After that, Xehanort absorbs the replicas of the Organization members and dons his very own demonic-looking Keyblade Armor. And then he begins screwing with Sora and his party by warping the battleground like he's Doctor Strange.
    • After taking enough damage, Xehanort decides to alter the battlefield again by forcing Sora's party underwater, leading to the final underwater battle of the game. Eagle-eyed Kingdom Hearts players may notice some familiar-looking ruins in the background... that's Daybreak Town from Kingdom Hearts χ!
    • Next, Sora and Xehanort shift the battle to the air, only now the backdrop of Scala as Caelum is in ruins. During this phase, Xehanort can actually absorb the floating debris for a huge energy blast! After this phase, Sora finally destroys Xehanort's armor.
    • After Xehanort retreats, Sora follows suit by doing some impressive parkour on Scala ad Caelum's walls. He manages to catch up with Xehanort on the top of the main tower. Sora summons his Keyblade, ready to finally defeat him for good. Xehanort's response? Summon the freaking χ-blade and say a familiar line...
      Master Xehanort: There is one sky, one destiny!
    • As Sora and Xehanort fight it out in hectic three-on-one match, Xehanort levitates the tower surface and fully summons Kingdom Hearts. And that's where the final phase takes place—beneath the watchful gaze of Kingdom Hearts beneath a clear sky!
    • And then, as Xehanort nears the end of HP, he extracts the light from Sora's body, forcibly transforming him into his Rage form. And them he uses that light against you by casting multitudes of light pillars! After he endure Xehanort's attacks, Rage Sora unleashes a direct flurry of attacks, which leads to the beautiful image of Kingdom Hearts behind him as he finally gains his light back.
    • Afterwards, Xehanort goes and unleashes his Desperation Attack. As the backdrop becomes murky, the thrones of Organization XIII are summoned, and shades of Xehanort all rush attack Sora. You'll need to stay on your toes if you want to survive this chaotic assault.
    • After that, after all of Xehanort's health bars are depleted, he decides to unleash his Last Resort: transforming Kingdom Hearts into darkness. He then strikes Sora with a beam of pure darkness, and despite Sora's efforts at defending himself, he's struck down...
    • As the game transitions to the Continue screen, Donald and Goofy call out to Sora, and a brand-new Situation Command appears on screen: Trinity.
    • Sora returns from the brink of death, and with the help of Donald and Goofy, manages to repel Xehanort's beam with their own beam of light (bonus points for the Crown emblem manifesting below them), instantly overpowering Xehanort and finally taking him down.
    • The fact that Donald and Goofy fight alongside Sora through the entire Xehanort fight (sans for a very brief moment towards the end of the second phase) instead of being subjected to Shoo Out the Clowns again. This is especially sweet if you take into account the fact that they were Demoted to Extra for most of the saga, excluding the main trilogy.
    • And all the while, the final boss theme: "Dark Domination" is playing. At first you might think it's just a medley of "Guardando Nel Buio", the final boss theme of Kingdom Hearts and "Rage Awakened", a theme mostly attributed to the Lingering Will. So why is this song so appropriate? Because not only does it invoke the nostalgia of when Sora first defeated Xehanort-as-Ansem in the first game, but "Rage Awakened" has always been about pure, undiluted anger towards this one man. Even before we knew his full crimes, players knew this song was devoted towards unrelenting rage and hatred towards this one man: Xehanort. And here he is, the final battle to stop him once and for all. And he just killed Kairi not just a few moments ago. To say that Sora wouldn't be feeling the same way would not be a long shot.
    • Perhaps to rival this epic Final Boss fight is the entirety of what occurs afterwards: Master Eraqus's return:
    • After Master Xehanort is defeated, Terra suddenly walks up to Master Xehanort and gives the former a personal Wham Line that ACTUALLY has Xehanort of all people an complete Oh, Crap! look, knowing EXACTLY what this means and what's about to entail.
      Terra: ...There's more to light than meets the eye. As I told you.
      Master Xehanort: You sly fox.
    • Eraqus then follows this up by appealing to Master Xehanort's capacity to do what is the right thing for once and actually give up the x-blade he's spent so long and arranged so much to occur in order to properly forge...and he succeeds! That's right: this is the guy who is Hated by All and practically everyone in the setting rightfully thinks is Beyond Redemption and Master Eraqus gets him finally stop once and for all by actually believing in Xehanort's better nature.
      Eraqus: Enough. Checkmate.
    • Master Eraqus finally caps off his presence in the Kingdom Hearts universe by seeing off Terra, Aqua, and Ventus and taking responsibily for his part in the suffering they have had to endure for ten years. In a huge contrast to Master Xehanort's huge Kick the Dog and Never My Fault moment back in 3D, Eraqus does not for a single moment try to deflect any blame for the huge mess his Knight Templar and Poor Communication Kills additude made and makes it clear that he's knows and fully accepts the mistakes he has made, and in doing so, gave his students the closure they need to move and do better in the future AND showcase he's a bigger person than Xehanort will ever be. How can one say this man hasn't Earned His Happy Ending at this point?!
• Riku is utterly awesome during the battle, understated though it may be. During the battle in the Keyblade Graveyard he is the only guardian to meet the heartless swarm (that sends Sora to the Final World and tears the rest of the Guardian's (sans Kairi) hearts from their bodies) head on. He also pulls Sora out of despair, stops Mickey from casting a spell that would drain him too much to continue the fight later on and explains the plan to defeat Xehanort to the others. In many ways Riku is LEADING the guardians. Not bad for the youngest known Keyblade Master in the series.
  • When facing off with the final four Xehanort’s, Riku steps up when Sora is beginning to become upset over Kairi’s abduction. He acknowledges that Master Xehanort has a very real chance of achieving his goal, but vows that the Guardians of Light will not take it lying down and will undo his victory as they already done in the past.
    Riku: If you do summon Kingdom Hearts, we will defeat you, and we will close it again.
• May we mention Even and his acting skills? He fooled just about EVERYONE into thinking he honestly cared more about his experiments than atonement by pretending to be Vexen, and using that to make proper, working bodies for Nobodies that have gained Hearts of their own. He's one hell of a good guy.
  • Even better, when Roxas comes onto the scene and explains how he came back, Xemnas correctly deduces that Ienzo and Ansem the Wise were behind it. Who doesn't he mention? VEXEN! Even when it's being spelled out for him, Xemnas doesn't suspect Vexen's betrayal for a second!
• For a corresponding villainous example of the previous example, there's Xigbar, otherwise known as Luxu. The reveal of his identity in the Epilogue is utterly chilling, and the fact that he's managed to play Master Xehanort like a fiddle for over a decade drives home just how skilled a manipulator he really is under all that snark. The best part? Even though Xehanort was defeated, Luxu still got exactly what he wanted; no matter what happened, he knew that the Second Keyblade War would occur, allowing him to summon back the Foretellers as planned, perfectly setting him up to take the stage as the Big Bad for the next game.
  • The moment in which Luxu's identity is revealed in the Epilogue deserves mention, serving both as a final stinger for the Xehanort Arc and the beginning of whatever comes next:
    Ira: Did you summon us back?
    Luxu: Yep.
    Ira: [looks at the No Name Keyblade] Is that you, Luxu? You look different.
    Luxu: [removing his hood to reveal Xigbar's face] Haven't heard that name in a long while.
• By the end of its launch week alone, the game sold over five million copies worldwide.^note Just for reference, that's about double the overall sales of Kingdom Hearts II. It now holds the title of the fastest selling game in the series. After the Troubled Production the game went through, it is almost cathartic.
  • This remarkable achievement in turn fueled the fandom's hopes that the higher-ups of Square Enix would start paying much more attention to the Kingdom Hearts series.
• Demyx gets a minor one. After being "benched" in favor of a replica, he's mocked by the other three original Organization XIII members. But Vexen asks for his help and so Demyx ends up being the one to not only bring Ansem back to Radiant Garden but get a replica to Ienzo to use for Roxas, which makes it possible for Roxas's own moment of awesome later.
• The Dark Inferno battle. After tearing through the other Battle Gates and obtaining the Secret Reports, you have one last foe to fight: a Heartless with a Scarf of Asskicking that dual-wields BFSes that Sora has to fight by his lonesome. You'll have to use every attack at your disposal to beat him, appropriately using your preferred Keyblade's Formchange, any spells you have at your disposal, and the ever-swift Rage Form when your health is low. Let's just say that a Kupo Coin is practically mandatory for this fight, and beating it will make you feel like a badass.
• Maleficent and Pete spend the entire game searching for a box and not really fighting the heroes... in the epilogue we see that they have found that box. The gruesome twosome are back in business and, this time, it seems they may be with us, at least as far as stopping the Foretellers goes anyway. Perhaps Maleficent's channelling her other self?
  • Speaking of Maleficent and Pete - in Twilight Town, Pete mentions "every box we've found" implying that the reason that the Organization have had such a hard time finding the "box" is because Pete and Maleficent have beaten them to all the boxes!

Re:Mind

• The DLC kicks off with Luxord displaying a shocking amount of Awesomeness by Analysis and completely cornering Xigbar verbally; in which he points out the suspiciousness of the "order" to find the Black Box passed down by Xigbar to him, quickly deduces that it was from Xigbar himself and not their superiors, accurately guesses that Xigbar's only interested in it now because he doesn't want it to fall into Pete and Maleficent's hands, and therefore it must mean a lot to him. He then completely cuts through Xigbar's attempts to weasel out of the conversation, and directly says to his face that he believes Xigbar is more than he seems to be, outright asking "Who ARE you, Xigbar?". But right when it seems he might figure out who Xigbar really is, he then turns around and smugly says that the answer doesn't matter, and that he's fine playing ignorant, before leaving. It's downright cathartic seeing Smug Snake and Manipulative Bastard Xigbar look absolutely nettled when Luxord leaves, fuming at how he was so easily seen through.
  • The audacity Luxord had to simply outright ask Xemnas about the supposed mission to find the Black Box. As much of a Bad Boss as Xemnas is, it took some balls of Luxord to go right to him and ask about what was ultimately, from Xemnas’s perspective, a waste of time he wasn’t aware of.
  • The way Xigbar flails when Luxord catches him in his lies is amazing. After having said the “guiding key” mantra to Maleficent and Pete in his natural, stern voice, Xigbar tries to dial it back to his exaggerated, lazy persona, but Luxord is having none of it. The glare he gives during the close-up shot as he smells Xigbar’s bullshit out is magnificent.
• Tragically, Master Xehanort lost another voice actor as Rutger Hauer passed away soon after the release of the main game. Who takes his place for this DLC? Another legendary sci-fi actor: Christopher Lloyd of Back to the Future fame! And to make this casting choice even more awesome, this ain't his first rodeo as the villain in a big Disney crossover event!
  • Even better, the casting of ol' Doc Brown somehow restores Tetsuya Nomura's intention to have Eraqus and Xehanort represent Star Wars and Star Trek, respectively, by casting a major Trek movie villain. Fittingly, it's Kruge, the villain of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock^note Fitting, because it's the movie where Leonard Nimoy properly returned to the franchise after Wrath of Khan was meant to be his last outing before he changed his mind!
• Everything with the Data battles against the True Organization XIII in Limitcut. The members are reconstructed, stronger than ever, to fight Sora one final time.
  • It's unanimously agreed that the Data Battles are much harder than the Data Organization XIII of Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix. Since the Re:Mind DLC has been confirmed to be the last update to this game, it seems that they have decided to go all out to provide challenge.
  • You have to beat the available Data battles before you can face Xion. And truthfully, she is one of the hardest to face, which is saying something, considering how difficult the previous Data Battles were. And yet she wields nothing more than...a Kingdom Key (granted, what makes her a nightmare is that she spams ridiculous amount of magic and is a terrifying speed demon, but still, she wields a single freaking Kingdom Key).
  • Data Master Xehanort also kicks things up a notch by using the same Formchange systems as Sora and Lingering Will, With χ-blade in he can, he is able to create gigantic orbital cannons, Fuuma Shuriken that spams lasers, and spinning bombs along with creating a Double Weapon and a whip. Also, he uses the light of Kingdom Hearts rather then Sora, as well as bring back the throne attack from his final battle.
  • The best part? According to Nomura, this is what they were supposed to be like in the story. Story mode has weaker versions so it can be played through with relative ease (or just with ease if you're not playing Critical Mode), whereas these fights were what it was like for Sora. He fought these grueling battles against several of them at once, and came out on top.
• Re:Mind also finally reintroduces two iconic Keyblades, Oathkeeper (unlocked by finding all 90 Lucky Emblems) and Oblivion (unlocked by beating Critical Mode). Each has their respective Formchanges in Light Form and Dark Form, but if you fill up the Form Gauge in either, you'll get a second Formchange: Double Form. That's right; As if to channel Roxas himself, Sora can use both of these Keyblades at the same time, to deliver some truly spectacular combos.
• Sora pulling a Big Damn Heroes and saving the Lingering Will from Terranort. When their opponent asks how he could possibly be there when Sora is supposed to be dealing with the demon tide, Sora boasts that Xehanort isn’t the only one who can time travel. While Sora does get cast into darkness in the end, it continues his grand tradition of flipping the bird to obscenely powerful enemies.
• In general, Kairi has undergone upgrades in the kickass department, it's as if the creators finally realized her rather unsavory reputation among the fanbase and took it as a sign for them to step up.
  • It turns out that Lea gets a small Heroic BSoD when he thinks that the thirteenth member of the Seekers is Roxas (actually Xion). He lets his guard down and is almost struck by Xion until Kairi steps in, out of nowhere, to block her attack with her Keyblade. She realizes that Xion is a girl and therefore, can't be Roxas, inspiring Lea to continue fighting. It's also heartwarming because it's a nice callback to when Lea stepped in to save her during the disastrous first fight against Terra-Xehanort.
  • Saïx is visibly pleased when Xion starts to remember Axel and Roxas, and takes the opportunity to egg it on, by deliberately using Roxas and Axel’s names liberally to further speed things along. Saïx manages to dupe both Axel AND Xemnas and hasten the path to Xehanort’s defeat by doing nothing but saying two names!
  • In the lead up to the additional fight with Roxas, Xion and Lea face off against Saix and Xemnas, Xemnas fends off attacks from Sora, then Xion and Roxas together, and then Kairi comes at him — however, while he was able to block the first two assaults, Kairi had swung down with enough force to break his Ethereal Blades momentarily. He spends the next few seconds frantically dodging Kairi's barrage of attacks before he has an opening to use Nothingness to lock her in place and begin sapping her energy, just to make her stop. While after the fight events play out as they originally did with Xemnas grabbing Kairi from behind and twisting her arm before absconding with her, it now has the context of her being worn down from the Nothigness power. The whole scene is a great display of just how effective Kairi is at her prime, not to mention how much brute strength and speed she has. No wonder Lea called her "the trump card".
  • She is one of the two character choices for the fight against the final enemy of Re:Mind, Armored Xehanort. We're talking about a girl who has only received a couple months of training with a strange-looking weapon, against somebody who has held the status of Master of the same weapon for 75 years. The girl wins.
    Kairi: I can do this!
    • Just think of what this must mean for Kairi. The architect of so much of pain and suffering and someone who has targeted her time and again for their warped desires is right in front of her and she can finally fight back against him and strike the villain down for all he's done. It is long overdue and delicious to watch.
    • Kairi doesn't fight alone, she stand alongside Sora to defeat the madman who has been plaguing their lives for years. After so long of having him protect her she can stand by his side and fight the good fight with him.
    • The awesomeness of the fight goes double if you factor in how difficult it is. To put it bluntly, Kairi is not an easy character to use for the fight, especially if you're playing in Critical. She's a massive Glass Cannon, exhibiting the worst characteristics of the Birth by Sleep protagonists: she has low health (Ventus) and atrocious defense (Aqua), and her speed isn't that great either (Terra). However, when she hits, she hits hard with very long combos, and she also has a Strike Raid-like attack at long range that teleports her toward Armored Xehanort; the aforementioned cons don't make her any weaker than Sora in terms of power, especially her one-lock Shotlock. Her attacks are also underscored by their beautiful animation (flowers! Also, everything is tinted pink). Difficult, but Awesome indeed.
    • There is one special attack that can be used during the fight called "One Heart". It has Kairi and Sora join hands, call on the power of light, and gives each of them an angel wing before they charge straight into Armored Xehanort before ending with a single feather showing a moment that highlights the bond between the two. Why yes they did just use the Power of Love to devastate the Big Bad.
  • Roxas, Xion, and Lea vs Xemnas and Saix also deserves mention here: not only do they get an epic combination attack, but unlike the original where Xemnas basically left of his own accord, in this case it's because they were actually winning. They successfully beat Xemnas so hard they not only force him to release Sora and Kairi, but steal his sigil back, in the process turning it from Xehanort's mark to a symbol of their friendship. This definitely makes up for Lea's poor showing in the original.
• The Guardians of Light (minus Sora and Kairi) fight all of the Xehanort Replicas high in the air above the Graveyard, each with their own finishers and several combination attacks. Riku and Terra get "Double Guard" and "Successor", Aqua and Lea have a one-two punch of ice and fire magic, and Xion and Ventus pinball their targets between one another before Roxas finishes them off with "Miracle Hour". At the same time, when the replicas try to rush the guardians all at once, they're held back by Aqua, Mickey, and Xion shielding the entire party with Reflega.
  • For bonus points, Terra redeems himself somewhat: While Riku, Lea, Roxas and Ven each hold off one of the Xehanort Replicas, Terra alternates between two by himself, ending with a sweeping finisher that hits both.
  • Riku tops this later on, drawing four of them away from the party and single-handedly parrying all of them at once when they attack in unison.
  • The crowner, though? The devs heard the fans' disappointment that the interaction between Ventus and Roxas was just the two being surprised by their similar appearance, and had them trade praises during this battle.
    Ventus: Roxas, was it? You're pretty good!
    Roxas: Yeah, well, you're not too bad yourself.
• After the Guardians fight off the replica Xehanorts, everyone except King Mickey are sucked away into keyhole portals. Sora finds his way into Mickey's heart, and you control Mickey. Even barely able to stand up and dragging himself forward, Mickey fends off all thirteen Xehanort Replicas single-handedly, while empowering, triumphant music blares. The climax comes when Sora and Mickey summon the power the destroy the Xehanorts for good, with Mickey clearing the way for Sora to reach their friends and win the day. Royals Who Actually Do Something, indeed.
  • Should Mickey get hit by the Xehanorts and get his HP reduced to 1, a prompt comes up to have Mickey get back up. And his health bar refills without Mickey casting any Cure spells. Yep, Mickey just heals himself through sheer willpower. Minnie, it seems, made a fabulous choice for a consort - he just doesn't give in!
• After Kairi's aforementioned Adaptational Badass moment against Xemnas, an completely new phase to the boss fight is added in: the Sea Salt trio vs. Xemnas and Saïx. On its face, it's a fight to rescue the incapacitated Sora and Kairi, but at the end, Roxas reveals that the three were also reclaiming something from Xemnas: their Recusant's Sigils, the mark of an Organization member and the first common thread that tied them all together.
  • They also have a unique reaction command: A combination attack called "Thinking Of You", a clear nod to the clocktower theme from Days, "At Dusk I Will Think Of You". Also doubles as a reference to the opening of her iconic letter, heard at the end of Kingdom Hearts II, and seen in the opening of Kingdom Hearts I.
• The final battle between Sora and Kairi against Master Xehanort's replica ends when all the other Guardians of Light are set free. Every single one of them pulls out their Keyblade in epic fashion and combine their power to create a blast of light that engulfs Xehanort. He struggles to resist being destroyed by it, only for Sora to give it one final push as he says "My friends...are my power!" The replica Xehanort is completely destroyed by the light, which seems to weaken the real Xehanort at the same time so that Sora, Donald and Goofy are able to defeat him.
• After finishing up Limitcut Episode, the Secret Episode with the very last fight in the game is unlocked. And it's awesome in every step.
  • For starters: the heavily hyped cutscene at the very end of the final Re:Mind trailer plays in its entirety, depicting Sora's meeting with Yozora, from the Show Within a Show Verum Rex in the Toy Box World. And, true to Kingdom Hearts fashion, it doesn't fail to blow the players' minds with new info and the fact Yozora claims he must "save Sora" before drawing his weapons at him and changing the scenery, first to Sora's Station of Awakening and then to the Shibuya seen in the Secret Ending.
  • Then the battle proper starts. And Yozora quickly makes it clear he won't pull any punches in this fight. He's a SNK Boss through and through, bringing fun new elements to the table, like: stealing Sora's Keyblade and forcing the boy to dodge for an entire minute before giving it back; mess with Sora's HP (not unlike the Anti Black Coat Nightmare; steal items from Sora's inventory; sometimes sucker punch the player by starting the fight with his Desperation Attack; and being absolutely relentless with a barrage of powerful attacks and teleporting around the arena. The best bit? If he manages to snag a Kupo Coin from Sora, when you finally defeat him, he'll return for more with half of his HP. Considering Superbosses have way more HP than anything else in the games and the sheer difficulty they bring on, that's a huge deal indeed.
  • But Wait, There's More! The Secret Episode actually has two endings, based on if you managed to win or lose against Yozora (meaning you only have a shot at him). In the bad ending, Yozora says "Sorry, but I don't lose", then Sora turns into crystal, with Yozora vowing to "save him". After that, he appears in the Final World, before waking up in the back seat of a limo (very similar to the Regalia promotional material from Final Fantasy Versus XIII) and uttering the famous lines "I've been having these weird thoughts lately. Like, is any of this for real or not?", before being joined by Sora's voice midway. He then finishes it with "None of this makes sense to me.", before the screen fading to black.
  • The true ending, named "An Oath to Return", has plenty of similarities with the bad one, but the differences make up for it. Sora manages to win, with Yozora stating that his powers aren't needed yet before he Disappears into Light. Sora is the one seen in the Final World, before cutting back to Yozora in the car. But this time, someone calling him "Commander" urges him to wake up, revealed to be the limo driver. From his voice tone, appearance seen from behind and the words said, it's heavily implied this man is Luxord. Then, this time, Sora starts saying the Arc Words before being joined by Yozora's voice, culminating with the boy saying "None of this makes sense to me." before the screen fading to black. At the very end, instead of the famous "Reconnect: Kingdom Hearts", the sentence "An Oath to Return: Kingdom Hearts" appears on the screen.