What if Kingdom Hearts didn't use Disney? What company would be picked instead?

[GothicSlenderman 173]

What if in 2000/2001 (during production of Kingdom Hearts 1) either Disney denied the usage of any of their characters in KH or Square wanted to use a different company? What company would work best besides Disney?

 

Nintendo

Pros: Square & Nintendo have worked together before, there are dozens of Nintendo franchises to choose from (also including 2nd party companies), it would be almost guaranteed for Sora to be in Smash (maybe even Brawl considering how old KH is)

Cons: Limited to Nintendo Exclusive, Nintendo might try to control the project

 

Warner Bros.

Pros: Warner has a lot under their belt like Looney Tunes, Cartoon Network, The Exorcist, DC Universe, ect. It could be a unique mix of Mature and family friendly characters. Warner Bros is technically older than Disney

Cons: Not too many popular options, not as big as Disney (at least by animation)

 

20th/21st Century Fox

Pros: Same as Warner Bros.

Cons: Same as Warner Bros.

 

Playstation

Pros: KH started as a Playstation Exclusive, a decent mix of Mature and family friendly characters, list of franchises keep going, Sora would be almost guaranteed for Playstation Allstars

Cons: Not as old as Nintendo, Crash & Spyro would be limited due to Activision

 

Dreamworks

Pros: Recent Charm, loads of ideas

Cons: Not too many Franchises

 

Anime

Pros: Depending on the studio's reactions we could have dozens, if not hundreds of options.

Cons: Licensing might force it to be Japan Exclusive.

 

Any other ideas?

[Soul_Seeker 753]

I would say none, only because Kingdom Hearts was pitched as an idea between two executives in an elevator (supposedly).

If not for this chance meeting, chances are that a Kingdom Hearts wouldn't even exist. At least, not the Kingdom Hearts we know.

 

Sora's character design in KH1 was mostly based on Mickey's costume so we would have a much different-looking Sora. We might even have the chainsaw-lion version of Sora if KH were to even exist without Disney.

 

If you mean as a what if situation, I'd like Nintendo just because of a picture I once saw that fascinated me a couple years ago of a prank someone once did where a game called "Mushroom Kingdom Hearts" was supposedly "announced" even though it was just a prank. If you're interested in seeing it, here's the picture:

 

 

That being said, I believe Nintendo has enough franchises and lore to make a Nintendo Kingdom Hearts work and become interesting. It would also be an awesome franchise, if I do say so myself.

[GothicSlenderman 173]

  On 12/31/2015 at 2:33 AM, Rocketboy227 said:

I would say none, only because Kingdom Hearts was pitched as an idea between two executives in an elevator (supposedly).

If not for this chance meeting, chances are that a Kingdom Hearts wouldn't even exist. At least, not the Kingdom Hearts we know.

 

Sora's character design in KH1 was mostly based on Mickey's costume so we would have a much different-looking Sora. We might even have the chainsaw-lion version of Sora if KH were to even exist without Disney.

 

If you mean as a what if situation, I'd like Nintendo just because of a picture I once saw that fascinated me a couple years ago of a prank someone once did where a game called "Mushroom Kingdom Hearts" was supposedly "announced" even though it was just a prank. If you're interested in seeing it, here's the picture:

 

 

That being said, I believe Nintendo has enough franchises and lore to make a Nintendo Kingdom Hearts work and become interesting. It would also be an awesome franchise, if I do say so myself.

Yeah, as more of a what if situation.

 

But as much as I like Playstation more than Nintendo, I think Nintendo would be the best pick for it

[WakingDawn96 1,166]

I really don't see how KH could be KH without Disney in it, as it was a gateway game for Disney and Square Enix to come together. But if I had to choose another company, I would, of course, pick Nintendo because we could have Zelda and Pokemon worlds, as I think Zelda would really fit with the Square Enix universe, as Cloud seems to matchup against Link the best, and I would love a Pokemon world because Pokemon is kind of my world, so having two of my favorite things come together would be great!

[Pangoro "Sen" 445]

In all honesty? Cartoon Network. You know, kinda like FusionFall did, except rather than meld all of the worlds into one, just make all of the worlds separate. I mean, I feel it would be a good idea. There's so much potential for all of the worlds, too. Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Samurai Jack, Courage, Powerpuff Girls, Kids Next Door, the list could go on. Plus, creating plots for each of these worlds wouldn't be too hard anyways, since the episodic nature of these shows means that you would just have to come up with a concept that seems like it could be in an actual episode, and that's the plot of that world. And think about it? Who wouldn't want to play as a character that fights along with Finn, Samurai Jack, and a small kid with all sorts of crazy gadgets on him. I feel it would be great. Though that may just be me being crazy. And it may be because I'm currently in a Cartoon Network-based RP. I dunno.

[Enix 995]

If Kingdom Hearts used Nintendo, people will call it a Xenoblade clone thus bad sales. And future titles will be Japan only like Mother 3 because Reggie thinks we Americans/Europeans only want goddamn Mario and Zelda games. If Kingdom Hearts used Playstation, the series will most likely be the same expect we're traveling to other franchises like DMC and Crash.If Kingdom Hearts used Warner Bros, expect two outcomes. 1: We're getting some sweet gameplay based off Batman games. Or number 2: We're getting a show like Teen Titans Go which will piss off a lot of people. If Kingdom Hearts used 20th/21st Century Fox, expect it be just like Family Guy expect there's different characters. Sora will be Peter, Riku will be Brian, Roxas will be Stewie, Kairi will be Lois, Xion will be Meg, Pence will be Chris, Lexaeus will be Joe, Axel will be Cleveland, Deymx will be quagmire, Xehanort will be Lois father while Kairi grandmother will be Lois mother.If Kingdom Hearts used Dreamworks, just expect some comedy with eddie murphy voicing Xehanort. If Kingdom Hearts used Studio Ghibli, It will be something amazing that will change Anime forever. If any other Anime company used Kingdom Hearts, it will be shit and terrible garbage. Kingdom Hearts should stay with Disney. Both of them can easily work together. You can't have the same perfection with any other company.

  On 12/31/2015 at 3:41 AM, Pangoro said:

In all honesty? Cartoon Network. You know, kinda like FusionFall did, except rather than meld all of the worlds into one, just make all of the worlds separate. I mean, I feel it would be a good idea. There's so much potential for all of the worlds, too. Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Samurai Jack, Courage, Powerpuff Girls, Kids Next Door, the list could go on.

Adventure time? Heck no. Finn & Jake will mostly likely try to find Sora a girlfriend in the second visit. Then we're going to see Sora tongue-kissing a girl who probably going to be space lumpy princess. Edited December 31, 2015 by Enix

[Philip Ellwell 5,487]

Dreamworks would've worked for one game, assuming everything from Sinbad to HTTYD got dragged out, and the game was delayed a few years, but for literally only one game. Without sequels, you'd have to bullsh@t it, unlike Disney where you have material to work with. 

[Nick Sideris 1,551]

I do think they'd just go with anime . They wouldn't sell a single copy , though . Especially in Europe .

Edited December 31, 2015 by Nick Sideris

[KingdomHearts3 2,591]

None. KH was FF and Disney put together. Nothing else could really replace Disney.

[Jermaine 79]

I love Disney's cheesy humor, and special feel good moments.

 

Warner Bro's would probably be the 2nd best thing in my opinion though, leading with the looney tunes instead of Mickey, and many popular CN characters of that time.

 

Dreamworks was too young at the time, but it also could have blossomed.

[StarShard 0]

There's also Blue Sky Studios, but they don't really have a lot of movies, plus there'd probably be nothing but Ice Age...over, and over again...

 

Now Studio Ghibli/Square Enix? That, I would definitely adore. There's a lot of potential.

[Riku21Terr 214]

Warner Bros would have been interesting because then I'd have m two favourite fantasy franchises together (unless you count Pixar as fantasy): Kingdom Hearts and Harry Potter! To this day I still wish for Harry to somehow show up in Kingdom Hearts (Disney does own television rights after all) and I can in all honesty see it working out way better than Star Wars.