Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX is a collection that Square Enix released on PlayStation 3 in 2013, giving Western players for the first time the chance to play through the series' beginning in one package and at a higher resolution. It contains the fully playable Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, previously released only in Japan, plus Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, along with a compilation of story scenes from 358/2 Days. The player, in the role of a boy named Sora, travels across worlds inspired by classic animated films, searches for lost friends, and is accompanied by a pair of well-known characters from animation classics — a pairing that sounded nonsensical on paper and yet worked.

The base game combines action combat with the key weapon called the Keyblade with a simple character progression system, spells, summoned helpers, and platforming exploration of the worlds. The Final Mix version adds new enemies, items, and an additional difficulty level, so even people who knew the original release have a reason to come back. Re:Chain of Memories takes an entirely different path, building combat around cards that determine which strikes and spells can be played and how an opponent's action can be countered — a system some players take quite a while to get used to. Controls and camera were adjusted for the collection and are noticeably more comfortable than in the original releases.

The move to high definition served the collection very well; character models got new textures, the image is clean and colorful, and the whole thing still feels fresh today, though the occasional plainness of the environments gives away its PlayStation 2 origins. Yoko Shimomura's music is one of the main reasons the series holds such a strong reputation, and it shines in the remaster. Reception was very good, especially because the collection finally made the series' tangled chronology clear. The collection also serves as an accessible overview of the series' mythology, since the bonus scene compilation explains the origin of the organization in black coats around which most of the later entries revolve. For a newcomer, it remains to this day the most logical way to get into Kingdom Hearts at all.