VOTE for JAK, RATCHET or SLY in a Future Shanmania Video:
https://strawpoll.com/NMnQNM06wg6

This looks like a good spot to find some ingredients

21:43 My dear departed grandmother bought me a PS2 in 2003 specifically so I could play KH1. She never played but she loved to watch me play, and she provided color commentary. When Leon said "you know what? I really don't know" in response to Sora's "what happened to my home?" grandma scolded him, "you really don't care, either!" To this day I can't replay KH1 without hearing her say that.

What Kingdom Hearts does so cleverly is taking these iconic Disney characters like Mickey, Donald and Goofy and putting them in a darker and more serious stor without ruining their personalities. And I love that.

I love the door in the secret place because it's such a thing you'd find in a place where you played as a kid. There's just this weird-ass wooden doorframe with solid wood blocking it in the middle of nowhere, maybe it's a shed that got boarded up or something but you know you'd be in big trouble if you messed with it

They really caught lightning in a bottle in this game

Kingdom Hearts 1 just has a different vibe still my favorite in the series

When people complain about Sora becoming a "weak Shadow" of a Heartless, I always interpret that as the Shadows are the beings with little darkness in their hearts vs a giant like Darkside who is a being with alot of darkness from one's heart

"Never forget Sora, you are the one who will open The Door to Light."

Still think Kingdom Hearts 1 is still an unprecedented masterpiece of a game.

Kingdom hearts 1 had me crying at the ending when kairy was on that beach and the music kicks in. My brother and I would constantly beat Ansem and repeat his lines constantly.

Listening to you talk about 100 acre wood, the ending scene of that world makes me tear up every time, both in KH1 and 2. It does a really good job of embodying both what makes Winnie the Pooh so special and the strong themes of loving your friends that is so integral to Kingdom Hearts.

Very glad you brough up Yoko Shimomura. I was at the Game Developers Conference the year when she won the lifetime achievement award. I also think that this track in hollow bastion is the best thing she has written up to this point, maybe ever. It's so good.

Fun fact: The ominous voice during the tutorial?

That's supposed to be Mickey Mouse

I'm not kidding, both Nomura and the Ultimania confirmed it, plus, in the Japanese version, the dialect is the same one Mickey uses when he's dubbed in Japan, basically like the Japanese equivalent of a country bumpkin.

So, yeah, now every time you play that tutorial, you'll never unhear Mickey's voice.

My childhood game. I actually just finished it and beat all Ansem fights for the first time last night which is why I’m here. Did it all in about a week while my girl and daughter watched me play. Truly a timeless classic

Got made fun of once in a separate comment section for saying the Dive Into the Heart/Tutorial segment was disturbing to me as a kid. Not terribly so, but there was a lot going into it contextually. When I first tried the original game as a tween, I was into casual Disney games. Disney Princess Enchanted Journey for PS2 being the main one. So seeing the tonal difference between the games was the first thing that hit me., especially with that haunting yet beautiful choir that mesmerized my ass hard. Still prefer the original track to this day, remake version just feels like something is missing. I remember taking every bit of dialogue seriously, even in moments where I wasn't a bit spooked, like seeing the Heartless, who look adorable af. Particularly when the power choice/sacrifice section came up(dumb kid me didn't know it would determine game leveling and such, hell I didn't know til last year thanks to SGB's playthrough), and the questions(again didn't know it would determine difficulty). I would be weighing those options with complete honesty, answering truthfully after thinking way too hard on it.

A nice part of Olympus is that since it doesnt KILL you, you keep any exp you gain fighting. Early on its a nice place to grind because you get something even for losing.

I feel like Kingdom Hearts has been getting so much more respect as of late now that the people who grew up with it are between 25 and 35 and can make videos like this, you're like the third person to make a video on KH1 this month that I'm subscribed to and I love it.

But yeah holy shit I love this game. I was 6 years old, didn't speak English and had no expectations because my older sister got the game for Christmas so I had no idea what the game was about as I had seen no trailers or nothing, I hadn't even noticed the Disney characters on the cover. We put the game on and I remember being immediately both scared of but also incredibly intrigued by the opening of the game, I had never experienced anything like this before and in the next few years no other game matched it either. I essentially stole the game from my sister since she wasn't very interested and played it constantly for months, every tiny bit of progress being a huge victory as I explored every nook and cranny of every world with no idea of where to go! Took me 3 years to beat it finally as by 9 years old I had a basic grasp of English which helped a lot.

It's literally the most magical and mysterious game I've ever played, people are still finding out secrets and details about it to this day. This is the kind of game you introduce to your kid before anything else to make them fall in love with video games.

50:06 Finally, someone else who loves Winnie the Pooh! I didn’t as a kid, but as I got older, I understood what that world was trying to convey and feel so at home when I get to that part.

1:07:00 the reason they chose Nightmare Before Christmas is because Tetsuya Nomura is an edgy manchild and that's why we love him