It has been some time since Cloud Strife appeared inKingdom Hearts, but that doesn’t mean the series has forgotten him. In celebration ofFinal Fantasy 7’s 25th Anniversary,Kingdom Heartshas released a special image recreating iconic art of Cloud using Sora.Going back to the original formation ofKingdom Hearts, the series has quite always been seen as theFinal Fantasyand Disney crossover players never knew they wanted. To that end,Final Fantasy 7characters make multiple appearances inKingdom Hearts, with players running into Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid in Traverse Town, and later finding and fighting Cloud and Sephiroth in the Colosseum—all of this was in the first game alone. A bigcomplaint ofKingdom Hearts 3was its lack ofFinal Fantasycharacters, but this was mostly rectified with theReMindDLC as Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid return. Unfortunately, Cloud and Sephiroth do not appear though, as their stories ended inKingdom Hearts 2.RELATED:Final Fantasy 7 Remake Art Combines Cloud and Tifa With Kingdom HeartsA new official render fromKingdom Heartsshows Sora recreating a familiar piece of art of Cloud forFinal Fantasy 7 Remake. In the image,Kingdom Hearts 3Sora can be seen resting his iconic Kingdom Key on his shoulder, standing confidently yet also slightly pensively, as a bright light causes his Keyblade to shimmer, and the main towerScala ad Caelumlooms in the distance. This render mimics the officialFinal Fantasy 7 Remakepiece where Cloud rests his Buster Sword on his shoulder in the foreground, as the dominating Shinra tower and a ghostly Sephiroth linger in the background. Included is a caption that states, “Happy 25th anniversary to the iconicFinal Fantasy 7!”
While Cloud’s story ended inKingdom Heart 2, this was actually not the character’s final appearance in the series. That crown actually goes toKingdom Hearts Re:Coded, the DS remake of a previously Japanese exclusive mobile game.
When Jiminy Cricket realizes there’s an unknown entry in his journal followingKingdom Hearts 2, he and King Mickey create a digital Sora to investigate the problem, sending the player through a litany of familiar locations and events. This includes a trip to the Colosseum where Sora teams up with Hercules and Cloud to help destroy the “bugs” that have infested that portion of Jiminy’s journal.
Overall, it is truthfully still pretty incredible to see Square Enix put out such a piece of material fromKingdom Hearts. While one should probably not be as surprised consideringSora made it intoSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, Disney’s strict marketability ofKingdom Heartsin previous years is still something the series wrestles with. Even though no Mickey Mouse emblem can be seen in the render, there are still Disney copyright logos in the image’s corner, so again, it is nice to seeKingdom Heartsbe able to celebrate too.
Kingdom Heartsis available within the1.5 + 2.5 Remasterson PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Switch Cloud version releasing February 10.
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