It seems to me that most Kingdom Hearts fans think that Kingdom Hearts II is the best game in the series so far, and I can completely understand why they think that way.  In fact, I have gone back and forth on whether Kingdom Hearts or Kingdom Hearts II is my favorite game because they're both that good to me.  However, in the end, I do like the original Kingdom Hearts more.

 

While there are many smaller things that make me like Kingdom Hearts 1 over Kingdom Hearts II, there are really just two main things that make me like the first game more.  The first is the world design.  Let me start off by saying that there's one thing that I think Kingdom Hearts II is better at: the combat.  Even the combat for the Gummi Ship missions is better.  This makes Kingdom Hearts II more fun to play while fighting enemies.  However, I find the rest of the gameplay more fun in Kingdom Hearts 1, and most of that has to do with how the worlds were designed in the first game as opposed to Kingdom Hearts II.  Kingdom Hearts 1 had worlds that you had to explore, and while the platforming had much to be desired, I still found it fun to explore every inch of each world not only in order to find everything but also in order to get to where you needed to go next.  However, in Kingdom Hearts II, you pretty much just had to walk in a straight line and you would get to where you needed to go next.  At the most, if you wanted to find hidden items, you would have to find one or two branching paths, but for the most part, you didn't have to explore too much in order to find everything.

 

The second thing that makes me like Kingdom Hearts 1 over Kingdom Hearts II is the story.  I really like the idea of having to defeat a group of Disney villains who have teamed up to kidnap a group of Disney princesses (and Alice and Kairi) in order to open the door to Kingdom Hearts.  It's simple and really emphasizes the fact that this game has a lot of different Disney characters and Disney worlds in it.  Don't get me wrong, I like Kingdom Hearts II's story as well, but I like the simplicity and the Disneyness of the first game's story more.

 

And that's why Kingdom Hearts 1 is my favorite Kingdom Hearts game.  However, we'll have to see if that changes once Kingdom Hearts III comes out because so far, with the combat looking better than ever (especially for the boss fights), the worlds looking like you have to explore them again, and the people at Disney and Pixar assisting in writing the original stories for the Disney and Pixar worlds, it's looking like Kingdom Hearts III may become my new favorite Kingdom Hearts game.

Edited July 2, 20187 yr by Dagesh Lene

This is from someone here who prefers KH2 a hundred times over KH1 and I say this... KH1 does the Disney Villians waaaaaay beter than KH2 does, it's nothing personal to KH2 but the thingis that KH1 makes the villians seem part of the story or atleast give a feeling that the disney villians are important in KH1, in KH2 the first times you go to the Disney worlds in 2 feel or are just filler for the story so KH1 gets my points there and I be happy if KH3 make them more important again!

there is just something magical about the first game that cannot be copied or repeated and it cannot be explained, only  felt.

The main problem KH1 for me is that it has a good story, but there are no really interesting characters except for Riku and Ansem. Sora is a typical protagonist, and Kairi is a typical girl in trouble.

Also not selected the most successful worlds I never liked Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. After all, The lion King and Mulan are much better.

With what I agree so it is with the fact that here disney is not pushed into the background that pleases.

KH1 is fantastic and I love the game and you have really great points. I will say that I agree that it does the Disney villains/Disney story way better. But imo it had to get away from that a little as the games progress so that KH turned into it’s own story rather than just retellings of Disney movies. I do feel like KH1 is more challenging due to the fact of no drives and movement is a lot more limited compared to KH2.