2. Closing the Door
One last entry from the original Kingdom Hearts. As with many of the games here, just because you beat the final boss doesn’t guarantee you’ll get a happy ending. Towards the end of the game, the forces of darkness have consumed most of the worlds that we’ve seen, mashing them together into a chaotic mess.
As Sora, Donald, and Goofy finally put an end to Ansem Seeker of Darkness with the power of Kingdom Hearts, everything seems to be going well. All the worlds are starting to heal, moving back to their original positions, taking all the people back to where they belong. Now would be the perfect time to go back with Kairi to our home on the Destiny Islands. Sadly, the time isn’t right for Sora to go home.
As the two young loves hold hands, Sora decides he has to stay behind to find the now-missing Riku. As the tears roll. their hands are pulled apart as the worlds begin to separate. Timed perfectly as their hands slip apart, Utada Hikaru’s “Simple and Clean” begins to play, perfectly hitting you right in the feels.
1. Tears
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is a game that no one really wants to sit down and play. However, if you can fight through the mediocre combat and monotonous mission structure you’ll be treated to maybe the best story in the entire series.
This heartbreaking moment, from the cutscene appropriately named “Tears”, comes right at the tail end of the game. After spending a year bonding, Roxas is forced to strike down his friend Xion when she starts attacking him. She’d recently found out that she was being used as part of an evil plot, so Xion actually wanted Roxas to kill her and save everyone from the evil Organisation 13.
The tragic side effect of her status as a memory clone (don’t ask), means that when she’s destroyed nobody will be able to remember her. The result is painful, as we watch a confused Roxas go quickly from begging her not to die, to being totally oblivious as to why he’s crying at all.
We wouldn’t have been able to make this list half as quickly without the amazing Wayfinder Project created by Kingdom Hearts YouTuber Regular Pat. His brilliant directory lists every cutscene, character appearance, world, and even any songs that might be playing in the background. If you want to find any moment in the franchise quickly, the Wayfinder Project will have you covered!
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Featured Image Credit: Square Enix, Disney