At first glance, you might think that Kingdom Hearts and Animal Crossing look completely different, and you would be right. Kingdom Hearts has a detailed, shonen anime-esque art style, while Animal Crossing has a cute, cartoony art style. Animal Crossing is a relaxing life simulator while Kingdom Hearts is an action RPG. Sora has five fingers and your Animal Crossing character has cute little ball hands. They are very different games in many ways, and yet they share the same heart. Here are seven ways Kingdom Hearts and Animal Crossing are the same.
You never know who you’ll run into next
Both games are about traveling to new places and meeting new people. In Kingdom Hearts, you travel on your Gummi Ship to various worlds and meet all kinds of Disney, Final Fantasy and original KH characters. In Animal Crossing you travel by train, bus, plane (you name it) and meet your new animal neighbors. The newest Animal Crossing game, New Horizons, has 417 villagers who can randomly show up on your island, so you really never know who you’ll run into next. These two games are both about the excitement of meeting new people and making new friends.
You can play as Sora if you want
In Kingdom Hearts, you can play as Sora if you want. He is the main character after all, but you also have options to not play as him if you want. You can play Birth by Sleep or 358/2 Days, where he’s not the main character. You can play Dream Drop Distance and just play as Riku and never let Sora wake up. In Kingdom Hearts, the choice to play as Sora is up to you, and the same is true in Animal Crossing.
When you first start New Horizons, you get to choose your character’s name and appearance. Just name yourself Sora, make yourself look like Sora, and you are now Sora. It’s that easy!
They came out the same week
Kingdom Hearts and Animal Crossing are two of my favorite games, so I was really surprised to find out that they came out really close together. I noticed last September when I saw people celebrating their anniversaries around the same time. It turns out they released within a day of each other in North America. Animal Crossing came out Monday, September 16, 2002, and Kingdom Hearts came out September 17, the very next day. I was drawn to both of these games as a kid, so it kind of feels like destiny that they came out so close together.
The power of friendship
Kingdom Hearts is all about the power of friendship and how great it is to have friends, and so is Animal Crossing (never mind the earlier games where the animals bullied you). It feels like everyone on the island is genuinely friends with each other, even when they have arguments. A major part of the game is talking to your animal friends and helping them with their problems. The game is all about having a community of friends who help each other out.
Your best friends are anthropomorphic animals
Donald and Goofy are your constant companions in Kingdom Hearts, with you through thick and thin. They are also anthropomorphic, talking animals, and somehow it never comes up. They’re able to join the Chinese army no issue.
It also wouldn’t be an issue in the Animal Crossing universe, because everyone there except you is an anthropomorphic, talking animal. All of your friends and everyone you talk to is an animal.
Your hometown is an island
Kingdom Hearts begins with Sora and his friends living on their homeworld of Destiny Islands, a tropical paradise where “children’s laughter abounds.” Your hometown in Animal Crossing is very similar. Not every game has you living on an island, but your home village is always very island like, with beaches and palm trees. It’s a tropical paradise with lots of fun things to do, like fishing, swimming and collecting bugs. I’m sure the laughter of animals abounds.
Both games have your local ruthless capitalist
Tom Nook is a notorious figure in the Animal Crossing community. Some say he’s a horrible person who saddles you with debt, while others say he’s nice enough to give you a house and let you pay off the loan whenever you want. There are positive and negative things about Tom Nook, but I think everyone can agree that he is an entrepreneurial spirit.
Kingdom Hearts has its own entrepreneurial spirit in Scrooge McDuck. Each game he appears in has him searching for new business opportunities. Whether he’s searching for the perfect sea salt ice cream recipe or helping Remy set up a restaurant, Scrooge is always looking for ways to make money.
While Scrooge has never had to loan Sora money, he and Tom Nook seem like kindred spirits. They would probably get along really well. They would be an unstoppable entrepreneurial force.
