2002 - Kingdom Hearts
Ah fuck, what do we even say? It's fucking Kingdom Hearts. I think it's hard to describe, particularly now, just how like revelatory this was. Like, it truly was a moment. I remember being about 14 and seeing ads for this game and being mesmerized. Hearing "Simple and Clean" while seeing Disney and Final Fantasy characters interact was mind-blowing.
It seems quaint now, but it really was just a fever dream of cool at the time. You have to remember that the internet was still relatively young--it was only just starting to break out and be available to everyone. Broadband wasn't widely available and this was literally the year that Microsoft launched Xbox Live and people were skeptical. Think about that for a moment; online gaming, via a console, was considered almost a pipe dream because connections that could sustain it were that uncommon. This article talks about it in greater depth and better than I am willing to even try, so go read that for more on the fatigue of crossovers. Just know that in 2002, if you weren't there, that was incredible.
I was 13, maybe 14, when I first saw this ad don't peek at the gal behind the curtain and I was knew I had to play that game. I had to. But we didn't have a PlayStation 2. My friend did, but I wasn't going ask my parents to buy a game to play at my friend's house, especially a single player one. And I wasn't getting one for Christmas--looking at it as an adult, that feels like a huge ask. So, I waited and dreamed.
When I was 16, I got my first real job at Suncoast, something I'd been eyeing for a few years. It was a good crowd and I really liked working there, except for the weird metrics by which they judged you. But I remember getting my first paycheck and being so fucking excited. My time had come. It was a Saturday and I had the day off and no homework. I drove to the mall and bought a PS2 slim and a copy of Kingdom Hearts with my first paycheck. At that time or later, who can remember, I bought the game guide, too. I rushed home to get that shit set up and start playing. Few things in the world hit me like the sound of that system booting up and the title screen for Kingdom Hearts. I hear "Dearly Beloved" and sometimes I almost tear up.
There's a lot to be said about the Kingdom Hearts franchise and Nomura's endless bullshit, but looking back at that game, at the way it made me feel and how much fun I had playing it, and its sequel (also on this list, you may notice), it's hard not to think of the games with some nostalgia. I hated Kingdom Hearts 3; I hated it. But, at 30, thinking of a game series I had loved since I was 14, finally getting the sequel to Kingdom Hearts II, which came out in 2005 it was hard to resist playing. I never finished it and i never fucking will, but I had to give it a shot, because I loved Kingdom Hearts so much and it was formative for me, even if it doesn't hit the same in 2025.