Kingdom Hearts was released in North America on September 17, 2002, and featured additional content that was not in the original Japanese version. It also established the role of Disney characters in the series, with character cameos from the Final Fantasy series. Kingdom Hearts introduced the main characters (Sora, Kairi, and Riku) of the series, and established the plot's framework involving hearts and dark beings known as the Heartless. Tetsuya Nomura served as game director, his first time in this position. Kingdom Hearts is the first game in the series, released in Japan on March 28, 2002, for PlayStation 2.Main article: List of Kingdom Hearts media Games Release timeline 2002 A wide variety of related merchandise has been released along with the games, including soundtracks, figurines, companion books, light novels, a collectible card game, and a manga series. As of March 2022, the Kingdom Hearts series has shipped more than 36 million copies worldwide. Most of the games in the series have been positively received and commercially successful. The series consists of thirteen games available for multiple platforms and future games are planned. The series centers on the main character, Sora, and his journey and experiences with various Disney characters, as well as some from Square Enix properties, such as Final Fantasy, The World Ends With You and Einhänder, in addition to original characters and locations created specifically for the series. Kingdom Hearts is a crossover of various Disney properties based in an original fictional universe. It is a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company and is under the leadership of Nomura, a longtime Square Enix employee. Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games created by Japanese game designers Tetsuya Nomura and Shinji Hashimoto, being developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square).

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