Kingdom Hearts is the first game in the series, released in Japan on March 28, 2002, for PlayStation 2.
Tetsuya Nomura served as game director, his first time in this position.
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.
It also established the role of Disney characters in the series, with character cameos from the Final Fantasy series.
Kingdom Hearts was released in North America on September 17, 2002, and featured additional content that was not in the original Japanese version.
The game was later re-released in Japan as Kingdom Hearts Final Mix on December 26, 2002.
Final Mix includes the content from the North American release and additional enemies, cutscenes, and weapons.
It also features a new secret movie, foreshadowing more of Kingdom Hearts II.