Play order

[Steadymeisters]

Hi all,

Being new to the series, are the games in order on the menu, or is there some specific order to play KH in? :)

[Toasty]

You should play them in release order, which is a little different than how they appear on the menu.

Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (2002)
Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain Of Memories (2004, remade in 2007)
Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix (2005)
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (2009)
Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded (2009, remade in 2010)
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix (2010)

Note that not every entry is equally important to the overall plot. Re:Coded in particular is basically just filler.

[JamesAndTheGiantPizza]

You can do everything in the order of the menu EXCEPT you should play KH2 before 358/2 Days. That's how it was released, and it's the way that makes the most sense for consumption/story beats.

[Gokuzu]

I've created a guide with the correct order to follow, so you can enjoy all the games without worrying about missing anything:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3267063835

[Terra]

Generally speaking the order in the collection is the way you should go. Top to bottom.

The ONLY exception is that you should play KH2 before 358/2. KH2's plot is more or less a mystery that the crew is trying to figure out over the course of the game, and 358/2 just tells you the answers before you even have the questions.

I suspect they put 358/2 in the 1.5 collection because, otherwise, 1.5 would've been 2 games and 2.5 would've been 2 games and 2 movies. It's was probably a marketing decision.

[Drake Platinum THE WORLD]

Depends on the type of person you are. It comes down to how badly you care about timelines and a A to B story. If you usually prefer to digest the games in the way a writer wants you to consume it then yeah release order.

If you like to think a little, do not mind learning some information early so that you can react differently and just get a kick off of a chronological story then go chronological. Chronological for this series I feel is a more depressing story too if you like sad stuff.

Couple people already listed the release order. So for those interested in chronological here you go.

Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover Cinematic
Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Final Mix
Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix
Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix
Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded
Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance
Kingdom Hearts III
Kingdom Hearts III: Re Mind DLC

0.2 has different points in time so you would have to play some of it before 1 and then finish the rest after DDD if you are trying to keep it truly chrono. COM and 358 overlap each other a bit as well so it gets annoying. Otherwise you can play 0.2 fully before 1 if you do not mind learning some extremely late story info early or save it for post DDD to keep things a bit more wrapped.

[Dragon Master]

KH1, Chain of Memories, KH2, 358/2 Days, Birth by Sleep, Re:Coded, Dream Drop Distance, watch the Foretellers movie and then KH3.