One of my favorite game series of all time is Kingdom Hearts, a mashup of Disney and Final Fantasy that is surprisingly deep and works far better than you’d expect.  With memorable characters and lore that rivals that of Five Nights at Freddy’s, the first two numbered games of the series in particular will always hold a special place in my heart (pun intended?).  And so, seeing as I’m currently in the middle of replaying both of them, I thought it would be fun to dedicate some lists to two of my favorite games of all time.  To start, I’ve put together a little ranking of all the worlds in the first game from my least favorite to the best, with a ranking for the second game soon to follow.  And if you want to join in, why not let us know your favorite or least favorite worlds in the comments below!

13: Deep Jungle – I love Kingdom Hearts.  But I hated this place.  Sure, it’s attractive enough, as I love jungles, but that’s not enough to make up for how annoying this place is to navigate, with awkward vines you have to swing on, the need to cross the water on the backs of hippos, and a generally confusing layout.  And the worst part of all, you’ll be forced to backtrack to the same locations over and over again, sometimes with little guidance.  This level was heavily padded, and I also hated that terrible boss fight at the end, which was incredibly difficult for so early in the game!

12: Monstro – Eww.  Just…eww.  This world is, thankfully, very short, and it gives us the high jump ability.  These are the only things that redeem it because it’s incredibly boring.  Taking place inside Monstro the whale’s belly, this world consists of a handful of largely identical rooms, and the only reason it should take any length of time to navigate is because it’s all laid out in a confusing maze.  The story here was also just meh.

11: Olympus Coliseum – I bear a very long-held grudge against this one.  Not only is this level very ugly and bland…not only did I struggle far too much with the second barrel-breaking challenge, but on my very first playthrough all those many years ago, I got stuck here because I couldn’t beat Cerberus.  And the game wouldn’t let me leave, nor could I fight enemies in the Coliseum at that time to earn experience.  So there was no way to proceed but to “git gud” (which I didn’t) or load a previous save and try to earn more experience.  And heaven help you if you didn’t have a previous save…  Later visits also add tournaments where you can fight enemies for rewards, which has never really been my thing.

10: Atlantica – No wonder Ariel wants to leave her world behind because Atlantica is not a very fun place to visit.  Honestly, my number 1 complaint isn’t what you’d expect.  Controlling Sora’s mer-form through this ocean world is…fine.  But the place is just so…ugly, with lots of grey, undersea walls, not to mention it can be confusing, and I didn’t always have clear guidance as to where I was supposed to go.  At one point, I was told to head for Ursula’s lair, which I knew was beyond the big rock near the sunken ship.  But the game wouldn’t let me do anything with it…until I swam around and fought the big shark again, which I didn’t even know was there because I didn’t see it at first.  Then Sebastian came and pushed the little button for me that moved the boulder out of the way.  Kay, cool…  Oh, and Ursula’s first battle is easily the worst in the game.  This world could be perfect, and I’d still hate it for that battle alone!

9: Wonderland – Wonderland is incredibly easy and short, though it does require a little puzzling if you want to find all four pieces of evidence and earn Blizzard just a little early.  Which is barely necessary because you’ll still learn it soon after.  It’s a shame they didn’t do much with this world, as Wonderland’s whimsical nature could have led to a really cool world if it had been fleshed out way more.  At least it’s not as boring as the Coliseum and not as irritating as the jungle, and it has a pretty neat aesthetic.

8: 100 Acre Wood – Not much of a world, really, but I enjoyed the simple charm of this place well enough, even if I wasn’t usually in the mood for its minigames.  Chilling with Pooh bear and his friends, with no enemies to fight, was a really relaxing experience and a great way to take a break from the action.

7: Destiny Islands – The intro level of the game and the home of our main trio, Sora, Riku, and Kairi, this tropical island is small, and the main gameplay comes in the form of a few fetch quests.  Nevertheless, it is pretty iconic, and having your lighthearted quest to build a raft interrupted by a Heartless invasion is an amazing intro to an amazing game!

6: Neverland – Neverland is like a better version of Monstro.  Though I was quite disappointed that we never actually explore Neverland at all, just a series of rooms inside Captain Hook’s pirate ship, which are confusing to navigate because previously locked doors later become accessible with no rhyme or reason.  You have no idea how long I got lost because I had tried the door to go out on deck, only to find out later that it had since been unlocked for no discernible reason.  Nevertheless, at least the scenery was marginally more interesting than what’s found inside Monstro, the story is a bit better, and the battle with Captain Hook is fun because you can fly!

5: Traverse Town – People consider this world to be the hub of the game, and I suppose that’s true, as you do revisit this place multiple times throughout your adventure.  Sora ends up in Traverse Town right after his home is devoured by the Heartless, and I largely enjoyed exploring this neat little town, where it always seems to be night.  The music is also so dang relaxing…when you’re not fighting Heartless anyway.  Though, I must mention that this place was rather aggravating during our first visit when you’re tasked with meeting up with Donald and Goofy for the first time.  The three of you will spend a lot of time just barely missing each other, with very little guidance on where to go next, and boy, does it get annoying!

4: Agrabah – I’m a bit shocked a lot of people hated this one, as Agrabah was the first Disney world that I felt was really fun to play during my most recent playthrough.  (It’s not that the other worlds weren’t fun, but…I was kind of just trying to get through them to get to the better parts of the game, y’know.)  With just the right level of challenge, there is a tad bit of backtracking, but not nearly as much as Deep Jungle, and I really enjoyed exploring the Cave of Wonders.  Sure, scaling above the streets of Agrabah could sometimes be a bit tricky, but the level just has a decent progression after the grind that was Deep Jungle and more to keep me interested than many of the other worlds that came before it.

3: End of the World – The final world of the game is just so weird and surreal, with the opening room having us navigate a seemingly endless expanse, all to the tune of some hauntingly beautiful music.  With some rather bizarre scenery, alongside an epic battle against Chernabog (from Fantasia), this world really evokes the feeling of visiting someplace us mere mortals were never meant to be.  A magical, if not rather chilling, end to a fantastic game.

2: Halloween Town – Honestly, I might just love this one because I’m biased by my love for The Nightmare Before Christmas, but that doesn’t change the fact that I love every visit I make to Halloween Town.  I love the instrumental “This is Halloween” playing in the background, the general gloomy and spooky aesthetic, and seeing Sora, Donald, and Goofy dressed for trick-or-treating is just, well, a treat!  (I especially love Donald’s mummy outfit and the missing section of his torso!  Our duck went all out for Halloween this year!)  To be honest, this world is quite short, and even the small amount of backtracking (which is, thankfully, nowhere near as horrid as Deep Jungle’s, yes, I hold grudges) can’t make it into a very substantial experience.  Nevertheless, what we do get is perfectly sufficient, with a mini-battle against Lock, Shock, and Barrel, followed by two fights against Oogie Boogie himself!

1: Hollow Bastion – This one’s a no-brainer.  Hollow Bastion is the second to last world in the game, and it pretty much excels in all areas.  First off, the location itself is just breathtaking, centering around an absolutely massive castle, with its unnaturally twisting spires and pipes emitting steam, and the way half is white stone and the other side consists of these bronze pipes that almost make it look as if the building itself has been corrupted by the very events that once took place inside its walls.  The music is also top-tier, the enemy design has gone from rather silly and whimsical to actually menacing (I hate those Defenders with their living shields!)…and as if that wasn’t enough, this is one of the most plot-heavy worlds in the game, with multiple important boss fights and unexpected moments!