Halloween Town Disney references in Kingdom Hearts 1

kingdom hearts halloween town title

In this day of spooks, scares, and general japery all around, I figured I’d make a holiday-appropriate article featuring one of my favorite game series! I’ll be looking at Kingdom Hearts Halloween Town and be showing off references to the original Disney movie. I’ll have small sections dedicated to the cast, settings, and possibly some more obtuse things as well.

Huge props to Novayon for a deep dive look into the world in incredible detail. His video goes more into the level design and aesthetic and is totally worth a watch.

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Characters

While most Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts 1 have about a handful of Disney characters, the Kingdom Hearts Halloween Town takes a surprising number from the source material. Included in this iteration of the world are Jack Skellington, Sally, Zero, Dr. Finkelstein, The Mayor, Lock, Shock, Barrel, Oogie Boogie, and the kids… weird bathtub. Jack himself is even a party member during the world’s events and has a number of spooky elemental-themed attacks.

kh1 oogie boogie boss fight
Credit: HyperKirby58

All of the characters seem appropriately and charmingly written, though huge props have to go to the game’s take on Oogie Boogie, the iconic villain of The Nightmare Before Christmas. As a member of the council of Disney villains in KH1, Oogie has a surprising amount of time to steal the show with a fantastic vocal performance and animations which capture the eccentricities of the character.

The only huge exclusion to me is Santa Claus himself, though that gets addressed in Kingdom Hearts 2 only four years later.

Locations

While KH1 did have to take a number of liberties for level design purposes, there were a decent few locations grabbed near directly from the movie. Halloween Town, Moonlight Hill (shown below), and Oogie’s Torture Chamber are all about as faithfully recreated as they could be. As one can see above, Oogie’s boss fight is in a very neon-colored room and the main gimmick is dealing with Oogie’s dice rolls and various traps, similar to his song with Santa in the film.

kingdom hearts moonlight hill
Credit: Square Enix and Disney

Halloween Town itself is coated in more reds and blacks with pumpkins and other ghoulish sights spread about, but Dr. Finkelstein’s Mansion (albeit partially blown up), the Town Hall, and Jack’s House are all present in KH1’s Halloween Town world. As more of a transitionary period between Oogie’s Manor and the town itself, Moonlight Hill takes the iconic location from the movie and brings it to Kingdom Hearts as a means of getting from one end of the world to the other.

A Disney Easter Egg

While the adaptation of Halloween Town in Kingdom Hearts was already impressive enough, the small details in the first game are what made the title feel so charming to me. From things like the very merry unbirthday room in Wonderland and Ariel’s collection in Atlantica, Disney’s charm and wonder managed to seep into many of the worlds in KH1. Halloween Town was one of such worlds with a neat easter egg!

kingdom hearts halloween town doorbell easter egg
Credit: Novayon

If one rings Jack’s doorbell in Halloween Town three times, the player is given an item as a nod to the film. To visit Jack, The Mayor has to ring his doorbell three times as well, and Kingdom Hearts even uses the sound clip of the doorbell as well. Ultimately, it is a small thing but honestly inspired the entire article.

READ MORE: Kingdom Hearts play order – How to get into Kingdom Hearts

Perhaps as a Christmas special, I’ll take a revisit to the world in Kingdom Hearts 2, looking at the updated Halloween Town and the introduction of Christmas Town as well!

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