With 13 titles under its belt, Kingdom Hearts has become yet another iconic RPG series for Square Enix. Many fans have been enamored with the surprising crossover of Final Fantasy and Disney over the 20 years the series has been around, enjoying exploring the worlds of their favorite movies and more. Out of all the movies to make into worlds, many fans would agree that Wreck-It Ralph felt perfect for Kingdom Hearts with its video game-based narrative.
However, when Kingdom Hearts 3 was released, fans found that Ralph was a summon in the game and nothing more. There was no Game Central Station to visit, or even context as to why Ralph was a summon at all, which left many fans feeling like the lack of a world based on one of Disney’s best recent releases was seen as a missed opportunity. Kingdom Hearts would eventually add a world based on the movie, but not in the game many people expected it to be in.
Game Central Station in Kingdom Hearts Union X
Despite how Wreck-It Ralph’s world was highly anticipated for Kingdom Hearts 3, Kingdom Hearts Union X got Game Central Station instead later on. The world was added late to Union X, and it served as a hub world between three full worlds to explore. Those worlds were Candy Kingdom, Niceland, and Cy-bug Sector from the film’s most prominent arcade games. The world added its own themed Keyblade, and even played a part in Union X’s overarching storyline; a rare sight for a Disney world in Kingdom Hearts.
With everything Game Central Station offered, the inclusion of Wreck-It Ralph in the franchise ended up being rather exciting. However, the world was added years into the game’s story, hiding it behind hundreds of story quests in a mobile title that required certain medals gained at random to progress. For as many fans that stuck with KHUX until the service was shut down, there were more that felt alienated and left it behind. It left the fun video game-based world unexplored by many. If there was any way to make Game Central Station more accessible to fans, adding it to a mainline Kingdom Hearts game would be the way to go.
Wreck-It Ralph in a Main KH Game
As great as it would be for fans who gave up on Union X to get their chance to experience the adventures of Ralph and friends in a different Kingdom Hearts title, the chances of that are rather slim. Kingdom Hearts rarely revisits worlds without there being some sort of catch or reason why, such as the differences between Tron and Tron: Legacy, as well as the worlds that have been re-made into data. The most likely option for Ralph’s world to come back is if the franchise tried to tackle Ralph Breaks the Internet, which would most likely be avoided for many reasons with regard to the nature of that movie in particular.
In Kingdom Hearts Union X, the inclusion of Game Central Station was part of the story dealing with the Data World the Dandelions made into their new home. The two worlds were tied together somehow, then destroyed together, meaning there’s a chance that perhaps Game Central Station could come back as either a Sleeping World or perhaps a Fictional World. Some implications, such as the characters of the arcade being aware that they were data, seem to suggest that this world in particular leans into the new concept of Fictional Worlds in Kingdom Hearts lore.
Even if the story may get repetitive if the plot of the movie is used in two Kingdom Hearts games, the world would need to be almost rebuilt to fit the style of the main games. With the world turned into 3D from 2D, it would feel brand new to the fans that never played KHUX and the fans who have at the same time. Not every part of the original world’s story would have to be the same as well, as the original plot line featured certain things that only Union X could pull off. There are more positives towards putting Game Central Station in another Kingdom Hearts game than negatives overall when it comes to what fans could take from it.
KHUX, when it reached the end of its service, was revamped into being a “theater mode” game with only some of the title’s features remaining available. This makes what Wreck-It Ralph brought to the franchise easier for fans to see, but takes away most of the fun elements of exploring the arcade games from the movie in question. If Sora got to visit Game Central Station in a future title, despite what KHUX has already done, the scale and depth to the world could heighten the experience even more, giving this perfect world for the series it’s due after so many years.
Kingdom Hearts Union X is available as an offline game on Android and iOS devices.
