The Kingdom Hearts franchise is particularly well-known, not only to be a ridiculous combination of Final Fantasy and Disney, but to be a series that doesn’t know the definition of what a side-game really is.
In case you’ve lost track over the years, here’s a list of every single Kingdom Hearts game, excluding re-releases.
Kingdom Hearts
Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts II
358/2 Days
Birth by Sleep
Coded
Dream Drop Distance
0.2 Fragmentary Passage
Unchained X/Union Cross/Back Cover
That’s a… lot of games.
Only 2 of these are actual numbered titles, supposedly the “main” branch of the game. This being said, the other games should only have little details and aren’t exactly necessary to understanding the plot of the games.
Now, any self-respecting Kingdom Hearts player knows this is bullshit. If I had to pick only one side game you absolutely needed to understand, I wouldn’t be able to. Each of them is vital to understanding the “bigger story” in Kingdom Hearts. If they’re meant to be side-games, spin-offs that are unnecessary to the plot and would provide little information towards the main story, they failed horrifically.
Now here’s where these side-games do their job.
@derekscorner was one to point this out. They only mentioned Coded, but this can apply to all of the side-games that were released.
A side-game is meant to extend the story away from the bigger plot, focusing on things that they couldn’t fit into a main game because it wouldn’t be relevant.
Chain of Memories takes your focus away from Sora’s fight against the Heartless to his journey to find Riku and this new mysterious girl from Sora’s past.
358/2 Days gives you more story on Roxas, who he was and how he came to betray the Organization while also characterizing Axel and introducing Xion.
Birth by Sleep gave you backstory on Xehanort, what he did to end up betraying Ansem, and what happened to make him lose his memory in the first place. It also gives more detail about how the Keyblade came to be such a scarce weapon, introducing new characters that are tied into it’s violent history.
Coded, probably the best to define as a side-game, took you completely away from the main plot, delving into what happened with the journal, how Naminé is connected to it, and what Sora’s true purpose is.
Dream Drop Distance tells you about the exam Sora and Riku must take in preparation for the battle with Xehanort and what exactly Xehanort intends to do to achieve his goals.
0.2 Fragmentary Passage tells about Aqua’s time in the Realm of Darkness and how she played a pivotal role in helping seal the Door to Darkness. It also helps set up for Kingdom Hearts III.
Union Cross gives backstory on the Keyblade War, further delving into how the weapon managed to start a war and what exactly happened to the worlds to separate them all.
In honesty, the games do a really good job of keeping most plot-heavy stuff to the numbered titles. The only time it seems to ignore this principle is in Birth by Sleep with the introduction of several new characters whom we’ve never seen in any of the other games and how important they are going to be in the upcoming titles.
Kingdom Hearts, while every game is sorta important to understand in order to enjoy the story to it’s fullest, does keep it’s most important information in the numbered titles.
This post did an amazing job explaining the roles of side-games within the KH franchise, but please do not mistake “most important information in numbered titles” for “you will understand KH3 if you play 1 and 2”. The whole plot of KH3 is spun around Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance. 1 and 2 are probably less important than those two titles for the upcoming story.