The Kingdom Hearts spin-off games are numerous, and on their face each seems to hold something crucial to understanding the series’ main plot. In reality, though, this isn’t really the case.
Each spin-off has some interesting bits and nuggets of information, but some have far more than others. With so little time until the release of Kingdom Hearts 3, we thought we’d clear things up by ranking every spin-off from least to most crucial.
Note that this only covers one version of each spin-off game, typically the version that saw a wider release. As such, the HD rereleases and console ports like Re: Chain of Memories won’t be made into additional entries.
Kingdom Hearts Spin-off Games Ranked by Necessity
7. Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded
More of an attempt at a creative retelling of the first game as a spin-off than a continuation, Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded is about the least important entry in the series.
Placing players in the role of a digital copy of Sora, the game requires them to delete bugs and data from a digitized version of Jiminy Cricket’s Journal.
Doing so will reveal the meaning behind a line he doesn’t remember writing that leads to the letter Mickey sends Sora at the end of Kingdom Hearts 2, and could be the key to stopping Xehanort and his forces from driving the worlds into darkness in Kingdom Hearts 3.
Most of this is revealed at the very end of the game though. The rest is a mediocre retreading of the first game and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, complete with flat gameplay and a heap of repeated story elements.
It’s easily the most skippable entry in the series, and with the important story bits readily available on YouTube, there’s not really a reason to go back to or play this game.
