Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
Birth by Sleep on the PlayStation Portable was a paradigm shift for the Kingdom Hearts franchise. The prequel completely recontextualizes everything we know about the universe, all while introducing three new, beloved heroes in Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. Birth by Sleep is a dense, tragic setup for what would come in the years between it and Kingdom Hearts III, and somehow managed to introduce characters fans have come to love as much as its original trio.
Even on the PlayStation Portable, Birth by Sleep is a solid recreation of Kingdom Hearts’ spectacle with some interesting accommodations for the handheld’s lack of buttons. It’s also home to some of the best mini-games in the series, which has been fraught territory for Kingdom Hearts over the years. The best parts of it shine even brighter on consoles in the 2.5 HD Remix collection.
