CHARACTERS CONTINUED
FINAL FANTASY CHARACTERS
These characters from the popular Square Enix franchise are merely cameo appearances. They are all in character and serve a role in the story. They serve as characters who give exposition to Sora, Donald and Goofy about the Heartless and Maleficent as well as the team’s main supporters and friends.
Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy VIII voiced by David Boreanez
The main character of Final Fantasy VIII. He is a fairly stoic man that changed his name to Leon to part ways with his former self who was too weak to prevent his home world (Hollow Bastion/ Radiant Garden) from being destroyed by the Heartless. He is the leader of the group in Traverse Town that prevents the Heartless from taking that world as well. Despite his stoic demeanor he is a nice and caring soul who always has wise words of advice for our heroes.  He is also a boss that can be fought in the Coliseum as well as a story boss when he is first encountered.  David Boreanez of Buffy and Angel fame (2 very good shows) is Squall’s voice and he hits the character on the nose giving pride and wisdom to the character.
Yuffie Kisaragi   from Final Fantasy VII voiced by Christy Carlson Romano
Yuffie is a lively and friendly ninja/thief and is Squall’s right hand girl in clearing the Heartless from the town. There’s really nothing much to her other than the role I described above. Like Squall she is an optional boss in the Coliseum. Christy Carlson Romano (famous as Ren from Even Stevens) does a fine job voicing her and she probably recorded this right before she was offered the role of Kim Possible.
Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII voiced by Mandy Moore
Before she voiced Rapunzel Mandy Moore provided a soft, warm and soothing voice that perfectly matched the personality of one of the most beloved Final Fantasy characters ever Aerith. Aerith is a sweet and pretty girl who would bend over backward and truly care about any stranger. She is a great moral support for the group and is a fine character especially given her limited role in the game.
Cid Highwind from Final Fantasy VII voiced by no one
Cid Highwind is a renowned pilot, engineer, tech expert, and scientist and Merlin’s best friend. He is the owner of the Traverse Town Accessory Shop and later in the game becomes the Gummi salesman (what’s Gummi? That’s in the gameplay section) He is a fairly rough around the edges and gruff kind of guy, but is nice enough that doing business with him is no big deal. He doesn’t have a voice actor because his lines are all in a speech bubble (not all cutscenes were voiced back then so a good # of scenes were put in speech bubble form). He is one of many Cids to appear in Final Fantasy and is arguably the most popular.
Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy VIIÂ Â voiced by Steve Burton
The main hero from Final Fantasy VII and the insanely popular Cloud Strife appears in the Olympus Coliseum (Hercules world). He is a warrior hired by Hades to assassinate Hercules in exchange for assistance in locating someone that Cloud is looking for. When Cloud doesn’t exactly carry out his orders Cerberus defeats him and gives Sora some advice on never losing sight of the light like he did. He also gives Sora a very powerful ability that Sora can equip. He can be fought again in the Coliseum.  Steve Burton gives Cloud all the brooding and awesome that this character should have.
Moogles from various Final Fantasies voiced by no one
These cute teddy bears with antennas and wings are fuzzy, but very smart. They are in charge of Item Synthesis and some of the creations they make are awesome! More on Synthesis in the Optional Content Section.
OTHER CHARACTERS
These characters are miscellaneous characters that appear.
Jiminy Cricket voiced by Eddie Carroll
Jiminy joins Sora, Donald and Goofy at the request of Queen Minnie Mouse (he ended up in Disney Castle after his world was destroyed by the Heartless) as the Royal Chronicler. Jiminy has in his possession a Journal which can be accessed through the Main Menu and in it you can read about the story thus far, individual world stories, character bios, best scores for mini games and other things that will be explained later.  He only has a little bit of dialogue during his introduction and when Sora, Donald and Goofy meet for the first time he has speech bubble dialogue that introduces the journal and then he vanishes for the rest of the game, but is still with the team.
Merlin voiced by no one
Merlin was instructed by King Mickey to go to his house in Traverse Town to give the new Keyblade Master tutoring in magic. You can talk to him in his house and he will have an endless supply of furniture ready for you to practice with without losing magic points. If you attain all of the magic spells and their upgrades he will give your party very powerful weapons. He is also the guardian and owner of the book where the 100 Acre Wood resides.
Fairy Godmother voiced by no one
Fairy Godmother appears inside Merlin’s House and stays with him for the rest of the game. She is important because she has the ability to give you the power to summon characters into battle. When ever you get a summon gem bring it back to her so she can release the stone’s power which leads me to my next set of characters.
SUMMON CHARACTERS
Summon characters are characters that resided in world’s destroyed by the Heartless and did NOT survive the event. Yes these characters are for all intents and purposes dead. However, these characters had such strong hearts that they failed to submit to darkness and had their hearts and souls transformed into gems while their bodies died. If you take these gems to the Fairy Godmother she will release their spirit and enable you to summon them to aid you in battle. The summon takes the place of Donald and Goofy and unleashes powerful attacks or hefty defenses to your party.  You can dismiss the summon at any time and each summon will cost a certain amount of magic points.  There is a time limit for how long a summon will stay. When the summons magic Point meter drains completely the summon vanishes and each summon can only be summoned once per fight.
SIMBA : resides in the Earthshine Gem
Simba is the first summon you obtain and has the ability to unleash a mighty roar that will crush enemies.  A very solid summon and is quite powerful if you’re at the right level.
GENIE: voiced by Dan Castelleneta
Genie is actually not obtained from a summon gem, but automatically becomes one after saving Agrabah. He can unleash devastating magical attacks against enemies as long as you are locked on to at least one enemy. If an enemy is resistant to magic then you may not want to use Genie.
DUMBO: resides in the Watergleam Gem
Yes, Dumbo is dead in this game (sorry Moviefan) When he is summoned Sora gets on his back and rides Dumbo as he flies around the battlefield and the attack command is replaces with “Splash†so you can release a constant stream of water at enemies.
BAMBI: resides in the Naturespark Gem
Bambi is a defensive summon. He prances around the battlefield and drops restorative orbs to keep Sora’s health and magic high for the time he is there.
TINKER BELL: voiced by no one
Another summon that doesn’t come from a summon gem. Upon saving Neverland Tink tells Peter that she would like to accompany Sora, Donald and Goofy and Peter gives the okay. When she is summoned Donald and Goofy do NOT leave the battlefield and she flies around constantly healing the party. She can make Sora survive a killing blow, but that happens only once.
MUSHU: resides in the Fireglow Gem voiced by Mark Mosley
When Mushu is summoned he appears on top of Sora’s head and the attack command has changed to “fire breath†and by choosing that Mushu launches fireballs at the enemy from a distance.
100 ACRE WOOD CHARACTERS
When Sora visits the 100 Acre Wood he sees all the innocent friends we know and love. He doesn’t meet everyone (Kanga and Gopher aren’t present and yes I know Gopher wasn’t in the original book) so here are the beloved characters that appear in the peaceful 100 Acre Wood. They are all the same characters and are just as great as we remember them.
Pooh voiced by Jim Cummings
Piglet voiced by John Fiedler
Eeyore voiced by no one
Rabbit voiced by no one
Roo voiced by no one
Owl voiced by no one
Tigger voiced by Jim Cummings
Here is a video that shows a good percentage of the scenes from the 100 Acre Wood. Enjoy!
PRINCESSES OF HEART
These characters are extremely important to the universe of Kingdom Hearts. They are referred to as the Seven Princesses of Heart or the Maidens of the Purest Heart. These characters have no darkness in their heart whatsoever and if they are brought together they can open the door to a godlike force called Kingdom Hearts which is the source of all light and darkness and a reservoir of unlimited knowledge. If someone were to get their hands on it that person would attain godhood. Godhood is exactly what Maleficent and her group of Disney villains are after and they have used the heartless to destroy world after world looking for them. The Princesses posses magical powers that probably haven’t even been tapped fully. They have the power to hold back the darkness that resides in the deepest part of Hollow Bastion. They also upgrade your Fire magic. They also give great wisdom concerning the darkness and light with Cinderella acting as the group’s spokesperson. The Keyblade Masters are are to protect the Princesses of heart with his/her life and now that Sora has done that he can go to the final world and stop the Heartless.  I should make a note that Ariel is NOT included because she is a party member and for combat and gameplay purposes she needs to stay in her world and fight so we can level up her stats and have her help out. The list of Princesses are as follows
KAIRI: Princess of Radiant Garden
SNOW WHITE: The Fairest of them All from the Dwarf Woodlands
CINDERELLA: The Maid with the Glass Slippers from the Castle of Dreams
AURORA: The Cursed Maiden from Enchanted Dominion
ALICE: The Curious Girl who came to Wonderland from an Unknown World
JASMINE: The Jewel of the Desert and Princess of Agrabah
BELLE: The Maiden who Fell in Love with a Beast from Beast’s Castle.
This section is longer than I thought. I really don’t know why that surprised me, but it did. Next time I will finish up with world specific party members and villains and start the gameplay section. I said this was going to be a long one. There’s probably going to be 2 or 3 MORE  parts!!!
About Author
