Video game:PlayStation 2 Kingdom Hearts

Since its founding in 1923, The Walt Disney Company has become the largest media conglomerate in the world. The company gave birth to countless films, musicals, television shows, and theme parks. Many of Disney's characters, introduced through animation or film, have found new life in tie-in video games that give fans the opportunity to interact with beloved worlds and story lines.

Disney Interactive released one of its most successful video games in 2002 for the PlayStation 2. Entitled "Kingdom Hearts," this action role-playing game has sold more than 4.5 million copies and spawned a series including many sequels. It combines the world of Disney with characters created by the Japanese company Square for the "Final Fantasy" video games. Gamers play as Sora, a 14-year old boy who must battle the Heartless and protect Kingdom Hearts. Donald Duck and Goofy join him on his journey, and the trio encounters many other Disney personas, including Mickey, Maleficent, Snow White, Belle, and Aladdin on its quest. Many of the actors who voiced characters from the original Disney films lent their talents for this video game. Players progress through different levels, or worlds, which programmers designed to resemble the Disney movies from which they came. The game ends on a cliffhanger and leads directly into its sequel, "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories."

"Kingdom Hearts" received excellent reviews from critics and became one of the top selling games of 2002. Players praised the graphics, as well as the story. Johnny Liu of Game Revolution wrote, "Interacting with all these characters that previous only existed on the silver screen is, in a word, magical." IGN nominated the game for the "PS2's Best Game of 2002 Editor's Choice Award," and listed it as ninth on its list of "Top 25 PS2 Games of All Time."

Because of "Kindom Hearts'" success, Square and Disney released merchandise ranging from toys to clothing and books, as well as remastered versions of the game. Its sequel came out in 2004 and the game series remains popular more than a decade later.