I don't know if you remember when the original Kingdom Hearts was first announced, but it seemed like an impossibly off-the-wall concept: Final Fantasy character designer Tetsuya Nomura, heading up a collaborative action RPG that would smash together Square's tentpole franchise and Walt Disney movies, of all things. The combination worked, although since the first chapter the series has strayed further and further into its own strange territory with the Heartless and the Nobodies and, with the upcoming Dream Drop Distance for 3DS, the Dream Eaters. As we continue to wait for Kingdom Hearts III, the spin-offs grow ever more recursive (not to mention confusing).

Thank goodness for the soundtracks. Headed up by Square Enix veteran (now freelance) Yoko Shimomura, the soundtrack to each and every Kingdom Hearts title is impeccable. And with KH3D, her work offers a concise reminder of what the series has always been about at heart. Namely, flinging together Final Fantasy and Disney concepts and seeing how they all shake out, then bashing your way through the results with a sword shaped like a key.

I'm struck, in listening to the game's soundtrack, by how much various tracks remind me of music from Final Fantasy games, despite the fact that they're not direct references to any particular Square game (and, based on the track listing, look to have more to do with Disney properties -- presumably Pinocchio). "The Fun Fair" has a sound reminiscent of Hitoshi Sakimoto's work for Final Fantasy XII and Tactics, while "Broken Reality" has a staccato xylophone feel that puts me in mind of Final Fantasy IX's "Ice Caverns."

And while the soundtrack includes classical compositions taken directly from the Fantasia soundtrack, the remainder of its compositions are almost entirely original, meant only to evoke the spirit of the various movie worlds feature in the game. The acoustic, European-flavored tunes based around The Hunchback of Notre Dame's world are wildly different from the shimmering electronica featured in game's Tron Legacy-based area -- but despite their diversity, these pieces work both to define their settings and as part of a cohesive whole. The Disney pastiches manage a rare feat of video game composition in that they convey the whimsy and lightheartedness of the source material without becoming grating or childish: Something most RPG composers struggle with.

In a nice bit of fan service, KH3D features a small crossover with The World Ends With You as that game's protagonist Neku appears in the Traverse Town hub. Shimomura and her team have reinterpreted three of the most memorable songs from TWEWY (including "Twister" and "Calling") in the Kingdom Hearts style. The reworked versions are more melodic, richer and brighter, and generally take Takeharu Ishimoto's excellent pop-funk work and elevate them to a new level. Check out this sample and see for yourself:

What's really nice about the KH3D soundtrack is that the improved data density of 3DS cards over DS cartridges means the in-game audio actually sounds like the soundtrack CDs rather than being hissy and compressed the way the dialogue and music in 358/2 Days for DS were. KH3D's soundtrack is out next week in Japan, and Square Enix will be selling it on their U.S. store as well closer to the game's American launch this summer. It's three discs of great music in the classic Square Enix mold. No matter how things change, and no matter how all-over-the-place the Kingdom Hearts series can seem, it's nice to know you can always count on Yoko Shimomura to keep it real.