I like the idea of Deep Jungle more than the actual world.

@JustLibbles

4 жыл бұрын

Best way to explain it

@65firered

3 жыл бұрын

I think most of us are like that.

@Starpotion

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah it kinda sucks that we've been absent of a proper jungle world in KH for a while now

Deep Jungle became a lot more bearable when I stopped trying to think of it as a 3D space and just memorised where each doorway takes you. It's one of the most beautiful and diverse worlds in a Kingdom Hearts game, but badly needs a map. Every room Monstro's Belly looks almost exactly the same, but you can get through it quickly if you ignore the heartless and just try to remember which doorways you've been through.

@TheKat12364

4 жыл бұрын

Yes Mostro would have been sweet if each room varied in colour, i.e. one was more red, another more purple, and another more blue, etc. But platforming seems easier some how there because its not as needed, it is great world to come back to with glide. So is deep jungle, but the platforming is needed for story. Which is my main issue with deep jungle, not what I have to do but the number of times I have to do it. I think we go to the treehouse what three times?

@TheKat12364

4 жыл бұрын

@a j wow i missed that completely. Thank you. That will help my next play through

The problem that people have with Deep Jungle, as well as other worlds in KH1, from what I noticed usually stems from their first playthrough in not knowing where to go.

@Atlas92936

3 жыл бұрын

When I was a kid, that feeling made the world more expansive and mysterious though, I felt so nervous but I loved it

I was always perplexed at why we never saw anything from Deep Jungle in the later games and Chain of Memories and I was so sad for it. I assume there were licensing issues with the Tarzan brand . It's a shame because I, too, really enjoyed Deep Jungle. The interactivity in the world is lost on some worlds but shines here.

@anonymousoff-brand7538

4 жыл бұрын

you got the reason right - disney never actually owned it, they just had a license for it that they didn't renew when it ran out.

@david-jonballinger6638

4 жыл бұрын

@@anonymousoff-brand7538 I read that Disney tried to renew it but the estate refused to let them use Tarzan again.

@KarmicBead

4 жыл бұрын

Yea Edgar Rice Burroughs's estate didn't allow Disney to renew the rights.

@TheNemisisx

4 жыл бұрын

Nah the real reason why it didn't get used again in chain of memories is because sora repressed the memory of his visit their so badly that not even namine was able to find it.

@jackbrownio3

3 жыл бұрын

I suppose the Sleeping Beauty world (can’t remember proper name) in BBSFP felt like a spiritual successor. Same with some of the Caribbean Islands in KH3. Maybe if the jungly islands were a bit bigger in KH3 then there would be no need for a Tarzan remake.

Only thing I have to say is “He Hoo Hoo Ha...Not Clayton!”

@seanfinch7856

3 жыл бұрын

Excuse me it's "*&&X% Not Clayton!"

There is actually another alternate way to skip both the Vines areas AND the Hippo Lagoon. By the time you need to use them , you have access to the Gummi Ship again. So if you used the Save point right before the jungle slider, you can use the ship to warp there instead of going through either location. So if you're reallllly struggling, it is possible just to skip that whole section and only come back for the chests after you got glide.

@somebodystopme3822

4 жыл бұрын

13KuriMaster you can also skip the veins by initiating the vine jumping mini game and then immediately cancelling it. It teleports you to the end.

I can't consider Deep Jungle the worst KH1 level when Monstro and Neverland exist.

@qrowing

4 жыл бұрын

Monstro isn't that bad. The "organ holes" are colored differently depending on where you're supposed to go. The blue holes lead the way.

@iSuckAtGamesGG

4 жыл бұрын

Neverland is ok unless u get lost, but its also easy to remember so its not that bad but monstro is boring even if u dont get lost, all the rooms are the same

@thatoneguy4452

4 жыл бұрын

@@iSuckAtGamesGG Neverland is just a ship and the clock tower. You don't properly visit Neverland. That's why it's bad.

@ALunarLight

4 жыл бұрын

@@qrowing why have I never known this

@qrowing

4 жыл бұрын

@@ALunarLight it's definitely one of the more "hidden" things. Maybe geppetto tells you, but I'm not too sure how the player is meant to know other than observation

I like how you caught that Powerwild in midair with Blizzard at 5:27

I don’t know if you knew this, but in the treetop room if you look up, the “roof” of the area is one of the most beautiful in the game!

@NovayonKH

4 жыл бұрын

Oh wow, I'm gonna have to look next time I'm in the game

@twoplus2787

4 жыл бұрын

Yeah that and looking up at the end of the lift stop in Hollow Bastion. It's crazy how many small details in this game you can very easily miss.

@David-es4pi

4 жыл бұрын

Ironic because the original PS2 camera would never allow that lol

@auscompgeek

4 жыл бұрын

@@David-es4pi you can press select in the original game to go into first-person camera mode

@jarrodwalker9099

4 жыл бұрын

@@auscompgeek how have I never done that before in all the years kingdom hearts has been around, I'm gonna spend all day today walking around and randomly looking up in kingdom hearts.

It's probably one of the best worlds in KH1

The day i found out you can get to the bamboo forest by jumping behind the treehouse incline was the day i learned to love deep jungle. Around 8:55, ig you just jump off a little bit farther back in the room you can basically straight into the clayton fight

Spent literally hours at hippos lagoon trying to get those chests without the glide ability that was really my only gripe but I could’ve cane back when I got it but I was too determined lol

@kstreet7438

4 жыл бұрын

At 2:35 that first hippo is easy since you can just swim on its back

Pretty orgasmic video. I agree on the treehouse and relative exploration feeling fulfilling once you've gotten a good grip on the world's structure. The point of its frustration as a child being a positive is not something I entirely agree with but it's the first time I've heard someone spin that into a positive.

@NovayonKH

4 жыл бұрын

Maybe I'm a masochist

Commenting so you get dat sweet algorithm gains and also because its a very good video and changed my mind on deep jungle

I hate this world. I was constantly running around trying to find my objective.

I always loved this world

I for one have always looked forward to seeing this world again in the games but either due to rights, the fans outrage or Square not wanting to use it it's never come back. I used to get annoyed at parts of it but then learned the great attack mid jump and this place became a cakewalk. This also helped with Monstro and even getting a few other chests a little early. I too know that boss fight cutscene off by heart as well as the one before the pot centipede in Agrabah (so MANY deaths sigh) but I think part of why people hate Deep Jungle is because you learn cure AFTER finishing it. Making it harder to finish as you rely on your potions instead. For me going here was mandatory for Cure because I couldn't beat Cerberus without it and I'm probably not the only one.

@anonymousoff-brand7538

4 жыл бұрын

the reason was the rights issue: disney doesn't own tarzan, they were just licensing it, and said license ran out.

@Lucifronz

4 жыл бұрын

@@anonymousoff-brand7538 Exactly. That's why it didn't show up in Chain of Memories despite the game literally being about Sora's memories and serving no reason not to be included. It was excluded because it had to be, they couldn't legally include it anymore.

I liked the Tarzan and Alice in wonderland levels, they look fun and the design is nice. BUT I HATED PLAYING THEM SO MUCH😭 Constantly getting lost because the "rooms" look so much alike, having to go round and round and round!

Platforming in a psuedo-platform game? Ludicrous! Seriously though, Sora is actually pretty good at platforming in KH1, I never understood why people say he isn’t. Also, I always skip the Vines through Hippos Lagoon, so I never have to deal with them, only going back to the area to get chests after beating the world.

@johnsargent7706

4 жыл бұрын

Agreed, I honestly had more trouble with inputs not registering in 0.2 and KH3. I always felt that I had full control over KH1 Sora's movements and inputs, where in KH3, Sora sometimes won't jump again immediately after landing like in KH1 or even KH2.

@qrowing

4 жыл бұрын

There really isn't anything wrong with Sora's jump as far as I'm concerned. Maybe these people just have poor spatial reasoning? You just gotta focus on his shadow.. Or his center of mass if you haven't got Sora's shadow back yet.

@qrowing

4 жыл бұрын

@@johnsargent7706 Nothing is cleaner than getting high jump in kh1, and being able to jump back to back incredibly quickly. The sheer amount of maneuverability you get once you gain access to high jump is insane.

@johnsargent7706

4 жыл бұрын

@@qrowing agreed, in KH3 it doesn't let you jump again after landing

@dmas7749

3 жыл бұрын

@@BlueAizu_ pretty much exactly what i agree with, sora has little more control than a belmont when in the air attacking midair gives him a boost in one direction but then you completely sacrifice manueverability after that but it IS still a really underrated tool for platforming

Thanks for making such a genuine hot take that brought us into your world! I liked Deep Jungle as a kid, too! When I was in college and had my friend play it, I realized that it was hard to navigate, and it made me understand why the fandom disliked it. But I agree it has a cool feel, and Tarzan is a really cool party member.

Honestly, most KH1 levels have shitty layout and progression. I love the heck out of the game, but Deep Jungle, Monstro, Wonderland, the Cave of Wonders, Atlantica, and even your first visit to Traverse Town are labyrinthine nightmares. The rest of the game(aside from Hollow Bastion, which I'll get to in a sec) doesn't fare much better, and can still be confusing with either unclear or nonexistent signposting. Hollow Bastion... I have a strange relationship with this world. It suffers almost all of the same problems other levels suffer, but I can't bring myself to dislike it. While most other levels become monotonous, HB manages to keep it interesting with varied room design and the THE BEST aesthetic in the game(top 5 in the series). I think a lot of the specific hate for Deep Jungle(and IMO Monstro is the worst when it comes to this) is that most of the rooms just FEEL the same. Exploration doesn't feel like discovering new parts of a place, but just continuing along in a single, honestly-kinda-boring place.

Ya really took the words right outta my mouth on this one, man. And then you rephrased it into a breakdown far better than any I could have made.

My favorite world in KH1 for sure

Been binging on Regular Pat and now I’m getting all this great KH content I never knew existed - great video mate

You can never heal the pain you caused me to have on deep jungle...

@NovayonKH

4 жыл бұрын

Was the pain in your heart, friend? Friend heart friends in our heart no heart no see friends?

@RaverRacer

4 жыл бұрын

@@NovayonKH deep jungle causes CIRRHOSIS

@KylePhantasm

4 жыл бұрын

@@NovayonKH You're an evil man

I’ve always loved Deep Jungle. It’s so fun to traverse

It hurt my soul at 5:06 when you Dodge Rolled right passed that Blue Trinity 😭😂

I platinumed kh2 a few weeks ago. Thanks to your vids, now I’m eager to replay this gem!

Honestly, this world was mostly a guilty pleasure for me because I was a huge Tarzan fan, this world had one of the most beautiful background designs, also the music is catchy as hell. So I'm glad there are others who don't hate this world :)

Dude your old videos are just so cozy! Wish you the best man. 👌

Dude your videos are insane. I’ve played this game so many times and you’ve pointed out so many things I’ve never noticed. Absolutely earned my sub!

i appreciate all your videos so much! thanks for making them ♥️

I think having to attack to extend a jump sounds like a completionist thing but should not be made mandatory to pass basic obstacles in this world. It sounds more like a hack than a proper way to design a jump. The issue it the same with Trickmaster. But otherwise I agree with most of it.

@NovayonKH

4 жыл бұрын

That's fair

This feels like "TheSmithPlays" Zombie Maps retrospective and I love the feel for it. I would so be down for just an analysis video for the worlds of Kingdom Hearts

I found your channel recently and have been watching your videos and I just want to say that you're doing an awesome job. Your videos are entertaining to watch and I agree that Deep Jungle is a pretty good world. Keep up the amazing content!

Deep Jungle has always been one of my favorite KH1 worlds, right next to Halloween Town and Hollow Bastion. Now what I REALLY don't understand is the love for Neverland. Whenever I ask someone it's always because "you can fly!" Yeah. For, like, a collective 10 minutes at the very end of the world. The rest of it is navigating a maze of wooden rooms that all look the same while fighting with an uncooperative camera. I also found the music felt like more of a low drone in the background than actual music, and it in combination with the brown wooden rooms everywhere I legit almost fell asleep. The best part of Neverland is the Phantom boss fight, and even then it's my 2nd least favorite of the superbosses (right ahead of Ice Titan).

What a great video. I appreciate this world more, now. I am one of those who hates all the back and forth you have to do in the level, but that doesn’t make it bad. There is much to love, and makes the original KH shine that much more. Thanks for your insights!

Honestly as a kid when I first played this game, I never had any resentment for this world. I enjoyed them all, though I'll admit I wasn't the biggest fan of Monstro because I'd get lost so easily lol

THANK YOU! i have always loved this world and while there is a good bit of backtracking and getting lost and stuff it makes sense in terms of the plot for that world at least. but i’ve always found it to be such a beautiful and fun level. glad to see i’m not the only one with some appreciation for it

My personal problem with Deep Jungle simply comes from confusion, i remember just how long it took me to move along Vine 2 only to get stuck on the oneway vines to vine 1 just because making the jump from Hippo Lagoon makes it so the cutscene meeting the Gorillas has you facing away from the vines you need to climb to get to the tree house, which led me to believe for half an eternity that the route to take was to make the Hippo Lagoon jumps and then struggle against the KH1 controls to move from vine 2 to vine 1 which I believed would take me to tree house since it continued in a linear path from the cutscene to an area I hadn't been before. I don't think there's another cutscene in the game that explicitly faces you away from the actual route you're meant to take.

so glad to see someone vouch for one of my favorite KH worlds in the whole series! I was obsessed with this world as a kid, so finding out that people hate it so much later on was really shocking to me. I just love the atmosphere and the setting and stuff of the place; when I was younger I used to spend so much time in the waterfall cavern area just because of how pretty it is lol. but yeah, great video and totally a take that I think the rest of the KH fandom needs to see :)

im so glad you are still making videos!!! KEEP GOING !!!!!!!

@NovayonKH

4 жыл бұрын

This really means a lot to me, thanks for the support

@charlessublette

4 жыл бұрын

@@NovayonKH ya! i've been subbed for like a year now lmao

I played kh1 at least 10 times & 100%ed it twice and this video still tought me some neat new things. Would love to see more of these on other worlds

Wait, there was a fruit collecting minigame? Iv'e never seen that waterfall and cave area.

This is why games get more simple and less complex. And honestly this world is not even that confusing, this video made me sad that this was the mindset of people like me who played this game as a kid and loved it. Anytime something has a little challenge people are going to hate on it. This is why I am a fan of difficulty settings that are more than just more health, more damage etc. Edit: I am a fan of having those options so that I can at least choose the hardest and play the game the way I would like and those who want it to be easier can as well. The only thing I hate is when they completely leave a challenge out of the game, just literally take it out for easier modes and have it be a cutscene instead or something. This is what I would like to see more in games.

@NovayonKH

4 жыл бұрын

I agree, choices are always nice to have so those of us who like a challenge can be catered to alongside people who wanna take it easier or perhaps need accessibility options

Fun piece of trivia I have just discovered in my replay of this game: after the boss has destroyed the wall that hides the gorilla waterfall areas, you can destroy a bit of the rock on the left side where the wall used to be. I was going through that area to get to the waterfall place and I started fighting heartless. I used thunder and a bit of the rock was destroyed! Never noticed it happen before.

I miss Deep Jungle and Wonderland honestly, I was hoping that we would get a revisit to them in a future KH game. Poor Deep Jungle didn't get a reappearance in Chain of Memories or ReCoded where you expect all the previous KH1 worlds to be revisited.

My only problem with Deep Jungle actually came with Final Mix. That Pink Agaricus is a pain to farm for the Ultima Weapon. For the rest, I am actually really sad that Deep Jungle never came back

@ricaroo3284

4 жыл бұрын

Grinding in Final mix in general is is pain for the ultima weapon. KH1 vanilla is better to gring

The only painful part is having to back track so much and I don’t like that you have to do the tree slide to go from the tree house to the camp. I usually go to the gummi ship and select the tent save point

Whenever I replay KH1 I just remind myself I have to get through deep jungle then I can start having fun

Your voice and videos is exactly what I need when I draw at night!! Def got a subscribe from me!!

Aaah, I remember when I was looking for a picture and I couldn't find it. It took me *6 YEARS* to finally find it. Then again, I was like 5 or 6 years old when I started playing it, and most of those 6 years were simply me having given up on finding the missing picture. I still have that old 400 hours save file on my ps2 memory card

5k views, almost 1k subs, very well done.. Well done sir.

I like that if you go across Hippo's Lagoon you can skip the vine section

Very good video and arguments. I'm also a big fan of Deep Jungle and I have always wondered why so many people don't like it. It's very fun and cool level, with many secrets. Also, one thing that KH 1 and Re:coded have but the other titles in the series don't, is platforming. Which in my opinion is also great, much more interesting than ,,just go forward to reach the next area".

I succeeded in completing Jiiminy's journal but I've never been at that water cavern sliding mini game before 9:28

@TheKat12364

4 жыл бұрын

I spent an hour sliding down the first log after going back to the world trying to get 10 fruit and always got 9. Its such a cool idea but so very hard to do

deep jungle probably brings the most nostalgia when i think of kh1 because it was the first world i visited after HOURS of not being able to get off destiny islands (i was young haha) damn now i gota play kh1 again, which means i'll have to play them all again 😅

i really like the tree sliding section and the soundtrack

I mainly have bad memories of it because of my own stupidity as a child. KH1 was the second or third video game I ever tried playing and I was stuck in deep jungle. I think I played through most of it, then had a big gap between then and playing the game again, so I didn't exactly know what I was doing and the journal didn't exactly help me. I kept trying to go everywhere I possibly could and I just wasn't finding anything. a few years later I tried replaying the game and finished the world pretty easily. I was _super_ confused about what could have tripped me up, but I think my problem might have been that I didn't walk far enough into the area of the boss to actually trigger it, and I became convinced that there was an area of vines or vines 2 that I hadn't managed to get to.

I really love thia world. The only frustrating part for me in my first playthrough was trying to get to the treetop. Since there is a vine that takes you up there right behind you when you enter a section. It took me hours to try to find the vine until I looked for a guide.

I've always had a soft spot for Deep Jungle! It may be that it's early in the game so I've played it lots or that I love Tarzan and it was one of my favourite movies.

Listening to this while playing Deep Jungle

i didn't really mind the boss fight in this world or even the vines, my biggest issue with this world was how unclear it was where you had to go to hit the next story checkpoint. It felt like there was such a lack of natural progression, and so much of the world was made up of you aimlessly wandering around back and forth between areas to try to find where the hell you had to go to hit the next cutscene. Sure this is somewhat true of many kh1 worlds, but i found it especially apparent in this one.

The world was unique with it’s platforming. It was absolutely great at its time

I never understood why people hated Deep Jungle so much. Probably cause I already loved the Tarzan movie, and its under appreciated TV adaption, but Deep Jungle was one of my personal favorite worlds. Along with World's End, Atlantica, and Agrabah. I mean, sure, I got lost all the time in the beginning, but I forced myself to figure it out and it was all smooth sailing--or, smooth swinging! I was so sad to see that it wouldn't be returning in KH2. But I read that there were issue's with Edgar Rice Burrow's estate and I knew that I'd never see Tarzan again in the Kh universe.

I’m surprised people disliked Deep Jungle - I loved it a lot back in the day. Although I originally didn’t like it, then the area became so natural to navigate. I love the enemies, and that final area with the keyhole felt magical.

This was literally my favorite world in KH1 and I was sad it didn’t come back over

*(Flashbacks to jungle vines)*

Deep Jungle was always my favorite KH1 world simply because Tarzan joins you. His battle style was cool, and he even had a heal ability before Sora and Donald get Cure. And of course, no acknowledgement of the world in any other game in the series just makes the nostalgia for Deep Jungle that much more potent.

I love Deep Jungle lol, tbh Agrabah is more confusing imo

Deep jungle is seriously underrated

Looking back, Deep Jungle is the best world in KH1, other than the original worlds. It had a lot of variety with the scenery and music. There was so much thought put into Deep Jungle; I just can't get why people dislike it so much. Agrabah is a solid second for me. I never dreaded having to go back after I learned a new ability with Deep Jungle, unlike Monstro. Monstro was... something. I definitely prefer the jungle slider to the frozen slider. The interactive nature of so many parts of the worlds of kh1 is what the latter games lack imo. That interaction is what makes the 1st game so special in the series. Maybe my memory is bad, but I don't remember any worlds where "play" was rewarded so heavily, except for Twilight Town and maybe the Hundred Acres Wood in the latter games. I also cannot deny the mushroom heartless have a special place in my heart. They are just so cute!

@qrowing

4 жыл бұрын

And the little puzzles all over the camp? Super fun. Granted you don't gain much from doing them, but they make the world feel so much more alive. Heck, plenty of worlds in kh1 have little things like that scattered around. It's a shame that they stopped doing it after this game. Toy Box (imo) felt so much like a kh1 world. So many little things around for you to mess with. And don't even get me started on the "secret found!" sound effect. The one that plays in Traverse Town when you blow out all of the candles. I love it.

@qrowing

4 жыл бұрын

Honestly, sound effects in general have changed a whole lot. We lost a lot of those more goofy cartoony, Disney sound effects. Like when Donald and Goofy leave Disney Castle, yknow? A goofy little slide whistle. Or even something smaller like Donald breaking the 4th wall, and pulling the camera down to his level since he's so tiny. Heck, even cutscene direction is less cartoony. In the exact same scene, Donald gets slammed against the wall by the door slapstick style when Aerith runs into Yuffie's hotel room. That's fun.

This was my favorite KH1 level, i see more details in this level that others in the game. The only missing things are Jane's father, elephans and see Young Tarzan story. I wish, we can see this level again in a future. A real remake of this have to be awesome. (Same for Wonderland, i want real open section, not box)

I never knew this world was hated this much, and I agree with you that it has the best level design of KH1. It's definitely one of my favourites. For me, the worst world by far is Never Land. It's not even technically Never Land, it's just Hook's ship followed by Big Ben. 🤨

Man I just did like my 4th completion on KH1 and I just found out you can skip the vines section. I would get to the end of the lagoon and run back to climb the vines at the start every time...

The premise of this whole video initially baffled me just because I've been in and out of the KH fandom since KH1 and have literally never heard of this phenomenon (or if I did it really didn't have an impact on me at the time). My group of friends always complained about Wonderland, not Deep Jungle, and since then I've replayed KH1 and have a lot more esteem for that world (the original version, at least). I do remember being frustrated with the hippos and the vines, but to me the sheer awesome size and immersion of the treehouse and the atmosphere from behind the waterfall completely dwarfed all that. I still don't consider it my favorite world over places like Traverse and Twilight Town, End of the World, Never Was, Symphony of Sorcery, and the Grid (wanna fite?!), but I also don't think I'm necessarily looking for the same things in a KH level. Spectacle, aesthetic, and plot resonance rate much higher over function or diversity for me. Also, wait a minute...platforming...sliding minigames...believable distances...cooking...*&&X%... KH3 WAS DEEP JUNGLE ALL ALONG

The most frustrating part of Deep Jungle for me on a recent 100% playthrough of KH1 was the sliding minigame. Not the game itself but it spitting you out in different locations in the world. Even if you get all the fruit, complete that path, and unlock the next one you still have to climb back up to the start four to five times. Now if they had a little box pop up at the end giving you a retry option that keeps your progress on unlocking paths that would have made that a non-issue.

Hippos and trees got me frustrated too but I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't want it removed. I enjoyed all the platforming parts.

If you know where your going then it’s not that hard to find your way around this world, not to mention you can bypass the vines completely by climbing up a tree that’ll take you right to the treehouse and speaking of the treehouse the argument that there’s too much backtracking is stupid if you jump off the side of the treehouse it’ll take you right to the cliffs which is an easy shortcut to the final boss. So yeah this world isn’t nearly as bad as people say it is you just have know how to navigate it that’s all.

@Macca-95

4 жыл бұрын

I think you've summed up my problem with this level perfectly in your justification phrase "If you know where your going". KH1 can be pretty terrible in telling you where you need to go and this level is amongst the worst. So much running through random rooms only to find that the next cutscene is all the way up in the treehouse.

I love Deep Jungle. Legitimately, I love every world in KH outside of Monstro.

THANK YOU!!! I’ve always loved this world ❤️ and have never truly understood why it’s gets so much hate XD

I actually like every Disney world(some more than others of course) to some degree, I think the problem with Deep Jungle is mostly that its part of that slow build up phase of the first 3 worlds you visit. Once you get to revisit Traverse Town the 2nd time, things start to get more interesting.

I just remember the sound effect of Tarzan getting clocked in the face in the cutscene for the 2nd Phase of the Clayton boss fight The man sounds like he got hit with a truck

Honestly I feel like the only reason people hate this world is because they miss the shortcuts in hippo lagoon and the vines. Even if they get the lagoon shortcut, the other shortcut is immediately *behind* Sora in the next area.

i loved Deep Jungle

So I was one of those dumb kids who was actually stuck in Deep Jungle. For like 3 years. Obviously I stopped playing for awhile there. I couldn't figure out how to get to the black flower fight. I actually ended up beating KH2 before KH1 because of it! It was only after I loaned my friends the game that they told me how to get past this part of the game. I remember being so desperate as a kid and trying to find out where to go, and I thought I had missed something in another world! For instance, the amount of time I spent looking for Alice in wonderland was INSANE. I think I was somewhere in the 30's on that save, just from running all over the first four worlds for hours. That all being said.... I completely agree with this video's take! Deep Jungle, Wonderland, and Traverse Town are my favorite disney worlds in the KH series. There's certainly a reason I combed over all the worlds for like 200 hours or some shit; and it's because the game is just too good, deep jungle included! And I think deep jungle acts as a sort of proving grounds with the hippos and the Clayton fight and the vines and stuff. The game is almost saying "Hey man, get good at the fundamentals now, because we build on this later." Like imagine how long my dumb 7 year old self would have been stuck on fights like Cave of Wonders head, or Riku-Ansem, or Dragon Maleficent if I couldn't even figure out how to beat deep jungle. I may have been SO FRUSTRATINGLY stuck for years, but I look back on that fondly and I think that says something.

I recently decided to give KH1 Final Mix another playthrough and had the same thoughts on a lot of worlds as you did with Deep Jungle. I never really understand when people complain about it because the things they say are bad are either an inherent part of the whole game (ex. platforming and having trouble keeping track of areas) or aren't really bad at all. I think the biggest takeaway from KH1 that gives it its own feel and such strong replay value is the use of puzzles, esp. compared to later entries in the series. KH1 is really the only one that leans a lot on world interactivity using magic, examining things to get items, etc., as well as puzzle maps that require going through doors in a certain order to progress, like Neverland and Wonderland, or unlocking them using hidden levers and stuff in certain rooms, like Agrabah (And I mean, this is Kingdom Hearts so unlocking stuff should be a common theme everywhere! They kinda forget that as the series goes on, weirdly enough.) I've always thought all of that was sorely missing from KH2 when I played it for the first time, directly after KH1. I just really like the experience of going to a world and feeling like it has an inexhaustible number of secrets that slowly open up to you. I still love the later entries too, but it's interesting to compare them and notice the progression into a more melee-heavy game with things like timed mini-fights and fetch quests replacing world interactivity. It fits with the story in a lot of ways-- Sora starts out as this little kid going to other worlds looking for his friends and basically just having fun exploring along the way, but then becomes this teenage savior figure thrown into the middle of a war against darkness. Worth appreciating the story/gameplay integration there, if nothing else. Another thing that you mentioned that I've been thinking about since replaying KH1 is how the platforming in the series has changed, basically disappearing altogether by KH3 thanks to flowmotion and the like. I've been playing video games since the early 90s, and here's the thing: at least half of the challenge in older video games was platforming. It was purposeful and built into those games because developers had a much smaller toolkit to work with for level designs, and it was a pretty surefire way to add challenge to an area. (KH1 fits right in with this, with its smaller world designs that had to make the most of much smaller areas.) It's been in games for as long as I've been playing them so I guess I'm just used to it and accept it, but it makes sense that younger/newer gamers who didn't grow up with that would just be frustrated with it. It seems like it has become more and more forgiving over time or just phased out of some games entirely, especially as developers find other ways to add challenge in different aspects of games. P.S. The Climbing Trees flowers that react to magic do have a purpose! Once you get past a certain point in the Deep Jungle story, hitting them all with magic to open them is the only way to get heartless to stop spawning in that area. Also another fun fact: depending on where you jump down off the treehouse, you can end up on different parts of the map, i.e. the tunnel or the cliff. Just always thought that was really cool 👍KH1 really is a masterpiece of a game. I'm still in awe of the level of detail they were able to put into so much of the game, especially considering when it was made.

I'm glad I wasn't the only who felt that way about those Clayton nd riku scenes 😂😂

I had no idea people hated this lol I quite enjoyed it a lot back then. I just picked up the game again recently, and i will soon reach there

I don't mind Deep Jungle now that i've played through it hundreds of times. Now it usually is the first world i go (I just pick thunder from colisseum furst, but no cerberus fight)

I spent hundreds of hours on KH1 as a kid and I don't think I remember ever sliding for fruit - certainly not through other areas. D-:

It’s my favorite world from Kingdom Hearts 1 including Neverland and Wonderland. Also Traverse Town is the best Kingdom Hearts Hub world.

I played this when I was ten and its amazing my mash potato brains got through deep jungle and hallow bastion without getting stuck

I just became a KH Fan and finished Deep Jungle blind yesterday for the first time. I thought this would was fine but it was still lower on the list (Wonderland is currently my worst). I liked the new heartless however this was also the most jank world I've played so far. I was constantly going back and forth through the world not knowing where to go however this has been an issue for the whole game so I kinda got used to going back to "check in" on an NPC. I also had some annoying broken bits where depending on the sway of the next vine you can't grab it, and I had a large problem with the flowers, I would never have enough MP and twice the heartless stopped spawning so I couldn't gain any more. Also because of the age of this game, the eggplant thing doesn't have an indicator that you're doing something right, so I thought I wasn't doing any damage to it. Besides those frustrating things the waterfall area was beautiful and I liked the characters and story of the in this world.

9:30 i've been playing kingdom hearts for YEARS and i just found out the waterfall portion of the game has a waterfall mini game like the tree stages. i literally screamed and feel embarrassed lmao.

Copyrights so it's never going to show up again... *sighs* how did they even use it in the first place...

I love the world, after I have beaten Clayton, the boss fight is fine, the way the story makes you run back and forth, (to the treehouse like 3 times) is what I don't care for. But going back is always so much fun

9:08 WHOA, I've played KH1 countless times over the last 14 years and I've _never_ seen that fruit collecting minigame on the vine slide or the other vine sliding areas, how do you even access that?

Hot take: The Jungle Slider minigame is just the Sonic 2 special stages.

Deep Jungle isn't horribly awful to me, there are certain routes you can take to make it quicker; knowing where to jump off of Tree House helps. Their mini game (Jungle Slider) suffers from needing to beat each level repeatedly with no mistakes, but pausing and quitting after beating each one makes it bearable. You only need to do one of the Vine Jump games for Journal purposes. Pink Agaricus is awful but that's more to do with the new Triangle mechanics. For me personally, I love the first half of Agrabah, but am not a fan of the Cave of Wonders portion. Atlantica is by far my least favorite.