Adventures in the Metaverse – Kingdom Hearts

Are you excited about seeing Disney worlds in Virtual Reality? What if I told you that this was possible right now? Surely you would say I was delusional, but at this very moment you can put on your VR headset and step into some of your favorite Disney movies of all time. We venture in alone for the teaser, but next time we travel deeper and bring some familiar friends. If you have a Google Cardboard or even a Gear VR you can click on any of the panoramas below, and be immersed in a stereoscopic 3-D panoramic image as if you were actually there with us.

New: Sizzle Reel (long hours of sweat and tears went into this)

We take a peak at the world of Kingdom Hearts, thanks to Kirito, whose Realm of Hearts hosts multiple doorways, each leading to a different Disney and Kingdom Hearts world. You will be surprised by what we find just behind each portal. While looking at these, just think that these scenes are only a small part of each of these massive areas. Got my Kingdom Hearts and Disney music mix playing, so why don’t you come with me through the most magical of portals into the Metaverse once again. Oh, and did I forget to mention, a special guest joins halfway through?

Please tap/click the pictures or title be brought to the 360° stereoscopic panos on VRChive. Still lost? Here’s how to view these panoramas in detail.

Loading of the 360° stereoscopic 3-D panos contained within the pictures below will take a while. They are sometimes 20 MB or more in size. Refreshing seems to help a bit if yours isn’t loading, but keep in mind VRChive is still in alpha stage, and you are viewing 360° stereoscopic panoramas from in game, which is quite impressive at this stage of VR.

This was actually taken at the last meetup, but I was holding off on sharing it until now. We meet Master Control Program from Tron. MCP was not pleased with our presence. Mario, however, has no fear, and got into a staring contest with MCP. I soon wandered off and decided to check out more of the sights.

First stop on my solo adventure was Aladdin. The panorama above is from the Cave of Wonders, which you can explore. Inside is a platform jump to get to the treasure room that is not for those with weak stomachs. The treasure room is quite the thing to see. To answer your question, no, the mouth does not close in on you. At least, not yet. In the realm of Aladdin, there are also a few more areas including the town of Agrabah.

I’m sure those who have played Kingdom Hearts will notice this town of eternal dusk. Yes, it’s very large and yes, it has the music playing overhead. This is when the nostalgia started to come rushing in.

I just knew Jack would be in here somewhere! If Halloween Town from The Nightmare Before Christmas wasn’t enough, Kirito has also put up a portal to Christmas Town, falling snow included. Jumping through the well, I continued on to the next surprise.

After coming out of the well, I found myself on a beach, with a strange castle in the distance. After wandering around aimlessly, I noticed sparkles coming out of the water. Jump in and check out the 360° pano to see for yourself, cause darlin’ it’s better down where it’s wetter. 🎶

You can imagine my surprise when Silica from Sword Art Online dropped by to say hi while I was exploring Hollow Bastion. To commemorate the occasion, I took a pano of her on the ledge overlooking the beauty surrounding us.

It turns out Silica was quite thirsty, so I decided to take her along on the journey, down the rabbit hole and into Wonderland. Maybe next time more will join us for some tea?

Silica was so blown away by what she was seeing that she just had to join VR Pill for the rest of the journey. Next stop was Neverland. Silica, what are you doing up there on Hangman’s Tree? That’s dangerous!

What a surprise, as the next portal brought us to one of the first playable areas in the original Kingdom Hearts. Silica takes this chance to do some climbing. Can you spot her?

Sometimes VR Pill gets tired and just wants to sit back and relax. Fortunately, thanks to the Metaverse, this can be done in Mickey’s room while looking at a cute picture of Minnie Mouse on the desk. Look behind and you will see Pluto’s bed.

I had to take a break to catch my breath from all the wonderful things I just saw. I had a feeling something grand would be coming, so I headed back to a portal I was familiar with, Destiny Islands. These are the islands you start out at in the Kingdom Hearts game. It was such a peaceful place, and I was able to do some light meditation before continuing forward.

We are going to leave some things as a mystery. We promise that your jaw will drop at what is behind this door if you are a Kingdom Hearts fan. The only way you can find out is to jump into VRChat and join Realm of Hearts.

In the hub room with all the portals is one larger than the rest. At the end is an enormous door. Can you figure out how to reach it? Will it eventually lead somewhere else? We might come back to Kingdom Hearts with more Adventures in the Metaverse as it expands. But until that time comes, we want to thank Kirito for bringing Kingdom Hearts to Virtual Reality in VR Chat, and Silica for coming along for the ride.

Please do stop by VRChat on Sunday night (that’s tonight at 6pm EST) for the Sunday Meetup where we will explore Fantasy World. All you need is an Oculus Rift. Wait… don’t have an Oculus Rift? Fortunately, you can also enter with a PC and Google Cardboard. Don’t miss our previous Adventures in the Metaverse where joined 20th Century Fox Futurist, “Future Ted”, on a trip that changed his opinion of Social VR forever.

Find out more about the worlds in Kingdom Hearts

Watch Sword Art Online

Download VR Chat Social VR Software