A soundtrack with high expectations, Kingdom Hearts' OST is perhaps the spiritual successor to Super Mario RPG's. Everything that made the music for that strange hybrid of a game so successful has been intimately reproduced here, from the crazy, happy Disney themes to the trademark RPG battles and their various levels. The underlying thread that keeps it all together is the choral track Destati, which, while not actually featured in the game, has been carefully intertwined with almost every single piece of music you'll hear while playing - from the mysterious Dive Into the Heart to the dark Night of Fate. Some Shimomura fans may be disappointed that the OST lacks the "character" of Parasite Eve and Legend of Mana, especially since the more mature use of instruments (in her previous work) is absent - you won't find many electric guitars or techno-style beats in this game. All in all, though, the most important aspect of this work is that it sounds fine while playing the game, and serves to provide some comforting nostalgia once the game is completed, which is essentially what a soundtrack is all about.