Halloween Town

Halloween Town is a world found in all the Kingdom Hearts games save for Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts coded. It is based on Tim Burton's classic stop-motion film, The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The ruler of this world is Jack Skellington even though he is not the mayor. This is most likely because he is in charge of making Halloween. Santa Claus is the ruler of the Christmas Town section.

The keyhole in this world is hidden underneath Oogie Boogie's manor.

Setting and Areas
Based on the holiday of Halloween, Halloween Town is in a constant state of night. The main light comes from the bright full moon overhead. The theme for the area is a twisted, Gothic, and 'creepy' appearance. Guillotine Plaza (called Town Square in Kingdom Hearts II) is named after the guillotine in the middle of the area. A fountain and a few other strange items can be found in "Guillotine Plaza" mirroring the same style (Tim Burton's) being captured by the creators. In Kingdom Hearts II, the area takes on a slightly different appearance, the fountain now squirts water that deals damage if hit, the guillotine can come down on characters, damaging them if they pass beneath it. The gate outside of Jack Skellington's home deals damage if Sora and company come near it, and nearby grates spew poisonous gas. In both games, the Square links directly to Dr. Finkelstein's Lab, where much of the exposition for both games is initially given. In Kingdom Hearts, it also links to Guillotine Gate (called Halloween Town Entrance in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days), which serves as the entrance to Halloween Town.

Nearby there is a Graveyard that serves as a connection to the other places in both games. In Kingdom Hearts II, the gravestones can be knocked over for Drive Orbs and damage. In both games, the Graveyard leads to Moonlight Hill (called Curly Hill in Kingdom Hearts II); with a hill (with a coiled tip) that can uncurl in Kingdom Hearts to take the party to the next area. In Kingdom Hearts II, the left fork in the Graveyard also takes the party to the Hinterlands, a wood that leads to the trees carved with various symbols of other holidays. They lead to towns (all unplayable except for Christmas Town) of varying holidays - Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Thanksgiving, Independence Day and Valentine's Day.

In Kingdom Hearts, traveling over Moonlight Hill takes the party to the Bridge leading to Oogie's Manor and the Evil Playroom within that serves as the hideout of Lock, Shock, and Barrel, as well as Oogie Boogie's Torture Chamber.

In Kingdom Hearts II, the Hinterlands will take characters to Yuletide Hill, which they can travel down the Candy Cane Lane to reach Christmas Town. In Christmas Town, characters can visit with Santa Claus in Santa's House and explore the Shipping & Receiving and Wrapping Rooms of the Toy Factory. Late in the game, characters can also go by Christmas Tree Plaza to fight a boss battle.

Kingdom Hearts
In Kingdom Hearts, the story differs from the movie. The plot is about the Doctor making an artificial heart so Jack can control the Heartless. This is because Jack wishes to make the Heartless perform dances in his plans for Halloween. But working with Maleficent, Lock, Shock and Barrel steal the heart and take it to Oogie. Sora and company chase after and fight them, only to discover Oogie already has the heart. They find Oogie and defeat him once, but Oogie merges with his Manor, possessed by darkness in a final attempt to destroy Sora and his party. After the battle, the location of the Keyhole is revealed and locked.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
The plot in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories oddly stays the same with some key differences.
 * Oogie isn't working with Maleficent
 * Oogie doesn't fuse with his manor
 * Zero, Lock, Shock, and Barrel are absent
 * Instead of an artificial heart, Doctor Finkelstein creates a potion that awakens the "true memories" that are hidden in people's hearts, which Oogie steals instead

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, when Roxas first arrives in Halloween Town, he finds Jack Skellington pondering on how to make Halloween scarier and more shocking than ever before. Roxas leaves him there to think, and continues on his mission of collecting hearts.

On Roxas’s next few missions to Halloween Town he finds there are fewer and fewer Heartless, making heart collecting more difficult. Roxas uses the heartless detection skills of Zero (Jack Skellington's dog) to help him finish his mission. After a few more visits to Halloween Town, Roxas =grows tired of the tricks by Lock, Shock, and Barrel and attempts to stop them. They attack him, but Roxas defeats them. They promise not to play tricks on him anymore. Barrel almost divulges imformation on what they’ve been doing, but Lock quiets him, and they escape.

Disregarding their promise, the three 'pumpkin bomb' Roxas immediately on his next arrival. After completing his mission, Roxas tries to leave, but is attacked by a plant-like heartless (Leech Grave). He defeats it and returns.

The Organization reports that very few heartless are appearing, so Roxas is sent to investigate. When he arrives at Guillotine Plaza, a Heartless appears, fleeing from something. The Leech Grave of before comes from the ground and swallows the heartless. Roxas searches for the source outside of town, seeing Lock, Shock and Barrel escaping over the wall to Boogie's home. He defeats the Leech Grave 'sprouts' at Curly Hill, before taking on the main body of the Leech Grave. However, Jack - watching from outside the zone of battle - becomes mesmerized with the idea of a Halloween with 'a black cloak and black tentacles'.

On his last mission to Halloween Town, Roxas is shown to be worrying about Xion. He resolves to finish his mission as quickly as possible and return to the castle to speak with her. But as he searches through Halloween Town he finds no Heartless. He decides to check outside of town, and finds an Orcus Heartless. The Heartless proves hard to handle, but arrives and intervenes between the two. Axel sees the Orcus as Xion, noticing that the battle was a trap to get the two to fight to the death, disposing of the weakest one. They leave for Twilight Town disturbed on the Organization's trap.

Kingdom Hearts II
In Kingdom Hearts II, the plot follows much to the original film. Like in the original film, Jack wants to take Santa's place as the 'spirit of Christmas'. While at the same time, Maleficent has revived Oogie Boogie (suffering from amnesia), and has him remake Santa's 'present making machine' into a 'Heartless making machine'. Maleficent has Shock, Barrel, and Lock assist Boogie, even letting them use a Heartless. Sora, Donald, and Goofy tries to stop Jack's scheme, simultaneously trying to shut down the Heartless operation.

On the second visit, Sora, Donald, and Goofy learn from Jack that Christmas Presents are being stolen, and resolve to find out who did it and why. The four visit Santa to request making 'Dummy Presents' to draw out the thief. Hiding in the 'dummy presents', they wait for the perpetrator, discovering it to be one of the Professor's inventions. After defeating it, they learn from Finkelstein later that the Experiment wished only to know the happiness that Christmas brings. Jack thinks the box makes the magic, but learns from Sora that it's not about the box, paper, ribbons, or what's inside, what matters is the principle of giving. After this Jack and Sally share a romantic moment in the snow, with Donald and Goofy teasing Sora about imagining himself and Kairi in the same occurrence.

Areas
Kingdom Hearts:
 * Guillotine Gate
 * Guillotine Square
 * Lab Entryway
 * Lab
 * Graveyard
 * Curly Hill
 * Bridge
 * Oogie's Manor

Kingdom Hearts II:
 * Graveyard
 * Halloween Town Square
 * Dr. Finkelstein's Lab
 * Curly Hill
 * Hinterlands
 * Yuletide Hill
 * Candy Cane Lane
 * Santa's House
 * Toy Factory: Shipping and Receiving
 * Toy Factory: The Wrapping Room
 * Christmas Tree Plaza

Character Design
Sora wears a black outfit quite similar to that of a vampire. His hands also have white gloves that are typical to Disney characters. He has skeletal bat wings on his back and wears a pumpkin mask on the right side of his face. His face is blackened so as to blend into the gothic atmosphere.
 * Sora

Donald wears mummy-like bandages that cover almost all of his body. A gap in the bandages shows that there is nothing under them. His features are darkened almost everywhere.
 * Donald

Goofy has the look of Frankenstein's monster, with a giant screw mirroring his hat coming out of the top of his head. His nose is recolored as a tiny jack-o-lantern, similar to Jack Skellington's faithful ghost-dog, Zero.
 * Goofy

In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, when Riku visits this world in Reverse/Rebirth, he takes on a slightly darker look, such as darker skin and menacing eyes, his outfit is also slightly torn around the edges of the sleeves.
 * Riku

In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, when Riku visits this world in Reverse/Rebirth, the King takes on a slightly darker look, such as darker skin. The picture on his Friend Card also lacks a smile.
 * King Mickey

Dalmatians

 * 40, 41, & 42 - On the steep bank in the Bridge area.
 * 64, 65, & 66 - Return to Moonlight Hill after locking the keyhole and go in the door to the right. The chest will be right in front of you.
 * 67, 68, & 69 - Under Jack's house in Guillotine Plaza.
 * 70, 71, & 72 - In Guillotine Plaza, on the high ledge with the two jack o'lanterns to the left of Guillotine Gate. Glide is required.

Trinities
Note: in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix the Red Trinity has been moved to the gate near to Oogie's Manor. This way, it can be activated at any time in the game after gaining the access to this area.

Trivia

 * Halloween Town is one of the only Disney worlds that didn't follow the plot of its original movie (with some alterations to suit the game's story) in its debut. In Kingdom Hearts, it only bore similarities to the beginning of The Nightmare Before Christmas (plot wise) and didn't actually get to the movie's main plot until Kingdom Hearts II which even then, it is implied by certain pieces of dialogue that the events of Halloween Town in the game take place AFTER the movie, such as Santa's "What trouble did you bring about this time, Jack" retort (which Jack, when questioned by Sora, stated that it's a "long story"), as well as Jack's line about how he wasn't even the one who told Lock, Shock, and Barrel to come to Christmas Town this time.
 * In Kingdom Hearts, after the battle against Oogie Boogie (where he fuses with Oogie's Manor), the site is then called "Manor Ruins."
 * The save point at Oogie's Manor, i.e. Evil Playroom, does appear at the landing menu of the gummi sequence as long as the manor is up. After defeating Oogie Boogie and sealing the Keyhole in Halloween Town, the save point at Guillotine Gate is the sole save point in Halloween Town.
 * Halloween Town has more detailed textures because it is based on stop-motion rather than animation. The Heartless in this world change skin texture to match this. Strangely, this does not happen in Port Royal, despite that world's even more realistic graphics.
 * According to the BradyGame's Kingdom Hearts II official strategy guide, The Nightmare Before Christmas world was added again simply because of the overwhelming fanbase.
 * In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, Halloween Town is the only world in which Sora changes clothes.

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