For as ingrained as the party system is in the numbered Kingdom Hearts games, the majority of entries in the series are solo outings. Chain of Memories only technically has a party; Days keeps Roxas mostly alone; BBS is all about three characters gradually becoming distant; and Re:coded is Data-Sora solo all the way to the end.
It’s easy to forget that the party system is not only there, but it’s also something you should be engaging with. The biggest mistake audiences make when playing the first Kingdom Hearts is simply assuming their party members will behave competently as is. It’s not only important to actively customize their move sets, but it’s also important to understand which Disney party members are worth swapping in when they appear.
8 Peter Pan
As far as leaving party members as is, Peter Pan will probably fare better than default Donald or Goofy. He’s a frantically fast character who deals decent damage, but he also loves draining through his MP and Peter Pan just isn’t as strong as Donald or Goofy at their strongest. He doesn’t have the magical prowess or raw strength to outdo either character at this point in the game.
By Neverland, both Donald and Goofy should be high enough levels to take out Heartless so long as they’re equipped with the right tactics. Peter Pan doesn’t really have much stacked in his corner other than being a decent party member for any players who manage to make it to Neverland underleveled. Or for those who just never bothered learning how to customize Donald and Goofy properly.
7 Jack Skellington
Think of Jack Skellington as a more useful Peter Pan. He suffers from pretty much the exact same problems Peter Pan does– specifically being a decent character who just doesn’t have the stats to outperform either Donald or Goofy at their best– but Halloween Town appears just a tad earlier, ensuring Jack Skellington can actually be a useful party member.
That said, Donald and Goofy should both be good enough to handle themselves in Halloween Town. If nothing else, running a party with Sora, Goofy, and Jack Skellington is a fun way of punishing enemies and a perfectly viable way of getting through Halloween Town comfortably.
6 Aladdin
Here’s a little secret about Disney party members in Kingdom Hearts I: all the men are basically just varying versions of Goofy. They’re all worse than Goofus D. Dawg when all is said and done, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their uses. Aladdin comes at a point where Goofy becomes a more useful party member, but Aladdin’s Item Slots can make him a great support character.
Dump some Elixirs into Aladdin, change his tactics, and he can pull his weight during the fight against super boss Kurt Zisa. Still, Aladdin joins the party at a point in the game where he can be genuinely useful for a multitude of reasons– whether it be due to his items or due to just being Goofy Lite at a point where Goofy might not be the beast he’s meant to be.
5 Ariel
A party with both Ariel and Donald in it basically turns Atlantica into baby mode as far as Kingdom Hearts I is concerned. Ariel is a great mage and the only party member who fills that role well. Even without customizing her tactics, she can tear through Atlantica’s Heartless with relative ease. Even an unchecked Donald can do well alongside Ariel.
It’s just a shame Atlantics isn’t that great a World. The underwater controls aren’t bad, but they’re noticeably less fun than the actual controls. Thankfully, putting Ariel into your party does make getting through the World so much more manageable. Maybe the fans who suffer most are the ones who neglect the Disney party members.
4 Tarzan
Kingdom Hearts I’s greatest secret is that Tarzan is actually ridiculously useful. It doesn’t matter whose slot Tarzan takes in the party, he’s more than enough to carry the team through Deep Jungle just fine. Tarzan is so useful that he makes Deep Jungle totally doable as the first real World! Skip Wonderland after Olympus and do some sequence breaking.
Worth noting, Tarzan is the first guest party in the game and the series. Unfortunately, the nature of Tarzan as a property essentially means Deep Jungle and its events can’t be referenced by future games. It’s why Deep Jungle is noticeably skipped during Chain of Memories.
3 Beast
Beast is a true Beast, and him being the guest party member at Hollow Bastion– a World that’s not based off a Disney movie, but instead compiles Disney elements together– is one of the best parts of the first Kingdom Hearts. For the first chunk of the World, he’s the only one who can do damage. Players need to rely on Beast’s overwhelming stats to survive. And he gets the job done.
Donald and Goofy should be amazing by this point in the game just by virtue of leveling up, but that doesn’t change how excellent a party member Beast is. He can even hold his own against the hardest boss in the game, The Unknown.
2 Donald
Fans like to rag on Donald for not healing Sora when he should (and he won’t if you don’t play around with his tactics,) but he can very easily become one of the best party members in the game with the right settings. Want him to be your dedicated healer? Uncheck all of his magic save for Cure and then arrange his tactics accordingly.
Donald’s AI is just lousy when he has access to his entire kit of magic. This works for offensive magic as well. Donald can be quite the beast so long as you take the time to play around with his AI. As useful as Donald is, though, Goofy does end up edging him out in the long run.
1 Goofy
For starters, Goofy is a more useful party member for longer. It doesn’t take him nearly as long to start genuinely pulling his weight in battle, if not taking control of the battle from Sora if you’re underleveled. He gains a plethora of strong offensive skills, and his support abilities are huge game-changers. MP Gift alone elevates Goofy to the best party member.
It just helps that he can do serious damage by endgame. There’s a reason so many of the male Disney party members round out the bottom of the barrel: they’re just worse versions of Goofy, a party member characters will have for the entire game and who will only get better with time.
NEXT: Kingdom Hearts: Top 5 Strongest Abilities In The Series (& 5 Worst), Ranked
