The announcement of Kingdom Hearts IV dropped last night and alongside it came a brand new look for Sora, but one especially noticeable aspect about the keyblade warrior is that he’s no longer wearing his iconic giant clown shoes.
In the trailer for Kingdom Hearts IV, we see that our hero has traded out his old oversized belt-ridden sneakers for a pair of more form-fitting running shoes.
Since the release of the trailer, Kindom Hearts fans across social media has gathered together to mourn the loss of Sora’s fancy circus footwear that has quite literally carried the character for the last 20 years.
can we have a moment of silence for sora’s clown shoes pic.twitter.com/FN3axbZE8N
— christina 💐⭐️ (@chiara_eliz) April 10, 2022
Giving Sora normal sized shoes and feet is the most fucked up thing you could do after 20 years of this. https://t.co/DRKaaajVbj
— chris person (@Papapishu) April 10, 2022
The reason sora needs a grappling hook is b/c the bounce was all in the clown shoes…im gonna miss those silly bitches #KH4 #Sora pic.twitter.com/y3loH5OVDN
— onyx✨⛈ (@speakindedmemes) April 11, 2022
Some people however are glad that Sora is wearing normal-sized shoes, believing it was a practical improvement and that he simply looks good in them, and are even asking Square Enix tell sell them in real life (don’t give them ideas).
Others are just amazed that he has normal-sized feet.
They just revealed Sora’s feet
Why’s my dude wearing gigantic shoes all the time LOL pic.twitter.com/b7q31tk5We— ProsafiaGaming (@ProsafiaGaming) April 10, 2022
While most of these posts have been for laughs some have seen it as a legitimate concern. Kingdom Hearts is meant to be a crossover between the styles of Final Fantasy and classic Disney movies. Sora’s original design from Kingdom Hearts 1, including the yellow shoes, was specifically designed based on Mickey Mouse’s iconic image and oversized rat shoes.
Some believe that taking out the more cartooney aspects of Sora’s design like the exaggerated spikey hair and clown shoes makes him feel too much like a generic Final Fantasy character without that Disney charm of his old designs.
But these changes are understandable to an extent as Kingdom Hearts IV looks to change up much of the series formula. The upcoming game will see the beginning of a new Arc for the series called The Lost Master Arc. The trailer shows Sora fighting a giant heartless in what looks like modern-day Tokyo, a very different setting from the more fantasy-style worlds of previous games.
That being said, we do see Donald and Goofy at the end of the trailer, confirming that the series’ Disney roots will still be present.
Overall it’s far too early to say what will happen in Kingdom Hearts IV but Tetsuya Nomura has always been one to keep fans on their toes, and it seems he’ll continue to do so, clown shoes or not.