Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - Reception

Reception

The game's current average score on Metacritic is 75%, and is 76.74% on GameRankings. Kevin VanOrd of GameSpot praised the multiplayer mode's gameplay, calling it "fun" and citing the ease of using magic spells and items. He complimented the single-player mode as well, commenting that the artificial intelligence-controlled Organization XIII members were helpful and competent. VanOrd, however, criticized the camera controls, stating that the on-screen character ended up in one of the game field's corners often. Nintendo Power's Chris Hoffman and Steve Thomason referred to the game as highly anticipated, and considered it one of the better titles displayed at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show. They praised the graphics, calling them among the best on the system, and complimented the familiar feel of the gameplay. RPGamer was less forgiving, as it handed the game a 2.5/5 score and reviewer Alex Reimer concluded, "...many fans of the series may be turned off by the lackluster controls and odd story directions taken with this portable spin-off." The Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave the game 9/9/9/9 (36/40) and praised the graphical quality of the game which had not been seen on a DS before as well as the gameplay mechanics and missions. They were also particularly impressed with the new panel system which allows the player to customize their fighting techniques as well as the ability to customize the characters from the Organization. The website RPGFan gave the game an 81 out of 100, praising the visual and aural quality, though expressing disappointment at the recycling of most of the music from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, as well as confusion about the storyline. Game Informer gave the game an 8 out of 10, praising the graphics for excellent production values and the journey of the camera controls from the PlayStation Analog Stick to the DS shoulder buttons. The Australian video game talk show Good Game's two reviewers gave the game a 7/10 and 7.5/10. However, the Official Nintendo Magazine gave the game a mediocre score of 69% praising the graphics and gameplay but criticising the backtracking and confusing plot.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days was the top-selling game during May 2009 in Japan at 291,000 copies, even though it was released during the final week of the month. The following week, it was again the top-selling game in the region at 106,000 copies. As of August 2009, the game has sold 490,000 copies in the region. It is also one of the most reserved games for the DS. By the end of 2009, the game sold a total of 571,981 copies in Japan alone making it the twelfth best-selling game in Japan of 2009. NPD Group sales data shows the game has sold over 360,000 copies in North America as of October 2009. In November 2009, Square Enix announced the game had sold 1.22 million units worldwide. The game was nominated for 7 awards on Nintendo 2009 Power awards: Nintendo DS Game of the Year, Best Sound/Voice Acting, Best Adventure Game, Best Nintendo DS Graphics, Best New Character (Xion), Best Story/Writing, and Overall Game of the Year. On February 16, 2010 it was announced that 358/2 Days won all seven of the awards that it was nominated for in the reader's vote.