A gummi ship is the main method of transportation between worlds in the Kingdom Hearts series. Several characters, including King Mickey and Sora, as well as groups like the Heartless and the Nobodies, use gummi ships to move between Worlds. These ships are made entirely of gummi blocks, a special material that allows travel between worlds. Although gummi ships seem to have originated from King Mickey, it is now mostly worked on by others, such as his subjects Chip and Dale (maintenance and construction), as well as Radiant Garden refugee Cid (shopkeeping and modifcation) and Pinocchio's father, Geppetto (blueprint design).
History[]
Gummi ships are assumed to be constructed out of the meteors that fall upon the world as a result of its door being opened, as noted by Xehanort in the Ansem Reports. King Mickey was the first to create a gummi ship.
Unchained χ[]
A gummi ship is used by Donald, Goofy, Chip, and Dale, to access Daybreak Town in Unchained χ. Contrary to their plans, however, the gummi ship crashes and its component parts are spread out across many worlds. The Player is enlisted to help recover the pieces, and after a length of time, the crew set off again in the rebuilt gummi ship.
Before Kingdom Hearts[]
King Mickey used the gummi ship to visit Ansem the Wise in Radiant Garden to discover the reason why the worlds were disappearing. Both Ansem and his apprentice, Xehanort, were fascinated by the gummi technology, and discovered it was possible because the Heartless had destroyed the world barriers.
Kingdom Hearts[]
In Kingdom Hearts, Sora, Donald, and Goofy all used the gummi ship to move between the worlds. Using the most open routes possible the trio traversed the universe in hopes of locating the King and Riku. They briefly crash landed on Deep Jungle, and also installed new gummis onto their ship after finding Navi-G Pieces on their travels.
After sealing the Keyhole of Hollow Bastion, Leon revealed that when the Heartless were extinguished, it would be impossible to traverse between worlds anymore because the world barriers would be reconstructed. Sora, although disappointed, knew it would be for the best. The gummi ship was presumed lost after the events at the End of the World.
Kingdom Hearts II[]
In Kingdom Hearts II in the Mysterious Tower, Yen Sid had magically retrieved the gummi ship and returned it to Sora and company when they arrived at his tower. King Mickey must have used his gummi ship to travel across worlds as well. In Radiant Garden, Scrooge McDuck reveals how the gummi ships were made. This time around, the gang had to unlock Gates in order to make it across worlds before Heartless appeared there.
Gameplay[]
Gummi garage[]
The gummi garage is where all ship design, construction, and modification occurs in the Kingdom Hearts trilogy games. Through the garage players can save, load, and edit their ship blueprints, as well as compare their stats to one another. In Kingdom Hearts Cid sold additional garage upgrades such as 'Spray' and 'Palette' for coloring blocks (the latter simply adds a larger variety), SYS. UP1 and 2 for a large assembly space, and COM. LV1, 2, and 3, for a higher block and power limit.
Customizing an improving a ship's stats also grants you the bronze trophy and achievement Customizer in the 1.5 ReMIX version.
Kingdom Hearts[]
Gummi ship gameplay is relatively simple in the original Kingdom Hearts. Upon selection of a world the player's ship sets off, and flies on a fixed path, with options to move to the sides as well as up and down, which is primarily used to avoid obstacles, incoming fire, and ships moving directly in your flight path. Ships can both dodge and brake to avoid obstacles, or return fire of their own to destroy them in time.
Gummi ship have several visible stats: Armor (the green bar), which represents your hit points, Power (the blue bar), used to activate special abilities and power the strongest attacks, plus Shield and Charge. The latter two are dependent on the Shield-G and Haste-G special blocks. Gummi ships also possess invisible stats; namely speed (dependent on your engines), maneuverability (dependent on your wings), and the individual weapon gummis' damage output.
Combat is a major element during flight, and is generally centered around the use of a balanced amount of Thunder-G (and related) gummis coupled with Comet-G (or stronger) gummis for more mobile targets. Players can pick up items left behind by destroyed obstacles and enemy ships, which either restore one or all of your meters, grant you random common gummi blocks, or an entire blueprint based on the destroyed ship. Final Mix added additional missions with more challenges and rewards as a further incentive to engage in the gummi ship minigame.
Defeating over 2,500 enemy ships, and clearing all gummi ship routes, grants you the bronze trophies and achievements Flying Ace and Top Gun respectively, both only in the in the 1.5 ReMIX version.
Kingdom Hearts II[]
In Kingdom Hearts II gummi travel went from an aerial-combat style to a rail shooter. Although the system was very different, the concept became more like a mini-game. A path would only have to be traversed once to get to a world, and then that world would become available without the use of Gummi travel.
The most notable differences in the system were the ability to turn the ship around during flight, the Medal Point system, the concept of in-flight bosses, and the addition of teeny ships (referred to as tiny ships in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix), smaller ships that can fly alongside you.
Once opened and completed, each route has three additional, optional Gummi Missions; these each have set goals, a different score system, and prizes. Blocks and new gummi ship abilities can be awarded for high scores, and dropped by rare ships in battle.
Gummi ship stats were increased to five:
- HP: The ship's hit points, similar to Armor.
- Offense: The amount of weaponry on a ship.
- Power: How much damage each piece of weaponry hits for.
- Mobility: Allows faster and freer turns and spins for the ship.
- Speed: How fast the ship moves through the course.
Ship customization was also improved over the first game. Along with coloring blocks, the player also has the choice of using block skins with special designs. New block-types were included, such as blades, shields, saws, propellers, and even wheels; in addition, instead of a "Block Limit", each block has a cost to limit the size and power of the gummi ship. Finally, an ability system was added, granting certain powers to the ship during flight. Completed blueprints were also awarded for exceptional flight on certain missions, both as useful ships or as Final Fantasy-shaped novelty gummi ships.
In Kingdom Hearts II new weapon types were added. Blasters now came in three types; Fire/G, Blizzard/G, and Gravity/G, while Thunder/G Gummis were now lasers. In addition to cannons and lasers similar to to those from the first game, a ship could be equipped with two new types, Slash and Impact Gummis. The former fill a special gauge as enemies are defeated, and when full, the Gummi unleashes a powerful, devastating attack. The latter deals damage when enemy ships collide with the player's.
Teeny ships[]
Teeny ships are smaller, simpler versions of the gummi ships found in Kingdom Hearts II. They can be used to attack alongside you or deflect enemy attacks. There are always two Teeny Ships on the Regular and Original blueprints. However, if you make your own blueprints, you can produce your own teeny ship blueprint. You can also choose whether to have one or two teeny ships alongside you.
There are 3 positions for teeny ships:
- The first one is the default position. Your teeny ships will fly by your side, creating a wide, horizontal shot
- The second one, your teeny ships will fly side-by-side and randomly fly around your ship with their shots focused on the crosshair.
- The third one, your teeny ships will fly in circle around your ship, creating a wide ranged shot.
These teeny ship positions can be used as a strategy for the player, one example is to use the second position on a boss for a more focused shot, and thus, higher amount of damage. Or the third position for clearing a huge amount of enemies or to destroy the Spider's hands much quicker.