Traverse Town

Traverse Town is the first major playable world in Kingdom Hearts outside of Destiny Islands and serves as the main hub of the first game. A quaint and calm town, Traverse Town features a sky of eternal night, where stars can be seen clearly. Survivors of the worlds lost to the Heartless find their way here after their world has been destroyed.

Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid, Merlin, the Fairy Godmother, Pinocchio, and Geppetto are notable temporary residents. Huey, Dewey, and Louie own the item shop, while Cid owns the accessory shop and later sells Gummi Blocks to upgrade and modify Gummi Ships. Moogles also take residence here, where they successfully run a mysterious workshop. Merlin allows Sora to practice his magic on neutral targets, and the Fairy Godmother unlocks Summons after certain conditions are met.

Traverse Town is the first place Sora lands after he is drawn out of the disappearing Destiny Islands.

Kingdom Hearts
After the destruction of Destiny Islands, Sora ends up in Traverse Town, while Donald and Goofy arrive at the same time through the use of a Gummi Ship. He is awakened by Pluto and ventures out into the town, searching for his friends; humorously, Sora often leaves an area at the same time that Donald and Goofy enter, just barely missing them. Eventually, Sora meets Leon, whom he fights. Regardless of the outcome, Sora passes out and finds himself in a hotel where he meets Yuffie and learns about the Keyblade and the Heartless, while next door, Aerith explains the same things to Donald and Goofy.

Heartless attack, and Leon runs out to defend the town from them. Before leaving, Leon tells Sora not to worry about the attacking Soldier and Shadow Heartless and to find their leader. As Sora enters the Third District, Donald and Goofy are blown off a balcony above, and land on him. The three battle and defeat numerous Soldier Heartless before being attacked by and defeating the Guard Armor. Afterwards, the three become companions and leave to find Riku, Kairi and King Mickey. They return multiple times, Sora reuniting with Riku and sealing the Keyhole, meeting Merlin and the Fairy Godmother, and also when a saved Kairi gives Sora her lucky charm. When the worlds are restored after the defeat of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, the fate of Traverse Town is unknown, as its residents return to their worlds.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
A memory-created version of Traverse Town is the first world Sora visits while in Castle Oblivion, as this is where Marluxia teaches Sora how to fight within the castle. Here he meets Leon and the others, but they don't recognize Sora, although they somehow remember his name. This is a recurring problem for the rest of the game. Here Leon teaches Sora about Sleights. Aerith tells Sora near the end of the visit that she and everyone else may be nothing but a figment in Sora's memory.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Although Traverse Town is not a playable world in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, the world is sometimes displayed when Roxas has flashbacks of Sora's memories.

Kingdom Hearts II
While Traverse Town does not appear in Kingdom Hearts II, it is frequently mentioned and shown in Sora's memory restoration. Merlin claims that he retrieved Winnie the Pooh's storybook out of the town's Zero District, and it is mentioned several times in the Secret Ansem Reports.

Kingdom Hearts Coded
In Kingdom Hearts coded it appears that the first district is no longer peaceful, as a battle against numerous Heartless and "bugs" is witnessed. In episode 2, Data Sora wakes up by Data Pluto in Traverse Town, like in the first game. King Mickey tells Sora to investigate this world. While he was investigating, he meets Data Cid. Cid is trying to find Data Huey, Dewey, and Louie, whom Sora manages to find. Each of them had found a shiny piece, which together almost form a keyhole.

Sora then meets a black coated man who gives him the 4th piece of the Keyhole. Later, Mickey tells him that the Keyhole probably leads to the corrupted place, similar to the time in Destiny Island. Sora then opens it with his Keyblade which leads him to another space in Traverse Town. He was running and encounters lots of blocks. He continues running and he meets a Guard Amour and has to fight it. After Sora fixes Traverse Town a new power awakens inside of Data Sora. Meanwhile, in the real Disney Castle, a new message appeared, saying "Their torment has been lessened."

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Traverse Town is set to return in the upcoming sequel, although apparently a different version submerged in the World of Sleep, since it is plagued by Dream Eaters. This Traverse Town appears to serve as the home to several characters from The World Ends With You, namely Neku, Beat, Joshua, Rhyme and Shiki, who will tutor Sora and Riku before their journey begins. Neku hints to Sora that the Unknown is responsible for Traverse Town being "split in two".

The town also appears in the game's first two non-canon trailers, where Sora is shown fighting a Twilight Thorn and several Shadows. Tetsuya Nomura has stated that his original intention was for the Heartless and Nobodies to return as the game's enemies, but scrapped them in favor of the Dream Eaters.