Fortnite v42.20 Patch Notes: Kingdom Hearts Arrives Today

Fortnite's v42.20 update went live today, September 17, as part of the season Epic Games calls Fortnite Override. The official patch notes confirm the update's headline act: a full crossover with Kingdom Hearts, alongside new Battle Royale weapons, a refreshed Loot Hack lineup, a new mid-match objective, and a matchmaking change for North American servers.

01Kingdom Hearts Crosses Into the Island

Sora, Riku, Kairi and Roxas anchor the crossover, matching the four figures shown in Epic's own launch key art. That artwork recreates the opening beats of Kingdom Hearts II, with Sora holding the Kingdom Key on a cliff overlooking Fortnite's island, a heart-shaped moon hanging in the sky behind him. It is Epic's most direct nod yet to the Kingdom Hearts series, following years of smaller teases and community speculation.

Item Shop bundles built around the four Kingdom Hearts II protagonists are live now, timed to match the loot added in Battle Royale itself rather than arriving as a separate cosmetic drop later in the season.

02New Weapons: Kingdom Key, Sea Salt Ice Cream and Rebecca's Guns

Three Kingdom Hearts items join the general loot pool with this patch. The Kingdom Key is a melee weapon that, per the patch notes, lets players "unleash a flurry of melee combos and call down a shocking bolt" on opponents. Sea Salt Ice Cream is a consumable that gives the user and nearby teammates a health and shield burst. Rebecca's Guns is an exotic dual-wielded Assault Rifle/SMG combo, described in the notes as doubling "the guts and carnage" of a standard loadout.

Epic also refreshed its rotating Loot Hacks selection to the Hyperburst Pistol, Mammoth Pistol, Reaper Sniper Rifle, Deadeye DMR, Flowberry Fizz and Rocket Ram, and added the Shield Keg, Rift-To-Go and Shield Bubble Jr. as Zero Build pocket items.

03Kingdom Hearts Power Hours This Saturday

Epic is running a themed event called Kingdom Hearts Power Hours this Saturday, September 19. During the event window, every player drops into a match already holding a Kingdom Key and a Sea Salt Ice Cream, guaranteeing access to both new items without a loot-pool roll. Epic announced the crossover two days before launch on its official X account and YouTube channel.

It’s been a long time coming. KINGDOM HEARTS arrives in Fortnite later this week! Watch the full trailer: https://t.co/1ewODtw9cZ

— Fortnite (@Fortnite), Sep 15, 2026 on X

Epic Games' official "KINGDOM HEARTS arrives in Fortnite!" announcement, posted September 15, 2026.

04Match Overrides, Tetris Tower and New Sprites

Outside of the crossover, v42.20 adds six new Match Overrides to Battle Royale and Zero Build: Recovery, Level Up, Dynamic Storm, Super Shot, Big Boom and Healing Overdrive. Two more, Suppressing Fire and Health Siphon, are scheduled to arrive on September 24. The patch also introduces a new mid-match objective called Tetris Tower, which the official notes describe simply as: "Climb a tower made of Tetris blocks and claim the reward at the top."

Four new Sprites were added as well, including a community-designed Pond Sprite chosen through Epic's ongoing design contest, plus Crash Bandicoot, Blinky and Birthday Sprites. Epic also adjusted the Cheat Code rarity system to improve how often Sprites drop, and the Birthday Sprite is scheduled to become available on Saturday, September 26.

05Regional Matchmaking Changes and Bug Fixes

Epic consolidated North America's three matchmaking regions into a single region with a new subregion preference option in the in-game Settings menu, a change the patch notes frame as an improvement to matchmaking speed and fairness for NA players. The update also ships a broad bug-fix pass touching more than 35 cosmetic items, along with fixes for gameplay mechanics, environment issues, PC crashes and mobile audio and input problems; specific fix-by-fix details are documented in a separate Epic Games Community follow-up post rather than the main patch notes.

06What's Next for Fortnite Override

With Kingdom Hearts content and Tetris Tower live now, the next scheduled changes land September 24 with the Suppressing Fire and Health Siphon Match Overrides, followed by the Birthday Sprite on September 26. Epic has not published an end date for the Kingdom Hearts crossover items in the official patch notes, so how long the Item Shop bundles stick around remains unconfirmed.

This is also the first major content drop since Fortnite Override itself launched on August 20, and Epic is treating it as a statement update for the season rather than a minor loot refresh. Between the new weapons, the merged North America matchmaking region and the bug-fix pass covering more than 35 cosmetic items, v42.20 touches nearly every part of the Battle Royale experience at once. Players who want the full list of loot pool, gameplay and regional changes can read Epic's release notes directly on the Epic Games Community forums, where Epic says further fix-by-fix detail will follow in a separate post.