It's been a rough year.
Due to a pandemic plaguing the world, countries have closed, travel has been restricted, and conventions and other large gatherings have been canceled. People have been largely isolated, spending much of their time at home, rarely, if at all, leaving for entertainment or recreation and rarely leaving to gather with friends. We want to help to deal with these unforeseen circumstances.
Today, we announce the first-ever March Caprice: A Celebration of Kingdom Hearts event! This is a virtual gathering of fans of the Kingdom Hearts series that will showcase the talents, passions, and projects of the Kingdom Hearts community!
We want to provide this virtual gathering as an opportunity to have the community come together to celebrate each other and our work, to enjoy each others’ company, and to celebrate the anniversary of our beloved Kingdom Hearts series.
Anyone can participate and show off any kind of content, from video streams and discussions to artwork, from music performances to game mods. This also provides an opportunity to support those who invest so much of their time and effort into so many incredible projects and who sometimes rely on conventions and gatherings to sell those creations to support themselves.
The event is being organized by a group of members of the community, namely:
Aquaberry (KH13.com)
Bio-Roxas
Chaineh (Kingdom Hearts Database)
Churro
Danielle Karthauser (Level Story)
David Russell (Green Requiem)
HaakonHawk (KH13.com)
KeybladeSpyMaster (Kingdom Hearts Database)
Kimpchuu (KH Graphic Art Community)
Kinode (Sound Ideas)
Orpheus Joshua (KH13.com)
Regular Pat
So how do you get involved? If you're a content creator, sign up using this form and tell us what you want to show off. This could be participating in our video live stream of content during the event, either with a video game stream or a discussion video. Regardless of whether you produce your content on YouTube or Twitch, you can join the stream! Or you can participate by showing off your Kingdom Hearts-inspired artwork or merchandise. We'll be hosting a complete gallery of art and merch stores for anyone who wishes to be promoted in this event!
And, regardless of whether you consider yourself a content creator, mark the date and spread the word! March Caprice will be happening on March 27, 2021!
Bring your friends and join in this incredible collaboration of the community to celebrate the Kingdom Hearts series! You can learn more about March Caprice and contact us on our website!
The North American Square Enix store has listed the second volume of the Kingdom Hearts Acrylic Magnet Gallery! (Blind Box Set of 10)
This blind box contains 10 different key art illustrations from the series that fans will find immediately recognizable.
You can take a look at the different illustrations via our gallery below:
Are you planning on purchasing this blind box to add some varied spice to your Kingdom Hearts collection? Let us know in the comments below!
Nendoroids of both Kingdom Hearts III Sora and Kingdom Hearts III Riku are available to pre-order from Good Smile Company!
Both of these Nendoroids are releasing on July 2021, and are priced at ¥6,200 ($59.88).
The Riku Nendoroid includes the Braveheart Keyblade and a clear plate featuring King Mickey. The Sora Nendorid includes the Kingdom Key, Crystal Snow, Wheel of Fate and Favorite Deputy Keyblades.
You can view the Kingdom Hearts III Sora Nendoroid via our gallery below:
You can view the Kingdom Hearts III Riku Nendoroid via our galley below:
Additionally, Good Smile Company also states that more Kingdom Hearts III Nendoroids are in the works and will be announced soon!
In July of last year, there was footage of Good Smile Company working on what looked like a Kingdom Hearts III Sora Nendoroid, and this final product fits the bill.
Are you intending on purchasing either, or both of these Nendoroids to add to your Kingdom Hearts collection? Let us know in the comments below!
Chapter 14 for the Kingdom Hearts III manga is now available in English from Yen Press. Destiny Island can be bought as a digital download from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Walker, ComiXology, Google Play, iBooks, and Kobo. The issue's price varies from $1.99 for the United States to $2.99 in Canada.
Chapter 14 was released in Japanese on Gangan Online back on December 23rd. Chapter 15 is planned to release on Gangan Online either late January or early February.
You can also check out the articles for the previous chapters by clicking on the links below!
Chapter 0 Prologue Japanese English
Chapter 1 The New Departure Japanese English
Chapter 2 Olympus Coliseum Part 1 Japanese English
Chapter 3 Olympus Coliseum Part 2 Japanese English
Chapter 4 Olympus Coliseum Part 3 Japanese English
Chapter 5 Olympus Coliseum Part 4 Japanese English
Chapter 6 Olympus Coliseum Part 5 Japanese English
Chapter 7 Olympus Coliseum Part 6 Japanese English
Chapter 8 Olympus Coliseum Part 7 Japanese English
Chapter 9 The Dark World Japanese English
Chapter 10 Unbreakable Connection Japanese English
Chapter 11 The Self inside the Mirror Japanese English
Chapter 12 Reunion Japanese English
Chapter 13 Warmth Japanese English
Chapter 14 Destiny Island Japanese
In addition, Vol. 1 (which contains Chapter 0 thru Chapter 8 ) is available in Japan and North America. Also arriving is the final volume of the Kingdom Hearts III light novel series. Vol. 3: Remind Me Again is available in Japan and English.
Kingdom Hearts III: The Novel Vol 3: Remind Me Again is now available in English for purchase as a paperback and digital from Yen Press. The novel is 162 pages long and contains events from Kingdom Hearts III from the Caribbean up to the secret episode of Re:Mind. It will cost $15.00 (US)/$19.50 (CAN) for paperback or $8.99 (US)/$10.99 (CAN) digitally.
You can buy the volume as a paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Indigo, Indiebound, and RightStuf or digitally on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Walker, ComiXology, Google Play, Apple iBooks, and Kobo.
The novel has already been released in Japan as "GAME NOVELS Kingdom Hearts III Vol. 3 ReMind Me Again". Vol. 1 Re:Start is also available in Japanese and English as well as Vol. 2 New Seven Hearts for both Japanese and English.
Masanobu Suzui, the co-director of Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory, sat down with Square Enix and decided to "dig a little deeper" into one of the tracks that he worked on-- the song "Hand In Hand", a reoccurring battle soundtrack for the game series.
The first step in the process was choosing the track to begin with!
The second step that Suzui talks about is cutting the song down-- some tracks of the game are quite long, and they had to figure out what part of the song they wanted to use for the gameplay.
Suzui then explains how a document is then made, which concerns how they want the stage to look while it's being played. This includes what they want to show from Traverse Town, such as Cid's shop, the hotel, the item shop, and the Lady and the Tramp fountain. Afterwards, the enemies are chosen.
When everything has been picked and chosen, a single team member is asked to create the note sequence. Suzui explains that the team member had to listen to "Hand In Hand" a numerous amount of times to create what Suzui calls an "overarching concept for the stage - normal at the beginning, followed by some difficulty spikes around the middle and end of the track.".
After that, Suzui explains that it's then time to revise and edits to the soundtrack and the stage itself.
It doesn't stop there by just revising and then sending the stage off to production. They must test the stage over and over again to make sure that it's perfect for playability.
Suzui concludes the blog by saying:
You can check out the full article on the Square Enix Blog.
What are your thoughts on these details? Did you find anything fascinating or surprising? Let us know in the comments below!
Young Xehanort and Pirate Sora from Kingdom Hearts III are now available in the global version of LINE Disney Tsum Tsum. Each character is available up until the end of the month. Additionally, from now until January 20th, they can be acquired at an increased drop rate through the game's Lucky Time.
You can view their skills here.
Young Xehanort and Pirate Sora were previously added to the Japanese version of the game back in September of 2020.
Will you LINE Diseny Tsum Tsum players be adding any these two to your in game collection? Let us know in the comments below!
Thanks to KH13 member @DestinysUnion for the tip!
The North American Square Enix Merchandise Twitter account has announced that a brand new King Mickey plush, based on his attire in Kingdom Hearts III, is now available for pre-order on their store!
This plush is currently 10% off for $54.00, while its base price is $59.99. Additionally, it is planned for a June 2021 release!
You can view the Mickey plush via our gallery below:
Are you intending on purchasing this plush of the king for your collection? Let us know in the comments below!
UPDATE: (1/14/2021)
The Kingdom Hearts III King Mickey Plush is now available to pre-order from the Square Enix E-store for ¥5,940, ($57.23) and AmiAmi for ¥5,040! ($48.56) This item is scheduled to release on May 2021 from both of these retailers.
Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory Co-director, Masanobu Suzui, recently sat down with Square Enix to discuss the highlights and challenges of making the rhythm action game, including track selection, gameplay, stage building, visuals, and difficulty.
Suzui described track selection as being a particularly tricky challenge due to the massive amount of tracks within the Kingdom Hearts Series, the technical and emotional considerations, and the tempo and beats of certain tracks as well.
After defining the tracklist, Suzui discussed the process behind ensuring the gameplay elements felt fun, engaging, and true to the Kingdom Hearts series, with the goal of recreating the same memories and feelings from previous entries.
On building out stages, Suzui commented that the team had to test the game multiple times to ensure that all elements, and information presented on screen including the camera positioning, enemy positioning, and background models were just right.
Suzui also commented on presenting the visuals of the game in a way that was not overwhelming to the player, including choosing how far in advance enemies should appear, visual cues for letting the player know when to hit the right beat, and keeping to the visual style of the Kingdom Hearts series.
Suzui describes timing as being an element that could make or break the game. With each stage being custom built, the timing for each stage would vary depending on the track.
On the game's various difficulty levels Suzui shared that Proud Mode was the difficulty that underwent the most iterations to ensure the note sequences, and enemy placements were challenging but still straightforward to the player and synchornized with the particular track.
Lastly Suzui closed off by saying:
You can read the full article on the Square Enix Blog.
What are your thoughts on these details behind the making of Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory? Let us know in the comments below!
The American men's magazine Esquire has revealed their annual gaming awards for the past year and Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory has been named as the Best Rhythm Game.
Other games that appeared on the list include Among Us, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and even Final Fantasy VII Remake. Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory is available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch. You can check out KH13.com's review of the game by clicking here.
As a gift to all of her fans on Christmas day, Yoko Shimomura has arranged a select portion of "Dearly Beloved" into a Christmas version. This video is only available for a limited time.
You can view this special Christmas version of "Dearly Beloved" below:
What are your thoughts on this unique arrangement on "Dearly Beloved"? Let us know in the comments below!
Additionally, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Gangan Online have posted Chapter 14 for the Kingdom Hearts III manga. You can check out the previews for the chapter in our gallery below. You can read the full chapter on their site by clicking here or on their online app.
Chapter 15 will be available in late January/early February.
You can also check out the articles for the previous chapters by clicking on the links below!
Chapter 0 Prologue Japanese English
Chapter 1 A New Journey Japanese English
Chapter 2 Olympus Coliseum[1] Japanese English
Chapter 3 Olympus Coliseum[2] Japanese English
Chapter 4 Olympus Coliseum[3] Japanese English
Chapter 5 Olympus Coliseum[4] Japanese English
Chapter 6 Olympus Coliseum[5] Japanese English
Chapter 7 Olympus Coliseum[6] Japanese English
Chapter 8 Olympus Coliseum[7] Japanese English
Chapter 9 World of Darkness Japanese English
Chapter 10 Connected Japanese English
Chapter 11 The Self inside the Mirror Japanese English
Chapter 12 Reunion Japanese English
Chapter 13 Warmth Japanese English
In addition, Vol. 1 (which contains Chapter 0 thru Chapter 8 ) is available in Japan and North America.
Square Enix Music has announced that they have created a Winter Holiday 2020 themed playlist on both the Apple Music and Spotify music services.
This playlist consists of 18 songs from various Square Enix titles, with the total runtime being 1 hour and 14 minutes.
Two tracks from the Kingdom Hearts III, II.8, Unchained χ & Union χ [Cross] – Original Soundtrack are included in this playlist. These two tracks are "Frozen Wonderland" and "Miracle on Ice", which are the Arendelle world theme and battle theme respectively.
You can listen to this custom made playlist via either Apple Music or Spotify here.
Will you be giving this playlist a listen during the holidays? Let us know in the comments below!
The Square Enix e-STORE has recently revealed a new range of official Kingdom Hearts merchandise, including a Keyblade Charm Collection, Clear Pouches and Totes, and Sora, Riku, and Kairi themed Drawstring Bags.
You can take a closer look at each of the items and their pre-order links below
Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Charm Collection - Square Enix Japan e-Store (¥7,920)
Kingdom Hearts III Drawstring Bag - Sora - Square Enix North America e-STORE ($49.99)
Kingdom Hearts III Drawstring Bag - Sora - Square Enix Japan e-STORE(¥5,280)
Kingdom Hearts III Drawstring Bag - Riku - Square Enix North America e-STORE($49.99)
Kingdom Hearts III Drawstring Bag - Riku - Square Enix Japan e-STORE(¥5,280)
Kingdom Hearts III Drawstring Bag - Kairi - Square Enix North America e-STORE($49.99)
Kingdom Hearts III Drawstring Bag - Kairi - Square Enix Japan e-STORE(¥5,280)
Kingdom Hearts Clear Pouch - Dark - Square Enix North America e-STORE($39.99)
Kingdom Hearts Clear Pouch - Light - Square Enix North America e-STORE($39.99)
Kingdom Hearts Clear Pouch - Dark - Square Enix Japan e-STORE(¥4,180)
Kingdom Hearts Clear Pouch - Light - Square Enix Japan e-STORE(¥4,180)
Kingdom Hearts Clear Tote - Dark - Square Enix North America e-STORE($149.99)
Kingdom Hearts Clear Tote - Dark - Square Enix Japan e-STORE(¥16,280)
Kingdom Hearts Clear Tote - Light - Square Enix North America e-STORE($149.99)
Kingdom Hearts Clear Tote - Light - Square Enix Japan e-STORE(¥16,280)
Currently the Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Charm Collection is available exclusively from the Square Enix Japan e-Store, set to release May 15, 2021. The Kingdom Hearts themed Clear Totes, Pouches, and Drawstring Bags are set to release April 24, 2021 in Japan, and May 2021 on the Square Enix North America store.
Which one of these items will you be adding to your collection? Let us know in the comments below!
Thanks to @aibo_ac7 and @KHxInfo for the tip!
UPDATE: (1/5/2021)
The Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Charm Collection is now available for pre-order from the North American Square Enix store for $80.00! This is a blind box that includes 8 Keyblade Charms that has a release window of June 2021!
The official Japanese Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] Twitter account has announced that there is a main scenario update scheduled for tomorrow at 15:00 JST! (1:00 AM EST/10:00 PM PT)
There will be developments in both Daybreak Town, and Sugar Rush the Wreck-it Ralph world!
What are your expectations for what will occur in this next update, steadily nearing the finale of Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross]? Let us know in the comments below!
.png.8701a55c3277920b88ecc71de01fdefa.png)
.jpg.6cc71d55b96493699252ed13e73f73ef.jpg)
