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You can cast your vote here. If you wish to vote for Shimomura, simply type "Yoko Shimomura" in the search bar, and click on "Kingdom Hearts". A dialog box will appear confirming your vote has been cast. You have three votes total, so feel free to vote for other favorites as well!
Last year, Kingdom Hearts finished at an impressive 30th place in the top 300 classical works collected that year. Let's help Kingdom Hearts rank even better this year!
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Throughout the Q&A panel, held on January 9th, a fan asked Jim Cummings about the recording process for video games (Kingdom Hearts in particular) and how it differs from TV and movies, and he replied stating that he has finished his part for Kingdom Hearts III and goes into detail on the process of voice acting for the Kingdom Hearts series.
You can check out the video below (Kingdom Hearts is specifically mentioned starting at 5:15) in which he replies to the fan concerned on his work for Kingdom Hearts III. Thanks goes to YouTube user StephanieWorld for capturing the footage.
To date, the Theatrhythm series has three titles in its line-up, the most recent entry being Theatrhythm Dragon Quest. If Square Enix is looking to expand the Theatrhythm universe to encompass more of their original IPs, then Kingdom Hearts would be the next logical step.
In addition to producing the Theatrhythm series, Hazama is also the producer of the Dissidia series. Originally conceived as a Kingdom Hearts game, concern about a Disney fighting game steered the project toward the Final Fantasy cast. It seems Hazama has been eager to work more closely on a Kingdom Hearts title since first assisting with project management on Kingdom Hearts II. Could Theatrhythm be his opportunity? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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Other big titles Nomura is working on is Kingdom Hearts III & Final Fantasy VII Remake, where they are currently in a significant part of development, and when Kingdom Hearts III is further in development, PR will release more information to the public.
Shinji Hashimoto hopes to continue challenging himself and he has a surprise project he is hoping to announce this year. Additionally, Hashimoto hopes to offer more surprises throughout 2016 in general.
You can read all the plans Tetsuya Nomura & Shinji Hashimoto have for 2016 and beyond below thanks to @tokyofog.
Are you excited for the plans Nomura & Hashimoto will bring to 2016 and beyond? Let us know in the comments below!
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An excerpt of the interview can be found below:
Are you looking forward to hearing Yoko Shimomura's latest compositions in Kingdom Hearts III? Let us know in the comments!
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Even though no news on the English release has been provided yet, we can expect to see more news in the upcoming months in 2016 for Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ and it's English release. Are you happy to see Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ being promoted in Japan this big? Let us know in the comments below!
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What intrigues you most about this surprise interview? Let us know in the comments below, and have a wonderful holiday season!
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The footage begins with a cutscene of Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the Kingdom of Corona, seemingly heading towards Rapunzel's tower. From there, the cutscene smoothly transitions into a battle against the dandelion Heartless that were initially revealed at E3 2015. As Sora battles with the Heartless, he uses several magic spells including Aero and Fire. When these spells are used, they effect the environment as well; Aero will move the individual blades of grass while Fire spells will leave tinder marks on the ground. While the Heartless are somewhat spread out in the beginning of the battle, the smaller ones begin to circle around the bigger Heartless and begin to work as a group, as detailed by Tetsuya Nomura in a past interview.
In the next scene, Sora encounters several Nobodies floating down in a valley. These Nobodies twirl about through the air while showering petals of light below. With the use of dodge roll, Sora is able to avoid the petals before being launched into the air with the help of Flowmotion. The design of these Nobodies seem to heavily suggest the return of Organization XIII member, Marluxia.
On Mount Olympus, Sora, Donald, and Goofy are walking along a path when they encounter a group of flying Heartless. The HUD starts off blue when in a state of peace, but turns orange as the group encounters enemies and as Sora summons his Keyblade. From there, the screen zooms in and enters a Shotlock mode, an attack tactic featured in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. The player is given two options: "Shot Flow" or "Athletic Flow". Athletic Flow is chosen for this battle, and Sora launches into a high speed attack, easily moving between the flying Heartless with a technique that seems similar to Flowmotion. In order to keep the attack going, the player must push assigned buttons as they pop up onto the screen. Sora is surrounded by a blue glow during this period and unleashes a powerful spinning attack to finish off the Athletic Flow.
When a Shotlock command is used, this will deplete the yellow bar featured above Sora's health and magic bars on the bottom left portion of the screen. Though buttons are not assigned yet, it can be assumed that each button will lead into a different Shotlock.
Moments later, Sora falls into the river and is swept away by the current. In this state, it seems that Sora is defenseless against enemies, but the current is moving so fast that he could potentially escape without damage. As Sora is swept away, we also catch our first glimpse at a treasure chest.
The next scene features a battle in Twilight Town and focuses on new Nocturne Heartless. These new Heartless use elemental attacks, just as their predecessors, but feature a ring around their bodies that they include in their attacks. Sora uses magic skills as well as classic maneuvers such as dodge roll, guard, and air slide against these new Nocturnes, Large Bodies, and Soldiers.
Lastly, the new footage ends at the Mysterious Tower. As the trio enters battle, Sora raises his Keyblade and creates a portal from which the Shooting Ride Attraction Flow appears. Sora, Donald, and Goofy all jump into the car and Sora puts on a pair of glasses. Once the glasses are on, the screen changes into a sort of first person shooter state. From there, the player can send out short blasts that will launch enemies into the air. Once the Heartless are launched into the air, the player can do more damage with these blast attacks. Just like the Shotlock attacks, the Attraction Flow attack Shooting Ride also ends in a powerful finisher, featuring a bright swirl of many lights and launches several Heartless into the air at once.
The Shooting Ride also keeps a record of the points the player gains while shooting down enemies. Just as it will do more damage, the player will also earn more points for shooting enemies that have already been launched into the air. Taking advantage of the finishing attack will also help to give players a higher score.
After showing off dodge roll, magic attacks, as well as physical combos, Sora performs a Shotlock attack once more and starts to use "Shoot Flow" before the trailer fades into the Kingdom Hearts III logo.
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0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-
The first section of the trailer displays Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-. We get our first look of master Yen Sid, Kairi, Riku and King Mickey in real time, via the kingdom shader. Due to PS4's engine, the book on Yen Sid's desk has far more texture added compared to previous instalments. Also various assets have been removed and added in the Mysterious Tower. Yen Sid explains in order to protect the seven pure lights from master Xehanort, they must assemble seven guardians of light and therefore must bring back Terra, Ventus and Aqua. Does this confirm the trio from Birth by Sleep will be three of the seven guardians of light? King Mickey admits he, "met Aqua once, in the realm of darkness." This suggests that the 'encounter' Aqua has in the realm of darkness is with King Mickey himself. One can only wonder what happened during this encounter and why Aqua is still trapped in there for over a decade. The fact Aqua did not turn around suggests Square Enix may be keeping her full character model and gameplay a secret until sometime next year.
χ Back Cover
The second section shows HD cinematics of Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover. Back Cover will be using Unreal Engine 4, the engine used for Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-, and Kingdom Hearts III. The first shot we see is the room in the clock tower from χ Back Cover's counterpart, χ[chi]. Could the book on the desk be one of the six book of prophecies that belongs to the Master of Masters? Furthermore, this is the same room where the five foretellers are seen speaking to a black hooded figure in Kingdom Hearts χ[chi]. The foreteller of Unicornis states, "A Lost Page...There's something missing from our Book of Prophecies." To which the foreteller of Anguis replies, "Are you implying that the one in possession of the missing page is the traitor?" This leads us to believe the traitor stole the page to hide his or her identity from the events they are planning to unfold, when Leopardos confirms, "The missing page tells of a traitor in our midst." The voice actors of Riku, Kairi, Ventus, Terra and Aqua could be the same voice actors of the foretellers Unicornis, Ava (foreteller of Vulpeus), Leopardos, Ursus and Anguis respectively, although this is not yet confirmed. Could this be pure coincidence or could this mean something more? This actually adds greater depth to a popular theory that the foretellers were reborn as the Kingdom Hearts main protagonists. The final lines, whilst back in the clock tower, are spoken by someone we haven't heard yet. Could this be the Master of Masters?
Dream Drop Distance HD
The final section shows Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD. First and foremost, the 60 seconds of cinematics shown is over double the amount of gameplay shown at 27 seconds. This shows Square Enix really wanted to display the increased level of detail and improvements to the texture of the character models, compared to the graphical engine of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. This is displayed by having close up shots of many characters throughout. The subtitles have changed from the 1.5 and 2.5 ReMIX's as the bold outline has been removed to make the text look more clearer. During the gameplay there is no HUD menu displayed throughout, suggesting the game may release later in 2016 rather than earlier. The quality of the game is looking far brighter and flashier, whilst appearing to run at a consistent 30 FPS. Lastly, with Dream Drop Distance HD coming to home consoles, the camera appears to have been pulled back slightly to give a greater range of view and movement.
Are there any interesting features we may have left out? What are your thoughts on the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue trailer? Let us know in the comments below!
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If you got the opportunity to purchase this Chirithy plush, would you buy it? What are your thoughts on the plush? Let us know in the comments below!
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