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San Diego Comic-Con 2014 will be held on July 24-27 at the San Diego Convention Center.
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Update: Thanks to @h141127 (Shiro Amano) the cover for volume 8 of the Kingdom Hearts II manga has been released online. You can view it below.
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This goes back to about 2002. Only the first game had come out at this point. I was hired by Disney TV animation to develop and direct an animatic for a possible Kingdom Hearts animated series. I played the first game from beginning to end and was so excited to get this opportunity. This would have been the perfect thing for me, especially because of my action/comedy background with Mummies. It was dark. It combined anime and classic disney characters. Are you kidding me? This was awesome. I also had control of the script on this so it was INCREDIBLY DARK...but then so is the game. The darkest moment in the pilot was when Maleficent possessed Riku after he snatched the lamp. That's the very last panel here. You'll notice a series lack of backgrounds in these boards. There was a pretty good reason for that. As part of the project, I was able to go to the Disney Animation Archives. The episode took place on Agrabah, so I pulled actual production BGs from Aladdin and boarded with it in mind that I would use this backgrounds.
This is one of those projects I really wish I could go back and have another crack at. Especially with the technology now. Looking back at these drawings, I can't believe how small some of them are. I also can't believe I inked them and did marker tones on all of them. I must have been temporarily insane.
At any rate, the pilot animatic tested exceptionally well but it was decided there wouldn't be an animated series because they planned on making many more games. WHO KNOWS...there could be a Kingdom Hearts animated series at some point.
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I actually played the entire game myself to the end and tossed the script they originally had because it read more like an episode of Aladdin guest starring the characters from Kingdom Hearts. I wanted to be very true to the game without just copying the game. The episode took place in Agrabah and centered around Sora and Riku trying to get the lamp, which was the key to Argrabah. It started on the island the way the game starts so we could meet Sora, Riku and Kiri then it turns into a bit of a nightmare and Sora wakes up on the ship with Donald and Goofy as they're approaching Agrabah. We see Riku with Maleficent and Jafar. Riku and Sora meet up in a fight against the heartless in the streets. They both go for the lamp. As soon as Riku touches the lamp it's as though Maleficent has control of him and ultimately Sora gets the lamp away from Riku before a giant heartless hand pulls him through a portal. SOOO....quite a lot of information to get through in a 7 minute pilot presentation.
Ultimately, it tested very well but there was so much respect for the Japanese Director who was doing the games and there were still so many games in the works that they didn't want to muddy the water with a series. Who knows. Maybe they'll still do one down the road. When I see Disney acquiring Marvel and then LucasFilms, all I think is, "Those would be awesome worlds to battle heartless."
It would have been such an amazing show. With the pilot, I actually went to the Disney Archive and pulled production backgrounds from Aladdin to use as backgrounds for the pilot and then did the board with those backgrounds in mind. So when Sora and Riku were fighting in the streets, it was the actual backgrounds from the movie. When Riku grabs the lamp, it was the background from when Aladdin grabbed the lamp. My plan was to do that for all of the lands they would visit in the series. I felt that using the actual backgrounds would not only save a bunch of money it would keep us from recreating the wheel for each of those lands and it would have a visceral effect and make you feel like you had seen this before. I thought it would do an interesting thing to the brain of any hardcore fans.
So...yeah...it was the coolest project that never got off the ground for reasons that had nothing to do with the project itself but more company wide strategizing.
Update: @_branden_ of @khunion has conducted an interview with Seth Kearsley, the series' director and writer. You can listen to it here, or below on YouTube.
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Characters
Worlds
System
Comparison
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Here, Yasue reveals many details about the development of HD 2.5 ReMIX, teases some of the game's additions and new cutscenes, explains the team's thoughts on a possible Dream Drop Distance HD release, mentions some trophies to be included in the collection, and explains the current progress on Kingdom Hearts III. The interview is definitely worth a read, so check it out at the link below.
Kingdom Hearts III Co-Director Teases What's To Come, Reveals More On 2.5
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Update: The official Japanese website for HD 2.5 ReMIX has been updated with the Japanese version of the trailer. You can view it here.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, the upcoming HD collection containing remasters of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix, as well as a Theatre Mode of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded cutscenes, releases on October 2, 2014 in Japan, December 2 in North America, December 4 in Australia, and December 5 in Europe.
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Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX
- Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] was not included in this collection, since the game released very recently (within the last 2 years), and thus only Birth by Sleep and Re:coded were considered for inclusion. There are no plans for a HD release of Kingdom Hearts 3D and they haven't decided anything, but it is on the table-- and might "perhaps" be considered later for "something like" a downloadable title.
- The Re:coded cutscenes are 3 hours long, with 2 hours being "totally new". This will explain some more back story to other Kingdom Hearts titles.
- Many things were considered for inclusion in the HD collection, but ended up being decided against so as to not delay Kingdom Hearts III even further (since the same team is making KH3 & KH2.5). These things were-- making Re:coded into a full game, multiplayer in Mirage Arena (which is now single player, with a challenge system where you can accrue bonuses, better balance, and updated boss AI), and lastly, capes in Birth by Sleep (which would have required costly and difficult animations). To be clear, all of this was decided against in order to focus more on Kingdom Hearts III.
- 70-80 people worked on HD 2.5 ReMIX, including around 35 people working on cutscenes, 5 programmers, and an unknown amount of designers, sound staff and more.
- There's a possibility that the HD collections will be considered for the PlayStation Vita, but the initial focus was concentrating on the PlayStation 3-- later, they will look at considerations for other platforms and evaluate the markets and schedules.
- Regarding a collector's edition for HD 2.5 ReMIX in the West, they are looking into what they can do, but nothing has been finalized yet.
Kingdom Hearts III
- When asked about the possibility of Star Wars and Marvel based worlds, Yasue said "Star Wars and Marvel is great, but I of course can't make any announcements at all!"
- Later, Yasue brought up the movie Frozen after being asked about the world selection process-- "On a personal level... I would really like Frozen. The snow, ice formations and story are very magical, the music too of course. I saw it with my daughter and it was very enjoyable."
- There is "always the possibility" of releasing another Kingdom Hearts title before Kingdom Hearts III. They are "taking into consideration a lot of different titles", but nothing has been decided on yet.
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Manga → Kingdom Hearts II → Chapter 46
Manga → Kingdom Hearts II → Chapter 47
Manga → Kingdom Hearts II → Chapter 48
Manga → Kingdom Hearts II → Chapter 49
Manga → Kingdom Hearts II → Chapter 50
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Update: Staff translator goldpanner has translated the majority of the article from Gamer, summarizing some of the recent information we have learned about Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX. Thanks to her, this translation can be read below.
Checking out the game content of Kingdom Hearts 2 from the PS3 compilation work Kingdom Hearts -HD 2.5 ReMIX-!
20/6/2014 Here is the information we published on Kingdom Hearts -HD 2.5 ReMIX-, one of the titles from Square Enix's PS3 Kingdom Hearts -HD 2.5 ReMIX- compilation, to be released 2nd October 2014.
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The release date for Kingdom Hearts -HD 2.5 ReMIX- has finally been announced for October 2nd. Today we will introduce one of the titles from that compilation: Kingdom Hearts 2.
STORY
One year ago, Sora adventured through the worlds as a hero of the Keyblade. At the end of that journey King Mickey and Riku were left behind the 'Door to Darkness', and the journey will not end until they have brought them back.
On various worlds, a group of powerful Nobodies called Organisation XIII have been closing in. It looks like a new journey for Sora and his friends has already begun…
New features in Kingdom Hearts 2 for PS3!
The base for the HD remake is KH2 Final Mix, the international version of KH2 released in Japan with extra features.
The FM is jam-packed with extra features that even those who already played the original version of KH2 can enjoy. Additions are not limited to cutscenes and a secret movie; you can also battle unique enemies and tough bosses. (And on top of that, there is additional maps, forms, weapons and collectable content.)
Be moved anew by even more beautiful cinematics!
The high resolution in this HD version means, of course, that the textures of the characters and backgrounds have been updated to the newest kind. Meet rich, expressionate characters in even sharper, more beautiful worlds.
From 'English audio, Japanese subs' to 'Japanese audio'!
The voices of the characters, which were in English in Final Mix, have been changed to Japanese. Now you can connect even more deeply with the story.
A new reward for completing the game!
Clear the game, and you can get yourself a PS3 custom theme as a reward!
Trophy support!
Try and get them all!
Update: The official international website for HD 2.5 ReMIX has been updated with all the screenshots above without any Japanese text. You can view them all here, in our gallery.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX, the upcoming HD collection containing remasters of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix, as well as a Theatre Mode of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded cutscenes, releases on October 2, 2014 in Japan, December 2 in North America, December 4 in Australia, and December 5 in Europe.
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