Square Enix have announced that the Ultimanias for Kingdom Hearts III, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix +, Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep are now available digitally!
The Kingdom Hearts Series Character Files book is also now available digitally as well!
Are you intending on purchasing any of these new digital versions? Let us know in the comments below!
The Kingdom Hearts III, II.8, Unchained χ & Union χ [Cross] – Original Soundtrack is now available worldwide on Apple Music and iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Youtube Music and Deezer!
Are you excited to finally give a listen to these officially released tracks? Let us know in the comments below!
Good Smile Company have announced the next Kingdom Hearts Nendoroid figure. The newest one is Kingdom Hearts II Riku. The figure is available for pre-order on Good Smile's Japan site for ¥4,800 (about $46.00) and on the North America site for $45.99. It will be available in June 2021 for Japan and July 2021 for North America. You can check out the description and gallery below.
Kingdom Hearts II Sora Nendoroid will be releasing in May in Japan and June in North America.
Thanks to @gsc_kahotan for the info!
We will update the article when more information of the figure is available!
The third episode of Kingdom Hearts Dark Road has released in English! The global update for this title released unexpectedly soon after the JP version of the update.
You can watch all the cutscenes for this new update below, courtesy of Damo.
What are your thoughts on this hefty episode? Let us know in the comments below!
The official Japanese portal site for Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory has updated with details on story, guest party members, and new confirmed music tracks.
You can read descriptions for each of the sections below thanks to KH13 staff member @Ryuji_Shiryu
SYTSEM
Story
Guest Member
CHARACTERS
You can summon Mickey to assist you with an item called King's Call. King's Call calls upon Mickey and adds him as a fourth party member to your party. He can provide rhythm support, as well as special bonuses that tally towards your score.
MUSIC
A number of additional tracks have been confirmed for the game. You can view the full list of confirmed tracks below.
Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts - Final Mix -
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts II - Final Mix -
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Kingdom Hearts Re: coded
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]
Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage -
Kingdom Hearts III
Kingdom Heart Orchestra -World Tour- Album
Piano Collections Kingdom Hearts
Piano Collections Kingdom Hearts Field & Battle
Other Titles
What do you think of all this information as we near closer to Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory's release? Let us know in the comments below!
The official Japanese Kingdom Hearts Dark Road Twitter account has announced that a new update for Kingdom Hearts Dark Road will be releasing on November 5th at around 3PM Japan time. This update will contain new story elements. No information regarding an English version of this update has been confirmed as of now.
Are you excited for what story events Episode 3, The Purpose of the Journey, will entail? Let us know in the comments below!
In the newest Famitsu issue, some new screenshots were revealed for Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory! King Mickey is briefly introduced, with the article stating that an item will allow him to be a fourth playable character in Field Battle tracks. Some story cutscene screenshots from prior titles are shown, which are likely going to be viewable from the museum. New screenshots from the press site were revealed too. Lastly, a few screenshots showcasing some guest party members are shown. These guest party members are Aladdin, Beast and Stitch.
You can take a look at the new screenshots via our gallery below:
Additionally, new character renders for Kairi and King Mickey were released by 4gamer. You can take a look at them below:
What do you think of these two new character renders, especially the unexpected Kairi one? Let us know in the comments below!
We're running a competition to give away a free pre-order for Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory! Entering the competition is simple – you can earn points by making posts and topics on the KH13 forum, or submitting fan-made content to our gallery and video archives. After a week (on November 9, 6am GMT), the top 10 people on the points leaderboard will go into a lucky draw, and one person will be randomly selected as the winner.
Where's the leaderboard?
A leaderboard is available on https://www.kh13.com/forums/ (at the top of the sidebar), showing the current top 10 people with the most points. The leaderboard should update every 5 minutes or so.
How can I see my points?
Check your user profile to see how many points you currently have.
How do I earn points?
Here are all of the ways points can be earned.
Posting a new topic in one of our Kingdom Hearts forums - instantly earn +5 points
Replying to a topic in one of our Kingdom Hearts forums - instantly earn +2 points
Posting a new topic in one of our other forums - instantly earn +2 points
Replying to a topic in one of our other forums - instantly earn +1 point
Submitting your fan-art to our gallery - also share the fan-art as a reply to this topic, and we will manually award you +5 points
Submitting your KH playthrough to our video archive - also share the video as a reply to this topic, and we will manually award you +5 points
Prize details
If you're the winner and you live in North America, you have the option of choosing between a Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory pre-order (on PS4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch, your choice), or if you've already pre-ordered the game, you can receive US$60 as a PayPal transfer.
If you're the winner and you live outside of North America, you'll receive US$60 as a PayPal transfer to go towards your Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory pre-order.
What if I make the leaderboard but I'm not the randomly selected winner?
Only one person in the top 10 will be selected as the winner.
And that's everything. If you have any questions, please ask below. Good luck!
Thanks to KH13 forum user @VocaloidLover13, it has come to our attention that there exists a Youtube video showcasing the Versus Mode of Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory! This Youtube video is uploaded by Gamar Santai, which seems to be the Youtube channel of a Malaysian gaming news site going by the same name. The video also seems to be legitimate.
This video has not gotten any attention within the community it seems, with it only having a few hundred views at the moment. Adding to the oddities is how this video was uploaded on October 14th which is half a month ago. According to an article published by Gamar Santai, as well as in the description of the Youtube video itself, this is "b-roll" footage. None of this footage has ever been distributed or shown off to the best of our knowledge.
The video showcases a total of 5 songs in Versus Mode for their entire duration. These songs are :
Destiny Islands
Traverse Town
Another Side ~Battle Version~
L'Impeto Oscuro
Wave of Darkness I
Wave of Darkness I is included as a playable track in the Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory demo, but none of the other 4 tracks featured in this video are playable in the demo in any capacity.
You can take a look at the video below:
What is your take on this video? Let us know in the comments below!
Square Enix has announced a Kingdom Hearts / Sable Monogram cookie set. There are a total of 10 cookies per tin that come in both chocolate and butter with designs of the Mickey emblem, the Kingdom Hearts emblem, the Heartless emblem, the Nobody emblem, and the crown emblem. You can view the screenshots below.
The set can be pre-ordered on the Square Enix E-Store for ¥1,944 (about $18.62) and will only be available from December 19th 2020 until April 2021.
Thanks to @aibo_ac7 for the tip!
Will you get these set and enjoy the treats within? Let us know in the comments below!
For the month of November, Square Enix Members Japan has released a new Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory calendar wallpaper for smartphone and PC. You can view the wallpaper in the gallery below
Will you be using this wallpaper to count down the days until Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory's release? Let us know in the comments below!
TheGamer recently sat down with Final Fantasy XIV creative director Naoki Yoshida, who revealed that a Final Fantasy XIV crossover with Kingdom Hearts is just highly improbable. This has long since been a source of speculation, and seeing remarks like this from a Final Fantasy XIV staff member just serve to reinforce those speculations.
You can read important bits from the TheGamer article with Naoki Yoshida below:
The Japanese online store, animate, has listed plushies for Riku and Aqua! These plushies can currently be pre-ordered, and are both ¥4,180. ($40.07) Additionally, they are both stated to have January 2021 releases.
You can view both the Aqua and Riku plushies via our galleries below:
[UPDATED] October 28, 2020: The Kingdom Hearts III Riku and Aqua plushies are now available for pre-order from Square Enix Japan's e-Store for ¥4,180 ($40.07) as well from AmiAmi and Aitai Kuju for a discounted price of ¥3,550 ($34.00). The respective store links can be found below.
Riku Plush - Japanese Square Enix Store
Aqua Plush - Japanese Square Enix Store
Riku Plush - AmiAmi Store
Aqua Plush - AmiAmi Store
Riku Plush - Aitai Kuji Store
Aqua Plush - Aitai Kuji Store
Thanks to rote on Twitter for the tip!
[UPDATED] October 29, 2020: The Kingdom Hearts III Riku and Aqua plushies are now available for pre-order from Square Enix North America store for a discounted price of $39.59 each, with $43.99 being their base price. Additionally, both have scheduled February 2021 releases.
Riku Plush - North American Square Enix Store
Aqua Plush - North American Square Enix Store
Are you excited for these 2 characters to get plushies in this style? Let us know in the comments below!
The Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory playable demo is now available to play worlwide!
Releasing on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on November 11 in Japan and November 13 worldwide, MoM (as the fans affectionally call it) is the very first rhythm action game in the series, featuring over 140 tracks from its exceptional soundtrack. Our expectations of the demo were high, being fans of the rhythm game genre and the highly esteemed series composer Yoko Shimomura, and knowing the game has been developed in collaboration with the same studio behind the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy series and Theatrhythm Dragon Quest. The idea for a "Theatrhythm Kingdom Hearts" was first proposed in 2012, and has finally come to fruition under a different name.
The Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory playable demo wasted no time in meeting our expectations of a high quality musical experience with unforgettable tracks to tickle our nostalgia. It was an extremely enlightening and engaging experience that made us discard any doubts we had for purchasing the full game, which has set itself up to be more fun than it looks.
The MoM demo contains 4 single-player songs and 2 co-op songs, with 3 difficulties (Beginner, Standard, and Proud) and 3 gameplay styles (Basic, One Button, and Performer), giving players plenty to sink their teeth into. It also contains zero spoilers of the series story-wise, so it's safe to play if you still haven't caught up with the more recent entries!
This title is certainly different from normal rhythm games in its gameplay, but easily one of the most satisfying games of the genre that we've played. With our previous experiences with Theatrhythm and a handful of other games such as Guitar Hero, Muse Dash, Groove Coaster, Ride Zero, and Cytus, we were interested to see how our beloved Kingdom Hearts music would translate into a game like this. Kingdom Hearts has always been known for amazing music, especially those boss themes that get your heart racing and complement the difficulty of battle and tension rising. But it can be difficult to imagine these pieces getting justice in a rhythm game, especially world and field themes, which aren't the most fast paced and may deny your metal fingers a chance to go blazing when craving an exigent level.
And so came the demo and, boy oh boy, this game is more fun than it appears. It melds Kingdom Hearts-style combat and rhythmic timing amazingly well, and only by playing it will you understand how masterfully this combination works. As demonstrated in the announcement trailer, you get to play as Sora, Donald and Goofy, or a combination of other main and Disney characters, as they run along a path through different worlds, with different lanes resembling sheet music. The tracks available in the demo are Welcome to Wonderland, Hand in Hand, The Rustling Forest (from The Enchanted Dominion world) and Wave of Darkness I; you are able to filter tracks based on which game they appear in, challenge level, and even by marking your favorite ones. As the game beings and the track plays, the party of characters come across different enemies they have to attack according to the rhythm of the song, and crystals that they have to use to execute a special skill or magic. It takes a while to get used to the controls; the game was made in a way that gives the feeling of playing one of the RPG titles (Circle to jump, Cross to attack, Triangle for special attacks, hold Circle for gliding, and so on). The sound effects also blend efficiently with the track without being an annoyance and instead encouraging the player if they have timed their reactions just right. (And in case they do annoy you, you are able to adjust SFX and Voice Volume in the game's settings.)
Fans of rhythm games can rejoice in knowing that the game will provide a fun, challenging experience – at least, according to the demo. The game seemed fairly difficult even on Beginner and Standard difficulties, especially when it requires you to execute combo moves. The enemies are not static; they have a range of movements that may confuse you into reacting too slow or too fast, or taking too much of your attention that you don't notice the next enemies sneaking up on you! MoM is a rhythm game at its core, but it wonderfully incorporates the RPG elements we are already familiar with, such as a variety of incoming enemies (Heartless, Unversed, people...), who have their own range of dynamic movements, that you have to react with by attacking, casting spells, gliding, changing direction, jumping, evading, and employing a combination of these, all the while keeping to the rhythm and timing of the song. We grew to like the system overall, as you do when scoring well on a song; the satisfaction of seeing the Full Chain icon show up and that Excellent Bar filling up is incredibly rewarding and can add hours to your day, making you wonder where the time went... Which is exactly what happened to us this past week!
The co-op mode brings another layer of fun and challenge to the game. The tracks on the demo for co-op are the very playful All for One and the elegant battle theme Sinister Shadows. It's a fun way to spend time playing with your friends, whether they are Kingdom Hearts fans or not, and can also present a level of challenge as you will have to coordinate your actions with someone else's.
We recommend for all players, of any skill level, to take some time training with the easier songs to get used to the flow of the songs (double taps, triple taps, multi-taps and directional changes, with a single or multiple fingers, based on timing). We also recommend to definitely try the demo out first – while we found the demo extremely enjoyable, it did fall short for some of our staff for whom the rhythm game genre was not their cup of tea. For those players, the One Button mode might be a good place to start. If you really fancy yourself a challenge, however, we dare you to try the Performer mode, which requires you to react with pressing some more, extra buttons than in Standard mode. We've tried it, and... let's just say MoM seems to cater to a range of difficulties, inviting novices as well as experts who can dish out some absurd coordinated ninja moves!
Graphically, this title is modest and not impressive for modern hardware; it is almost a time capsule back to the PlayStation 2 days. This can be a turn-off for prospective players, but we find the lack of focus on graphical fidelity to be a strength. This makes the performance of the title nearly faultless, and the game's mechanics aren't held back by lavish visuals. These visuals are also quite nostalgic for longtime Kingdom Hearts fans and add to the thematic intention of the title.
We became aware of some issues, which have also been reported by many fans. There is an odd input buffer; when mashing X, you'll notice that there is a noticeable delay between each input and output action. In a rhythm game, this can spell disappointment as it will force players to miss more notes than intended, at no fault of the player's timing. In a song like Wave of Darkness I or others with lots of notes, you may end up missing out on 3–5 notes because the input hasn't finished buffering yet. Additionally, in the heat of the moment, you won't think of pressing L1/R1 to hit notes alongside X. One missed or badly timed note can really throw you off getting the subsequent notes, which can be quite frustrating if you're aiming for a Full Chain or playing on Proud. You are able to configure the music timing in Music Stage Settings to account for lag, but it doesn't seem to solve the issue entirely.
Secondly, the overall timing for some notes is a bit odd. Thankfully, enemies have a circle that closes in to let you execute the perfect timing, but the way the enemies' positions transition (such as during the last section of Wave of Darkness I) prevents you from seeing exactly in what order the notes are coming in. You might read ahead and see 2 Shadow Heartless in a row, only for a random flying double tap to come in instead. Of course, this element of challenge pushes you to learn the track and get better scores the second, third, fourth time around.
Finally, the jumps. They don't have a circle to indicate timing, but rather the arrows move upwards to indicate a jump. This means different songs might have different timings on when to jump given how fast they go, and oftentimes you can find yourself reacting to a jump signal visually as you would in an RPG, and not to the rhythm of the song. Again, it's a matter of learning the moves and their timings with practice, especially as you aim for Full Chains or All Excellent.
Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory has a lot going for it, and we have no doubt it is rich of content justifying its price. With the full version offering over 140 tracks, we can easily see ourselves and many others dedicating hours to this game, learning and mastering its mechanics while reminiscing the memories in the melodies. 140 songs, multiple attempts to Full Chain, All Excellent, or both, at least 3 different modes, online VS and multiplayer, 20+ playable characters, scoring and leveling up, completing missions in the World Tour... All this on top of the story and collectibles that we've seen so far in the trailers? We are impatient to get our hands on the full experience.
This review was written by OrpheusJoshua, GoldenDrummer73, PowerJusho_KH13, and Aquaberry. OrpheusJoshua played the demo on PlayStation 4, while the others experienced it on the Nintendo Switch.
Watch the Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory—Experience the Music! – Gameplay Compilation
Watch @Power Jusho's gameplay of the demo's tracks in Standard difficulty:
Tutorial: Dive into the Heart -Destati- (1:05 – 4:15)
Welcome to Wonderland
Hand in Hand
The Rustling Forest
Wave of Darkness I
The Facebook Live Q&A with Kingdom Hearts series composer, Yoko Shimomura took place on October 23rd! We have chronicled the questions and answers here for convenience. Keep in mind that these answers were given in English by a live translator during the event.
You can take a look at each question and answer below:
Did any of Shimomura's responses stand out to you, and if so, which one(s)? Let us know in the comments below!
