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!
The KINGDOM HEARTS - III, II.8, Unchained χ & Union χ [Cross] – Original Soundtrack is now available for pre-order on Apple Music and iTunes. You can purchase it for $49.99. Additionally, if you are an Apple Music subscriber you can now download the following 10 tracks before release on November 11th
Dearly Beloved (-Kingdom Hearts III Version-)
Toy Box Jam
Monstropolis Now
Frozen Wonderland
No Surrender
Stranded Beyond
Scala ad Caelum
Edge of Existence
Nachtflugel
Wave of Darkness I
The soundtrack is set to release November 11th physically for Japan, and digitally for the rest of the world. The soundtrack's tracklist was originally released in full back in September, which you can view here. You can view the contents of the physical edition of the soundtrack in the gallery below.
This comes after news of a Q&A being held on Facebook Live tonight with Kingdom Hearts series composer Yoko Shimomura.
Will you be purchasing the KINGDOM HEARTS - III, II.8, Unchained χ & Union χ [Cross] – Original Soundtrack from iTunes? Let us know in the comments below!
Thanks to @churroz for the tip!
UPDATE: (10/24/2020)
The KINGDOM HEARTS - III, II.8, Unchained χ & Union χ [Cross] – Original Soundtrack is now available for pre-save on Spotify and on Amazon Music!
You can also listen to 10 free tracks from the Kingdom Hearts III Original Soundtrack on Amazon Music!
These tracks are:
Dearly Beloved (-Kingdom Hearts III Version-)
Toy Box Jam
Monstropolis Now
Frozen Wonderland
No Surrender
Stranded Beyond
Scala ad Caelum
Edge of Existence
Nachtflugel
Wave of Darkness I
The official Kingdom Hearts twitter page has announced that a live Kingdom Hearts Q&A with Yoko Shimomura will be happening on their Facebook page in order to celebrate the upcoming releases of both the Kingdom Hearts III OST and Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory!
You can leave questions you have for her with the #KingdomHearts3OST hashtag! The official Facebook page is here.
Are you planning on asking any questions and attending this live Q&A session? Let us know in the comments below!
A new update for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue has launched out of seemingly nowhere. This update, version 1.05, simply states that "Various issues have been fixed." The specifics of these fixes are unknown as of right now.
This could be preparation for this title becoming more compatible for the upcoming PlayStation 5, or it could just simply be bug fixes.
What do you think these fixes are? Let us know in the comments below!
Good Smile Company has announced that the Kingdom Hearts II iteration of Sora will be receiving its own Nendoroid figure! This figure will be releasing on May 2021 for ¥5,400 and is currently available for pre-order on the Japanese Store. This figure is also currently available for pre-order on the English store for $51.99 and releases on June 2021.
You can take a look at this upcoming Nendoroid via our gallery below:
Additionally, Good Smile Company has also stated that they have plans to release Riku, KH3 Sora and Mickey Mouse Nendoroids! Thanks to Churro for this tip.
Are you planning on purchasing this upcoming Nendoroid? Let us know in the comments below!
The Japanese Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory portal site has been updated with new information!
The System tab of the site has three updates regarding the museum, Disney playable characters and synthesis. Ariel, Peter Pan and Simba are the Disney characters specifically shown.
The characters tab got updated with "Team BBS" and "Team DDD", showcasing Aqua, Terra and Ventus as well as Riku, Meow Wow and Komory Bat respectively. You can view the new renders for each of these characters below:
Lastly, a number of new songs have been confirmed for the final game. Below you will see all of the confirmed songs for Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory so far.
Kingdom Hearts
A Day In Agrabah
Arabian Dream
Destiny Islands
Go For It!
Kairi I
Hand in Hand
Olympus Coliseum
To Our Surprise
Traverse Town
Under the Sea
Hikari
Shrouding Dark Cloud
A Very Small Wish
Bustin' Up on the Beach
Destiny's Force
Night of Fate
Scherzo Di Notte
This is Halloween
Welcome to Wonderland
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix
Another Side
One Winged Angel (from Final Fantasy VII)
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories
Castle Oblivion
The Force in You
Forgotten Challenge
Lord of the Castle
Kingdom Hearts II
Darkness of the Unknown
Roxas
Savannah Pride
Scherzo Di Notte
Sinister Shadows
The 13th Struggle
Vim and Vigor
Working Together
Adventures in the Savannah
Deep Drive
Passion ~opening version~
Sinister Sundown
Space Paranoids
The 13th Dilemma
The Home of the Dragons
Lazy Afternoons
Riku
Sora
Tension Rising
The Underworld
Kingdom Hearts II -Final Mix-
The Other Promise
Fate of the Unknown
Rage Awakened
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Another Side - Battle Ver. -
Secret of Neverland
Vector to the Heavens
Fight and Away
Musique pour la tristesse de Xion
Kingdom Hearts Re: coded
Wonder of Electron
No More Bugs!!!
Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
Dismiss
Enter the Darkness
Hau'oli, Hau'oli
Rage Awakend -The Origin-
The Encounter - Birth By Sleep Version -
Aqua
Black Powder
The Silent Forest
Ventus
Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo
Future Masters
Mickey Mouse March
Terra
The Promised Beginning
Up Down Adventure
Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]
All for One
L'Impeto Oscuro
The Eye of Darkness
Deep Drop
One for All
The Fun Fair
Calling -Kingdom Mix-
Hand to Hand
Majestic Wings
Traverse in Trance
Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage -
Wave of Darkness I
Kingdom Hearts III
Let It Go
Graveyard Labryinth
Monster Smash
Robot Overdrive
Happy Hair Day
Rise of the Union
Oath
You've Got a Friend in Me -Kingdom Hearts III Version-
Kingdom Heart Orchestra -World Tour- Album
Destati
Piano Collections Kingdom Hearts
Hand in Hand
Working Together --Allegro vivace
Has any of this news made you more excited for Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory? Let us know in the comments below!
Square Enix have updated their press site to include new screenshots for Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory. The screenshots includes Aqua, Terra, and Ven as well as Dream Drop Distance Riku with Meow Wow and Komory Bat. Also, Simba, Ariel, and Peter Pan are shown. You can view the screenshots in our gallery below.
In addition, 4Gamer have posted new renders of Aqua, Terra, Ven, Riku, Meow Wow and Komory Bat in their recent article. You can view those in the gallery below. (Thanks to @xenosaga for the tip!)
Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory will release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on November 11th in Japan and November 13 worldwide. The demo is slowly coming out worldwide.
The Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory demo is now available to play for the first time!
Starting October 15, this demo will be rolling out across the world (presumably as each timezone hits midnight) for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch online stores. So far, the demo is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch worldwide!
New Zealand: PlayStation | Xbox | Switch
Australia: PlayStation | Xbox | Switch
Japan: PlayStation | Xbox | Switch
Europe: PlayStation | Xbox | Switch
United States: PlayStation | Xbox | Switch
The demo starts with Dive Into the Heart -Destati- as a tutorial song.
The following 4 tracks are initially available in the demo for 1P:
Welcome to Wonderland (Wonderland from KINGDOM HEARTS) Hand in Hand (Traverse Town from KINGDOM HEARTS) The Rustling Forest (Enchanged Dominion from KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep) Wave of Darkness I (KINGDOM HEARTS 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-)
And these 2 tracks are available for co-op play:
Sinister Shadows (KINGDOM HEARTS II) All for One (Country of the Musketeers from KINGDOM HEARTS 3D [Dream Drop Distance])
The Kingdom Hearts Japan Twitter account also posted the opening screen of the demo.
Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory is releasing on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on November 11th in Japan and November 13 worldwide and is the very first musical rhythm full title in the series, featuring over 140 tracks.
Square Enix has revealed three brand new pieces of Kingdom Hearts III themed merchandise on their Japanese e-Store, including a shoulder bag, PC bag, and a smartphone case. You can take a closer look at them below.
The Kingdom Hearts III Monogram PC Bag is available for ¥9,900. (Approximately $93.90 USD).
The Kingdom Hearts III Monogram Shoulder Bag is available for ¥9,350.(Approximately $88.60 USD)
And lastly the Kingdom Hearts III Monogram Smart Phone Case is available for ¥5,280. (Approximately $50.80 USD)
All items are slated for a February 13th, 2021 release.
UPDATE [October 14, 2020]: Square Enix North America has updated their store with these items with a 10% discount. The Kingdom Hearts III Monogram PC Bag will cost $80.99, the Kingdom Hearts III Monogram Shoulder Bag will cost $76.49, and the Kingdom Hearts III Monogram Smart Phone Case will cost $43.19. All items will release in March.
Will you be picking up any of these stylish items? Let us know in the comments below!
A brand new Famitsu interview was released with Kingdom Hearts composers, Yoko Shimomura, Takeharu Ishimoto and Tsuyoshi Sekito! This interview mainly covers these composers' overall thoughts on the Kingdom Hearts III soundtrack along with its development.
Take a look at some of the important bits of the interview translated by our team's Ryuji! We will update this article once more parts of this interview are translated.
UPDATE [13/12/2020]: We have updated the translation after spotting a mistake. The updated parts have been highlighted in red.
A brand new update for Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] has just released, and with it, a new scene for the main scenario has been revealed. You can watch this scene below, courtesy of KH_Damo! We will update this article once the scene has been translated.
What are your thoughts on this shocking turn of events? Let us know in the comments below!
UPDATE: (10/8/2020) This scene has been translated courtesy of our team's Ryuji! You can view the translation below:
The official Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] Twitter account has revealed a brand new update for the title will be releasing at 15:00 JP. (2:00 AM est) This update will feature some new events in the main scenario. The tweet shows a preview image reminiscent of the one featured during the Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory Tokyo Game Show 2020 presentation. Lauriam is shown in an irritated state, being held back by Skuld and Brain.
Are you excited to see what drama unfolds in this latest Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] update? Let us know in the comments below!
