Raxaimus

Micromania, a French game retailer, has announced two pre-order bonuses for customers who purchase copies of Kingdom Hearts III through their store. Players who pre-order the game's standard edition from Micromania will receive the Monster's Inc. yo-yo as their bonus item. Players who instead pre-order the game's deluxe edition will receive a set of three badges, featuring Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Please be aware that, as Micromania is a French company, these pre-order bonuses are likely only limited to French customers. However, the Monsters Inc. yo-yo is available as a bonus from other retailers in other countries, as well. Kingdom Hearts III releases outside of Japan on January 29, 2019! Will you be pre-ordering from Micromania? Let us know in the comments!

Hello, everyone! The KH13 staff is very happy to announce the launch of our very own public Discord server! We recognize the immense value of live communication among online communities, and as a result, we came to the conclusion that a Discord server would be a perfect fit for users who prefer such an option. For you frequent forum users, please do not be worried; the forums will remain as well-supported and moderated as they have been for the past several years! This is simply being treated as another option for community members to interact with one another. The server's various chat channels are divided in largely the same way as the forums, with Kingdom Hearts series discussion, memes, and fan art taking center stage. However, as with our forums, off-topic content and spoilers must be posted to their respective channels, in order to remain organized and allow newcomers to continue to enjoy the series unspoiled. Unfortunately, due to the staff's existing duties, our current Discord moderation team is rather small as of the time of launch. As a result, we are seeking people who are willing and able to assist us in keeping our new server clean and safe for all Kingdom Hearts fans! If you would like to become a moderator of the KH13 Discord server, please use this form to apply for the position. We hope that you enjoy our new Discord server, and everyone at KH13 looks forward to chatting with you! What are your thoughts on this new server? Do you have any suggestions on how to improve it? Let us know in the comments, or perhaps even on the server itself!

Shortly after the release of Kingdom Hearts III's extended Tokyo Game Show trailer, Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura made comments on his Twitter about Kingdom Hearts III's presence at Tokyo Game Show 2018. In the first tweet, Nomura expressed his thoughts on Utada Hikaru's live performance of the Kingdom Hearts III theme song, Chikai. Nomura also confirmed that there will not be any more trailers coming out of TGS, but that there will still be more info, which he encourages fans to look forward to. Nomura also wanted to reveal the Kingdom Hearts III box art himself in the second tweet, before it was released elsewhere. There will be a large version of this box art on display at the expo itself. While that's all he will be saying, he reinforces that there will be further information revealed during TGS. Thank you to Goldpanner for translating these tweets! What do you think of Nomura's comments? What do you think this upcoming info entails? Let us know in the comments below! Keep up to date with Kingdom Hearts III news at TGS 2018 on our website and via Twitter! You can also catch up to all TGS 2018 news via our full coverage of the event! For major updates, follow us on Facebook and Tumblr as well!

A Kingdom Hearts Sora Nendoroid figure is being released by Good Smile Company! This chibi-style figure includes interchangeable Keyblades, several swappable heads with different facial expressions, a paopu fruit accessory, and a posing stand. Among the Keyblades included are the Kingdom Key and the Pumpkinhead. Additionally, one of the promotional images shows the figure holding a Kingdom Key and shooting a beam of light into a Keyhole, though it is unclear whether this Keyhole is able to be attached to all Keyblades, or if it is part of a second Kingdom Key as a single piece. The Kingdom Hearts Sora Nendoroid figure is available for pre-order from Aitai☆Kuji for $40 USD. Each order comes with a free gift, though there are no details on this gift at this time. This figure is scheduled to release in December 2018. What are your thoughts on this new Sora figure? Would you like to see more Kingdom Hearts Nendoroid figures? Let us know in the comments below! [uPDATE]: @gsc_enon hinted on Twitter the intention of releasing new Kingdom Hearts Nendoroid figures in the future! UPDATE [Dec 10, 2018]: Good Smile Company has confirmed Sora Nendoroid will be released on December 19th. You can pre-order it from AmiAmi. Special thanks to @RedMakuzawa for the tip!

Welcome to KH13’s roundup for Kingdom Hearts merchandise revealed during the month of June! Pictures, links, and descriptions for each piece of new merchandise revealed during June are available below! Hot Topic introduced several items this month, including a Kingdom Hearts “Heart” plus-sized crew sweater, available for $36.90. As the name suggests, the design is mainly themed around the series’ heart icon, which is prominently featured on the breast, right sleeve, and back, alongside other Kingdom Hearts symbols. The “Heart” design was previously featured by Hot Topic on a girls’ pullover hoodie for $44.90. A blue Kingdom Hearts mug is available for $12.90. Using the box art for Kingdom Hearts II, the mug features King Mickey and the Kingdom Hearts II logo on one side, while the other side includes Sora, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Roxas. Looking to rock Sora's style? A Kingdom Hearts tactical backpack is available for $59.90, and is directly inspired by the colors and design of Sora’s Kingdom Hearts II outfit! If you're looking for something more subtle, a Kingdom Hearts stud earring set is available for $10.90. It includes four different varieties of studs; Heartless emblems, Kingdom Key Ds, black faceted gems, and Mickey Mouse emblems. In other jewelry-related news, a Kingdom Hearts logo collar pin set is available for $12.90, featuring the Kingdom Hearts II logo as the pin design, and connected by three silver-tone chains. A Kingdom Hearts icons backpack is available for $34.90. Its print features an assortment of icons from the series, scattered thoroughly across the backpack's entire print. Lastly from Hot Topic, the store is now carrying the Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Proplica! This fan-favorite item is a full-scale Kingdom Key, featuring various lights and sounds which imitate the series’ magic spells, as well as a light in the tip of the blade which projects a keyhole! The Kingdom Key Proplica is available now for $200.90! Bandai’s Kingdom Hearts gacha capsule Keyblade keychain set is available for pre-order at Big Bad Toy Store. A box of 12 can be pre-ordered for $119.99, and features two of each of the following Keyblades: Kingdom Key, Three Wishes, Crabclaw, Oathkeeper, Oblivion, and Ultima Weapon (KH1 version). The set is scheduled to release in September. Big Bad Toy Store also has a Kingdom Hearts Sora-inspired rucksack available for pre-order for $44.99. This item is scheduled to release in August. From Diamond Select Toys, the new Kingdom Hearts Vinimates Final Form Sora figure is available for $10.90, exclusively at Hot Topic. Speaking of Diamond Select Toys, they now have many different Kingdom Hearts available for pre-order at Big Bad Toy Store! The Kingdom Hearts Select figure line now features a Space Paranoids set for $64.99, available in December. Its contents include Space Paranoids Sora, Space Paranoids Donald, Space Paranoids Goofy, Tron, Sark, Black Coat Mickey, a Shadow, and an Assassin. A Kingdom Hearts Minimates Tron light cycle deluxe set is available for pre-order for $13.99, releaseing in November. It includes Space Paranoids Sora as well as a light cycle. Three Kingdom Hearts Vinimates Halloween Town figures are also available for pre-order. These include Halloween Town Sora, Halloween Town Donald, and Halloween Town Goofy. Each of these figures is being sold separately for $9.99, and will be available in November. Which pieces of merchandise are your favorite from this month? Are there any items that you are looking to pre-order? Let us know in the comments below!

In an interview with VentureBeat, Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura elaborated on the reasons behind the choice to include The Caribbean into Kingdom Hearts III, answering several concerns about its status as a returning world. The desire to include realistic characters based on live-action properties was a significant motivator for the development team, especially since these characters can be faithfully recreated within Unreal Engine 4, in far greater detail than ever before. Furthermore, the world design of The Caribbean lends itself well to interesting and varied gameplay. Nomura also explained why Kingdom Hearts III would be focusing on the plot elements of the third Pirates of the Caribbean film, At World’s End, rather than directly continuing the story with Dead Man’s Chest. You can read Nomura’s comments from the interview below. Do you agree with Nomura's reasons for including The Caribbean in Kingdom Hearts III? What part of this interview is most interesting to you? Let us know in the comments below!

As an attendee of the Kingdom Hearts III Premiere Event, I got the chance to play the highly-anticipated Kingdom Hearts III alongside other Kingdom Hearts content creators, as well as the opportunity to provide direct feedback to the game’s developers. Before I begin, I’d like to thank Square Enix and the other members of KH13.com’s staff yet again, for allowing me the privilege to attend this event. It was a lot of fun to see some familiar faces, meet a bunch of new friends, and finally get my hands on Kingdom Hearts III. I hope that similar community-focused events will continue to take place in the future! The two segments of Kingdom Hearts III that we were given the opportunity to play were the Rock Titan boss fight in Olympus, and around 30% of the much more exploration-focused Toy Box. In the short Olympus segment, Sora had access to Second Form, Wonder Balloon, and Big Magic Mountain, and players used these to defeat the Rock Titan. In the Toy Box demo, players explored Andy’s room, Andy’s front yard, and the massive Galaxy Toys toy store, experimenting with the rest of Sora’s abilities. Within the demo, there were a great deal of positives interspersed with some very noticeable negatives. To provide a more structured critique, I’d like to give my impressions of this demo in the following format; I will be starting with pros, followed by cons, and then a few concerns that I have for Kingdom Hearts III that are unrelated to the demo itself. Keep in mind that Square Enix informed the event's attendees that they would be watching for our feedback in the week following the event. If it seems as though I am bringing up my concerns in a way that would directly address Square Enix and the Kingdom Hearts development team, please be aware that presenting this feedback for the team is one of my primary goals. I hope you enjoy my critique! <3 Pros First, I’d like to praise the sheer amount of options that are available in Kingdom Hearts III's combat. Between regular combos, Keyblade transformations, Links, Attraction Flows, Flowmotion, and Situation Commands that utilize party members, players are able to construct a very detailed play style that is ideal for their own tastes. In addition, many of these options are currently well-balanced, so a significant portion of the game’s combat system is equally valuable, rather than just a handful of abilities that shine above all others. The Fire/Thunder/Barrier Surge and Balloon/Balloonra/Balloonga commands in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, respectively, both come to mind as examples of absurdly powerful abilities that outranked everything else, and for the most part, it seems that Square Enix has elected to avoid this flaw when designing the intricacies of the combat. Keyblade transformations are a staple of Kingdom Hearts III’s combat, changing Sora’s attack patterns and allowing for unique play styles to shine. For instance, the magic-heavy Mirage Staff (my personal favorite of the three we got) features movement similar to Kingdom Hearts II’s Wisdom Form, and also allows Sora to attack from farther away. In addition, its Air Slide leaves copies of Sora that will shoot at enemies when prompted. Hyper Hammer, by contrast, is used to deal damage in a wide area of effect, and tends to stun enemies that get caught in its wide swings. These transformations also include additional tiers, bringing new attacks and finishers into the mix. They also change the player's magic spells, to keep them consistent with the design philosophy behind each transformation. All of this is great, and gets even better with my next point. Alongside Keyblade transformations, Keyblade switching is a new (and hopefully permanent) addition to the Kingdom Hearts series. Within the Toy Box portion of the demo, we were able to switch between the Infinity Badge, Ever After, and Smile Gear Keyblades in the middle of combat (in the middle of a combo, even!). These Keyblades all come with their own transformations, and if the player activates a transformation and then switches their Keyblade, the transformed Keyblade is “stored” for later use, allowing players to go straight from a standard combo to a transformation with the press of a button. In line with this feeling of fluidity, I’m happy to report that combos can be modified with a mix of melee and magic attacks, which is a welcome inclusion from Kingdom Hearts II’s combat system. In addition, Sora now has an aerial guard maneuver, giving players the capability to remain defensive in most situations. While some players may worry that the Focus gauge may not be utilized enough, I was pleasantly surprised to find that traditional Shotlocks and Flowchain both provide good uses of the Focus gauge, and don’t sacrifice game balance for the sake of flashy, overly stylish attacks. These attacks are all fast and responsive, and most importantly, the damage they deal is quite reasonable. Compared to previous installments, Sora’s movement options have been expanded and changed for the better. Flowmotion returns from Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, but has been heavily re-balanced. The infamous Flowmotion attacks have become drastically less powerful (Shock Dive no longer produces a large shockwave, for instance), and players can only jump off of walls about two or three times, meaning that it is now impossible to scale giant objects with Flowmotion alone. However, this does not mean that scaling walls is impossible. Certain walls, indicated by an upward-traveling wave effect, can be used to wall-run. This movement is three-directional, allowing Sora to travel upwards or to the left or right. If Sora falls off of a wall, or needs to get onto the wall from midair, simply pressing against the wall while falling will allow players to continue their ascent. Due to the aforementioned factors, platforming has never been more fun to partake in, since Sora’s varied movement options present players with both a great deal of freedom, as well as a significant feeling of responsiveness. Moving on to the game’s visual presentation, I have to say that I am very impressed by the level of detail on display. The addition of idle animations for the party members and physics-based interactions have given Kingdom Hearts III those extra touches that elevate its already legendary visuals to new heights. For a few examples, individual blades of grass react to the movement of characters, a crumpled paper ball can be juggled, and Sora’s hair blows faintly in the wind. The game’s worlds feel very alive, containing plenty of interactive elements and secrets. Even though there weren’t many NPCs like there will be in the Kingdom of Corona world, there are plenty of little touches and details that make exploring Toy Box a real treat. I’m fairly certain that none of the attendees were able to explore and find everything that the demo had to offer on their own, and with only 30% of Toy Box available to us with this demo, it seems like the exploration aspect of the game will only get much bigger and much better as we explore the final game. As my final positive point, I’d like to touch on the game’s music. Kingdom Hearts has consistently provided me with some of my favorite musical tracks ever, and Kingdom Hearts III is certainly no slouch in this department. The new tracks present within Toy Box are very catchy, with Toy Story’s famous song “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” making an appearance as the field theme. The battle theme is equal parts uplifting and frenetic, in classic Disney fashion. However, we also heard several returning tracks that got a welcome overhaul. “The Deep End” is probably the most notable of these, being fully orchestrated and having entirely new segments interwoven into the familiar melody. However, tracks such as “Hand in Hand” are also present, and have received a slight EDM-style flair. Overall, I think Yoko Shimomura has absolutely given the soundtrack of Kingdom Hearts III everything that she can muster, and I’m extremely happy with the results. Cons Moving on to discuss Kingdom Hearts III’s current flaws, I’d be doing this critique a disservice if I did not mention the floaty feeling within the combat. After attacking in the air or performing an Air Slide, Sora has a bit of a delay before starting to fall to the ground. This can most closely be compared to Aqua’s physics in Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-, where any action taken in the air carried a delay of a fraction of a second, before the animation resolved and gravity took over. This floaty feeling was not present in Kingdom Hearts II, where Sora’s actions would be subject to gravity while an animation was in its final frames. In addition, a lot of the attacks themselves feel somewhat sluggish and clunky to transition between, making Sora feel a little stiff to control in the middle of a combo, especially when compared to the quick, fluid, and responsive combos from Kingdom Hearts II. A stronger adherence to Kingdom Hearts II's physics and responsiveness would be very well received by the majority of fans. One of the other major complaints that has arisen in response to prior trailers and this demo is the frequency of Situation Commands. I’d like to think that the values were tweaked regarding how often these commands appear, as trailers and demos are meant to market a game, and showing off some of the flashier attacks that Sora can use is an effective way of doing that. These values, therefore, may not be representative of the final product. However, when playing Kingdom Hearts III in a more free-form environment, being overwhelmed by a large amount of Situation Commands will present the feeling that these are meant to be the primary form of combat, above all other methods, which I think is an unfortunately shallow representation of the game (see the Surge/Balloon point I made at the beginning of my discussion on the game’s pros). An ideal philosophy, mechanics-wise, would be for Sora’s innate abilities to have their place in the spotlight, and then to use the secondary abilities and Situation Commands as a complement to Sora’s own power, rather than making them the focus. These abilities should instead feel rewarding to obtain, rather than being handed to players for using one or two spells, for example. By making them the focus and having them be so frequent, Sora's combos, spells, and original abilities are devalued, and players will elect not to use them as a result. In addition, based on what I played, the various Attraction Flows and Limits (Situation Commands utilizing Sora’s party members) seemed to appear quite randomly, rather than having some easily discernible cause for being given. I initially thought that Attraction Flows showed up based solely on the present location, but these commands have apparently appeared for other players when they are in completely different environments. For instance, the Pirate Ship command only appeared in Andy’s front yard for me, but it is also apparently available in various sections of the toy store, according to other players’ footage of the game. Due to the aforementioned points, perhaps allowing us to adjust the frequency of Situation Commands, or even completely disable those we don't like, would be a good gameplay element to include. These attacks are an extension of Sora's abilities and those of his friends, so they should be treated as such, rather than becoming the main weapon in their arsenal. They should also be able to be toggled, and their frequency tweaked, just like similar abilities' options in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. Another good course of action, in addition to what I just mentioned, would be to make the seemingly random conditions for activating certain commands more apparent. I previously believed that summons (referred to as Links in the game) were also overhauled, keeping party members around while the summon is occurring. Unfortunately, this is not the case, even though the party's health bars are still present. These health bars should disappear to avoid causing confusion, as several players made this mistake the first time they saw a summon. On a related note, though, I'd like to talk about how invincibility frames are handled. During the finishers of several different commands, including the aforementioned summons, Sora is locked into a particular animation, unable to avoid any damage. Players don't have any invincibility during these sections, which can often lead to Sora suffering an unfortunate death through no fault of the player. This next point may seem minor, but has been a serious concern amongst those who’ve played the demo. The colored wave effect that travels up the entirety of a wall-run compatible surface has often been noted as being “too distracting” and “a case of visual overload”. Since the wave effect travels along any surface that can be climbed, it has capacity to appear far too often, potentially overwhelming the appearance of an area, and distracting players who are exploring or fighting. A more subtle effect would be a much better way to effectively communicate the intended function to the player, without sacrificing the aesthetic of the area or dividing the player’s attention. As the final negative critique I have, I'd like to bring up the topic of input lag. All of the demo setups at the event had a large amount of delay between pressing a button and receiving a response from the game, making actions feel even more sluggish than they already appear and feel. This could be a result of the specific TV models we were playing on, but it’s a point that has been very commonly complained about by attendees, so it is worth taking into serious consideration. If there is any sort of input delay inherent within Kingdom Hearts III, it should ideally be fixed while optimizing other aspects of performance such as the game’s framerate. Miscellaneous Concerns Finally, there are a few concerns that I would like to bring up that are unrelated to the material that I played in the demo. Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance started the trend of having to play the game once to unlock the much-beloved Critical Mode, and this trend continued with the release of Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-. A large portion of the fanbase, myself included, believe that Critical Mode should be made available from the start of Kingdom Hearts III, rather than being unlocked by beating the game once. Speaking personally, I usually play Kingdom Hearts games on the highest difficulty available, because I love a good challenge. Having to play through a game once to unlock a higher difficulty is usually an unwanted chore that challenge-oriented players just slog through to get what they wanted in the first place. There is no reason for Kingdom Hearts III to feel like a chore, especially when it is meant to be fun for anyone who plays. As a result, Critical Mode should be an immediately available option for players looking to challenge themselves, rather than a reward to be unlocked later. Similar to the previous point, Critical Mode should also be properly balanced and rewarding. In Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-, Critical Mode not only increased enemies’ damage output, as one would expect, but also took away crucial abilities and halved the player’s MP. This made Critical Mode feel like an unfair and punishing experience, rather than a fair challenge that is fun to proceed through. Instead of making Critical Mode absurdly hard for the sake of being absurdly hard, this difficulty should be developed with the philosophy of offering the player a legitimate and fun challenge. <3 I hope you've enjoyed what I have to say! Whether you are a developer at Square Enix who is working on Kingdom Hearts III, or just an average fan who wants the best for a series we love, I hope you value my impressions and feedback, as well as the impressions and feedback of everyone else who got to play the game! What do you think of my impressions of the Kingdom Hearts III Premiere Event demo? Do you have any concerns of your own that you hope Square Enix will address? Let us know in the comments below!

Episode 13 of Everglow's popular Kingdom Hearts Timeline series has been released! This episode marks the second installment in the series' Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep section, and covers the night before Terra and Aqua's Mark of Mastery exam, as well as the events of the exam itself. You can view Kingdom Hearts Timeline episode 13 below. What was your favorite part of this episode of Kingdom Hearts Timeline? Let us know in the comments below!

Episode 12 of Everglow's popular Kingdom Hearts Timeline series has been released! This episode marks the first installment in the series' Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep section, and encompasses the time between Xehanort's origins on Destiny Islands and the moments where Ventus began to befriend Terra and Aqua. You can view Kingdom Hearts Timeline episode 12 below. If you are confused as to why episode 11 seems to have been skipped over, there's no need to panic! Everglow has stated that since Kingdom Hearts Union χ[cross] is still receiving story updates, episode 11's slot has been reserved, so that those upcoming updates can still be presented in the intended order. Having presented the entirety of the original Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] saga, Everglow feels comfortable in postponing this section of the project until the game receives a large amount of additional main story content. In the meantime, he hopes that fans will enjoy what the rest of the series has to offer! What was your favorite part of this episode of Kingdom Hearts Timeline? Let us know in the comments below!

The wait is almost over! In just a few days, a select group of community members and media outlets will attend Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts III Invitational Premiere Event in Santa Monica, California! This invite-only event will give attendees the ability to play Kingdom Hearts III, as well as share hands-on impressions of their experiences! Several prominent Square Enix staff members will also be present, including Kingdom Hearts co-director Tai Yasue! We previously announced that KH13 have been given the great honor of being invited to this once-in-a-lifetime experience, and also announced that staff members Toominator and Raxaimus will be representing us at the event! Once again, we would like to thank the staff of Square Enix for this incredible opportunity! As seen from photos of the venue's exterior, Square Enix will be using the Twitter hashtag #KH3Premiere to promote this event. Several attendees and fans have already started using and spreading this hashtag, including those of us at KH13, so be on the lookout for it! Whenever you see it, you can be sure that information about the event will not be far behind! The embargo for this event ends on Friday, May 18th at 6:00 AM PT! Staff members Toominator (@ToominatorKH13) and Raxaimus (@RaxaimusKH13) will share information during the event using the #KH3Premiere hashtag, and we will post their full impressions of Kingdom Hearts III and the Kingdom Hearts Invitational Premiere Event shortly after the event concludes! Please be excited, everyone! IMPORTANT: We would like to stress once again that this event is invite-only. If you do not have an official invitation from Square Enix, we politely request that you do not show up to the venue on the day of the event with the hopes of getting inside. Please wait patiently for information and we will share what we can with you! What are you most excited to learn about from the Kingdom Hearts Invitational Premiere Event? Let us know in the comments below!

As a long-standing creator of guides and creative videos on the Kingdom Hearts series, Everglow has provided the Kingdom Hearts community with countless hours of enjoyable content. His latest and most ambitious video series, serves as a comprehensive look into the entire series’ chronology, from the elaborate schemes of Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, to the most recent voyage that we see Sora and pals embark on in the epilogue of Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-. Kingdom Hearts Timeline sets itself apart from similar projects by featuring each and every story event in absolute chronological order, instead of using flashbacks or revealing information in the order it was originally presented. As an example, during Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, the birth of Vanitas will be shown before the Mark of Mastery exam, despite the fact that this flashback is normally seen during the later hours of Ventus' story. This strict adherence to the series' chronology is emphasized by the intricate timeline that is displayed at the beginning of each episode. Similar to another of Everglow’s projects, the editing in Kingdom Hearts Timeline is both detailed and professional, resulting in perhaps the most visually and audibly appealing representation of the series to date. This detailed editing has already delighted many fans, and it will undoubtedly get even better as the series progresses. Most recently as of the writing of this article, Everglow has taken a more creative approach to his Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep-related content than ever before. In this instance, since Eraqus' conversation with Aqua about the Land of Departure's secret was only heard through dialogue in the game's final episode, no visual footage of this moment actually exists. However, a special cutscene, which Everglow calls "Case of Aqua", was created completely from scratch to showcase this moment, and will soon be featured in Kingdom Hearts Timeline. You can view this new cutscene below: Everglow intends for Kingdom Hearts Timeline to be fully available before the release of Kingdom Hearts III. From his description of the series, he states the following: We hope that you continue to enjoy Kingdom Hearts Timeline as we steadily get closer to the release of Kingdom Hearts III! For continued updates on the series, be sure to follow Everglow's Twitter account. With the staggering amount of work he is putting into the project, you won't want to miss a thing! What is your favorite part of Kingdom Hearts Timeline so far? What part are you looking forward to most? Let us know in the comments below!

On April 15th, Square Enix hosted the first ever Kingdom Hearts Union χ[cross] Dandelion Meeting, where fans could participate in various activities and meet fellow fans. One of the featured activities was called “Classics”, and was a demo for the Game & Watch-style minigames that would be featured in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III, collectively titled “Classic Kingdom”. The demo lineup consisted of four available games; Giantland, The Barnyard Battle, Musical Farmer, and The Karnival Kid. In addition, each game was played on a tablet, foreshadowing the later announcement that a selection of the Classic Kingdom minigames would be playable within Kingdom Hearts Union χ[cross]. Due to being one of the attendees of the Dandelion Meeting, I am able to give a written summary on the gameplay of the demo I played, as well as my personal impressions of the demo. Since attendees were lined up to play, we were directed to quickly take our seats, unfortunately giving us little to no choice as to the game each attendee was playing. The game I happened to be seated at was Musical Farmer, and I was given five minutes to play. The Musical Farmer minigame is loosely based on the 1932 Mickey Mouse cartoon of the same name. Within the game, six hens are laying numerous eggs which fall slowly through six pipes. Several of the pipes are joined by a segment that Sora can rotate to complete a given pipe’s path, at the expense of another pipe being blocked off. At the bottom of the three ending pipes, there are three boxes which can each accept up to six eggs. Sora can then descend the ladder and pass the egg boxes to the left or right. If a box is passed to another box’s position, the two boxes swap places. The goal of the game is to pass egg-filled boxes to Mickey and Minnie on either edge of the screen, increasing the player’s score. After a given number of eggs is reached, the round ends and a new round begins, with a higher amount of eggs needed to complete the next round. If an egg hits one of the aforementioned intersections and cannot continue through the pipe (see pipes 2 and 6 in the above image), the egg breaks and Sora loses one of three lives. The board is cleared, and the player begins again, keeping the same score and amount of eggs collected in the round. A similar situation happens if an egg hits the ground as Sora is passing a box to Mickey or Minnie, or if an egg falls onto a box that already has six eggs. Upon losing all three lives, the game is over, and the player’s score is presumably recorded. (Unfortunately, I can not confirm this last point, as neither I nor the two players adjacent to me lost all of our lives in the time allotted.) Overall, I enjoyed Musical Farmer quite a lot! While the game is indeed simple in its mechanics, I found it genuinely addictive, and several other attendees I talked to were enamored during their play sessions, as well. The art style is both a faithful recreation of the classic Musical Farmer cartoon (complete with the Timeless River rendition of Sora), and an exact match to the Game & Watch handhelds and others like them. Unfortunately, the venue was quite loud, so I could not hear any music from the game itself, but I would not be surprised if Square Enix decided to use a chiptune version of the music from the cartoon itself, which audibly complements both of the above aspects of the visuals. Hearing something like that would absolutely complete the experience for me! I look forward to playing Musical Farmer again, along with trying the rest of the Classic Kingdom collection! What do you think of Musical Farmer? Did you get to try one of the Classic Kingdom games at the Dandelion Meeting? Which one do you think will be your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!

A large portion of the Kingdom Hearts merchandise which was previously revealed and sold exclusively at D23 Expo Japan 2018 is now available for general pre-order through the independent seller Aitai☆Kuji. Each of these items is available to international customers, and all are being released in April 2018. All of these items will also be available to Japanese customers through AmiAmi, though there are no product listings as of the release of this article. The masking tape is being sold for $9.00/800 yen, and is available in two styles: character portraits on a white background, or full-body character art on a black, checkered background. Each of the two backgrounds is adorned with the various symbols seen throughout the series. The rubber badge clips are being sold in three different package sizes: A blind pack containing a single random character, ($7.00), a pack of two pre-selected characters ($12.00, with the choice of Sora & Goofy, Riku & Mickey, Roxas & Donald, or Axel & Kairi), or the entire collection of all eight characters ($50.00). In addition, a notebook featuring the iconic symbols of the series on a black, checkered background is being sold for $10.00/1,000 yen. Thanks to KH13 staff member Mio-chan for the translations. Will you be purchasing any of these items? Which do you like best? Let us know in the comments below! UPDATE: Rubber badge clips now available for pre-order at AmiAmi!

After the conclusion of the Kingdom Hearts Fan Event at D23 Expo Japan 2018, Japanese Twitter user and D23 Expo attendee Usamasuku confirmed that Kingdom Hearts III will feature open-world Gummi Ship gameplay, complete with a "search" function for exploration and a "battle" function. In addition, the Gummi Ship remains customizable, just like it did in its previous incarnations! The attendee in question compared the Gummi Ship's battles to those seen in the Star Wars franchise! GameSpot adds that combat has been augmented, and will have more enemies that in the preceding games in the series. reported that over 30 types of enemies will be available to battle against. IGN details that the customization factor of Gummi Ships will be richer in this game. The exploration phase will involve directing the Gummi Ship freely in any direction, at 360°, on a field much like an open world. Thanks to KH13 Staff Mio-chan for the translations! Kingdom Hearts III releases in 2018, and you can view the new trailers for the game here. What do you think of the Gummi Ship's improvements? Are you looking forward to high-intensity open-world Gummi Ship battles? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to catch up with all the news with our coverage article for D23 Expo Japan 2018 and the Kingdom Hearts Fan Event!