Information
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (キングダムハーツ スリー ファイプ エイト デイズ オーバー ツー) is a Kingdom Hearts game for the Nintendo DS. It was first released in Japan on May 30, 2009, available seperately as well as part of a Nintendo DSi bundle. The game was released in North America on September 29, 2009, Europe on October 9, 2009 and Australia on October 22, 2009.
Chronologically, 358/2 Days begins towards the end of Kingdom Hearts and goes up until the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II. The game follows Roxas from his birth up until his capture by Riku and DiZ.
The theme song of 358/2 Days is Passion in the Japanese version and Sanctuary in the English version. Other music in the game is composed by Yoko Shimomura.
Story
The game starts with Roxas being created and found by Xemnas. Roxas is then introduced as the thirteenth member of Organization XIII, and each day, he is sent to do missions in certain worlds. These missions are usually to destroy Heartless and collect hearts, or to investigate something. Roxas develops a bond with member Axel, who is ordered to watch after Roxas. At the end of each day, Roxas and Axel discuss their missions and eat ice cream on top of the Twilight Town clocktower.
Shortly after Roxas' introduction to the Organization, a fourteenth member is introduced, Xion. Xion is reclusive, but begins to bond with Roxas and opens up to him. Xion's appearance is similar to Kairi, and she wields the Keyblade.
Certain members of the Organization are dispatched to Castle Oblivion and after a few days, Roxas collapses and falls into a coma. Roxas awakens weeks later, and finds out that all members at Castle Oblivion, excluding Axel, were eliminated. Roxas suggests that he, Axel and Xion spend time together after each mission and become friends.
Sora is moved by Naminé and DiZ from his restoration pod in Castle Oblivion to a new pod in the Twilight Town mansion. Xion is confronted by Riku, and Riku suggests that she leaves the Organization and merges with her original self.
Xion decides she would rather stay friends with Roxas and Axel. Eventually, she discovers that she is simply a replica of Sora, created by Xemnas. She originally has Kairi's face, as Kairi is the strongest thing in Sora's memories, but eventually she comes to take on Sora's form. Xion quits the Organization, and later attempts to absorb Roxas. However, Xion is defeated by Roxas and she merges with him.
Roxas leaves the Organization, and encounters Riku at Memory's Skyscraper. Roxas almost defeats Riku, but Riku overpowers him after submitting to the Darkness and taking on Ansem's form. Riku and DiZ then store Roxas in a virtual Twilight Town, and Kingdom Hearts II begins.
Gameplay
358/2 Days features similar gameplay to Kingdom Hearts, albeit on the Nintendo DS, rather than the PlayStation 2. The player uses the directional pad to move around, the B button to jump, the X button to scroll through the command menu, and the A button to select an item on the command menu. Y is used to perform special combos in combat, and Start is used to pause the game. The items on the command menu are Attack, Magic, and Items, similar to Kingdom Hearts.
358/2 Days differs from other Kingdom Hearts titles through its character growth system, known as the panel system. Using this system, the player can equip panels in order to customise the character's level, items, magic, weapons, abilities, armor and accessories.
This system means that, rather than having an MP bar, the player's use of magic is determined by what magic panels are equipped prior to entering the mission. This leaves the player with only a HP bar, and a limit break level. Once the HP becomes lower than this level, the player's limit break can be activated. This allows the character to use unique and strong attacks for a short period of time.
358/2 Days is mostly mission based, that is that to progress through the game, players must complete missions, which can be anything from finding out more about a town to defeating a Heartless. The game also allows players to replay these missions in mission mode, which differs to story and allows multiplayer games. Players can play as various characters in mission mode, first being restricted to the thirteen original members of the Organization, but later unlocking Xion, Riku, Sora, King Mickey, Donald and Goofy for use.
Development
358/2 Days was developed by Square Enix and h.a.n.d. The game was directed by Tetsuya Nomura and Tomohiro Hasegawa, and written by Tetsuya Nomura, Yukari Ishida and Tomoko Kanemaki. 358/2 Days was first announced at Tokyo Game Show 2007, along with Kingdom Hearts coded and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. A trailer for the game was shown here, and later, trailers were shown at Jump Festa 2008 and DKΣ3713.
358/2 Days was originally planned for a Summer 2008 release, but this release was eventually pushed to Winter 2008, February 2009, and lastly May 30, 2009 at Tokyo Game Show 2008. The English version of the game was featured at E3 2009, which announced a September 29, 2009 release in North America.
358/2 Days received ratings of A from CERO, E10+ from the ESRB and 12+ from PEGI.
Playthroughs
Covers
 Japan |
 North America |
 Europe |
Characters
Worlds
External Links
Official Japanese Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days website
Official
English Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days website
