Square Enix have released a new wallpaper for the tenth anniversary of the Kingdom Hearts series. The wallpaper is illustrated by Shiro Amano, the creator of the Kingdom Hearts manga. You can see the wallpaper in various sizes in our gallery, below.
The second Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] novel, Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] Side Riku, has received a release date. The novel will release in Japan on September 27, 2012. This news comes from both the Square Enix e-STORE and Amazon.co.jp, who have both created pre-order pages for the novel. Side Riku will be available for ¥800 (approximately US$10.22), and have a length of 242 pages. Thanks to aibo_ac7 for the tip.
Square Enix have announced that a new Kingdom Hearts soundtrack is to be released. The soundtrack, called the Kingdom Hearts 10th Anniversary Fan Selection -Melodies & Memories-, will be released in Japan on September 19, 2012 for a price of ¥3,500 (approximately US$43.65). Square Enix have also created a page for the soundtrack on their e-STORE.
The track listing of the soundtrack will be decided by fans! In order to vote for what songs you want to appear on the soundtrack, you can visit the soundtrack's official website and select the song there. The voting period is between June 22, 2012 and July 8, 2012. You can actually have a listen to a sample of every single Kingdom Hearts song from the website, so we highly recommend that you check it out and vote!
Update 1: SQEX.INFO have translated Yoko Shimomura's comments regarding the soundtrack, and these comments can be read below.
Hello, this is Yoko Shimomura, I’m in charge of the series’ music.
For always playing the Kingdom Hearts games, and then listening to the soundtracks, thank you so much.
So! To commemorate the 10th anniversary, this project will contain the best tracks of the Kingdom Hearts series. Plus, we’ll be recording the songs chosen by you guys! I’m happy about it, but I’m also super nervous.
Which songs will be chosen? Which songs will unfortunately be chosen? Lol.
To everyone who has played every game up until now, to those who own all the existing soundtracks, and to those who are thinking about buying this soundtrack, now is you chance to recommend which songs you want to hear.
Each and every one of your voices is important to me, this project was implemented with you in mind. I’d be overjoyed if you can find time to participate in the voting.
I’m really, already overfilled with emotions about this.
Thank you everyone, for always supporting me!
Update 2: Amazon.co.jp have created a pre-order page for the soundtrack.
Update 3: The official website for the soundtrack has been updated with the voting results so far. Currently, the following 10 songs are leading. Voting will remain open until July 8.
1. Roxas (Kingdom Hearts II)
2. Hikari/Simple and Clean -KINGDOM Orchestra Instrumental Version- (Kingdom Hearts)
3. Musique pour la tristesse de Xion (Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days)
4. Vector to the Heavens (Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days)
5. The Other Promise (Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix)
6. Ventus (Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep)
7. Dearly Beloved (Kingdom Hearts)
8. Passion/Sanctuary -KINGDOM Orchestra Instrumental Version- (Kingdom Hearts II)
9. Fate of the Unknown (Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix)
10. The 13th Struggle (Kingdom Hearts II)
Update 4: Yoko Shimomura has Tweeted to announce that the master recording for the 10th anniversary soundtrack is complete. Our translator goldpanner has translated these Tweets, and they can be read below.
Master recording for KH Best Album complete ヽ(´▽｀)ノ Thank you to everyone who voted. Please wait a little before we make the track list public~ I'm all filled up on listening to it (laughs)
I agonised over the track order this time (´Д｀ The silence between tracks, too... Anyway, 'Dearly Beloved' ranked 5th lol it's a tune blessed with so much love, truly (；▽；)
Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] has finally released in all regions. We'll be filling this month with plenty of guides, articles and discussions that will add to your Kingdom Hearts 3D experience. If you want to contribute something, please make a topic on the forum or contact us.
Today's coverage
We've been hard at work on our new guides project for Kingdom Hearts 3D! We have set up a community section for people to write and share their own Kingdom Hearts 3D guides, and also created a guides section on KH13 where we will share the complete ones. Here's some things that have been done so far:
Complete guides
- Kingdom Hearts 3D Ability Guide *new*
- Kingdom Hearts 3D Keyblade Guide
- Kingdom Hearts 3D Link Portal Guide
- Kingdom Hearts 3D Trophy Guide
In-progress guides
- Dream Eater Ingredient Compendium *new*
- Dive Mode Rank A Guide *new*
- Quick Level-up Guide *new*
- Treasure Chest Location Maps *new*
- Dream Eater Recipe Locations *new*
As always, you can discuss anything Kingdom Hearts 3D in our dedicated forum. Please remember to follow our spoiler policy. We also have dedicated subforums for Kingdom Hearts 3D guides and information, as well as a place to ask for help in Kingdom Hearts 3D.
Since we've had so much success with our previous giveaway competitions, we're deciding to continue the trend and run some more! With Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] having released so recently, we'll be giving away some merchandise relating to the game. Remember to check out the game's official website if you haven't already!
Official Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] website
And now, onto this week's competition:
This week we'll be giving away 3 copies of the Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] Signature Series Guide. This is the official English guidebook for the game by BradyGames, and could be yours for free if you are in one of the top 3 places of this week's competition! So, what do you have to do to win? Entering is simple.
- We want you to tell us your impressions of Kingdom Hearts 3D so far! Basically, we want you to either write a short review, tell us your KH3D story, share with us your experience of the game, or tell us what KH3D means to you-- with at least a couple of paragraphs.
- Your impressions can be posted on our forum, or left as a comment here.
- On Saturday, August 11, 2012, we'll pick the best entries and feature them on KH13. If you're one of the top 3 entries, then we'll contact you and send you a free copy of the Signature Series Guide.
- Even if you've already bought the guide, don't worry! It's still a bunch of fun to share your impressions, and you have the chance of getting your impressions featured on the front page of KH13! It's definitely worth participating.
Nintendo have uploaded a direct recording of one of the North American commercials for Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. While we have seen uploads of both North American commercials before, this is the first time that we have a direct recording (not a camera recording) of one of them. Thanks to sqexgal for the tip, you can watch it below, or download it from our video archive.
Amazon.co.jp have announced the release for the fifth volume of the Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days manga series. It will be released on August 22, 2012 for the price ￥440 (approximately US$5.52). You can read all of the 358/2 Days manga available in English at our gallery. Thanks to aibo_ac7 and ArikaMiz for the tip.
Update: Shiro Amano, the creator of the Kingdom Hearts manga series, has Tweeted that Volume 5 of the 358/2 Days manga will most likely be delayed until September. Checking the Amazon.co.jp listing, we can see that the planned release date of the volume is now September 22, 2012. Thanks to Rob from KH13 for the find.
Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] has finally released in all regions. We'll be filling this month with plenty of guides, articles and discussions that will add to your Kingdom Hearts 3D experience. If you want to contribute something, whether it be informational or a work of art, please make a topic on the forum or contact us. Now, onto day 3:
Today's coverage
We've decided to create a "guides" section on KH13, where we will create pages for the best guides submitted to the guides subforum in the KH3D forum. Here's what we've created so far, with more to come every day:
- Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] Glossary
- Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] Keyblade Guide (thanks to takaturtle and the KHWiki)
- As always, you can discuss anything Kingdom Hearts 3D in our dedicated forum. Please remember to follow our spoiler policy! New today, we have added a subforum where you can ask for KH3D help. Here are today's featured topics:
Poll of the Day: How do you like the smaller selection of larger worlds in KH3D? Discussion of the Day: How far are you into KH3D?
Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] has finally released in all regions. We've been waiting for this moment since the game was announced at E3 2010, and now that it's finally here, our coverage of the game has begun! We'll be filling the next month with plenty of guides, articles and discussions that will add to your Kingdom Hearts 3D experience. If you want to contribute something, whether it be informational or a work of art, please make a topic on the forum or contact us. Now, onto day 2:
Today's coverage
We've decided to create a "guides" section on KH13, where we will create pages for the best guides submitted to the guides subforum in the KH3D forum. Here's what we've created so far, with more to come every day:
- Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] Link Portal Guide (thanks to Nermin Colakovic)
- Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] Trophy Guide (thanks to Rebel_Dante)
Look forward to more tomorrow! For those of you who were unable to buy the Mark of Mastery Edition, we also wanted to share with you our scans of all artwork and AR cards included in the box.
- As always, you can discuss anything Kingdom Hearts 3D in our dedicated forum. Please remember to follow our spoiler policy! Here are today's featured topics:
Poll of the Day: Do you think KH3D is the best Kingdom Hearts game yet? Discussion of the Day: What's your KH3D story?
Chapter 20 of the Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days manga has finally appeared online, thanks to taime and their team. You can see the chapter below, in our gallery.
Manga → 358/2 Days → Chapter 20
Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] has finally released in all regions. We've been waiting for this moment since the game was announced at E3 2010, and now that it's finally here, our coverage of the game has begun! We'll be filling the next month with plenty of guides, articles and discussions that will add to your Kingdom Hearts 3D experience. If you want to contribute something, whether it be informational or a work of art, please make a topic on the forum or contact us. Also, we welcome to you leave your feedback in the comments. Now, onto day 1:
Today's coverage
As this is the first day, we'll link to some existing things:
- Our Kingdom Hearts 3D forum
- Release celebration topic (formerly the release countdown topic)
- KH3D video sharing & discussion topic
- Our exclusive Mark of Mastery Edition unboxing and Kingdom Hearts 3D review
New stuff:
- KH13 guide: List of obtainable trophies in Kingdom Hearts 3D (with names & method), thanks to Nermin Colakovic
- As always, you can discuss anything Kingdom Hearts 3D in our dedicated forum. Please remember to follow our spoiler policy! Here are today's featured topics:
Poll of the Day: Have you purchased Kingdom Hearts 3D yet? Discussion of the Day: Share pictures of your Dream Eaters here!
As of today, July 31, 2012, Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] is now available to purchase in North America. Happy KH3D day, everyone! Check out our review, discuss the game on our forums, and look forward to our extensive guides and coverage! Please let us know if you have any requests.
Update: Square Enix have released a new launch trailer to coincide with the North American release of Kingdom Hearts 3D. You can view this trailer below, or download it from our video archive.
Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] is almost here! It's been a long journey since the announcement at E3 2010, but we are now very close to the North American release of the game on July 31. A countdown has been set up below, showing the time remaining until midnight in EST-- but for now, we'd like to treat you to our official review for Kingdom Hearts 3D. Keep reading a detailed, spoiler-free and hopefully unique and interesting view on everything Kingdom Hearts 3D.
KH13's Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] review
Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] was first announced in North America at E3 2010. This is the first Kingdom Hearts title for the Nintendo 3DS, and the first time the main storyline has progressed beyond Kingdom Hearts II. For this reason, Kingdom Hearts 3D is highly anticipated among Kingdom Hearts fans, and as the true lead-up to Kingdom Hearts III, is given very high expectations-- and wow, does it exceed those expectations! Kingdom Hearts 3D is an amazing addition to the series, and in many ways, could be considered the best Kingdom Hearts title yet. Read on to see us review every aspect of the game.
Gameplay - 9.5/10
Flowmotion: Gameplay is where Kingdom Hearts 3D is truely notable. There are many new features in the game that add to the experience, but first, let's talk about the new battle system-- which, as you know, is named "Flowmotion". Flowmotion allows the player to interact with the environment and gain momentum from it, including all walls, rails and poles; leading to an extremely fast-paced and fun to use battle system. It's hard to imagine such a system working and feeling natural, but Kingdom Hearts 3D has definitely pulled it off. The worlds of the game are definitely designed to take advantage of this-- each room is quite large and open, and has countless parts with which you can interact. The end result is that Flowmotion is a great innovation in the series, leading to a free, amazingly fun, fresh and unique style of play.
Dream Eaters: This time around, your party members aren't characters-- they are creatures called "Dream Eaters", or specifically, the friendly "Spirit" versions of them. This is another great innovation to the series. Many reviewers have likened the idea of Dream Eaters to "Nintendogs meet Pokémon", and they would be absolutely right. You are able to create new Dream Eaters (from recipes, or from mixing items and commands), and switch around your party of them. You can name them, try and collect them all (if you wish), and train the ones you do have. You can play a great minigame with them, and even verse others locally (in Flick Rush), pet them (which is extremely cute and fun), and unlock new paths in their Ability Link board. Dream Eaters definitely add a lot of new aspects of the game for you to play around with, and it's almost certain that you'll find a lot of enjoyment in a few of these. This is a great take on the concept of party members.
Drop System: The Drop System is Kingdom Hearts 3D's answer to telling two extremely connected, yet individual stories, at the same time. This way of showing both Sora and Riku's stories at once is in direct contrast with Birth by Sleep's method, which of course, completely separated the stories. While both have their strengths and downfalls, the Drop System is definitely an improvement. Instead of splitting up the story, and making everything out of order, it instead strongly encourages you to get both stories at the same time-- while still giving you the freedom of dropping at will, and focusing on a certain character's story if you wish. It leads to, perhaps, the biggest complaint of the gameplay-- that the Drop System can cause some inconveniences and annoyances when you are forced to drop, but it is still an interesting innovation that enhances the game's ability to tell the story (more on this in the next section).
Kingdom Hearts 3D offers great innovations in the gameplay department, and really improves upon the new direction taken by the series in Birth by Sleep. The Command Deck is still present, and along with new features such as Flowmotion, Reality Shift, the Dive System, Dream Eaters and the Drop System, Kingdom Hearts 3D is very notable and could be considered to have the best gameplay yet in a Kingdom Hearts title.
Story - 9.5/10
Kingdom Hearts 3D is the first major continuation of Sora and Riku's story after Kingdom Hearts II, dealing with the return of Master Xehanort, and the taking of the Mark of Mastery exam by Sora and Riku. Starting in Traverse Town, Sora and Riku must explore the Realm of Sleep, and open the seven sleeping worlds' Keyholes. Kingdom Hearts 3D is a step in the right direction for storytelling. Like the first game of the series, Kingdom Hearts 3D really intertwines the plots of each individual Disney world, and the plot of the overall story. Each world mixes Sora and Riku into the story smoothly, and reveals more about where the game is leading. We don't want to give too much away, but we'd like to say that Kingdom Hearts 3D ends with some of the most epic revelations of the series. It's a great lead-up to Kingdom Hearts III.
The most common complaint with the story of the Kingdom Hearts series is that the plot has become too convoluted, and that there are too many dependencies on other games for the casual player to just jump in. While this is still somewhat apparent here, Kingdom Hearts 3D has taken some great steps to make sure that the game is accessible to both Kingdom Hearts regulars and newbies alike. Firstly, the fact that the story starts with a clear goal-- Sora and Riku need to become Keyblade masters in order to defeat Xehanort-- makes it easy for a casual player to get involved. They are given a clear motivation for the story, with a clear view of who the villain is, and this allows them to understand what is going on without knowing the backstory. Secondly, the backstory is then explained in an optional way, allowing new players to learn, while not disrupting the regulars-- the Memento system, containing both flashbacks and summaries of past games, gives the player a way to learn more about the series if they choose. The fact that the Kingdom Hearts universe is so vast is definitely a strength of the series, and Kingdom Hearts 3D does a great job of making this accessible to people in the best way.
Presentation - 9.5/10
The presentation and soundtrack of Kingdom Hearts titles have always been a strong point of the series. The Kingdom Hearts series is known for pushing the technical boundaries of the consoles it appears on, and Kingdom Hearts 3D is no exception-- it really is a beautiful Nintendo 3DS title. The worlds are large and filled with interactive elements, unlike the stale rooms and hallways that some previous games have contained. Flowmotion allows for a large degree of freedom when exploring worlds, and this leads to some great fun platforming. While it would be nice to see some more "life" in the worlds, such as having NPCs appear like in Traverse Town of the first game, the environments are still stunning and graphically impressive. The 3D effect is a nice touch, enhancing what are already very attractive visuals.
Like always, the music of Kingdom Hearts 3D is amazing. This time, composer Yoko Shimomura is joined by both Takeharu Ishimoto (who also worked on Birth by Sleep) and Tsuyoshi Sekito. Tracks from previous games in the series have been given a nice change to fit the theme of the game, and the new tracks appearing contain some of the best in the entire series. As expected, the music of Kingdom Hearts 3D contains the same dramatic, emotional and nostalgic feelings that we are used to with Kingdom Hearts titles.
Replay value - 8.5/10
Even though Kingdom Hearts 3D only sports seven different playable worlds, each of them is vast and contains a lot of things to do-- the main story of Kingdom Hearts 3D is about 20-30 hours long, and there is significant replay value contained within the game. The Dream Eater and Dive Systems provide many optional goals and records for you to achieve. There is a trophy system within the game, which gives you a lot to work for, as well as other optional features such as Flick Rush, Link Portals, a "Critical Mode" after completing the game, and so on. Kingdom Hearts 3D will definitely hook you in, leave you playing for ages, and cause you to bring your 3DS with you everywhere-- as it's done for me.
Conclusion - 9.25/10
Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] is a great addition to the Kingdom Hearts series, and an amazing gift for the 10th anniversary. As the true sequel to Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts 3D has exceeded all expectations and will give regulars and new fans alike a great experience for the Nintendo 3DS. We hope you enjoyed our review.
The Launch Event for Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] in North America has ended, at the Nintendo World Store in New York. You can view all of our coverage below. Did you attend, or would like to discuss the event? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
Live updates
1:00PM EST: There are now 510 photos of photo booth shots on the official Kingdom Hearts Facebook. Check it out! Also, the event is now over. We hope you enjoyed our coverage, and we will keep you updated as more photos and videos appear.
11:45AM EST: Kingdom Hearts 3D has sold out at the Launch Event! A photo of the last copy being sold has been added to the photos below.
11:05AM EST: The standard copies of Kingdom Hearts 3D have almost sold out!
11:00AM EST: The official Kingdom Hearts Facebook have uploaded a set of 64 photos showing people taking their photo in the photobooth with the official Keyblade replica. Update: There are now 86 photos! Looks like this will keep being updated.
10:40AM EST: More photos, including a fan writing a message to the Japanese development team, and the t-shirts given out as raffle prizes
10:30AM EST: Many more photos are being uploaded! In particular, this photo shows the special gift that fans attending were able to receive-- an argyle pouch for the Nintendo 3DS.
10:00AM EST: Over the last hour, many new photos have been uploaded by the official Kingdom Hearts Twitter. These have all been added below (and will keep being added as more appear). The line to get into the event is about two city blocks long!
9:10AM EST: The Mark of Mastery Edition is apparently already sold out!
9:05AM EST: The first copy of Kingdom Hearts 3D in North America is sold!
9:00AM EST: The event has started!
6:00AM EST: Photos of the event setup have already started to appear online! The official Kingdom Hearts Facebook have uploaded 3 photos, and both AsianKHGuy from KH13 and Ryan from KH13 have uploaded more photos. You can see all of these below. The Nintendo 3DS pouch that you see is the "special gift" to be given out to fans at the event.
Photos
Videos
- soraFF213 has uploaded a video showing fans lining up for the event.
- Another video of the line from Square Enix.
- MegamanNG has uploaded videos of the event, including 16 minutes of footage actually inside. You can watch this below.
- soraFF213 has uploaded many videos from the event, including a video showing the merchandise he received in-depth. You can watch this below.
GameSpot have uploaded new gameplay videos and screenshots of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. We have linked to the gameplay videos below, which show various worlds and cutscenes. We also have all of the new screenshots below, in our gallery.
- Classical Combat
- Exploring the Grid
- Minnie Goes Missing
