What's your fondest Kingdom Hearts memory?
In collaboration with former KH13 staff member and author @Ajexmi_Arts (@Ajexmi)we're running a giveaway for a free copy of Simple & Clean: Unlocking Kingdom Hearts. Entering the giveaway is simple - all you have to do is reply to this article with your fondest Kingdom Hearts memory. After a week at 9 PM EST all entries will go into a lucky draw and one person will be randomly selected as the winner.
Prize Details
If you're the winner you will be contacted by one of our staff members to sort out redeeming your prize, a paperback copy of Simple and Clean: Unlocking Kingdom Hearts.
And that's everything! If you have any questions please ask below. Good luck!
Kingdom Hearts content creator, RegularPat, has announced that in collaboration with fellow community members WaterKH, and Kimpchuu, the Wayfinder Project 2.0 has been released.
Last year, Pat introduced the original Wayfinder Project, essentially a directory of searchable cutscenes throughout the Kingdom Hearts franchise via a public Google Sheets file. Pat initially made this resource so he could more easily find specific clips from the games to use for his videos.
Several factors were taken into consideration, such as the official Theater Mode names for each cutscene, associated characters, and more. Users could search those traits, eventually helping them find the exact scene they were looking for. However, one would also need prior knowledge of which game the scene took place in and have to perform some occasionally lengthy scrolling.
To improve upon this aspect, the new Wayfinder Project 2.0 lets users search up any loose terminology of a cutscene they can remember, including characters, areas, worlds, and music. Further, a transcript of all spoken dialogue in the cutscene is also implemented for even swifter findings. Currently, scripts from every game except for Kingdom Hearts Union χ [Cross] are utilized. To clarify, the cutscene scripts for Kingdom Hearts χ and Kingdom Hearts Dark Road are present.
The Wayfinder Project 2.0 comprises its own website, with a brand new design and more user-friendly UI, courtesy of our team's Kimpchuu. Moreover, just in case Pat or Water missed anything while adding cutscenes and such, an issue reporter on the site's upper right side is available.
The original Wayfinder Project will remain up and running alongside the 2.0 version, with Pat intending to update both resources as new Kingdom Hearts games release.
Immense thanks to Pat, WaterKH, and Kimpchuu for creating this fantastic resource that will assuredly aid countless waves of fans. Lastly of note is that Twitter user @cabletownart designed the logo.
You can view RegularPat's newest video detailing the Wayfinder Project 2.0 below.
Following the director and producer of the scrapped 2003 Kingdom Hearts animated series, Seth Kearsley, sharing details regarding the canceled show, he has now uploaded its lost pilot animatic.
We have summarized the contents of this episode, viewable within the spoiler brackets below:
UPDATE 10/14/2022: Seth Kearsley announced that he has taken down the animatic following a request by Disney.
You can view the full scrapped pilot via Seth Kearsley's YouTube channel below:
Square Enix Japan has listed new Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary merchandise available for pre-order; a set of three large postcards depicting various Stations of Awakening, Tetsuya Nomura's 20th Anniversary illustration of the series, and the 20th Anniversary logo.
The set costs ¥1,980, and shipments are expected to occur on October 22, 2022.
You can view officially shared images of this upcoming package via our gallery below:
Marimocraft has announced that they will be hosting a new Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Pop-Up Shop on the first floor of First Avenue Tokyo Station. Fans can attend the cafe from October 7 through November 7, 2022, between 10:00 JST to 20:30 JST. However, the shop's final day will conclude its service at 18:00 JST.
The list of items stated to be available is below:
Outdoor Products Medium Bag*
Blanket
Large Stainless Cup
Double-Sided Sticker Sheet
Square Paperweight
Drink Coaster
Neck Strap
Ice Cream Triple Spoon Set**
Acrylic Block
Small Clear Multicase (5 designs)
Handkerchief Towel
Pocketed Tapestry
*That's the name of the company that manufactures it, not necessarily a "bag for outdoors."
**Every set comes with three spoons.
Our gallery of the images teasing the products set to be available at the event is viewable below:
Square Enix has announced that Kingdom Hearts Dark Road has been updated to Version 5.01, which provides the following changes:
Some story dialogue and cutscenes have been adjusted
Implemented various bug fixes
This update was initially confirmed via the official Kingdom Hearts Dark Road Q&A conducted with Tetsuya Nomura.
If you'd like to see each of the changes, check out the following video by Kingdom Hearts content creator Damo:
Seth Kearsley, the director and producer of the scrapped 2003 Kingdom Hearts animated series, has revealed more tidbits about the series on his Twitter including the cast list and part of the script for the pilot episode. You can check them out in the gallery below.
The cast list has many of the voice actors from the 2002 video game including David Gallagher and Hayden Panettiere as Riku and Kairi, respectivly as well as Susan Blakeslee as Maleficent, Tony Anselmo and Donald, Bill Farmer as Goofy, and Johnathan Freeman as Jafar. The legendary actor Frank Welker was going to lend his voice as the Tiger Head for the Cave of Wonders.
The only main difference was going to be the voice of Sora. Haley Joel Osment, the current voice of Sora, was unavailable at the time due to schedule conflict. Instead, Sora was going to be voiced by Bobby Edner, who had done some voice work for Disney in Monsters, Inc., Agent Cody Banks, and The Jungle Book 2. Fans of Final Fantasy might have remember him as the English dub of Vaan in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy and Dissidia Final Fantasy NT.
The script that Seth revealed was from the pilot episode titled "Agrabah". This episode would have included a dream sequence from Destiny Island when Sora and Riku were dueling with wooden swords with Kairi watching. An interesting aspect of the script is the order of takes. Hayden recorded her lines early while Bobby recorded his lines near the middle, and David recorded his lines later.
In addition to the cast list and the script, Seth also revealed that he's trying to get the pilot episode converted over to digital and pending approval from Disney, will post it on his Youtube channel in the next upcoming weeks.
For more about the scrapped animated series, you can check out the storyboard for the pilot on his DeviantArt page. We also did an interview with Seth back in 2017 so if you would like to read about that, then click here.
What do you think about these new pieces of information? Let us know in the comments!
UPDATE 10/6/2022: Seth Kearsley has shared a new video on his YouTube channel discussing the pilot's production and how it came to be.
He discusses how he came to rewrite the script of the pilot following his disappointment of how the original script was like. In his words, it read like an episode of Aladdin co-starring Kingdom Hearts characters rather than vice versa.
Further, the test screening for the episode performed well, but it was ultimately shelved.
Kingdom Hearts fans exploring the Tokyo Game Show 2022 venue have discovered new themed furniture called the "Chesterfield Armchair" that may be sold in the future as it is currently under supervision.
A variety of individuals have shared photos of the armchair; namely the following Twitter users
@hcguitarvocal
@_A_J, 2, 3
@naxkia
You can also view these images via our gallery below. We'll be sure to update you all on whether this armchair actually ends up being sold.
With the start of Tokyo Game Show 2022, Square Enix has listed a great number of new Kingdom Hearts products. To help condense the vast amount of news, we have compiled these announcements into one article.
Every item's Square Enix Japan store link and images are viewable below. Square Enix North America and Aitai Kuji store links are accessible in this article's conclusion.
Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Melody Clock
Square Enix Japan - ¥16,280 - June 17th, 2023 Shipment
Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Mini Backpack
Square Enix Japan - ¥14,080 - January 28th, 2023 Shipment
Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Crossbody Pouch
Square Enix Japan - ¥8,520 - January 28th, 2023 Shipment
Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Flat Pouch
Square Enix Japan - ¥6,380 - January 28th, 2023 Shipment
Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Sling Bag
Square Enix Japan - ¥10,450 - January 28th, 2023 Shipment
Kingdom Hearts Sora Pin Badge Collection Vol. 1 Box of 12
Square Enix Japan - ¥6,600 - December 24th, 2022 Shipment
Kingdom Hearts Sora Pin Badge Collection Vol. 2 Box of 12
Square Enix Japan - ¥6,600 - December 24th, 2022 Shipment
Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Metallic Clear File
Square Enix Japan - ¥660 - December 24th, 2022 Shipment
UPDATE: Square Enix North America store links for the aforementioned products are listed below:
20th Anniversary Melody Clock - September 2023 Shipment - $147.99
20th Anniversary Mini Backpack - February 2023 Shipment - $127.99
20th Anniversary Sling Bag - February 2023 Shipment - $94.99
20th Anniversary Crossbody Pouch - February 2023 Shipment - $74.99
20th Anniversary Flat Pouch - February 2023 Shipment - $57.99
Sora Pin Badge Collection Vol. 1 - April 2023 Shipment - $72.00
Sora Pin Badge Collection Vol. 2 - April 2023 Shipment - $72.00
Square Enix Europe only has the Melody Clock available for pre-order, listed below:
Square Enix Europe - 20th Anniversary Melody Clock - September 28th, 2023 Shipment - €159.99
Aitai Kuji store links for the aforementioned products are listed below:
20th Anniversary Melody Clock - November 2022 Shipment - ¥16,280
20th Anniversary Mini Backpack - January 2023 Shipment - ¥13,650
20th Anniversary Crossbody Pouch - January 2023 Shipment - ¥7,990
20th Anniversary Flat Pouch - January 2023 Shipment - ¥6,180
Sora Pin Badge Collection Vol. 1 - December 2022 Shipment - ¥5,600
Sora Pin Badge Collection Vol. 2 - December 2022 Shipment - ¥5,600
20th Anniversary Clear File - December 2022 Shipment - ¥660
Shop Disney Japan has listed several Kingdom Hearts character stickers available for purchase, depicting various renders and cutscene shots from the series.
Each sticker is manufactured by Small Planet and costs ¥396. International shipping is explicitly stated as not possible.
All store links are listed below:
Art 01 (Hollow Bastion KH2 Shot)
Keyblades
Art 02 (Sora KH2 Ending Shot)
Art 03 (Namine)
Chirithy
King Mickey
Donald & Goofy
King Mickey, Chip & Dale
You can view the newly unveiled stickers via our gallery below:
As part of the Kingdom Hearts 20th anniversary collaboration with LINE Disney Tsum Tsum Japan, two new Axel and Naminé will be available to use within the game. Both characters will have voice-overs and will be avaialble staring on September 9th.
You can watch the trailer for Axel and Naminé below.
The Kingdom Hearts 20th anniversary collaboration event will run through September 22nd.
Japanese retail company Marui has announced that they will be hosting a series of Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Pop-Up Stores.
Details on this collaboration have been translated by our team's corfidbizna.
We will share more significant details regarding this Pop-Up Store collaboration as they arise.
Axes Femme has revealed new apparel themed around the Kingdom Hearts franchise, a one-piece dress, and a blouson. The former costs ¥11,000, while the latter is ¥14,300.
Their availability will be as follows:
POETIC store in Sunshine City (Tokyo) - September 9
POETIC online website orders open - September 12 at 6 PM JST
POETIC stores across Japan - September 22
You can view officially provided images of these upcoming items via our galleries below:
UPDATE 9/2/2022:
Retailer Aitai Kuji has listed these products, with each color variant of the two items having its own store page. The one-piece dress is ¥12,000 while the blouson is ¥15,000. Further, both products are expected to ship from this storefront sometime during September or October 2022.
Each item's store page is listed below:
One-Piece Dress - Black
One-Piece Dress - Blue
One-Piece Dress - Red
Blouson - Black
Blouson - Blue
Blouson - Red
Square Enix has released four new Kingdom Hearts video background wallpapers. They depict the Twilight Town clocktower, Daybreak Town, the Kingdom Hearts title repeatedly pasted alongside crowns, and silhouettes of various characters.
A previous batch of wallpapers was shared in May 2020.
You can view these newly unveiled video background wallpapers via our gallery below:
Modder WaterKH has announced that his newest mod, Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory: Final Mix, is now available for installation via the official PC version of Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory.
The primary function of this mod is to allow all players to match with their friends in the online mode, regardless of their rankings. For those unaware, the vanilla and official version of the game does not feature matchmaking with friends, drastically impeding replayability.
You can access the Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory: Final Mix mod via Github,
Moreover, you can view the announcement trailer for the Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory: Final Mix mod via WaterKH's YouTube channel below.
Specific installation instructions are stated, and the video's description contains numerous links for various resources, such as MelonLoader, used for more straightforward patching.
Additionally, a tournament was held utilizing this new Final Mix mod. A showcase of said tournament is viewable below:
WaterKH is also the mod developer behind Kingdom Hearts ReChart, a tool that allows fans to implement new tracks into Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory.