Square Enix and Disney's fruitful relationship continues next year with Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], as the publisher confirms the 3DS RPG will come to North America and Europe in 2012.
Series stalwarts Sora and Riku appear in new locales, including La Cité des Cloches from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, with characters from other Square Enix games due to appear too: The World Ends With You is particularly well represented.
One to watch in 2012? Let us know what you think.
Square Enix Announces Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] for North America and Europe
LOS ANGELES and LONDON (Dec. 20, 2011) – Square Enix, Inc. and Square Enix Ltd., the publishers of SQUARE ENIX® interactive entertainment products in the Americas, Europe and across PAL territories, today announced fans of the popular KINGDOM HEARTS series will be able to experience a new 3-D adventure next year with the North American and European release of KINGDOM HEARTS 3D [Dream Drop Distance], specifically for the Nintendo 3DS™ system.
The new game’s spectacular story promises to be a fun backdrop to the colorful cast of Disney characters making their 3-D debut on a handheld title. In addition to new worlds, KINGDOM HEARTS 3D [Dream Drop Distance] will feature never-before-seen gameplay elements for the series.
“With the tenth anniversary of the series on the horizon, the current KINDGOM HEARTS saga is approaching its climactic conclusion. The story of this game will serve as the opening chapter of the final conflict, and, as always, will be full of surprises. In order to best implement this element of surprise and discover new realms of possibility, we have chosen Nintendo 3DS as our platform. With its revolutionary new game system, this title will not only be a bold, exhilarating tale of adventure, but also a first look into the future form of the KINGDOM HEARTS series,” said Tetsuya Nomura, director of KINGDOM HEARTS 3D [Dream Drop Distance].
Story
King Mickey and Yen Sid prepare for an impending threat by putting Sora and Riku through the Mark of Mastery exam. Sora and Riku are sent into the Sleeping Worlds, where they will face enemies and allies that have never been seen before. If they can successfully complete the task they are given, they will be deemed true Keyblade Masters.Features
Dual protagonists – Play as the two most popular characters of the franchise, Sora and Riku.
“Free-flow” action – Enjoy fast and effortless movements while interacting with the environment and performing acrobatic attacks.
Brand-new creatures – Dream Eaters inhabit the Sleeping Worlds, and are split into two categories: Spirits and Nightmares. Recruit over 50 different types of Spirits as allies to fight alongside Sora and Riku.
New Disney worlds – Beloved Disney worlds and characters, such as La Cité des Cloches (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), make their series debut.
Story progression – With updated looks for Sora and Riku, and the impending conflict made clear, this title is a big step forward in the series.
Comments 39
can't wait to get this game. It's the one that I am most excited for
I was honestly expecting that we'd have to wait until 2013. Glad that's not the case!
Surprised to hear it's making it this year. If it makes it in time I'll get it for my brother as a Birthday present.
Haven't played a Kingdom Hearts game since, well,...the first one. >_>
While I'm looking forward to the game, I have a feeling that I'm going to be completely lost if the story and events continue from game to game.
Nice to see the TWEWY cast back again though.
I'm kind of surprised that they are putting in a world based on a direct-to-video Disney movie (Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers), but this game is looking more and more exciting each time I check it out. I can't wait to go to Shibuya again!
@LittleFuryThing: You'll always be a little lost even if you play all the games KH series have a little complicated storyline but I really enjoy it.
I'm going to lend my cousin's PSP and beat BBS so I know everything that has happened in these series. I've played all the other games.
I just can't wait More KH is always good!
Eh...
Tell me if Dragon Quest X is coming! You can keep your Kingdom Heats 2.98/01 Jr. just make 3 already!
Yes! Kingdom Hearts in 3D!
dont know about u guys but i have never played a KoH game. But this look amazing, first day buy for me!
Yes! This'll be my first Kingdom Hearts game where I actually play as Sora! Finally!
Oh sweet! This is one of my most highly anticipated 3DS games. I can't wait to play this!
This game will have everything I want to see if Roxas and Xion make an appearance. Got it memorized?
i still need to play
The World Ends With You
to anticipate myself lol!!!
Ooh, TRON: Legacy sure looks nice. I think I'm much more excited about this, now. But, the Circle Pad Pro isn't required to play this, right? It's just compatible?
Can't wait to get my hands on it. I've missed having Riku as a playable character for the story since chain of memories gba
I... have.... to... resist... this!!!! No sorry, I can't.
......When are we getting an ENGLISH trailer? :/
Smashin' and bashin' with a giant Keyblade...in 3D. KH ftw
I hope this new Kingdom Hearts is not as terrible as "Re:coded."
Re:coded was a pretty lame excuse for a Kingdom Hearts title.
Let's hope for the best!
I thought RE: Coded was pretty fun, actually.
Re:Coded was fun...
This looks to be the best one yet!!! Im so excited to play this one!!
This series has gone down the crapper (specifically BBS), yet I can't stop playing them. It's got my golden boy Riku, if he can't save this game no one can. Reverse/Rebirth is the best KH game ever.
^You so crazy. I'd ask you to explain how Birth By Sleep could possibly be crap, but I doubt it's worth it.
@Scissors How can you say Birth by Sleep was crap? It was one of the best ones.
EDIT: Wow, taken down for copyright infringement? Don't they want publicity?
Copyright infringement? There's another video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zlex8ja2eNI
Weird that the video was taken down as it was uploaded by Square Enix UK!
@Dark_TeeJay & Mickey Mac
So it may be a very technically impressive handheld game with high production values, but it had many glaring issues. This game is a prime example of when the main director said that the story is no longer planned out and that he's just making it up as he goes now.
Camera controls were really bad and lead to many deaths due to getting hit by off screen enemies. The game was too dependent on lock ons which made for frustrating battles.
Story was horrendous it felt like bad fan fiction. Most of what happened in the story was the same stuff that happened in past KH games with new characters, so it felt like the story was just ripping off what happened in past games. The Terra, Aqua, and Ven voice actors were emotionless and sounded like they wanted to go to sleep. The Disney characters personalities were ripped out of them, and felt like empty shells of characters specifically Snow White. Lilo and Stitch is a great series, but that world had non of the charm from the movie.
Like every RPG it takes a while to level up and get the fun stuff, but since every character was independent of itself when you finally started unlocking the good stuff that character's story was almost over. Since they had the Dlink system they should have just made all the character share exp.
Aqua was a really annoying character all she did was go around judging Ven & Terra and rubbing her accomplishment in their faces. It's a shame too because I thought she would be the most interesting character. She spent alot of time villainising Terra even though in reality Terra is a better person he just got a little manipluated, and even then he wasn't so bad. She really did not contribute to the story in the same way that Ven & Terra did, I think she simply existed because they wanted to make a 3rd KH trio, and they needed to make another character for it to be a trio.
Many of the boss characters were spammers that had no real strategy to beat them other then just keep trying and hopefully getting lucky. I searched online and many people concluded the same thing, and before you say I suck at the game know that I beat every other KH game easily even the very difficult Chain of Memories on "Proud Mode" For the final final boss the only way I found to beat him was to stock up on tons of curaga and spam him with D links. There's a difference between making challenging bosses, and ones that are badly designed. I don't mind dying when it's from lack of skill, but I hate dying because of frustrating programmed bosses that have no way of dodging their attacks.
Since you saw alot of cutscenes 3 times they started getting annoying, and lost alot of emotional impact. For instance that last battle scene was chilling (accidental pun) the first time I saw it, but by the 3rd time I just wanted to skip it.
The remixed of simple and clean that they used for the opening sounded terrible, and the only reason they went with the remix is because Utada said Disney didn't pay well.
That game is a disgrace to the Kingdom Hearts series, it's a disgrace to Disney, it's a disgrace to Square Enix, it's a disgrace to the PSP, and it's a disgrace to grilled cheese sandwiches. The only good thing about the game was the final Vanitas boss fight, that was awesome, and visiting young Hercules, aside from that the game has no value.
That game was awful, and what made it worse is that it could have been one of the best game in the series. I don't understand how anyone can say that game is the best in the series when it is an embodiment of everything that is wrong with the series. If you want more points for me to make on why I think the game is bad I'll do so. And keep in mind I was a huge KH fan I have the figures I got the preorder bonus cards that came with Re:COM & 358/2 days and I also have a KH poster in my room. I loved the KH series, but I loathe BBS with a fiery passion. I'm going to give KH 3D a chance, but if it's anything like that festering turd BBS I'm done with this series and ready to move onto other better RPGS which are plentiful.
Ok sorry about that, I still agree with my points, but I came off as a major douche-bag. The truth is I really wanted to like BBS, I even got a PSP just for that game, and it's breaking my heart that one of my favorite game series, the one that turned me onto RPGs is slowly becoming something I really dislike. I'm curious as to why you liked BBS if you want to share.
I'll watch this one for sure. The only Kingdom Hearts i played so far is Chain of Memories and i just quit that one day because i couldn't really figure out how to best approach the battle system and it got a bit too samey for me. That has been 'bout five years ago though and i didn't have much experience in gaming back then. So today i might even love it, who knows.
Very nice! I'm glad they're showing support for the fans and bringing this one over. Can't wait to see how it turns out
thank goodness i thought it was cancelled like assassin creed... glad to see i was wrong
I can't wait for this one. I'm anxious to see what Square Enix can do with the 3DS hardware. I do hope that we will get Kingdom Hearts 3 one day. That is one game that I would love to see on the Wii U. Or PS3 or Xbox 360, just as long as we get a KH3.
James that's hilarious
why don't they stop making these for portable systems and just add more the actually game systems like a normal series of games. Started with PS2 then switch to Game Boy and then back to PS2. Then to the DS and PSP then back to the DS and now the 3DS!!!!!!!!!
The Series would be better off with just making it for the wii or ps3/ps2 cause then everybody would actually be aware of the story cause all i see in the comments of most KH news and stuff is that they havn't played this or that game which really hurts the story cause these games get confusing when you put complicated stories behind them and then switch systems every time you decide to make a new game.
If only I cared for this weird childish crossover RPG thing. :l
I'm honestly not very excited about this game. the series died to me when re:coded came out. i would be happy if this were a 3d remake of the first one but it's not so i don't expect too much of it. just post a review when it comes out.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...