And the Fandom Rejoiced/Kingdom Hearts 3D



Kingdom Hearts 3D, by now, can be considered the biggest hype machine ever seen in the franchise (possibly only rivaled by Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep). Whether it lived up to that hype or not caused a massive Broken Base, but here are all the things people got excited over during the pre-release period.


 * A playable Riku without a card system, an entire game divided into about ninety missions or a few seconds deadline, and the fact that all of the Disney-based worlds will be entirely new. Also, there's rejoicing about Sora being Sora himself and not Ventus, Terra, Aqua, a Data replica, Roxas, or an unlockable character.
 * The first confirmed Disney world? Notre Dame.
 * And as of May 14th, we know that the entire cast of the original movie will be reprising their roles in the American release. Except, of course, for Tony Jay, who will be replaced by Corey Burton.
 * The mere fact it's gonna be a brand new Square-Enix title in glasses-less 3D should qualify.
 * Release date March 2012: which is an amazingly quick development cycle for a mainline KH game; both KH2 and BBS took 3 years from announcement to release. The game has gotten an official US and UK release confirmation, and if Square Enix France (and their leaky website) are to be believed, it's very likely we'll see this game in English by late July or early August. That's a localisation turnaround of 5 months, which is very quick for a Kingdom Hearts title.
 * There will be a Reapers' Game in Traverse Town, complete with Neku.
 * The second confirmed Disney world? PINOCCHIO!!!
 * Two words: Frollo confirmed.
 * PHOEBUS!!
 * The Three Musketeers World? HELL. YES.
 * Alright, Joshua and Beat fans. You can all die happy now.
 * Vanitas and Young Xehanort talking in unison to Sora. If that weren't shocking enough, they're talking about how they know that he's harbouring Ventus' heart.
 * And then there's the Tron: Legacy world. TWEWY characters include Shiki and Rhyme as well. Lea is in, too. There's so much to rejoice about, it's not even funny!
 * Jump Festa 2012 proudly presents: Dream Eater Plushies! First up: Wandanyan! Cue the countless squeeing.
 * Here, just take a damn look by yourself and wet your pants accordingly.
 * Ditch the pants. You're gonna need another outfit by the end of this.
 * The same trailer shows that, for the first time, Riku has a world-centric outfit: Data Form, originally seen in Kingdom Hearts II, is back for the Tron: Legacy world in KH 3 D, and this time, even Riku gets to wear Tron Lines!
 * The CG sequence that will presumably serve as the game's opening recaps the entire series to date very nicely indeed, even giving Xion a look in, and giving the barest of hints towards the eventual final battle with Xehanort.
 * Then this summed alot of it up, and...
 * ... after that trailer summed up most of the rejoicing on this page, now comes word that Fantasia is one of the new worlds, with the first character being Mickey in his Sorcerer's Apprentice Costume. And not as a D-Link summon, no, as Mickey Mouse himself.
 * Chernabog is confirmed!
 * Braig/Xigbar's and Xehanort's respective voice actors both stated that they've started voice acting, thus essentially confirming that English voice acting has already begun. For those not thrilled about this, bear in mind that it means the quick-localisation-within-2012 we've been promised has begun as well!
 * The English site has opened, with a Japanese trailer. It lasts for about four minutes, so how is it gonna top the latest one-- what, did you say it has new footage? And that there are the best bits of all the previous trailers in it? Awesome! Wait, what does that footnote below the video player say... HOLY SMOKES THERE'S GOING TO BE AN ENGLISH VERSION OF THIS VERY SOON.
 * The above trailer, as part of its aforementioned new footage, shows there are such iconic scenes as, say, Frollo holding Esmeralda's arm. Sora arrives shortly after, strongly implying there's going to be a lot of Catharsis Factor. YES.
 * Actually, the trailer they used was just the short version from Jump Festa, which was released more than a month ago. Not that it detracts from any of the rejoicing though.
 * Then there's the CAT graffiti in Traverse Town. Many TWEWY fanboys/girls rejoiced that day.
 * And now we have already the Boxart for the game, thus meaning that - Awesome Art aside - the quick development cycle is really nearing its end as we've been promised! Score another one for Squeenix.
 * Although most of us already knew it, it still wasn't confirmed and as such someone feared there would be The Other Darrin, but now we know that Jesse David Corti, Neku Sakuraba's original voice actor in The World Ends With You, basically confirmed that he's gonna reprise his role as Neku in KH3D.
 * An update about that announcement, seen in the same link, has Corti not only confirming his role, but also that he already recorded his lines as Neku. That, coupled with the similar announcements from Richard Epcar and James Patrick Steward above as well as this one from Vincent Corazza, altogether seem to imply that voice acting for the English-speaking versions of the game has already been completed. Never (almost) we've seen Square Enix rushing like that for localization - and given how games such as the first Dissidia took one year before getting fully localised, that's saying a lot!
 * There's another new trailer out, and it's even than the Jump Festa one!
 * During the Feburary rejoice fest, some in game footage is shown, and to play as Riku, all you have to do is go to the main menu! Yep, you don't have to beat the game and start a new file, or choose whose story you want to follow, you get both Heroes in one playthru!!
 * That one aspect is actually an ATFR Zig-Zagged with Tainted by the Preview: first, it was announced they'd both be playable (ATFR); then, it was announced they both shared the same save file (ATFR); then Nomura said the switch between them happens randomly (TBTP); and then, it was finally announced that the switch-between-heroes-at-will is an unlockable feature (ATFR).
 * Jim Cummings is the new voice actor for Frollo? Heck Yes!!
 * Jossed. It's actually Corey Burton, who voiced the Magic Mirror in the previous game, another character previously voiced by Tony Jay.
 * Also, the series averting its infamous case of Continuity Lock Out for once, thanks to the "Memoirs" feature, is already as awesome as it sounds by itself; however, if you add to that the speculation about the Ursula boss battle seen in the trailer allegedly being a boss battle "from the past" accessible through that feature, thus implying it allows players to live past classic moments from the series in 3D, well... that's the definition of And the Fandom Rejoiced, and makes up for the relatively small number of playable worlds.
 * In the end, it turned out, but it doesn't detract anything from the fact that the Memoirs feature allows players to enjoy the game without needing any knowledge of the series' previous timeline. Complete information about the Memoirs feature has yet to be revealed, though.
 * SUMMER 2012 can't come quick enough...
 * The US release is July 31.
 * The European release? July 20!
 * The World That Never Was is confirmed to be playable! Also see this wallpaper hosted on KH13 as further proof.
 * Although that was a given, Sora and Riku's voice actors confirmed they'll reprise their role. However, there's a new spoilery detail: David Gallagher said he'll also voice the BbS/3D Unknown, AKA the "Mysterious Figure" (see also the proper article).
 * As of May 15, 2012, it seems more like Ben Diskin is voicing him.
 * Remember that premiere event? Square put up videos of what it looks like in great quality. If you're a fan, you have to see it.
 * Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand now we have word that, as expected, some retailers sold the game two-days-earlier than the official release date. Newsposts on KH fansite KH 13 are divided on a daily basis: expect a lot of updates below.
 * This troper, who hadn't watched anything about the new game yet, accidentally clicked on a link to a KH fansite the other day, and..."Hey, a trailer. Might as well watch it. La la la this is pretty cool...OMG LEA! Lea is in it! Lea is okay! Lea is badass and a good guy! (Presumably) All the Nobodies got their hearts back after all!" I've been freaking out about it non-stop for days now!
 * Was watching the first livestream. And Riku starts his way into Traverse Town. And then Joshua appears and starts talking. AND THE BACKGROUND MUSIC IS "CALLING".
 * True. See at around the ten-minute mark of the first part of the live-streaming of the game, or simply see this video. Nice to see the best track from The World Ends With You makes a reappearance!
 * CALLING -KINGDOM MIX-, TWISTER -KINGDOM MIX-, SOMEDAY -KINGDOM MIX-! My god, this soundtrack.
 * The opening. All of it. And when the whole opening is an ATFR... you realise it's just the opening, and wonder how the rest of the game is going to be like.
 * Some of the new keyblades. These include the Skull Noise from Traverse Town. Yes, a tribal-tattoo-like keyblade, with a Player-Pin-like skull for its "teeth, inspired by the Noise seen in The World Ends With You, and a modified (read: "enhanced", so to speak) rapier from the Three Musketeers' world.
 * The World That Never Was has been revealed to be ; when Sora   there, he repats his   line... causing  . Doubles as a Moment of Awesome; before the video inevitably gets pulled from Youtube you can see it here.
 * And even better? Kairi is using her keyblade as well. Only, but the former makes sense since she never had a weapon.
 * After the final boss, we find out that Lea  now, making Sora, Riku, Mickey, Donald and Goofy go, like, "WHAT?!?". This one, however, had some rejoicing, but others raging.
 * So there's a Bonus Boss. Hmmm, nice! We feared this only to pop up in a future Final Mix, so it's already good news by itself-- wait, did you say it's a Disney bonus boss this time? Well, who did they get-- HOLY CRAP, IS THAT  IN TRAVERSE TOWN?!? REALLY?!? Oh, come on, Square! Just take my damn money already!
 * Well Atlantica isn't returning in the game, which is a good thing. With that knowledge, you start the game, expecting some overlong tutorial prologue like in the previous games and - HOLY SHIT!
 * The secret ending
 * For those who like the cool Kaiju-esque "monster" bosses like KHII's Storm Rider and Groundshaker, some of the Dream Eater bosses like the Rex Tyrant and Bullet Gargoyle invoked this reaction.
 * Screens have showed that the Rex Tyrant will also be an enemy Nightmare and a recruitable Spirit Dream Eater! YES!!!
 * Confirmed. Groudon, is that you?
 * The description for this video confirms that boss re-matches can be played and re-played at will. Oh, hell yeah.
 * "Ansem", Xemnas, Lea/Axel and most of the past villains that fans loved to hate are back. For real.
 * Hey, who's that at the very end after the credits roll?
 * Although it's not much, we now have new English footage from the game!!
 * Getting Dark Aura as an easily selectable command! Sweet sweet vindication!
 * Here, have an English version of the nine-minute trailer.
 * While nothing's confirmed yet, it seems that Joshua's voice actor reprised the role, if his voice is anything to go by.
 * The changes in the dialogue may be odd at times, but often make it less cheesy. Case in point: "I... I can't! This is what lights the darkness! The chance to make everyone happy!". "The key to everyone's smiles" would have been much more narmy.
 * After months of rumors to the contrary, Leonard Nimoy is confirmed to return as Master Xehanort! And Hayden Panettiere gets a chance to voice !
 * Cue the E3 2012 trailer.
 * After months of rumors to the contrary, Leonard Nimoy is confirmed to return as Master Xehanort! And Hayden Panettiere gets a chance to voice !
 * Cue the E3 2012 trailer.