Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep: New Images & Battle System Explaination

Thanks to Famitsu, we have some new screenshots of Square Enix's upcoming Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. This title takes place way before the first Kingdom Hearts title (PS2), where the keyblade is owned by more than one person.

Famitsu says the new battle system is a breath of fresh air for the Kingdom Hearts series. This new game throws away the MP system we've seen in other Kingdom Hearts titles. Skills and magics used will become available again after a certain time period. There is a new COMMAND bar that will slowly fill up as players make their attacks, a special attack can be launched once the bar is full. Players can also customize their attack buttons as well.

Enjoy the screenshots!

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep: New Famitsu Scan

Issue #995 of Famitsu features a new scan of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. In this scan, you'll see screenshots of Ven, Cinderella and Maleficent. Terra's command gauge will have a Fatal Mode which he can use to eliminate enemies with powerful moves. The multiplayer concept is gone. According to the scans Terra is a powerful warrior, and Ven has excellent agility.

[Via Forever Fantasy]

Square Enix Updates Jump Festa 2008 Site: Includes Mega Theater List

Square Enix have updated their Jump Festa 2008 mini-site by adding two more pages. One page confirming the trailers that will be shown in the Open and Closed Mega Theater.

Open Mega Theater
- Star Ocean: First Departure
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Young King and the Country of Promise

Closed Mega Theater
- Fabula Nova Crystallis (New trailers)
- Dissidia: Final Fantasy (New trailer)
- Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (New trailer)
- Kingdom Hearts: Coded (New trailer)
- Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (New trailer)

The second page contains photos and the reward system for anybody who visits the Mega Theater. They can exchange their random photo they will receive for points.

[Via Forever Fantasy]

Kingdom Hearts Compiltaion: New Information & Screenshots

Famitsu got in contact with Testsuya Nomura about the three upcoming games for the Kingdom Hearts compilation. Though two of the games are for the Nintendo DS and Mobile Phone, I am going to keep you covered on them as well. And now, for the updates.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP)
Some important information that Nomura gave in this interview are that the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II: FM+ will play an important role in the PSP title, and that it takes place before the original Kingdom Hearts. Because of that, a new type of enemies has been created due to the fact they came before the Heartless and the Nobodies.

Nomura also gives a hint on what the new level up system is like. He first says the system will feature a new idea that one man came up with, and then Yasushi, Battle planner of FFXI, comes in and says: ".....The level up is like growing".

The developers of the game are also thinking about featuring two multiplayer modes: One will let two players compete against each other, while the other one lets you co-operate in order to achieve goals.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (Nintendo DS)
Nomura was first asked about the name of the game, and if that has any secret meaning. He replied and said that it is a code that will only be understood once we have finished the game. The game is all about the Organization XIII and their daily routine. Nomura has also explained that he chose to use a red color for 358/2 Days' logo in order to represent the sunset of Twilight Town, and he believes the game will make us a bit sad. Nomura says that Namine is not the 14th member of Organization XIII, and she will be revealed during this game. She is a key character, he adds.

This game will not fully use the controls of the DS, Nomura says. He wants people to complete the game, not just "touching their way through".

Riku and Sora will make an appearance in this game, including the famous Riku vs. Roxas scene. Nomura also says that during multiplayer mode we will be able to play using all Organization XIII's characters.

Kingdom Hearts: Coded (Mobile Phone)
Nomura compares this game to "Disneyland", where there are many attractions. He wishes to do the same, just with content added up to it. Hajime Tabata, Director of Agito XIII, then comes in and says that Nomura first began to explain the idea behind the game during midnight while he was drunk.

View screenshots and full transcripts at the link below.

[View: Screens & Transcripts]

Kingdom Hearts Three Titles In Latest Famitsu

This weeks Famitsu features the series we all know and love, Kingdom Hearts, and it's newest three titles. Here we have it summarized:

· Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
- Developed by the KH Re:CoM (PS2) team at the Osaka branch of S-E.
- 3 scenarios, 3 main characters, play in any order.
- Battle system is a mix of KH CoM (deck of abilities/skills) and KH's normal controls.
- The random elements and the timing based gameplay is Nomura's evolution of what he used in CoM and IAWW.

· Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days
- Developed by h.a.n.d., the guys that made Chocobo DS.
- Multiplayer gameplay is mission based, and your friends can play as any of the XIII Org members.
- Scenario is compared to Crisis Core, in that most people will know how it ends, but not how it will flow.

· Kingdom Hearts: Coded
- Developed by the Before Crisis FFVII team.
- Disney worlds will be available as individual downloads.
- The setting involves Sora's memories being accessed, possibly through a computer. It is compared to CoM's scenario in that sense.
- Graphics are 2D sprites on 3D backgrounds to allow both high spec and low spec phones to be support.
- Planned to be released internationally, hence the focus on compatibility.

And here are the scans:

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days

Kingdom Hearts: Coded

[Via Forever-Fantasy]

TGS 2007: Three Kingdom Hearts Titles Revealed

Square Enix's Tokyo Game Show presentation is currently going down in Japan and we've got the first details on the trio of new Kingdom Hearts titles.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep for PSP looks to be a single-player adventure in the vein of the PlayStation 2 iterations, though not "Kingdom Hearts III." Birth by Sleep's protagonist was not explicitly named in the presentation, but he looked an awful lot like Zack of Final Fantasy VII/Crisis Core fame.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days for Nintendo DS appears to star Roxas from Kingdom Hearts II, but its main draw looks to be four-player simultaneous play using members of Organization XIII. It will be in full 3D.

Kingdom Hearts: Coded is a mobile game, likely for Japanese cell phones. It stars the familiar cast of main characters from the original Kingdom Hearts (Sora & co.) and seems to be set between the first and second PlayStation 2 titles.

Wow, so the rumors were true. That means... Endless Crisis?

[Via 1UP]