Kingdom Hearts HD Collection Coming to North America

[Xathos]

Nice to have actual confirmation (Even though Jessie McCartney basically leaked it a couple of weeks ago anyway). Still more excited about 2.5 Remix, but I'm definitely buying this first chance I get.

My only problem is...why so late?! Fall?! Ugh, its going to feel like forever considering the Japanese release date is in a couple of weeks.

Don't quote me on this, but a friend of mine said that the GBA and PS2 versions Chain of Memories are wildly different.

Regardless, it coming to Europe is a pretty big deal in itself, as even I know that game got shafted really hard by limited releases in both formats.

Well it pretty much went from 2D Sprites to 3D obviously, but a bit of the script was tweaked in several spots, as well as one additional boss. The battle system is pretty much the same, only now you have full range of motion as where you go in a fight as to the limited area on the GBA. They added some slightly new battle mechanics that were not in the GBA version as well. And of course, having voices was a nice plus considering we had never heard some of the characters before.

The only problem was the lip syncing. They weren't able to fix it when it originally came out here in NA, so the Voice Actors had to constantly try and match the lips (leading to several awkward pauses, and the non matching lips were quite obvious). Hopefully this will change by the time its released, maybe even some re-recorded lines here or there. I mean, they might as well, considering they have to bring in most of the actors for the 358/2 Days cutscenes. The script stayed mostly intact though, so they'll probably just leave everything as is.

So...yes, your friend was right. Quite different indeed. =)

 

[scorptatious]

Sweet. I finally get to play the Final Mix version of KH1.

I do agree though, where the heck is KH3??

 

[carlh267]

Our last proper Kingdom Hearts game was on the Playstation 2! FFS Square, get your act together. I better see a Kingdom Hearts in the upcoming console generation, or so help me...

OT: I don't really care much for HD remakes, and playing Kingdom Hearts on my PS2 is still possible, so meh, gonna pass on this one.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Score! Kingdom Hearts with trophies. And I'm glad that 358/2 days will have the cutscenes in it. I found the gameplay itself to be very...boring and enemy. But the story of that game was amazing and I tore through the game itself once it started to pick up.

So does this mean that the second Kingdom Hearts collection will include Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Birth By Sleep? Please yes?

Oh, and can we get a copy of the Ultimate Final Fantasy Anniversary collection too? Because I'll buy that too.

 

[Jamous]

Say what you will about grouching about KH3, I mean I certainly still am, but this information can't help but fill me with joy. Been looking forward to this for a looooong time. Now we wait for 2.5 and then perhaps finally, on one glorious mystical day, we shall have our KH3.

So does this mean that the second Kingdom Hearts collection will include Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Birth By Sleep? Please yes?

This? This would be excellent.

 

[Berithil]

Shame that it doesn't include KH2. Other than that, WOOHOOO!!!!!

Finally! I've been waiting for this.

 

[Roxas1359]

Good to know that I spent all that time translating that game in my Let's Play only to find this out. Seriously this happens to me every time I import a game from Square Enix. It takes a lot of time to translate things in an editor you know and to time it just right, and not to mention that it's hard to translate when the game doesn't have furigana! I feel like I wasted my time now. >.<

OT: I've preordered a Japanese copy of the game since I know Japanese and that way I can get some videos up on YouTube when I get it about a week or so after it's released. Time to prepare my copyright shields!

 

[klaynexas3]

No one is asking where Kingdom Hearts 3 is. We all know (us fans at least) that it will be released when Nomura finishes Versus XIII.

No one is asking because everyone knows it's never going to come. Enix will continue pushing out shitty little handheld titles that cost a fraction of the money to produce while the moron fanboys eat up the slop that gets thrown their way by a company that stopped caring about its consumer base a LONG ass time ago.

If you've actually played any of the handheld titles you'd find that none of them are shitty. Birth by Sleep sets the whole ground for the entire story, so it's probably one of the most important to play, next to the first and second game, with solid gameplay and pretty good characterization. 358 fleshes out Roxas and the organization in general, showing their personalities and showing what was going on while Sora was asleep for that whole year. Chain of Memories had an inventive(even though not the greatest) combat system and the story introduced the organization along with fleshing out Riku in his story. Coded was shit for story, but its gameplay was probably the most fun of all the games when it came to the boss battles as each one changed it up greatly and was just a fun little game to play. Dream Drop carried on the story from the second game, helped bring out the characterization of Riku a bit more, brought all the games back full circle into a connecting story where everything linked up, and is the set up right before the third game, which we will see once Versus XIII is finished. So instead of shitting all over a fan base next time, maybe actually know what you're talking about.

 

[ShadowKatt]

No one is asking where Kingdom Hearts 3 is. We all know (us fans at least) that it will be released when Nomura finishes Versus XIII.

No one is asking because everyone knows it's never going to come. Enix will continue pushing out shitty little handheld titles that cost a fraction of the money to produce while the moron fanboys eat up the slop that gets thrown their way by a company that stopped caring about its consumer base a LONG ass time ago.

If you've actually played any of the handheld titles you'd find that none of them are shitty. Birth by Sleep sets the whole ground for the entire story, so it's probably one of the most important to play, next to the first and second game, with solid gameplay and pretty good characterization. 358 fleshes out Roxas and the organization in general, showing their personalities and showing what was going on while Sora was asleep for that whole year. Chain of Memories had an inventive(even though not the greatest) combat system and the story introduced the organization along with fleshing out Riku in his story. Coded was shit for story, but its gameplay was probably the most fun of all the games when it came to the boss battles as each one changed it up greatly and was just a fun little game to play. Dream Drop carried on the story from the second game, helped bring out the characterization of Riku a bit more, brought all the games back full circle into a connecting story where everything linked up, and is the set up right before the third game, which we will see once Versus XIII is finished. So instead of shitting all over a fan base next time, maybe actually know what you're talking about.

You got me. I have t played any of the handheld titles. Not a single one. Know why? Because theyre not on the playstation. I have a playstation 2, and I bought both kingdom hearts until they abandoned the console altogether. And at this point, I really dont care who thinks theyre super awesome great games. What I do know is this: I am not going to drop $ 200 on a handheld and then another $50 for a game. And I know that I am not alone in that. And I also know that even if they are the best handheld title will NEVER compare to a full console version. The rest about the fandom is opinion, but its one that I will stand by and I will say it straight to anyones face if I have to. So have at it.

 

[Innegativeion]

Wait, a Kingdom Hearts HD collection doesn't include KH 2? The first one and a HD GBA game? This is bittersweet as hell...

Dont quote me on this, but a friend of mine said that the GBA and PS2 versions Chain of Memories are wildly different.

Regardless, it coming to Europe is a pretty big deal in itself, as even i know that game got shafted really hard by limited releases in both formats.

Indeed RE plays quite a bit more like the original game than GBA chain of memories does. The cut scenes are also very well done.

As for DrunkOnEstus's concern, I think it's very likely Squeenix will, based on the sales of this collection, be releasing a "2.5" Kingdom Hearts collection that contains the latter half of the KH franchise.

 

[klaynexas3]

You got me. I have t played any of the handheld titles. Not a single one. Know why? Because theyre not on the playstation. I have a playstation 2, and I bought both kingdom hearts until they abandoned the console altogether. And at this point, I really dont care who thinks theyre super awesome great games. What I do know is this: I am not going to drop $ 200 on a handheld and then another $50 for a game. And I know that I am not alone in that. And I also know that even if they are the best handheld title will NEVER compare to a full console version. The rest about the fandom is opinion, but its one that I will stand by and I will say it straight to anyones face if I have to. So have at it.

Okay, I can understand why you're pissed at Square for basically abandoning the consoles in terms of Kingdom Hearts. I for one love handheld gaming, so that's why I can play them, but it isn't for everyone, and I can understand why that is angering. It still isn't a reason to insult the fanbase simply because they like and can buy the games that you won't touch. But they are showing that they are coming back to the consoles with this release, and while it isn't anything really new to the console besides the cutscenes from 358, I'm sure they'll also make a 2.5 remix, which if they do make it, it will have Birth by Sleep on it, and they'd be crazy not to put Dream Drop on it also. And I don't care what you say, both Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop are games that could survive as stand-alones on the consoles and do damn well, because they are both amazing games. I can't say the same about 358, as it was good but I'm not sure if I could say it'd do as well by itself, and Coded wouldn't do well. It's a handheld game, it was meant for the cell phone, and is basically a repeat of the first game, that was not meant for the consoles. And then they will release KH3 on a console, most likely PS4 at this point considering how long the director has had his hands tied. So any Kingdom Hearts content coming out now is going to be for consoles. It might be too little too late for some, but still, I see it as a chance for rekindling the love of the game from those that seemed to stop caring about it once it went to handhelds.

 

[Smolderin]

So instead of the obvious, and quite predictable rage going on, let me say this...

YES...YES...YESYESYYESYEYSYESYYESYYESYESYEYEYSYdsahgsjdlgfbslghdfsakghksjd!

I'm excited. Can you tell that I am excited?

You know something guys, better late than never. Nomura basically stated that he won't do KH3 until he finishes FFXIII Versus, so this is a good way to past the time until then. Now I got another reason to dust off the old PS3. I can't wait to not only play an HD version of my favorite game, but I can't wait to play an HD version of a game that I wasn't able to play because of it's localization. And to top it all off, it has Chain of Memories in it. AWESOME.

Really hope they do the same thing for Kingdom Hearts 2....I don't know if this is to much to ask, but when they bring the HD port of KH2 FM over to the west....maybe they could do what they did to Chain of Memories and maybe remake 365/2 days...Now that would definitely be a real treat.

 

[ronald1840]

Alright! Looking back, I don't know how I beat Kingdom Hearts 1 when I was a kid. This is one of my favorite games and I really enjoyed the time I spent with those characters. I'll support those memories by buying this at launch and gladly play through the original one more time; might try to platinum it.

I read the manga for Chain of Memories, and Days, well, I've seen the ending and a couple scenes; so I'm glad it's just a movie (3 hours at that). Love that box art! Count me in!

Hopefully we'll get a 2.5 HD Remix (PS3) with Kingdom Hearts 2 FM, Birth By Sleep, and a movie for Re:Coded. I'd expect it to launch here in 2015.

 

[dfphetteplace]

It seems like a total waste that they only release these on certain systems. I think the companies are missing out on a huge market by not releasing the HD remakes on PC.