During the Tokyo Game Show last week, Square Enix took the wraps off Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, a collection of previously released Kingdom Hearts games bound for PlayStation 3 sometime next year. Now the game’s announcement trailer has found its way online, showing that Sora, Donald, Goofy and company have never looked better.
No, this probably isn’t the news that Kingdom Hearts fans have been waiting for, but – hey – at least it’s something.
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX is currently confirmed only for Japan, but given the series’ popularity, an international release seems all but certain. The collection will span three games, though Kingdom Hearts 2 (which seems like an obvious choice) is not among them.
Instead, players can look forward to remastered versions of the original Kingdom Hearts (specifically the Japanese “Final Mix” version, which incorporated changes from the game’s North American release), Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories (which is a PlayStation 2 port of the original GBA game), and DS’s Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Even stranger than the omission of Kingdom Hearts 2 is that only the cutscenes from 358/2 will be included in HD 1.5 ReMIX – players will apparently be able to view them in the game’s Theater Mode. Square is promising trophy support, though only for the playable games in the collection.
Naturally, the hope is that Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX (and possibly a second such collection that includes Kingdom Hearts 2 and, potentially, PSP’s Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep) is being released to prepare fans for the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3. Last June, Kingdom Hearts mastermind Tetsuya Nomura revealed that 3DS’s Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance contains some hints about Kindgom Hearts 3. The month before, Nomura teased a forthcoming reveal, and noted that progress had been made on several new entries in the Kingdom Hearts franchise. This has to be leading somewhere, right?
It would be tough to accept that Nomura’s comments referred only to this collection. Then again, given his ongoing dedication to finishing Final Fantasy Versus XIII – which Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada insists is not dead – remastered Kingdom Hearts re-releases may be all Nomura has time for. With any luck, we’ll know more when 1.5 ReMIX is officially announced for release outside of Japan.
Ranters, are you looking forward to (re)playing the original Kingdom Hearts with remastered, widescreen graphics? Do you think this re-release means a Kingdom Hearts 3 announcement is on the way? Let us know in the comments below.
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX will release in 2013 for PlayStation 3.
-
Follow me on Twitter @HakenGaken.
Source: Kotaku, KHInsiderVideos
Xbox One: Watch The Next-Gen Xbox Presentation Here! 
Electronic Arts Engineer Blasts the Wii U 
What You May Not Know About The ‘Xbox One’ [Updated] 
GR Giveaway: Win a Superhero-Sized Trip to San Diego This July! 
Loading ...
This seems kinda weak. They seem to be taking the God of War series original route of releasing two collections. The new 5 game collection is a better value. Square should have just done a five game collection for this as well. 1 and 2 plus all the spinoff/side games.
No cutscenes, no care. Seriously. What a baaaaad move.
Sooo no 3 yet.
:l
It sucks that its not even final mix versions
Wait, I’m confused. So there are no cutscenes in any of the games except for 385/2? It’s just straight gameplay and if you want to see the cutscene, you have to stop and go to the theater mode? Am I misreading this?
In the collection, 358/2 Days is cutscenes only – you can’t actually play the game, just watch its cinemas. The other two games are full and complete versions, cutscenes included. Sorry for the confusion.
This and the possibility of a second release containing more KH games definitely would be a good way to extend the life of PS3. At this point I have to assume they are waiting for the PS4 in order to release KH3.
I hate them so much!!!!! Never taking this f*cking game series seriously and taking forever to release titles and releasing them on so many dif platforms so you have to spend a fortune playing them and now their gonna remake 1 which I’ve replayed so many dam times and probly not even come out with 3 until the ps4!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!