Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX
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''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix'' is an HD remastered collection of the ''
Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square) and owned by The Walt Disney Company. A collaboration between the two companies, it was conceptualized by Square employees, Japanese gam ...
'' series, developed by
Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...
originally for the
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. It was revealed in September 2012 and released in Japan in March 2013, and North America, Australia, and Europe in September 2013. ''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix'' includes both ''
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix is a 2002 action role-playing video game developed by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the first game in the Kingdom Hearts, ''Kingdom Hearts'' series and is the result of a collaboration betw ...
'' (2002) and '' Re:Chain of Memories'' (2007) in high-definition and with
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support. Additionally, the collection features a cinematic remake of ''
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (subtitle read as "''Three-Five-Eight Days over Two''") is an Action role-playing game, action role-playing video game developed by h.a.n.d. and Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios for the Nintendo DS. It is the fifth in ...
'', including high-definition cutscenes from the original game plus new scenes; the ''358/2 Days'' cinematic also has Trophy support. Ideas for a remastered collection of ''Kingdom Hearts'' games were first revealed in August 2011, with the collection formally announced in September 2012. ''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix'', in addition to being created from the ground up due to lost assets from the original game, had the most adjustments made to its gameplay, including adding Reaction Commands first introduced in ''
Kingdom Hearts II ''Kingdom Hearts II'' is a 2005 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios, Buena Vista Games for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The game is a sequel to ''Kingdom Hear ...
'' and allowing the camera to be moved with the right thumb stick. The collection was met to generally positive reviews. A second collection, '' Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix'', was released in 2014 while a third collection, '' Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue'', was released in 2017. ''1.5 Remix'' was released in a single, combined collection with ''2.5 Remix'' on the
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
on March 28, 2017, on the
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on February 18, 2020, and on
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via
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and
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on March 30, 2021, and June 13, 2024, respectively. A
cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles, suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...
version of the collection was released for the
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on February 10, 2022.


Games


''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix''

''Kingdom Hearts'' follows the adventures of Sora, a cheerful teenager who fights against the forces of darkness. He is joined by
Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shirt and cap with ...
,
Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fe ...
and other Disney characters who help him on his quest. In the original and ''Final Mix'' versions of ''Kingdom Hearts'', the command menu had four commands: Attack, Magic, Items, and a fourth context-sensitive slot that varied depending on several factor's, including the player's location and which character they were targeting. The command menu was updated to include "Attack", "Magic", "Items", and "Summons" in the fourth slot, which was originally located as a sub-category beneath the "Magic" menu. The original fourth command is replaced by the introduction of Reaction Commands from ''
Kingdom Hearts II ''Kingdom Hearts II'' is a 2005 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios, Buena Vista Games for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The game is a sequel to ''Kingdom Hear ...
'', triggered by pressing the Triangle Button. The camera works more similarly to that of ''
Kingdom Hearts II ''Kingdom Hearts II'' is a 2005 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios, Buena Vista Games for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The game is a sequel to ''Kingdom Hear ...
'', utilizing the right thumb stick to move the camera and allowing the player to click the R3 button to reset the camera behind Sora, as opposed to the original game which made use of the shoulder triggers L2 and R2 to position the camera. Overall, the gameplay of ''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix'' was modified so it would play more similarly to ''Kingdom Hearts II'' and ''Re:Chain of Memories'', to create a more consistent play style throughout the series. It was released in North America, Australia, and Europe for the first time as part of the collection.


''Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories''

''Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories'' is a direct
sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
to ''
Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square) and owned by The Walt Disney Company. A collaboration between the two companies, it was conceptualized by Square employees, Japanese gam ...
'', and its ending is set about a year before ''
Kingdom Hearts II ''Kingdom Hearts II'' is a 2005 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios, Buena Vista Games for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The game is a sequel to ''Kingdom Hear ...
''. The game follows Sora and friends, exploring a mysterious castle. At the same time, Riku explores the castle's basement levels and fights the darkness. This version of ''Chain of Memories'' was released in Europe and Australia for the first time as part of the collection, as it was previously released in North America in December 2008.


''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days''

''358/2 Days'' takes place near the end of ''
Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (originally by Square) and owned by The Walt Disney Company. A collaboration between the two companies, it was conceptualized by Square employees, Japanese gam ...
'', continuing parallel to '' Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories''. The story is told from the perspective of Roxas, following his daily life within
Organization XIII '' Kingdom Hearts'' is a series of action role-playing games developed and published by Square Enix (formerly Square). It is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and Disney Interactive Studios, and is a crossover of various Disney ...
and his relationship with fellow Organization member Axel; it also introduces a fourteenth member, Xion, who becomes friends with the former two. ''358/2 Days'' does not appear in playable form, and instead features the
Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...
game adapted into 2 hours and 50 minutes worth of cinematic retelling, and features Trophy support on PlayStation 3.


Development

In August 2011,
Tetsuya Nomura is a Japanese video game artist, designer, producer, and director working for Square Enix. He was hired by Square initially as a monster designer for ''Final Fantasy V'' (1992), before being shifted towards secondary Character design of Final F ...
expressed desire to release a high definition re-release of the game, though he had yet to confirm such plans. The idea for a high definition re-release preceded plans for '' Final Fantasy X'' re-release, and was a focus for two Square Enix programmers for over a year. In September 2012, Square Enix announced ''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix'' for release in Japan on the PlayStation 3. The collection, developed in-house by Square Enix's 1st Production Department, would include both ''
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix is a 2002 action role-playing video game developed by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the first game in the Kingdom Hearts, ''Kingdom Hearts'' series and is the result of a collaboration betw ...
'' and '' Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories'' in high definition and Trophy support, as well as non-playable HD event scenes from ''
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days (subtitle read as "''Three-Five-Eight Days over Two''") is an Action role-playing game, action role-playing video game developed by h.a.n.d. and Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios for the Nintendo DS. It is the fifth in ...
'' as a way for players to understand the story. The development team experimented with using some character models from '' Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance'' for ''HD 1.5 Remix''. The cutscenes from ''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix'' were remastered with Japanese voice overs for both ''Chain of Memories'' and ''358/2 Days'' so that 70% of main story scenes would have full voice acting. ''358/2 Days'' was originally planned to receive a full remake for the compilation similar to ''Re:Chain of Memories'', but due to the lengthy development time it would require, it was instead presented as an extended HD cinematic retelling the game's events. Every cutscene from ''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days'', whether it was originally a pre-rendered scene or used in-game graphics, was re-animated for the cinematic. In January 2013,
Jesse McCartney Jesse McCartney (born April 9, 1987) is an American actor and singer. He achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama ''All My Children'' as JR Chandler. He later joined the boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a s ...
, the voice of Roxas, posted a picture on
Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...
of himself in a recording booth, with Roxas seen on a screen in the background, along with the caption, "For all you 'Kingdom Hearts' Fans. Recording the next chapter! #KingdomHearts #Roxas #Gamers." McCartney later deleted the image. In February, Square Enix confirmed the game would release in North America and Europe, later revealing September 2013 releases for North America, Australia, and Europe. It was revealed in March 2013 in a ''Famitsu'' interview, that 66 tracks spanning across all three games (with a majority of them concentrated in ''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix'') were re-recorded with live instrumentation, as opposed to the original games' use of the PlayStation 2's built-in tone generator for their background music. In June 2013, Nomura stated that the original game assets for ''Kingdom Hearts'' had been lost some time ago. He explained, " he game datawas lost, so we had to research, and we had to dig out from the actual game what was available and recreate everything for HD. We had to recreate all the graphics and it was actually not that easy." In July 2017, Nomura spoke on bringing the collection to
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
, saying he did not believe there was much demand for it outside of North America, but felt it could be a possibility after Square Enix completed development on ''
Kingdom Hearts III is a 2019 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, and Nintendo Switch. It is the third main installment in the '' Kingdom Hearts'' series and the twelfth game overall, and ser ...
''. At the X019 event in November 2019, Shinji Hashimoto and Ichiro Hazama announced that the collection, along with '' 2.5'' and '' 2.8'', would be released on the Xbox One in 2020. The game released on
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
exclusively via
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on March 30, 2021, and later on
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
on June 13, 2024, following the expiration of the exclusivity. In October 2021, it was announced that a
cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles, suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...
version of the game was in development for
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
as part of ''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix''.


Release

''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix'' was released in Japan on March 14, 2013, in North America on September 10, 2013, in Australia on September 12, 2013, and in Europe on September 13, 2013. Preorders for the game in North America, Australia, and Europe included a book of the game's concept artwork and a dynamic PlayStation 3 theme. Square Enix also released the collection in a bundle in Japan with ''Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix'' titled, ''Kingdom Hearts Collector's Pack: HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix''. The Collector's pack featured both collections, a code to get an Anniversary Set for ''Kingdom Hearts χ hi', music, and a booklet with art from the series. In October 2016, Square Enix announced a single-disc compilation release of ''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix'' and ''Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix'' for the PlayStation 4. It was released on March 9, 2017, in Japan, and was released on March 28, 2017, in North America, and March 31, 2017, in Europe and Australia. A set of free
downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...
for the PS4 version released in June 2017 added a Theater mode for ''Kingdom Hearts Final Mix'' and an additional cutscene for ''358/2 Days''; these were included by default in later ports of the collection. An additional bundle, ''Kingdom Hearts: The Story So Far'', includes the ''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix'' PlayStation 4 collection and ''Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue'' and was released in North America on October 30, 2018 for the PlayStation 4.


Reception

''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix'' received generally positive critical reception. Aggregating review website
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
gave the game a 77 out of 100 based on 49 reviews.
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
gave the release a generally positive rating, praising the redone visuals, tweaked gameplay, and expanded content, but also noting the game's age is still palpable. ''
Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...
'' praised the collection, stating "The core of this collection is the excellent original game, and that's where your attention should be. The other two lowly offerings are inessential bonus features." ''
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'' gave a positive, unscored review, saying the collection "captures that early era of the franchise at its purest simplicity. It's a trip down memory lane for long-term fans, while the visual overhaul and back-to-beginnings story should make it a welcoming entry point for newcomers." ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' stated, "''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix'' presents a couple of the earliest games in the beloved series in their best light and makes a revealing cinematic experience out of a third one. The three experiences complement one another with unique elements and welcome context that is a treat for longtime fans and newcomers alike." ''
GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
'' felt that, "While ''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX'' certainly lives up to the HD part of its name, the collection is not without its shortcomings. The original game's inclusion with all the new revisions and the addition of ''Final Mix'' content is a worthy investment on its own, and the inclusion of ''Chain of Memories'' is a nice gesture. The card-based battle system might be off-putting, but it's a unique experiment that deviates from the norm of the series. However, despite the overhauled visuals and new voice work, it's hard to excuse the reduction of ''358/2 Days'' to a lengthy film rather than an actual game." ''IGN'' felt that the collection was "an excellent way to replay the series' first two games in crisp, high-definition splendor" but was disappointed that the box art did not properly distinguish ''358/2 Days'' as a non-playable game. ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The magazine was fou ...
'' stated the collection "brings a PS2 classic to the modern age with a noticeably impressive visual update, improved camera controls, and, for added fun, secondary and tertiary ''Kingdom Hearts'' content all contained on one disc."


Additional collections


''HD 2.5 Remix''

In October 2012, Tetsuya Nomura suggested that an HD-version of ''
Kingdom Hearts II ''Kingdom Hearts II'' is a 2005 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios, Buena Vista Games for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The game is a sequel to ''Kingdom Hear ...
'' was likely to be created for another collection, saying that "it'd be unusual if there wasn't" another one. In the credits of ''HD 1.5 Remix'', clips of '' Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix'', '' Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix'' and '' Kingdom Hearts Re:coded'' were shown, hinting at a second collection. On October 14, 2013, Square Enix announced '' Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix'', with the collection including the previously mentioned games in high definition. However, ''Re:coded'' appears as HD cinematics, similar to ''358/2 Days'' in ''HD 1.5 Remix''. The collection was released exclusively for the PlayStation 3 in Japan on October 2, 2014, in North America on December 2, 2014, in Australia on December 4, 2014, and in Europe on December 5, 2014.


''HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue''

In the credits of ''HD 2.5 Remix'', clips of '' Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance'' were shown as well as the inclusion of a secret ending related to the game, hinting at a possible additional collection. In September 2015, Square Enix announced '' Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue''. The collection features an HD remaster of ''Dream Drop Distance'' as well as '' Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover'', a cinematic retelling of '' Kingdom Hearts χ'' that reveals new parts of the series' history in HD cinematics, and '' Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage'', a new game taking place after the events of ''Birth by Sleep'', told from the perspective of Aqua. It was released on January 12, 2017 in Japan and January 24, 2017 for other countries.


Notes


References


External links


''Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix'' Japan official website
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