First Look: Zack in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Weekly Shounen Jump first revealed last week that Final Fantasy VII's Zack would be appearing in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. Now, thanks to Famitsu.com, we have our first online look at the character.

And here he is:

Zack, a minor (in terms of appearance time) character in FFVII who served as the main character in Crisis Core, appears here in the Olympic Coliseum world as someone who's aiming to be a hero.

You can see more shots of Zack's Birth by Sleep appearance in the Famitsu.com story. The site also has a shot showing a D-Link move from the character, where he shares his "Heroes' Pride" move with his partner.

The site also has a look at one of the other notable reveals from the Jump article: Mickey! King Mickey, whose whereabouts were apparently supposed to be unknown, appears in Radiant Garden, where screenshots show him in conversation with Aqua, one of BbS's three heroes, and Kairi, the heroine of KHI and KHII. Mickey's D-Link with Aqua sends out blasts of Holy at foes.

Multiplayer is something that was mentioned only briefly in the Jump article. Here, we get a few additional details.

Birth by Sleep's multiplayer mode takes place in "Mirage Arena," a world used exclusively for multiplayer play. You'll be able to take part in both cooperative and competitive play.

Cooperative play is through the game's Arena Mode. Up to three players team up to battle powerful enemies. You'll find special 3-player cooperative moves, including the Trinity Limit from past KH games. To use these, all players must enter a circle that appears on the battle field and press a button simultaneously.

Competitive play in the game's VS Arena mode offers support for up to six players. You can split up into teams, or have everyone go at it solo. You can also select from two deck options. One option lets everyone use their own deck, although this reduces player count down to 3. The other option makes players "drop" their commands when struck. Pick up a dropped command, and you get to use it.

Multiplayer play ties in to solo play via the D-Link system. You can D-Link with the friends that you've encountered in the Mirage Arena and use their moves in single player mode. Later, should you happen to meet that friend in Mirage Arena again, you'll get experience added to your finish commands. The more you use the D-Link, the greater experience you'll get.

Birth by Sleep is going to be one of Square Enix's big Jump Festa titles. Perhaps we'll get a chance to see some of these latest revelations in motion ahead of the game's January 9 release.