Kingdom Hearts 3D Connects to Kingdom Hearts III

Birth By Sleep Final Mix now has a release date, so expect to hear more about Kingdom Hearts 3D from here on out.

Kingdom Hearts 3D is the topic of conversation for Famitsu's latest interview with Tetsuya Nomura. The Kingdom Hearts producer shares a few bits about the 3DS entry's gameplay and story.

Players will be able to control Sora and Riku, Nomura reveals. In terms of gameplay systems, they're hoping to show some differences between the two characters.

Past screenshots showed Sora and Riku as they looked in the original Kingdom Hearts timeframe. They reason they appear like this is currently a secret. Nomura would only say that it was a necessity for the story.

In terms of development progress, the game's central gameplay systems are all complete. They're now going through a trial phase to see how to put those systems into the game.

They're also currently going through world selection for the game's Disney areas. The plan is to use all new Disney worlds this time. It appears that Traverse Town and other original creations will carry over into the game, though.

There could be some deeper meaning to the "3" in the title. In addition to indicating the use of 3D visual output, the game will be connected to Kingdom Hearts III both in terms of gameplay systems and story. It's possible that the ending of 3D will lead into the story of KHIII.

Nomura also shared a few bits about the other currently announced Kingdom Hearts project, Birth By Sleep Final Mix. Work on this is almost complete, he said. He provided a few hints about the nature of the game's new "secret episode." Players will be able to actually control their character in this part.

Final Mix will be playable at December's Jump Festa event, Nomura revealed (Square Enix has yet to formally announce its lineup). Attendees will also get to sample The 3rd Birthday and Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy. Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded will have some surechigai/tag-mode downloads.

CHANGES/UPDATES TO THIS STORY

11:40 - The original version of this story was based off a summary that appeared at Game Jouhou. I've since seen the article for myself and have made a few additions.