I’m probably looking into things too much here but… I believe we’ve found Xehanort’s brother. Although absolutely everything here is theory, I thought these two images would make good news while we’re waiting for all the big things to happen.

OK, bare with me here.

The picture shown above is Xehanort from Kingdom Hearts II’s flashback scene to Xehanort speaking with Ansem in their lab. Not the hair style, facial features, body, etc. Note also that this seems to be around fifteen or so years before the original KH takes place.

Now look at this knight here (the one fought in Final Mix). Look familiar? Similar face, hair and body size. Also note that his eyes turn gold at the end of the video – similar to Xehanort, Ansem and Xemnas eyes, but not exactly.

So what does all this mean? Basically, I believe this is Xehanort’s brother. In KH2 Final Mix he hates Xehanort more than anything in the world – an epic brotherly rivalry is a strong story point. Note how their hairstyles almost point out their opposites – Xehanort’s pure white compared with his ‘brother’s’ dark brown, almost black hair.

The uncanny resemblance probably means twins, which would mean the flashback we saw in KH2 was from the same time as this secret video. Xehanort’s ‘brother’ might not even look like this when he is fought during Final Mix itself as the optional boss – perhaps he has been contained in this world and can’t escape to find the brother he still seeks revenge upon. He looks almost larger when he is fought as a boss – perhaps if his helmet were removed he would look like Xehanort (‘Ansem’) did in KH1, except with the dark brown hair…?

All of this is just theory at the moment everyone but… these resemblances are too uncanny, even for Nomura. If this falls true then we have a very interesting new core three characters for the next game – Ven, a Roxas look alike; Aqua, powerful and caring of Ven, relations unknown; and Xehanort’s ‘brother’…

Anyways, up next scheduele-wise we have Square-Enix Party in a couple of weeks. Nomura will be making a big announcement there, so be prepared and hope for the best!

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This one’s a little tough – Nomura decides to go in-depth on some of the more complicated terminology in the Kingdom Hearts series. Rumors and theories ahoy!

Basically, the read is very long, but is a great translation. CLICK READ MORE TO VIEW IT!

A very special thanks to TheWertle of GameFAQs for doing these translations!

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As mentioned earlier, all the big things have been shown, but there are still a bunch of smaller deleted scenes that we now have the ability to show you!

Basically the following videos are kinda ‘behind the scenes’ things that happened during Kingdom Hearts II, but we never actually witnessed. In Final Mix however, the scenes are shown during the course of the game and explain many of the original version’s curiosities.

The above video is basically how Roxas became ‘Roxas’. We saw this video in the original Final Mix+ commercial (using the original English voice actors), but for some reason those voice clips weren’t included in the final version of the game.

Next up is Axel and Roxas’ last scene together. This is played after Sora defeats Roxas in The World That Never Was, and is quite a heart-felt scene. Note that is Axel’s tear we see at the end.

Now, on to Re:Chain of Memories. With this game there are a bunch of new voiced scenes and they’re all bursting with energy (compared to the almost lifeless original), but most of you will have seen many of these in the GBA iteration anyways. So I’ll just handpick some of the most important ones.

This here is Vexen’s death scene. Sora’s been travelling through Twilight Town (which is ‘in his memories’ because of Roxas), and has turned up at the Old Mansion. Here he bumps into Vexen, who wants to reveal certain things to Sora… but not if Axel has his way!

This is where Sora has the truth revealed to him by Namine. Nothing that we didn’t already know, but still good to see the event in the same way as the rest of the series.

This is a compilation of all the scenes surrounding the last battle(s) with Marluxia. For Re:CoM the developers included a new ‘final form’ for Marluxia, but that’s really the only new thing during this 20-minute collection.

This is the end of Sora’s arc in Re:CoM. “She’s your light. Your light within the darkness.”

Soon the Reverse Rebirth scenes will be done, and we can show you the addition scenes on Riku’s side! Until then, sayonara!

Source: A big thanks to KH-Vids for the videos!

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Today’s poll on GameFAQs? “Would you buy Kingdom Hearts II – Final Mix+ if it were released in English?” GameFAQs usually deals with all games in general, so getting this specific must mean something.

Click here and then choose one of the first three choices (preferably second) on the poll to the right side, and make some noise!

What this basically means is someone, somewhere is getting GameFAQs to test the waters. The polls are sometimes used as market research from developers/publishers, so if we all tell them how much we want the game, hopefully Square USA will respond!

Remember, this is a very rare chance and lasts for less than 24 more hours! I still find it quite shocking the site is singling out Final Mix+, but it’s happening and we have to tell them how much we want it!

We’ll get back to you if we hear anything further!

UPDATE: Just to let you guys know, the second option, ‘Yes, I loved the original that much’ won at the end of the day! After pointing out this poll, KH Insider discovered it as well as a couple of other sites, and the combined votes of you guys here, as well as their communities took us to victory! Hopefully Square may start considering a Stateside release now! *fingers crossed*

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Yes, that’s right, Sora’s crown. A crown befitting of one who will always have his place in Kingdom Hearts history, regardless of who Nomura cooks up as the new main character for the upcoming series.

The crown shown above is linked to the Mushroom XIII sidequest, and there are three different variations – bronze, silver and gold. It is believed that these new crowns grant the user new status affects (such as increased XP, etc.), but this is yet to be confirmed.

As for the above renders, we’ll go through them one by one. First from the left is the new Keyblade that is obtained after defeating all of the thirteen Mushroom Organization – the name is still unknown. Second from the left is the Keyblade that is won after defeating Roxas in the first battle with him when you reach The World That Never Was – it is called Acrossing Two.

As for the two characters, they’re quite self-explanatory – third from the left is Sora in Limit Form (this is obtained during the story, and isn’t a bonus like Final Form), and first from the right is the ‘Enigmatic Soldier’, which is the knight in the secret movie with black hair who’s eyes turn golden – we don’t have a name for this character and we won’t get one until just before the game’s release, like with Roxas and KH2.

It also seems we are drawing to the end of the Final Mix updates, but keep checking back in regarding anything we may have missed, or possible announcements of English releases.

Don’t forget to keep checking here for updates on our upcoming Kingdom Hearts community, KH Globe! Big changes are going to be made here soon people, forums included! Watch this space!

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Great new video today from Final Mix – ever wonder how and when Riku used the power of darkness to morph into a Xehanort look-a-like? Wonder no more!

This battle takes place a little while after Deep Dive. Riku comes back to confront Roxas again, and this time decides that he has to beat Roxas, regardless of the consequences. He knows he has to bring Roxas back to Sora, and hence the above event occurs.

We’ll get back to you if anything else is found in the near future.

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Once more for the dummies! Today’s new videos are nothing big – the Enigmatic Soldier is defeated, the Cavern of Remembrance is explored (kinda) and more…

Nothing new there. The knight says “I see. Your strength is… What I sensed in you is…” when he is defeated, and then when the player returns he comments “So you have returned, young Keyblade wielder. I have no further power to give you. All I have is my hatred towards Xehanort. Will you allow me to engrave that into your heart?”

So nothing big explained. Not even a name revealed, so we’ve been left waiting again. Typical Nomura-san!

As for the above video, this is basically the way to where all the Organization members can be fought again – after defeating the Nobodies at the end of the video, you will enter the room which has all the doors to the Organization rematches.

With the new Nomura comments, it’s nothing big. He mentioned again that he will reveal the new project by the end of the year, and that all the characters shown in the secret movie would be featured in the new series he is doing with Disney, which ISN’T Kingdom Hearts III, and is kinda some big spin-off…

As mentioned, nothing huge. We’ll update again if anything else happens.

Source: KH Insider, TheGoldCrow, Eliefinis, IGN PS2 and Utawarezen.

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