Kingdom Hearts Re:coded

Game Information

Release Date (NTT DoCoMo): Nov 18th, 2008 (Japan)

Release Date (Nintendo DS): Oct 7th, 2010 (Japan); Jan 11th, 2011 (North America); Jan 14th, 2011 (Europe)

Buy Game: Japan (4,600¥ PlayAsia.com), North America ($34.99 Amazon.com); Europe (£24.99 Amazon UK)

Summary

In the original Kingdom Hearts, Sora, Donald and Goofy traversed the worlds to stop the Heartless and reverse the spread of darkness.

Every step in their tale was chronicled by Jiminy Cricket; meticulous and wise Jiminy was just the cricket for the job. However, despite pages and pages of their adventures being recorded, only a single line survived the journey: “Thank Naminé.” Or so Jiminy thought. After the events of Kingdom Hearts II, Jiminy reviews his journals and finds that his first journal carries another message in it, one he has never seen before nor can he explain:

“Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it.”

At once Jiminy takes his findings to the King of Disney Castle: Mickey Mouse, who rationalizes that this message has appeared because someone is in serious trouble and doesn’t know what to do. In an effort to save this person, Chip and Dale build a super computer that encodes Jiminy’s journal into data, hoping to access the journal’s memories of what was once written and clarify the message. This process, however, corrupts the data and soon the digital worlds become infested with bugs

But, there is hope. Resting within this datascape is a second Sora, and once the King’s voice reaches him, he takes it into his hands to relive the Outside Sora’s journey, fix the data world, and find out once-and-for-all who put the message in Jiminy’s journal.

Development

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded is a remake of Kingdom Hearts coded: an episodic Action-RPG that was released monthly from 2009 to 2010 on Japanese ‘NTT DoCoMo’ Mobile Phones.

Kingdom Hearts coded was announced at the same time as Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show, though was the last to be released in its entirety.

Almost immediately there were voices of concern that mobile phones internationally were not capable of such high-quality games. Director and creator Tetsuya Nomura addressed this, assuring fans he’d find a way to bring the game overseas.

The result was a full-scale remake of the game for the Nintendo DS, which was announced at the 2010 E3 expo. This remake titled Kingdom Hearts Re:coded was handled by Square Enix and the development company h.a.n.d. Inc., the same company that developed Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. The game was also directed by series director Tetsuya Nomura, and co-directed by Jun Kato and Hiroyuki Itou. Nomura himself penned the scenario, assisted by Daisuke Watanabe who has worked with much of the story so far in the series. The score was composed by Yoko Shimmura who has handled the challenging task of composing every game so far.

Re:coded features full 3d graphics, a completely reconstructed battle system inspired by 358/2 Days and Birth by Sleep but this system also changes in some cases from world-to-world. As well as a new Avatar system based on Kingdom Hearts mobile and a secret scene for players to unlock that deals heavily with the future of the series, as well as many more extras!

Characters

Data Sora

The Characters of KH: Re:coded The real Sora’s former ink-and-paper counterpart, he has been awakened in the digital world by the King in hopes of clearing the bugs in the datascape and revealing the nature of the mysterious message which haunts Jiminy’s journal. Just like the original, this Sora is friendly, and good-natured. Always there for whoever may need him.

King Mickey

As the King of Disney Castle he is gentle and kind, and as a Keyblade Master he is brave and powerful, having his foot in every adventure we’ve seen thus far. Mickey is very concerned with the nature of the message which has popped up so unexpectedly but he has faith that Sora will find the answers.

Jiminy Cricket

Appointed the Royal Chronicler by Queen Minnie, this small cricket has a big duty to record the tale of the Keyblade hero. Jiminy has had a front-row seat to some pretty great adventures, though none quite as peculiar as the one his journal has instigated.

Donald & Goofy

Disney Castle’s Royal Magician, Donald has explosive skill, and a matching temper to boot. Goofy, Captain of the Royal Guards, would do anything for his friends and his King. Dependable and protective, Goofy is a true friend with a big heart and bigger shield.

Chip & Dale

This rambunctious duo of chipmunks serves as Disney Castle’s engineers. Chip is tends to be more order-driven, while Dale likes to lay back and relax. Though the pair usually specializes in the mechanics of Gummi ships, they were more than happy to help the King build the computer that digitalized Jiminy’s journal.

The Hooded Figure

This man has been seen hopping from world to world in the datascape, and the bugs tend to follow him. It’d be easy to write him off as a member of Organization XIII, but his mysterious rhetoric seems to suggest something much more complicated.