This weekend was pretty incredible for Kingdom Hearts fans. We hoped we’d get something from D23 Expo Japan 2018… and it turned out to be two trailers and a wealth of information.

I went through a spoiler-filled analysis of the story content in these trailers at KH Theories, so here I’ll focus more on going through the new information we have.

Here is the first trailer.

This trailer confirms several things:

• Marluxia is returning.
• Vanitas is returning.
• The Monsters Inc. world is real.
• Ariel appears to be a summons.

It was also interesting to see Sora’s interactions with Marluxia and Vanitas, since he has connections to them without knowing why.

The second trailer mainly introduces the new theme song by Hikaru Utada, “Oath” in the Japanese version and “Don’t Think Twice” in the English version. However, it shows some adjustments to scenes from previous trailers as well as new content at the end.

In the new scene, we see Riku (with a new design) and Mickey in the Realm of Darkness. Riku’s Keyblade has somehow been broken, and he leaves it behind for “the other me.” Official renders include what appear to be his new Keyblade.

This has prompted a lot of speculation.

But even more information came out over the weekend besides what was revealed in the trailers!

Do you miss NPCs in Kingdom Hearts? It looks like they’re back for Kingdom Hearts 3! A “Making of Kingdom Hearts III” presentation at D23 included a look at the Kingdom of Corona (Tangled), which is a lively world filled with NPCs.

You can check out more NPC shots here.

Square Enix also revealed a new Game & Watch style mini-game (this seems to be be based on Disney’s Giantland), that the final stage is something Nomura has always wanted to do, and that KH3’s Gummi Ship segments will include an open exploration phase and a combat phase.

I’ve never enjoyed the Gummi Ship segments, but it sounds like it might be more fun in Kingdom Hearts III.

Meanwhile, it also sounds like Kingdom Hearts Union Cross and Kingdom Hearts III will be linked in some way. Nomura calls this Project Xtrace.

KHUX will start using completely new worlds, the main scenario will develop rapidly, and KH3 will reveal why Ventus is around during Union Cross.

(Maybe I should start playing it again…)

Kingdom Hearts III will also include a Rare Heartless themed after Japanese pudding, and they’ll have fruit accessories. The Gummi Ship will also be customizable, in a system similar to how customization worked in Kingdom Hearts 0.2.

Finally, development of the worlds has been split into three stages. The first stage, which includes Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Olympus, is 90% complete. Tangled is in the middle stage, which is 60-70% complete. They’ve indicated there are 10 worlds, but it’s unclear if this refers to all the worlds or just Disney worlds. (Update: apparently the actual Japanese wording could indicate anything between 10-19, so we don’t know how many worlds are in KH3 yet.)

Phew. That’s quite a lot of new information! Are you excited for Kingdom Hearts III? What do you think about the new details that were revealed this weekend?

After the exciting new Kingdom Hearts III trailer revealed on the weekend, several sites interviewed Tetsuya Nomura about the game.

That means we have even more Kingdom Hearts III details to discuss!

First, in an interview with IGN, he indicated that Sora won’t be the only playable character. There will be at least one other.

He wouldn’t reveal who it is, which is interesting. Would he keep it a secret if it’s an obvious choice like Riku? (Personally, I’m still hoping for a playble Young Eraqus & Young Xehanort flashback.)

As the trailers have shown, larger parties are also possible now. You can have at least 5 characters in a party, possibly more, so you’ll no longer need to pick between characters.

In a second interview with IGN, Nomura said they won’t rule out Kingdom Hearts III on the Nintendo Switch or Kingdom Hearts 1.5 & 2.5 on the Xbox One, but they’re going to focus on what they’ve already announced before thinking about that.

Since Kingdom Hearts III is coming to the Xbox One, bringing the collection there as well just makes sense. We’ll see what happens.

Next, while talking to Game Informer, he confirmed that the Gummi Ship will return for Kingdom Hearts III.

He also confirmed that Pixar asked for the Toy Story world to have an original story rather than follow one of the movie plots. In terms of setting, it takes place sometime after Toy Story 2.

The world sounds like it will be pretty big, and this is a goal for the game:

“Rather than having multiple different little worlds, we wanted to make sure we’re providing rich gameplay in an individual world, so we put in a lot of effort and allocated a lot of resources to create these worlds, and it would be sad for players not to enjoy the world and breeze right through it. Therefore, we made sure that each of the worlds is designed so players can take their time and enjoy the gameplay that’s available.”

It’s unclear if that means there will be fewer worlds than usual. I hope not, because I have my heart set on a lengthy Kingdom Hearts III.

Nomura also told Game Informer that each Keyblade will have its own transformations, and that you’ll be able to interact with the environments more to progress and explore.

Finally, he spoke to GameSpot about the development process and how it hurts to see fans say he’s taking too long. The decision made by Square Enix to switch to Unreal Engine 4, along with personnel issues, lengthened the development time. However, he says there haven’t been problems with Kingdom Hearts III’s development teams.

He doesn’t think they’ll keep any Disney worlds a secret (so if you want to be surprised, you might want to avoid Kingdom Hearts news), and Kingdom Hearts III DLC is possible, although nothing is set yet.

That’s a lot of Kingdom Hearts information to take in, but it’s pretty interesting. Are you excited for Kingdom Hearts III?