Developer: Square-Enix Publisher: Square-Enix System: Playstation Portable Genre: Roleplaying Number of Players: 1 Disks: Unknown ESRB Rating: Unknown Our Rating: N/A Directed By: Tetsuya Nomura & Tomohiro Hasegawa
Japan: Currently Unknown
Europe: Currently Unknown
North America: Currently Unknown
Prologue
The legendary Keyblade is said to hold
phenomenal power.
Some legends say that long ago, its wielder saved the world,
while some say that he brought chaos and ruin upon it.
(Ansem Report 8)
The trailer shown at the Tokyo Game Show 2007 has
got everyone on their toes for the first of three new
Kingdom Hearts games, here we have Kingdom Hearts Birth
by Sleep for the Playstation Portable which is
a prequel to KH1. Here is the trailer summary:
The beginning of the trailer shows scenes from the ending
of Kingdom Hearts 1 followed by text that reads "Deep
Past" and "Shut-Eyes gives birth to the concealed
fate".
Next we see two young males (who were in the secret ending
of Kingdom Hearts 2) in a place resembling Hollow Bastion.
The first young male can only be described as a Roxas look-a-like.
He's talking to the other boy who sports black hair (we
believe he's called Terra) and says "Ven.".
Many scenes flash on the screen before stopping on a bald
old man with goatee known as "Master Xehanort",
he calls the black haired male "Terra".
A Keyblade appears in Terra's hands.
The scene cuts and we're shown two worlds, Olympus Coliseum
is back (how can you have a Kingdom Hearts game without
tournaments?) Followed by a world that can only be described
as "Sleeping Beauty" which makes sense
as Maleficent has been the villain (and co-villain) for
the past games.
Next we see Terra (the black haired young male) engaging
combat against the darkly dressed male warrior who
we saw in KH2's secret ending video that Master Xehanort
created. Terra manages to force the helmet off his dark
opponent but we're unable to see his face.
King Mickey is shown summoning a Keyblade that is
a cross between sword and wand, he is wearing different
clothes from usual so we know that Birth By Sleep is a prequel
to KH1. The scene cuts quickly to Terra on a beach observing
two kids, the two figures become clearer, it's Sora and
Riku playing. The trailer ends with these words from
Terra: "Please don't depend on me, just erase me...friend."
Rumours
One Line Rumours
Dark warrior (helmet unknown) is Terra's brother. ~Jetzudan
Master Xehanort posesses Terra and creates KH2 Xehanort.
~KabbageLynn
Terra is Xehanort's apprentice/disciple ~Xagzan
Mickey Theory
You will be able to play as Mickey and travel through time
as him, which is the only possibility that Mickey can talk
to Sora in a prequel (as seen in the scan from yesterday
of Traverse Town). Also in the trailer summary it said that
Terra was looking at Sora on the beach, which could be the
moment that he chose Sora as the new keyblade bearer. ~
kingsora
Name Analysis
In the Famitsu Trailer overall summary, it says "It
seems the above three are full story on the new projects.
At the end of the trailers, we see "Hidden" "Days
are" "Born from sleep", words which embody
the three trailers. Then we see "The story leads on
to an approaching time." which puts us in the mind
of the three titles being linked to the next game."
"Hidden" meaning the lost memory in Coded - "Days
are" signifying 358/2 Days - "Born from sleep"
referring ro Birth by Sleep.
"Hidden Days are Born by Sleep" - This phrase
is probably highly significant for a future title that ties
everything together from the three games (Kingdom Hearts
3?). ~ Quoted from KHU Forums, written by The Graceful Assassin
Terra and Xehanort Theory
Master Xehanort will takeover Terra--the resemblance between
Xehanort (young) and Terra is just too much. After the takeover
some part of Terra may remain. This is the part you face
in Kingdom Hearts 2 and is possibly why he asks his friends
to forget about him because he is no longer a whole person.
~Chill
Xehanort Theory
Xehanort didn't do his job as a Keyblade Wielder, he was
evil and it was up to Terra, Ven and Aqua to stop him in
his tracks. They win the battle which makes Xehanort disappear.
Perhaps when he disappeared he fell into a deep sleep and
he wakes up, or is reborn (Birth by Sleep) during Kingdom
Hearts (or Kingdom Hearts 2). Ansem stumbles apon Xehanort,
but he can't remember anything but his name. At some point
Xehanort transforms into a Heartless and Nobody (Xemnes)
and Sora vanquishes him which puts him back in a deep sleep
and he is reborn (again) after Kingdom Hearts 2 but this
time he has retained his memories. This is a good theory
because Nomura said a big part of the new series is Xehanorts
memories. ~Igloo9
If the creators of these theories would like a word about
this page then please contact me at khextreme_staff(@)hotmail.co.uk
(remove the brackets from the "@" sign)
Hardly any English magazine even mentions KHII for some reason and to my surprise I found an article in the English PSM2 mag. Anyway here is the article. Doesn't feature anything new, but it's better than nothing. -------
We'll to be honest- we've been finding it hard to get that excited about the new KH. It's been about a thousand years since we first heard that Mickey is clad in a matrix-style trench coat and gets hands-on with the ass kicking. But then we saw these screenshots. Is.. is that Tron?! Yes, it's bloody Tron. Sora, Goofy and Donald don the classic blue suits and enter the glorious neon world of light cycles and magic Frisbee's. Then we learned that there's a level based on Pirates of The Caribbean with Johnny Depp and Keira Knigtley and everything! Could this game get any better? Only if it included a level based on Disney classic Uncle Buck, which, to be fair, probably won't happen.
PSM2 Reckons: They've chosen the best Disney films- Mulan, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and even the cartoon that started it all, Steamboat Willie, which features the gang drawn in a creepy back and white 50's style. There are more to be revealed, which only excites us further. All of a sudden, Final Fanty XII doesn't seem that fascinating...
Utada has just recently been interviewed on her single "Passion". We don't really find anything new in this long article but it's worth a read. -------
Passion really started about a year and a half ago. It's because it was the theme song to a game that it was made so early. From this time onwards I was getting info (in the way of subject matter). Like, say, just simple pictures or video clips from Kingdom Hearts II. These things said to me that the ending theme will build on all this from here onwards. It was a really hard thing to do.
It was like when I was making Hikari (the Kingdom Hearts theme song). I said, "At the moment, the things for the game feel a little...soulless". But last time, when I was making the song, the whole outlook for the game and it's entry onto the world was so crucial that I got a lot more info on the characters (so that Hikari would mirror the image that they wanted).
Passion is like, . It has a feeling that connects together the end of the last game and the sequel. Like, how it showed the characters and how they met and so forth. It was pretty easy to think up an image. It's like...as if Hikari was the dawn, and Passion has a concluding or 'dusk' feeling to it.
From here after, I wanted this song to communicate so many various ideas. While you can see some very ordinary imagery in the song, when you listen the imagery can become very dramatic.
The lyrics of Passion show how phases of the past, present and future of the character in my song relate to each other, and the arrangement builds a peculiar, almost floating feeling. People who have listened to Passion have wanted to daydream; to really see the places and times that I wanted to portray to them. While they listened to Passion. They're like, "What? How old is this person in the song? What day and month is this set? What? Where is this taking place!?".
It was made clear to me that the game needed another version of Passion, so the B-side on the single, Passion ~after the battle~, was recorded. It is the same song as the A-side, but with a different arrangement. This new arrangement couples the song as if it were to cure the problems seen on the A-side.
Well, there are two versions of the single (the CD+DVD and the CD Only). The music video is a combination of film shot by Kiriya Kazuaki in Beijing, and also a sequence of anime made by Morimoto Koji.
(On the filming in China) Some dancers and drummers that were in the music video really gave it their all. I thought I'd made so many mistakes, and I had to apologise so much!! I also kept on trying. Despite that I kept saying, "Taihen da nee (How awful!)" and like, "Ganbarou nee (I'll keep trying)" in Japanese!
When it was all was taking place, I kept making gags like saying, "This so isn't China!" Oh, it seemed like I was just saying, "xìe xìe! Xìe xìe! (thank you in Mandarin)" all the time! Everyone was really trying hard! This song is really important to me. I see it as "everyone's song", as if it's a reflection from everyone. It has everyone's feelings instilled in it.
The anime character that Moromoto Koji made for the music video is of a girl that he made to really look like me. When I first looked at it, Mr. Morimoto kept drawing girl's faces that I thought looked different from my own, but on the way he must have changed it. I got an explanation out of him, and he said that he only noticed it that moment. I mean, I don't think I'm cute, but I thought he made my image into a really cute one! He must have added a boy's face instead of mine. I thought the animaton had more of a boy's facial complexion. I was really happy about it though!
The people who were doing the on-the-spot filming seemed to have my sort of make. Like, not very adult-like and not very feminine. We all seemed to have wild feelings, much like as if we were all Princess Mononoke (film character who was raised by wolves in the wilderness). Uggh, it looks like I'll be getting more female fans now!
Right the recording for my next album (untitled as present) is steadily getting done. 2006 seems like it'll be a very active year for Utada Hikaru.
Japan: Currently Unknown
Europe: Currently Unknown
North America: Currently Unknown
Kingdom Hearts 2 ~ KHII Back Box Art Revealed!
