Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix, which released yesterday in Japan, is a collection of Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, and cutscenes from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, all remastered in high definition. Now, thanks to Leta_jp‘s stream of the game, we have what might be the first clues about the next game in the series. Series director Tetsuya Nomura has hinted in interviews that there may be a second HD Remix on the way, and that certainly seems to be the case.
During the 1.5 HD Remix credits, players are treated to stills of various scenes from the series, which is nothing new for a Kingdom Hearts game. What makes this interesting is that the images shown all come from the games in the series that were not included in this collection. If this really is a hint towards a potential 2.5 HD Remix, it would appear that Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, and Kingdom Hearts Re:coded will all be receiving a makeover.
What remains to be seen is the level to which coded will be improved. Originally released on mobile phones in Japan before receiving a DS port in the form Re:coded, it seems likely the cutscenes from the DS version will get a new coat of paint for the collection, in the same way the 358/2 Days scenes were moved from the DS to become something of a movie in Kingdom Hearts 1.5. In a way this would be a disservice to the game, to me, as Re:coded boasted some of the best gameplay in the series, changing genres from one world to the next. It would be significantly more work to port the entire game, and that presumably hinges on the amount of resources Square Enix has allocated to the game.
Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix released on PS3 in Japan on March 14th, and is headed west later this year. As for a 2.5 HD Remix, we’ll have to patiently await word from the powers that be, though Tokyo Game Show is traditionally a hotbed of Kingdom Hearts info so perhaps we’ll see an official reveal come September.
