Square Enix and Disney Present The US Edition of Kingdom Hearts II

March 31st, 2006, 17:38 Posted By: wraggster

News from Lik Sang

In a year that could mark a long awaited turn-around for Disney with the Pixar merger, Square Enix have come together to celebrate almost 80 years of magic memories. In stock today, all pre-orders of Kingdom Hearts II US edition are being shipped, and all new orders will fly out the doors within 24 hours. Back in Japan the game sold 727,591 copies in its first week alone, so there's no doubt the untouchable RPG experience of Square Enix combined with the delightful imagination of Disney resulted in one of the greatest team ups of videogame history. Rather than have their hands tied by a specific story from a certain movie, the developers were free to create an entirely new adventure including all of Disney's most famous works, not to mention a couple of Square's too! Here you can watch the US TV Commercial, or download a trailer and gameplay footage from the Japanese version:

Set after Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories on the GBA, the original lead character Sora, and Disney comrades Donald and Goofy have slept for a solid year while regaining their lost memories. Waking up, Sora puts on some fresh clothes (we should hope so!) and continues on his quest to seal the keyholes of each world, protecting their innocence from the dark forces of the Heartless, Organization XIII and Nobodies. With a much more complex plot development than that of the original awaiting you, players of the GBA sequel will get the absolute most out of this title. The developers however have gone to great lengths to ensure you won't feel left out at all if you haven't played the portable adventure, and newcomers who missed both that and the first game need not worry either, you'll quickly be brought up to speed.

The original drew content from Alice in Wonderland, Hercules, Tarzan, Aladdin, Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Lion King, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, 101 Dalmatians, Beauty and the Beast, and more. Here there's more of those classics, plus Lilo & Stitch, Chicken Little, Mulan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tron, The Return of Jafar, Fantasia and others. In fact they range all the way back to 1928's Steamboat Willie, which of course takes place in black and white.

Despite some movies being used again, every level is brand spanking new, often taking place in completely separate settings than before. For example instead of on the streets of Agrabah for Aladdin, you'll be exploring the Cave of Wonders. Some franchises like Beauty and the Beast and Mulan which were only represented with characters in the original have been fleshed out with entire worlds here too.

At least 16 different Final Fantasy characters will appear here, including Auron, Yuna, Rikku, Cloud Strife, Yuffie, Sephiroth and more. Taking on a larger role, Cloud also has his own side quest now, and each of the FF VII stars take their looks from the more recent Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children movie. The Disney side has its fair share of cameos too, such as Scrooge McDuck, Yen Sid from Fantasia, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty and a whole heap more.

The all star English voice cast is just as impressive as it was in the original, with almost all actors reprising their roles once again here. Highlights include the now 18 year old Haley Joel Osment, David Gallagher, Dan Castellaneta, Sean Astin, Mena Suvari, Christopher Lee, Rachael Leigh Cook, Jesse McCartney, Zach Braff and many others.

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