Kingdom Hearts: Coded

Director: Tetsuya Nomura
Co-Director: Tai Yasue
Producer: Patrick Chen
Co-producer: Yoichi Yoshimoto
Executive Producer: Shinji Hashimoto

Platform: Mobile (FOMA)
Release Dates:
- Japan // Summer 2008
- North America // TBD
- Europe // TBD

Development

Kingdom Hearts: Coded is another new addition to the Kingdom Hearts Series. Coded, along with 358/2 Days and Birth By Sleep, was announced at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2007. All three will be able to connect to a new Kingdom Hearts game in the near future. Unlike the other games announced, Coded will be created for Mobile Phones and will star Sora and Co. A unique quality about being on a Mobile Phone is that it will still be played on a horizontal screen.

Coded will still retain both 3D and 2D qualities. Reason being is so the game will be available on a wide range of cell phones, so the game could be sent overseas. The graphics are said to be at the same level as Final Fantasy Agito XIII.

The concept for Coded actually started when Nomura ended up drunk. He explained his idea for a Kingdom Hearts game on a Mobile Phone, which at the time wasn’t even going to be apart of the series. Eventually he added new elements to the game, and developed Kingdom Hearts: Coded. You may have to wait a while to see a release of this game. There have been problems with Mobile Phones not being able to handle the graphics. However, its been promised that we won’t have to wait 2-3 years for Coded to come out.

At Jump Festa, it was announced that the phone that Coded will be released on is the FOMA model. More information can be accessed here.

Game Play

Apparently there is a bug in the Kingdom Hearts world. Jiminy Cricket discovers them while looking through his old journal. To fix this problem, the journal must be analyzed in order to find the bug . After finding it, naturally, you must eliminate it.

The Kingdom Hearts Series’ button layout made it easy to convert the control scheme to Mobile Phones. Since the team is recreating the controls, it will still feel like the classic Kingdom Hearts. What we know about the game play is that Sora will be moving blocks around to complete puzzles, while heartless are attacking from every angle. Upon completion of the puzzle, a “Debugging” option appears, which causes Sora to vanish. This has Coded play as a puzzle game, with some action thrown in.

A telecommunication feature is being added to the game. This makes it possible to interfere with other players during game play. Whether it’s just to help a friend eliminate a few heartless, or figuring out a puzzle for someone. After which, you return to your own game.

There will be different modes in Coded, one being High Speed Mode. In this mode, Sora is said to be able to move at blinding speeds. And another recently annoucned mode has been called Crash Mode. This mode transforms the game into a side scroller. It's unknown how much this will affect the overall gameplay.

Debugs have a certain time limit, if you fail to eliminate the bug then you can attempt again with other debugging methods. Upgrade Points can be used to help Sora become stronger. These are done by eliminating heartless. Each heartless is worth 10 points, so this can be considered part of the new leveling up system.

Coded's Online play can be used to join in and help other players in the game. However the system changes when in the other player's world, although it is unknown exactly how. By the way, the player's, other then the one that joined, will be shown as a shadow Sora to prevent confusions.

Story

Coded will be taking place after Kingdom Hearts II. The story seems to start off with Jiminy looking throughout his journals. The blank one due to the events of Castle Oblivion and the one completed after their battle with Organization XIII. He stumbles across a sentence that he doesn’t remember writing.

This worries Jiminy and he immediately alerts The King of his findings. The King is also startled by this discovery, but is unable to offer help. Mickey claims that only “he” is the one who can solve it, which Jiminy also agrees too.

The story will involve Sora, although it won‘t be the real one but a copy. The ‘fake’ Sora has been seen arriving at Destiny Islands’ shore, although he seems to be sent there digitally. The scene when Sora first arrives in Traverse Town has been recreated as well, but this time around Sora remembers it. Another change in the original story is that Mickey appears in Traverse Town too.

Even though this story takes after place after Kingdom Hearts II, Sora, Riku and Kairi will not be shown living their lives post - Kingdom Hearts II. Reason being the story will be taking place digitally. The two known digitalized worlds you’ll be re-exploring are Traverse Town and Disney Castle.

This game is set to clear up any unsolved matters in the Kingdom Hearts universe, but will also clarify where Riku and The King were during the events of the first game. For example, Mickey reveals he was actually in Traverse Town at the same time as Sora.

It should be noted that this game is not just another Chain of Memories. Where Chain of Memories was created to relive the worlds created by Sora's memory, this game creates an entirely new story and game play with Sora venturing to defeat a bug that has corrupted the journal.

While Sora is busy exploring Traverse Town, and eventually meeting up with long time companions Donald and Goofy, the story will shift to new scenes that focus on Pluto. Riku's also receives a new scene in Neverland. This event will reveal what he was thinking before kidnapping Kairi. Even though there are bugs in the journal, they are not heartless. They just happen to invade this world and manage to cause even more havoc.

Rumors

In this section will be some of the most popular and speculated rumors.

Keep in mind that anything posted in here is completely unconfirmed and is pure speculation.

Expect this section to grow in future updates.

Screens

Scans