Just announced at D23 Japan, Kingdom Hearts is getting a second HD collection in 2.5 Remix for Playstation 3 in 2014:

This will contain Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix & Birth by Sleep Final Mix (both of which have never before been released outside of Japan) and remade cutscenes from Re: Coded.

Cool. Looking forward to it.

This is insane why couldn't they just have included this with the HD re-release that came out this year? Although, I guess now that I think about it I already know that answer because the KH fans are rabid enough that they will buy whatever SE throws at them anyways.

As an outsider Kingdom Hearts confuses me. Did they make like three games and keep re-releasing them?

Because 1.5 already had a ton of content. How can you still complain about this?

@darji: Easy, because there is no reason other that price gouging their fans why they couldn't have had this stuff included in one HD kingdom hearts set.

I always found it weird how they didn't just package the 2 main games together. Well this explains why.

They would probably justify it as 1.5 had 1 and the two games that take place between 1 and 2, while 2.5 has 2 and the games that lead into 3. I don't necessarily agree that was the right way to do it, but that is probably how they would explain it.

@tepidshark: Yeah, it's still nice that these packages come with the side games. But one would expect an HD package to come with the main games you know?

Because it was not even a full price title and 40$/40€ is a nice entry for the series.

It's not surprising at all, but it really does kind of suck that these two HD collections won't be enough to get fans completely updated on the story in time for Kingdom Hearts 3. They'd still have to play Dream Drop Distance, and that's only on 3DS.

Lol, there was an interview with a dude that implied pretty heavily that a 2.5 HD would rely on the fans' "support" ($$$) of 1.5, and yet it looks like they've already been busy with it.

A main game with new content never seen outside Japan, a "side" game and remade and fully voiced cutscenes from a bad game for $40 seems like a decent deal to me. They also updated the graphics and music rather than simply upressing the original game like most HD collections. I really don't see what the problem is, I don't even like Kingdom Hearts but I still think Square Enix did a better job than most companies on their HD port. If you want to complain about gouging the fans go over to the Wind Waker HD board and rant about Nintendo charging $50 for one game, because that's actually ridiculous.

Awesome, thought about getting 1.5. This might make up my decision knowing 2.5 is set for release.

What is it about that theme music, always gets me.

@pandabear: There are two main games, Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 and then a ton of handheld side stories of sorts. One on GBA (Chain of Memories which was remade on PS2 and then included in 1.5 HD), two on DS (358/2 Days and Re: Coded which was itself a remake of a mobile phone game), one on PSP (Birth By Sleep) and one on 3DS (Dream, Drop, Distance). Kingdom Hearts 3 was supposed to come out on PS3 after VS 13 was finished but since it was never finished we went an entire generation without a new Kingdom Hearts game.

Well, then pack in 2.5 and charge $60.

Super excited about this, especially considering I basically just wrapped up 1.5 this weekend. KHII and Birth By Sleep are my two favorite games in the series and I've never gotten to play to the Final Mix version of BBS. Maybe the multi-player in it will actually be a bit more playable as well!

Cool news, I suppose. I don't think I have nearly as much interest in these games as I do in the ones from 1.5 though, excepting KH II, so I'm not as excited, but it's cool to hear. Those handheld iterations can definitely improve mechanically from the full-on console treatment, though that will do nothing for their storyline, where the crucial shortcomings lie.

From what I understand, they wanted to see whether or not there'd be demand enough to warrant an Hd release of KH2. The original assets for 1 were completely lost and they had to start from scratch to redo the game in HD. I don't know if that's the case for 2, but I'd understand if they wanted to wait and see before going through such a tedious process for something nobody wanted.

Also, having played through the Hd release from this year, there's more than enough content in that release for the reduced price. You effectively get two whole games (Kingdom Hearts 1 and Re:Chain of Memories) and a bunch of bonus content on one disc. The product didn't come across to me as any more of a cash grab than other hd releases are. Despite this, I can't say I didn't wish they would've just put both main games in one package like most Hd releases do.

And here I was thinking I had bought my last PS3 game ever. Really excited for this release just finishing up 1.5 as I type, slightly wish KH:DDD was included instead of Re:coded as it plays a way more significant part in the grand scheme of things. But I'll finally be able to play BBS which I've always wanted to catch up on.

I was always curious about BBS because I fell off the Kingdom Hearts wagon after 2.

Looks like I'm hopping back on.

Hecks yeah. Can't wait. The question is, will Dream Drop Distance become an individual release somewhere down the line? I sure hope so...

358/2 Days wasn't a bad game.

You mean aside from the individual release on 3DS? I doubt it because the 3DS is still a current system.

I'm concerned about the Kingdom Hearts fragmentation that is occurring with the thousands of remake releases that have been coming out. for Example, KH1 was remade about 3 times between the various regions, with the Japan-only release getting the most content (no English version planned); it's the same for KH2. As well, KH:COM and BBS has two remakes now, with the Japan-only release having the most content (no English version planned). There are a lot of different versions for the games we already have today, with different content on each revision and all the content exclusive to one region and one language. Knowing all this, this is my reaction:

1. I am going to wait for when an English version of the games with all the content comes out, which will be never. Therefore, I will never buy any more KH games. This leads to decreased sales

2. A Layman will be confused about what content is released on what region and on what date, leading to decreased sales and negative feedback.

Overall, fragmentation leads to poor sales.

Release the remakes multilingually on a single disc, however, and maybe we'll talk.

I didn't play it myself, but all the Kingdom Hearts fans I've talked to about it said it was bad.

@taku128: I and KH fans I know would never say it's the best, but the story elements are entertaining, the core gameplay is fun, and the co-op multiplayer is fantastic. The downside is that the game is entirely mission-based and features a lot of missions that are little more than padding.

....it totally was it was mind numbing I want to shoot my self dull and incoherent.

Well I'm glad Birth By Sleep is out of the UMD circle of hell and some people might actually play it because it was a pretty fun standalone Kingdom Hearts game.

I wonder if They'll throw a port of the 3DS title out to at least vita if not PS3 in between now and KHIII. One assumes they have a few years or perhaps a full decade.

@williamrlbaker: It was far from incoherent. And I certainly didn't find it dull.

Bummer I thought for sure 2.5 would include the 3DS game, still this is probably the one to get KHII and Birth By Sleep are the best of the series I don't know why they bothered with the cutscenes of Coded nothing that happened in that game matters and it played like crap just like 358/2 Days.

Tell that to Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate. It's possible.