Summary
TheKingdom Heartsfranchise is known for merging Square Enix and Disney characters. The games somehow take the serious and often dark designs of Square Enix and seamlessly insert them into the more whimsical worlds created by Disney. A leak from a reputable source indicates that Sora and the gang nearly got transported into the world of a very unexpected Disney creation.
Kingdom Heartssuperfan13th Vesselrevealed the information on X (formerly Twitter): “It looks likeCars was originally considered for KINGDOM HEARTS III.“According to some leaked footage and files fromKingdom Hearts 3,the world list originally contained the entry カーズ（仮）, which translates to “Cars (Tentative).” This implies that Square Enix was tentatively considering sending the protagonists ofKH3into the world of the Disney/Pixar movieCars.
Every time theKingdom Heartsprotagonists travel to a different Disney world, they change to resemble the residents of that world. This means, as YouTube user windy4566 puts it in a comment on13th Vessel’s video on the leaked footage, “Somewhere deep in Square’s [HQ,] there are concept drawings for car Sora and I’m not sure the world is ready for it.”
Kingdom Hearts 4 Release Date Window Gets A Disappointing But Reliable Update
After a lot of recent speculation and rumors, a disappointing release date window for Kingdom Hearts 4 has leaked online from a reliable source.
Leaked Footage Also Shows Kingdom Hearts 3 Development Process
From Storyboarding To Animating
13th Vessel’s compilation of pre-production footage is pulled from a leaked Premium Showcase build.The video shows several clips from different points in the development ofKingdom Hearts 3,including several attack and movement animation demos and beta versions of cutscenes. These offer a rare glimpse into what the game’s production looked like, from storyboard drawings to actual animations.
One of the longest sections of the video reveals the process of animating the song “Let It Go” from Disney’sFrozen.The video shows how the still, uncolored concept images from the game’s storyboard correspond to the actual moment in the game. A lot of detail also clearly went into faithfully recreating the movie’s animation in the world ofKingdom Hearts.
Another part of the compilation shows a rough mock-up of the opening movie fromKingdom Hearts 3.This demo cutscene makes it evident thatFinal Fantasy 15models were used as stand-ins for theKH3characters in the beta and development stage. This has long been rumored to be the case, and the pre-production footage is now confirmation.
It’s unlikelyKingdom Heartsfans will ever see their favorite characters as cars, since Disney has since come out with a number of other successful movies. It’s not completely out of the question, though:Kingdom Hearts 4is currently in production, and not much is known about the story and planned crossovers. All fans can expect is for the nextKingdom Heartsto look amazing since it’s beingdeveloped in Unreal Engine 5, whether it includes car Sora or not.
Sources:13th Vessel/X,13th Vessel/YouTube
Kingdom Hearts 3
After a decade since the last numbered entry in the epic crossover action RPG franchise, the conclusion to the original saga arrives as Kingdom Hearts III. Players again join up with Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they set off to stop Xenahort’s goal of reaching Kingdom Hearts itself and enacting a new keyblade war. In addition, players will experience several classic Disney & Pixar films, traditional and more contemporary, such as Tangled, Frozen, and Toy Story, as they visit their worlds and interact with these characters on their adventures.
