40 Fun Facts About Kingdom Hearts III

Tetsuya Nomura considered not making Kingdom Hearts III without Pixar rights, chiefly wanting a world from which film?

Toy Story was the first world pitched to Pixar, soon after Kingdom Hearts II was finished. Approval of the story and character designs then took several years.

In Kingdom Hearts III, which of Sora's companions pours all his magic into Zettaflare to blast the possessed Terra away?

Donald Duck keeps the spell for truly desperate situations, and it is strong enough to seemingly disintegrate his target. He casts it after the guardians are overwhelmed at the Keyblade Graveyard.

The Lucky Emblems Sora photographs in Kingdom Hearts III to unlock a secret ending are hidden symbols of whom?

Mickey Mouse turns up as a Hidden Mickey, stamped on walls or formed by ordinary objects seen from the right angle. Olette points out the first one in a group photo taken in Twilight Town.

Which producer, a fan of the series, set out to remix a Kingdom Hearts III theme but co-wrote Face My Fears instead?

Skrillex was asked by Hikaru Utada to remix the ending theme and proposed writing a brand-new song instead. The pair wrote the opening number with songwriter Poo Bear.

Which song does Queen Elsa sing in Kingdom Hearts III while raising her ice palace on Arendelle's North Mountain?

Let It Go plays as Sora and his friends catch up with Elsa on the mountain. During the song she is also briefly seen creating the snowman Olaf.

Which cartoon character, Tetsuya Nomura's Disney favorite, was he denied permission to use in Kingdom Hearts III?

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was created by Walt Disney in 1927 and lost to Universal a year later. Disney only won him back in 2006, in a trade for a sportscaster.

Which Disney character founded Le Grand Bistrot, the Twilight Town restaurant where Sora cooks in Kingdom Hearts III?

Scrooge McDuck financed the restaurant so that Little Chef, the rat from Ratatouille, could expand his culinary horizons. Sora gathers ingredients for the kitchen on his travels.

Which Final Fantasy VII character, left out of Kingdom Hearts III at launch, returns in its downloadable expansion?

Aerith returns alongside Squall, Yuffie and Cid in the expansion. They were cut from the main game because Nomura felt the original cast no longer needed their support.

The King of Toys, final boss of Toy Box in Kingdom Hearts III, is born from darkness in which toy's heart?

Buzz Lightyear has the darkness drawn out of him by Young Xehanort, who uses the purple flying-saucer Heartless as a distraction to cover his own retreat.

The Grim Guardianess, a massive tree-like boss in Kingdom Hearts III, is the Heartless of which Disney villain?

Mother Gothel succumbs to darkness in her dying moments, and Marluxia shapes the Heartless from her remains. It is the last boss of the Kingdom of Corona.

In Kingdom Hearts III, which Big Hero 6 member is fought in a corrupted form as a San Fransokyo boss?

Baymax left his first body behind when he pushed Hiro out of a closing portal. Dark Riku fuses the empty shell with data-gathering Darkubes to create the boss.

In Kingdom Hearts III, Vanitas gives the Lump of Horror to which Monstropolis schemer as a trump card?

Randall holds the creature back while lesser Unversed collect children's screams to fuel it, then sets it on Sora, Mike and Sulley. He ends up banished from Monstropolis again.

Which Heartless boss chases Hayner, Pence and Olette through Twilight Town in Kingdom Hearts III?

Demon Tide is countless Shadows moving as one wave, and it turns into a tornado when hurt. It returns at the Keyblade Graveyard, where Sora rides a stream of Keyblades to finish it.

Which of Hades' Titans guards the way to the Realm of the Gods on Mount Olympus in Kingdom Hearts III?

Rock is the Titan that sends rock slides down the cliffs as Sora climbs the mountain. The other Titans are fought together later, in the final battle of Olympus.

Which Heartless, wielding a large blue sword in each hand, is the lone enemy of Battlegate 14 in Kingdom Hearts III?

Dark Inferno fights alone at the Keyblade Graveyard, in a challenge that opens only after the story is beaten. A variant of the boss later opens the downloadable expansion.

Which Organization XIII member traps Sora in a Labyrinth of Ice in Kingdom Hearts III's Arendelle?

Larxene shatters an ice wall with her electricity and shapes the pieces into the maze, hoping to keep Sora away from Elsa. The dungeon was invented for the game.

Which forgotten friend of Roxas and Axel fills the thirteenth seat of Organization XIII in Kingdom Hearts III?

Xion returns when a past version of her heart is placed in a replica body. She is reunited with her two friends during the battle at the Keyblade Graveyard.

Which Organization XIII scientist proves to be a double agent in Kingdom Hearts III, securing a replica body for Roxas?

Vexen rejoins the villains only to atone for the harm he once caused. He rescues Ansem the Wise and talks Demyx into delivering a blank replica to the heroes.

Which Organization XIII member is unmasked in Kingdom Hearts III's epilogue as the ancient Keyblade apprentice Luxu?

Xigbar retrieves Xehanort's Keyblade after the final battle and uses it to summon the Foretellers, his fellow apprentices.

Which Keyblade Master, corrupted in the realm of darkness, attacks Riku and is purified by Sora in Kingdom Hearts III?

Aqua's heart is corrupted when the Heartless Ansem abducts Ansem the Wise from the realm of darkness. Once freed, she returns to the realm of light and sets out to wake Ventus.

Whose lost Keyblade does Sora find on the Destiny Islands and use to enter the dark realm in Kingdom Hearts III?

Eraqus's old Keyblade lets Sora open a way into the realm of darkness. The Master's spirit later emerges from Terra and persuades Xehanort to surrender.

Which cat-like Dream Eater explains the Final World to Sora after his defeat in Kingdom Hearts III?

Chirithy tells Sora where he is and helps him piece his scattered body back together. It is the lost companion of Ventus, and Sora later offers to reunite the two.

What happens to Sora at the very end of Kingdom Hearts III, the price of misusing the power of waking?

He fades away during his friends' celebration on the Destiny Islands. He had overused the power to restore Kairi after Xehanort destroyed her body.

Which Frozen character is first fought as a boss and later joins Sora's party in Kingdom Hearts III's Arendelle?

Marshmallow is the bodyguard Elsa creates to keep intruders out of her ice palace. He keeps many of his boss-fight attacks once he is fighting at Sora's side.

Which Disney hero can Sora call as a Link summon in Kingdom Hearts III?

Wreck-It Ralph joins Simba, Ariel, Stitch and the Dream Eater Meow Wow as the game's Links, which replace the summons of earlier entries.

Which Disney duo invented the Gummiphone, the device Sora uses for calls and selfies in Kingdom Hearts III?

Chip and Dale built the phone from Gummi Blocks so that Sora and his allies could talk across worlds. It doubles as the game's camera and journal.

Kingdom Hearts III launched in January 2019 on PlayStation 4 and which other console?

Xbox One received a port of the PlayStation 4 version, confirmed shortly after the game was first unveiled. The downloadable expansion reached it a month late.

Piloting a Gigas toy robot in the Toy Box world briefly turns Kingdom Hearts III into what kind of game?

A first-person shooter is what the mechs deliver, with Sora firing from inside the cockpit. Other worlds have twists of their own, such as downhill sledding on a snowy mountain.

Which spell does Kingdom Hearts III add to Sora's magic for the first time, joining Fire, Blizzard and Thunder?

Water arrives alongside a powerful new top tier for every spell. Magic also behaves differently in the game's underwater sections.

Classic Kingdom, a set of retro LCD diversions on Sora's phone in Kingdom Hearts III, imitates which 1980s handhelds?

Game & Watch titles starring Disney characters were the direct model. Clearing all 23 of the minigames earns Sora the Classic Tone Keyblade.

Which difficulty setting was missing from Kingdom Hearts III at launch and only arrived in an update three months later?

Critical Mode was left out because, Nomura said, it had always been an extra of the Final Mix re-releases. The update gave it exclusive abilities such as Critical Counter.

In Kingdom Hearts III, the Toy Box Keyblade Favorite Deputy transforms first into a hammer and then into what?

A drill, used in the Drill Punch transformation, follows the Hyper Hammer. Both belong to Power Form, the heavy-hitting style that this Keyblade unlocks.

Which group of gargantuan Heartless hide across Kingdom Hearts III, each challenging Sora to a minigame for ingredients?

Flantastic Seven members are rotund giants made of flan with a chocolate glaze. Hitting the target score in all of their minigames earns Sora an Orichalcum+.

A year into development, Kingdom Hearts III dropped Square Enix's in-house Luminous technology in favor of what?

Unreal Engine replaced Luminous for what Nomura only called a variety of reasons. He later blamed the switch for extensive delays, since part of the work had to be started over.

Which downloadable expansion to Kingdom Hearts III revisits the final battle and makes Kairi playable?

Re Mind arrived a year after the main game and is split into three episodes. Nomura preferred a single expansion to the Final Mix re-release that earlier entries received.

Kingdom Hearts III first reached PC in 2021 as a three-year exclusive on which digital storefront?

Epic Games Store kept the game to itself on PC until a Steam release in June 2024. The PC edition came bundled with all of the downloadable content.

Which actor voices Master Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts III, taking over after Leonard Nimoy's death?

Rutger Hauer died later in 2019, so Christopher Lloyd voiced the villain in the downloadable expansion.

Which former Disney Channel star voices Yozora, the mysterious rival Sora duels in Kingdom Hearts III's expansion?

Dylan Sprouse was delighted with the part because he loves the heroes of Japanese role-playing games. Yozora first appears in a video game advert inside the Toy Box world.

Which performer voices Kairi in the English version of Kingdom Hearts III?

Alyson Stoner took the role over from Hayden Panettiere, starting with the remake of Chain of Memories. Stoner also voices a second young Keyblade wielder in the game.

Which part of Kingdom Hearts III's expansion pits a digital Sora against thirteen recreated Organization XIII bosses?

Limitcut Episode is set a year after the ending, as Riku studies battle data on Cid's computer for clues to where Sora has gone.