In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Square Enix officially announced the development ofKingdom Hearts 4with a teaser trailer. Fans worldwide were excited to hear of a new mainline game so close after therelease ofKingdom Hearts 3and its subsequent DLCRe Mind.
Following the release of theKingdom Hearts 4trailer, fans could not help but feel reminiscent of the canceledFinal Fantasy Versus 13game. Various breakdowns of theKingdom Hearts 4trailer ensued, convincing fans more and more that the worlds ofVersus 13andKingdom Heartsare coming together – at least, in essence.
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What Could Have Been Final Fantasy Versus 13
For the uninitiated,Final Fantasy Versus 13was a project spearheaded by the creator and director of theKingdom Heartsseries, Tetsuya Nomura. The game was supposed to be a companion game toFinal Fantasy 13and a part of theFabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasyseries, but production delays and difficulties arose.Final Fantasy 13’s production was prioritized, leading many of those working onVersus 13to work on the main game instead.
Slowly but surely,Final Fantasy 13became a part of a completely different storyline – the Lightning Saga. This threwVersus 13and its accompanying universe up in the air, but Nomura was determined to see his project through. Then, there was the fact that the game engine used forFinal Fantasy 13– Crystal Tools – was deemed “practically unusable” for the ideas ofVersus 13. Crystal Tools was not powerful enough for the open-world ideas of Nomura forVersus 13.
A new game engine had to be built from scratch, leading to the creation of Luminous Studio, which Square Enix eventually used to develop therebrandedFinal Fantasy 15. The studio took Nomura off the development team, and in 2012,Versus 13was quietly canceled. While Noctis and company were still used as characters inFinal Fantasy 15, the story ofVersus 13was taken completely off the table.
Originally announced at E3 back in 2006, the trailer mentioned thatVersus 13was part of a “fantasy based in reality,” a theme seen heavily within the gameplay ofKingdom Hearts 3andRe Mindwith the introduction of the “fictional reality” of Quadratum. The narrative that the canceledVersus 13has been injected into the world ofKingdom Heartswas solidified, with fans absolutely convinced.
The similarities between the character design of Yozora to Noctis fromVersus 13did not go unnoticed by fans. Even the secret scene shownafter defeating Yozora in theRe MindDLC was practically the same as that of the firstVersus 13trailer featuring Noctis, frame-by-frame. If the player loses to Yozora, Sora becomes crystalized – a prominent theme in the releasedFinal Fantasy 13game.
Despite the similarities, Nomura continues to deny the merging of theVersus 13andKingdom Heartsworlds. Instead, he had commented on how Noctis is cherished as if the fictional character were his “youngest son.”
The Kingdom Hearts 4 Trailer
In theKingdom Hearts 4trailer, it is immediately noticeable how the game looks more akin to aFinal Fantasygame than a typicalKingdom Heartstitle. The realism given to the character design of Sora and Strelitzia,how Quadratum looks like modern-day Tokyo– these are details that have screamed “Versus 13” to many fans.
Strelitzia’s realistic character redesignhas drawn parallels to theVersus 13character Stella, who was cut from the finishedFinal Fantasy 15game. Sora’s fight scene against the monstrous Heartless felt like a callback to theVersus 13gameplay trailer where Noctis is seen fighting a Behemoth in the streets of a modern city. The short scene where Sora runs up and through a breaking building was reminiscent of Noctis running through the buildings of Altissia that were being broken apart by Leviathan.
Kingdom Heartsalready involves characters fromFinal Fantasy, as players meet Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka right off the bat on Destiny Islands in the first game. Along the way, more and moreFinal Fantasycharacters pop up to help or hinder the journey of Sora and his friends.Kingdom Hearts 3was the first in the series to feature absolutely zeroFinal Fantasycharacters. While it might be doubtful thatKingdom Hearts 4is indeed taking upon the story ofVersus 13as part of the new Lost Master arc,Versus 13could make a significant impactonKingdom Hearts 4.
