20 Things You DIDN'T Know About Kingdom Hearts 3
20 Things You Didn't Know About Kingdom Hearts III
Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re counting down 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Kingdom Hearts’s third mainline entry.
After more than a decade of anticipation, Kingdom Hearts III finally brought Sora’s battle against Xehanort to a close—while naturally creating approximately seventeen new mysteries in the process. But behind those Disney worlds, Keyblade transformations and incomprehensible discussions about hearts are some fascinating development stories, cut ideas and tiny details even dedicated fans may have missed.
Face My Fears
Skrillex and Kingdom Hearts sound like an unexpected, unholy combination, but their collab song - “Face My Fears” wasn’t originally supposed to exist. The initial plan was reportedly for Skrillex to create a remix of Utada Hikaru’s “Don’t Think Twice,” the game’s primary ending theme. However, Skrillex—already a huge Kingdom Hearts fan and personally acquainted with Utada—ended up collaborating with her and producer Poo Bear on an entirely new song instead. The result became “Face My Fears,” the energetic opening theme accompanying KH3’s wonderfully dramatic intro sequence.
The Three Voices of Xehanort
Xehanort went through an extraordinary succession of English voice actors. Leonard Nimoy originally defined the character’s wonderfully gravelly voice in Birth by Sleep and later appearances before passing away in 2015. For Kingdom Hearts III, the role went to another legendary performer: Rutger Hauer, star of Blade Runner. Sadly, Hauer passed away only months after KH3’s release. When Xehanort returned for the Re Mind expansion, Square Enix recast the character again—this time with Christopher Lloyd, best known as Doc Brown from Back to the Future. That's three extremely distinctive performers attached to one villain.
Where Are The Final Fantasy Characters?
One of KH3’s strangest omissions was the near-total absence of traditional Final Fantasy characters. Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid and Cloud had all been prominent in previous games, so fans naturally wondered where everyone went. Nomura later explained that KH3 already had an enormous number of characters whose stories needed resolving. With Organization XIII, multiple Keyblade wielders, Disney casts and the Guardians of Light competing for screen time, there simply wasn’t enough room. Nomura also felt the series had reached a point where it no longer required Final Fantasy characters to establish its identity. Fan demand clearly mattered, though as Re Mind eventually brought several familiar faces back.
Unreal Engine 4
Kingdom Hearts III didn’t spend its entire development cycle running on Unreal Engine 4. Square Enix initially developed the game using its own technology before making the decision to switch engines during production. According to Nomura, that transition inevitably caused development setbacks because portions of the project effectively needed to be rebuilt or adapted to function within Unreal Engine 4, which helps explain at least part of KH3’s famously lengthy development process. The switch ultimately proved worthwhile, especially considering how dramatically the game shifts visual styles between locations like Toy Box, Monstropolis and the Caribbean.
Luxord of the Caribbean
Apparently even Organization XIII members require costume changes when visiting Disney worlds. The Caribbean presented Square Enix with a unique challenge because Pirates of the Caribbean uses photorealistic characters based on actual actors. Normal Kingdom Hearts character models looked noticeably too stylised standing beside Jack Sparrow and company. So Square created specialised, more realistic models for Sora, Donald and Goofy. But here's the particularly strange part: Luxord needed one too. Because the Organization member appears extensively throughout the world, the developers created a Caribbean-specific version of him with more realistic skin, hair and facial detail.
The Flantastic Seven
Those enormous pudding Heartless scattered across the worlds nearly became victims of development cuts. The Flantastic Seven challenge players with bizarre minigames involving everything from bouncing around Olympus to photographing increasingly aggressive desserts.
During development, however, the team apparently reached a point where content needed trimming. Co-director Tai Yasue specifically pushed to keep the Flans in the finished game rather than remove them or save them for later DLC. That means these ridiculous enemies survived partly because somebody inside Square Enix was willing to fight for giant sentient pudding.
Riku's New Keyblade
Riku’s Braveheart Keyblade looks noticeably different from most weapons in the series. There's a reason for that. Nomura explained that the design was inspired by modern house keys. Traditional Kingdom Hearts Keyblades usually resemble oversized decorative skeleton keys, but modern real-world keys often have much straighter, more industrial designs. That aesthetic influenced Braveheart, giving it the appearance of an enormous contemporary key rather than something belonging to an ancient fantasy lock. It’s surprisingly mundane inspiration for a weapon capable of fighting Heartless, travelling between worlds and potentially unlocking reality itself.
3D Pixel Sora
The toy versions of Sora, Donald and Goofy are among KH3’s cutest transformations. But they almost looked completely different. One early concept reportedly involved transforming the trio into three-dimensional pixel-style characters when they entered the Toy Box. Instead, discussions with Pixar pushed Square Enix toward making them resemble actual manufactured toys, complete with visible joints, seams and plastic textures. The finished designs therefore look like something Andy could plausibly have owned rather than videogame characters accidentally rendered with enormous pixels. It was absolutely the right decision. Not only does the transformation perfectly suit the world, but it also allows KH3’s lighting and material effects to convincingly reproduce plastic.
Dragon Sora
When Sora enters Monstropolis, he gets fur, claws, horns and a suitably monstrous makeover. Earlier versions apparently went much further. Nomura revealed that Sora’s initial monster design was more dragon-like, before the team gradually adjusted his body, facial features and colouring. The final version sits somewhere between a cat, demon, and somebody who accidentally got trapped inside an extremely elaborate Halloween costume, ultimately becoming someone who could plausibly exist alongside Sulley and Mike. Albeit with a slight anime edge to it. We aren’t complaining.
The Final World Connection
The Final World is one of KH3’s strangest locations. Sora arrives there after the disastrous battle at the Keyblade Graveyard, finding an endless sky filled with reflective water and fragmented stars. Nomura explained that it exists near the boundary between sleep and death, serving as a destination for hearts that haven't completely passed on. It also shares conceptual connections with the Station of Awakening—the mysterious stained-glass realm that has appeared throughout the series. It makes Sora’s visit far more significant than simply wandering through Kingdom Hearts heaven - he's essentially standing somewhere between existence, dreams and death. Which, by Kingdom Hearts standards, is surprisingly straightforward.
Xion Nearly Got Cut
The Limitcut episode lets players fight extraordinarily difficult recreations of the Real Organization XIII. But one member nearly didn't make the cut. Xion. Nomura reportedly reconsidered including her because the narrative implications felt uncomfortable. After everything Xion endured—and everything players endured emotionally during 358/2 Days—forcing Sora to repeatedly beat her senseless as optional endgame content is admittedly rather cruel. Ultimately, she remained part of the lineup. And anyone who actually fought Data Xion knows she certainly doesn't require sympathy. Her encounter is ferociously difficult, capable of reducing Sora’s maximum HP while unleashing relentless Keyblade combinations and beams of light. Turns out the greater concern should have been Xion hurting us.
The Re Mind Data Bosses
The Limitcut bosses aren't simply existing Organization encounters with enormous health bars. Square Enix essentially redesigned all thirteen battles. Each Data Organization member received new attack patterns, combinations, mechanics and substantially more aggressive behaviour designed specifically for expert players. That's why bosses like Xion, Xemnas, and Master Xehanort feel radically different from their story-mode counterparts. Rather than conventional DLC rematches, they're effectively thirteen specialised superbosses. The amount of work involved also explains why Limitcut became such a substantial part of Re Mind. And if those fights weren't enough, defeating all thirteen unlocks Yozora. Because apparently Square looked at players who survived thirteen consecutive combat examinations and decided: “These people clearly haven't suffered enough.”
Final Fantasy Versus XIII
The moment Yozora appeared, fans immediately noticed something. He looked suspiciously familiar. His appearance, Verum Rex imagery and the Re Mind secret ending contain obvious similarities to Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the cancelled project Nomura originally directed before it evolved into Final Fantasy XV. Nomura has acknowledged those parallels while stressing that Verum Rex and Versus XIII are not simply the same story. However, concepts from the abandoned project remained in his imagination and clearly influenced Yozora’s world. Then Re Mind takes things even further with locations and imagery strongly evocative of Versus XIII. What started as a ridiculous fake videogame advertisement inside Toy Box somehow became critically important to Kingdom Hearts lore. Of course it did.
The Nomura Writing Rabbit Hole
Tetsuya Nomura isn't simply the guy drawing characters wearing implausible quantities of belts.
His involvement in Kingdom Hearts' writing goes extremely deep. Nomura has explained that although other writers contribute scenario material, he personally handles and revises the final script and dialogue. For KH3, that involvement extended down to surprisingly tiny details. He even worked on things like item names and the social-media-style posts appearing during loading screens. Yep. Those hashtags? All Nomura. That means the same person overseeing the Xehanort saga’s complicated mythology was also deciding what Donald Duck should apparently post online between worlds. Considering KH3 has an enormous cast spanning original characters and multiple Disney properties, personally refining that much dialogue sounds exhausting. Maybe that's why everybody keeps talking about hearts. Eventually you run out of nouns.
No Epilogue on Launch Disc
Square Enix faced a massive problem before KH3 launched: Physical copies leaked early. Their solution for protecting the biggest story secrets was remarkably clever. The game's epilogue and secret movie weren't actually included on the disc. Instead, Square distributed them digitally after release through updates. That meant anyone obtaining an early retail copy could finish the main story but couldn't immediately reveal everything waiting afterward. The epilogue introduced major developments involving the Foretellers, while the secret ending took Sora and Riku somewhere considerably more mysterious. It was essentially spoiler protection built directly into the release strategy. Naturally, Kingdom Hearts fans reacted by analysing every available frame the instant those scenes became accessible anyway. After all, you can only delay the Kingdom Hearts theorists. You cannot stop them.
Two Years to Finalise
Toy Box wasn't created by Square Enix simply borrowing Woody and Buzz and writing whatever it wanted. Pixar remained closely involved. According to Nomura, developing and approving the Toy Story storyline took more than two years because Square repeatedly collaborated with Pixar on the scenario, characters and world. That level of consultation explains why Toy Box feels unusually confident about expanding the property beyond the films. It also became one of the earliest KH3 worlds developed, helping establish how the game would approach Pixar properties. Two years sounds like an absurd amount of time to fill in the details, but when it involves a kid with a giant key constantly about hearts? Maybe Pixar had some reasonable follow-up questions.
A Big Hero 6 Sequel
Unlike several Kingdom Hearts Disney worlds, San Fransokyo doesn't simply retell the movie.
KH3's Big Hero 6 storyline takes place after the film. Hiro, Go Go, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Fred are already operating as Big Hero 6 when Sora arrives, allowing Square Enix to tell something much closer to an original sequel. The most interesting consequence is Dark Baymax. The original Baymax body lost during the movie ends up becoming corrupted, forcing Hiro to confront a twisted version of his former companion while his newer Baymax fights alongside him. It gave Kingdom Hearts an unusual opportunity to extend the film's story rather than simply stand awkwardly in the background while Disney characters recreate scenes we've already watched. Looking at you, Arendelle.
Nomura’s Wishlist
Woody and Buzz joining Kingdom Hearts might have felt like a major KH3 innovation, but Nomura had been pursuing the idea for years. He has said that Toy Story was one of the properties he wanted involved all the way back during the original Kingdom Hearts era. Square even prepared material to demonstrate what such a crossover might look like. However, permission wasn't granted at the time. Later games contained further experimentation, but it wasn't until KH3 that Pixar finally became fully integrated into the franchise. That means Toy Box represents the payoff to an ambition stretching back almost to the beginning of Kingdom Hearts itself. Sora spent years searching for Riku. Nomura apparently spent even longer searching for permission to hang out with Woody.
Built Over Daybreak Town
Scala ad Caelum seemed completely new when Xehanort transported Sora there during KH3’s finale. It wasn't. Players familiar with Union Cross noticed suspicious architecture beneath the surrounding water—particularly something resembling Daybreak Town's iconic clock tower. That wasn't accidental. Nomura eventually confirmed that Scala ad Caelum was constructed over what remained of Daybreak Town. Suddenly, the beautiful city isn't merely another mysterious Keyblade location. It's literally built on top of one of the franchise's most important lost civilisations. The revelation connects KH3 directly to the increasingly important mobile-game mythology involving the ancient Keyblade wielders, Master of Masters and Foretellers. In Kingdom Hearts, even urban planning contains lore.
Toy Box is Canon
According to Nomura, the events of KH3's Toy Story world are intended to exist within Toy Story's actual chronology, taking place after Toy Story 2. That's why the game doesn't simply recreate one of the movies. Instead, Young Xehanort has separated Woody, Buzz and several toys from Andy and the rest of their friends, creating an original adventure that can theoretically fit between established Pixar stories. Pixar was heavily involved in approving the scenario, helping ensure the characters behaved appropriately. That means Woody roasting Young Xehanort about having no friends isn't merely wonderful Kingdom Hearts dialogue. It is, according to the crossover's intended placement, part of Woody's adventures. Forget the Keyblade War. Woody verbally destroying an anime supervillain may be KH3's greatest contribution to canon.
Do you agree with our picks? Which KH3 fact surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments below!
