In the process of developing a video game, many ideas are discarded as unworkable for one reason or another. However, if the idea makes it far enough into the development process, aspects of it can be still be found within the code of the released games, or it may show up in trailers or interviews with the developers.
The following list covers much of this removed content. It is not comprehensive, and focuses on the more interesting elements.
Prominently removed content
Kingdom Hearts
Bahamut summon
Bahamut was originally planned to appear as a summon in Kingdom Hearts, but was removed before the game was released. Through cheat codes, a "Bahamut" option can appear in the Summons menu and can be selected. However, since there is nothing on the game disc to execute, the game will crash when chosen.
Disney Castle
As seen in the game's beta trailer, Disney Castle was originally set to appear as a playable World in Kingdom Hearts. Removed for currently unknown reasons, the world can still be accessed via cheat codes, as areas of the world exist from the game's opening cutscenes.
Crumbling Island
An area known as the Crumbling Island was meant to appear in the End of the World as the setting for the final battle between Sora and Riku before the climactic battle with Ansem. It appears as a remnant of Destiny Islands, consumed by the darkness.
- Disney Castle KH-trailer.jpg
Disney Castle, as it appears in Kingdom Hearts's beta trailer
- Crumbling Island.jpg
Crumbling Island
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Dive to the Heart
A screenshot from an early magazine scan shows the Dive to the Heart was set to appear in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, likely as a memory-fabricated floor in Castle Oblivion, but was discarded.
Deep Jungle and Jungle King
Deep Jungle was set to appear in the game - as an early screenshot of the game testifies - as was its Keyblade, Jungle King, as a Card, but was removed due to Disney being unable to secure the rights to use Tarzan in future works.
- EarlyCoM.jpg
Early screenshot of Sora's Dive to the Heart in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
- DeepjungleCOM.jpg
Deep Jungle in an early concept of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
- Jungle King (card).jpg
The Jungle King attack card
Kingdom Hearts II
Edge of Ultima and Detection Saber
Through the use of a cheating device, two palette swaps of the Ultima Weapon can be obtained in Kingdom Hearts II. These are the "Edge of Ultima", a version of the original Ultima Weapon with a glitched appearance, and the "Detection Saber", a palette swap of the original as well, except slightly larger. When these Keychains are accessed in Sora's Items menu, no picture of the Keyblades are shown, only map icons.
Alternate Xemnas forms
In his final battle, Xemnas was originally intended to use two forms other than the World of Nothingness; King (キング Kingu), which is humanoid and fittingly has a crown adorned with Nobody sigils, and Kentauros (ケンタロウス Kentauros), a spiked torso fused with a centaur-like creature, fittingly enough as the word Kentauros is the Greek root word for Centaur, meaning "piercing bull-stickers"[1]. Both of them appear to be created from the skyscrapers of the Dark City.
Deleted Scenes
The Kingdom Hearts version of Hollow Bastion, specifically the Great Crest, appeared in early trailers as the place where Sora first met the surviving members of the Organization, after slaying a horde of Neoshadows.
The trailers also included a scene where Donald and Goofy are released from the Memory Pods in the Old Mansion's basement.
- Edge of ultima.PNG
The Edge of Ultima, a palette swap of the original Ultima Weapon
- King.jpg
Xemnas's original boss forms; King and Kentauros
Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix
Buzz Lightyear and Woody summons
Buzz Lightyear and Woody, characters from Pixar's Toy Story series, were at one point planned to appear as new summons in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. Their models appear within the game coding, albeit without textures.
- BuzzWoodyModels.jpg
Models for Buzz Lightyear and Woody in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Profile sprites and Pinocchio's World
Pinocchio's World was originally set to appear in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, but was eventually removed due to space restrictions. Tetsuya Nomura explained that the planned plot for the world was,
Set in a circus and playing off the story of Pinocchio, a puppet with a heart, and the Nobodies who possess no heart, we planned for a sad episode with Roxas and Xion looking for hope for themselves.[2]
The world would have included Pinocchio (as a human) and Gepetto, as well as the villains, Honest John and Gideon from the original film. The profile sprites for the characters still appear within the final game's code.
Hades and Megara were also planned to appear in Olympus Coliseum, and Tinker Bell was apparently planned to have lines, before she was made mute. These characters' profile sprites also appear within the final game's code.
Weapon palette swaps
Palette swaps of Midnight Roar and Twilight exist in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days's game data, but do not appear as formal weapons.
Altered enemy
A Darkside was set to appear in Beast's Castle instead of a Dark Follower.
Wing Gear and Wind Maker
The Wind Maker (ウィンドメイカー Windo Meikā) was to be an aerial attack Keyblade when the Wing Gear (ウィングギア Wingu Gia) was equipped. However both the Keyblade and Gear were ultimately cut and the Wind Maker's appearance given to Leviathan.
- PinocchioDaysSprite.png
Pinocchio's profile sprite
- GeppettoDaysSprite.png
Gepetto's profile sprite
- HonestJohnDaysSprite.png
Honest John's profile sprite
- GideonDaysSprite.png
Gideon's profile sprite
- MegaraDaysSprite.png
Megara's profile sprite
- HadesDaysSprite.png
Hades's profile sprite
- TinkerBellDaysSprite.png
Tinker Bell's profile sprite
- MidnightRoarAlt.png
Recolored version of Midnight Roar
- TwilightAlt.png
Recolored version of Twilight
- Darkside days.png
A Darkside in Beast's Castle
- Windmaker.jpg
Pre-release screenshot of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days showing the Keyblade's Wind Maker form.
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Light Seeker
A version of the Kingdom Key D, the Light Seeker (ライトシーカー Raito Shīkā), was set to be an equipable Keyblade for Ventus. It can still be equipped through the use of a cheat device on the Japanese version.
The Jungle Book World
The Jungle Book was originally set to appear as a playable world in the game, but was removed. The world can still be accessed by the use of cheat codes. A number of areas are accessible, including Louie's Throne Room.
Pleakley
Pleakley from the original Lilo & Stitch movie was set to make an appearance in Deep Space, but removed for unknown reasons. His model is still in the game's coding, albeit without textures.
Cutscenes and altered maps
Certain cutscenes which appeared in early trailers - shown at events such as the Tokyo Game Show and Jump Festa - were later altered for the game's final release. For example, the scene in which Master Xehanort reveals his plan to forge the χ-blade to Ventus was originally meant to appear in Olympus Coliseum, rather than the Keyblade Graveyard. A scant few scenes were also omitted, including one where Terra watches a young Sora and Riku partake in a swordfight, as well as individual lines, such as Terra telling Aqua that searching for the light Master Xehanort is after will lead them to him or Ventus at Destiny Island telling Aqua to erase him.
Some worlds had areas that are inaccessible to some of the characters in the game's final version. Examples include Ventus in the Palace Courtyard at Castle of Dreams and Terra at the cottage at Dwarf Woodlands.
Aqua's Design
The rear of Aqua's outfit was left ambiguous for some time due to series creator Tetsuya Nomura being unsure in its finalization. Until mid-2009, the back was left exposed until the game was officially released, where only the upper-back was exposed due to censorship. Also, Aqua's hair and eyes were a dark shade of blue, and lacked the sheen her final model has.
Mace-wielding Maleficent Goon
Originally, the game was to include three variations of Maleficent's goons; however, only two were included in the final game. The third "mace-wielding goon" actually made it so far into production that it was featured in the Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Ultimania. Neither the game nor North American strategy guide make any note of this enemy.
Laguna Loire
Originally, the Mirage Arena was meant to have a slight element of story to it, rather than be completely distant from any auxillary characters. The developers planned for Laguna Loire from Final Fantasy VIII to appear in the Mirage Arena as the head of the arena. However, the team was also planning Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy at the same time, and decided that if Laguna appeared in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, he could not appear in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. The team eventually decided they would rather have Laguna appear in the latter, and so Laguna was ultimately left out of the final product.[3] As of yet, no data has been found in game of his planned appearance.
- Light Seeker.png
The Light Seeker
Model for Pleakley in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
- Ven BirthBySleep.jpg
Ventus confronts Master Xehanort in Olympus Coliseum
- Image66.png
Sora and Riku swordfighting in a removed cutscene.
- Ventus at Destiny Island.jpg
Ventus telling Aqua to erase him.
- BBS-Thunder.jpg
Ventus in the courtyard of Castle of Dreams.
- Terra-EnchantedDominion.jpg
Terra in Enchanted Dominion, with thorn-damaged bridge.
- AquaPrecensor.png
Aqua's outfit before censorship.
- AquaOldAlphaModel.png
Aqua in the pre-2009 trailers. Notice the darker hair and eyes.
- Maleficent Minion-2.png
The mace-wielding Maleficent goon, left out of the final product.
| Jungle Book World (Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep) | Removed Cutscenes (Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep) |
| <youtube width="320" height="240">0gzU4LkbYE8</youtube> | <youtube width="320" height="240">fkwEsMwhKgM</youtube> |
Kingdom Hearts coded
Heartless
Earlier scans reveals that Shadow Sora is supposed to make an in-game appearance, but is removed for unknown reason. Although, he later appears in the remake of the game.
- Debug Mode High-Speed Stage.jpg
Early scans showing Data Sora fighting against Shadow Sora and Shadows
References
- ^ Centaur article; Wikipedia
- ^ Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Fan Powered Q&A
- ^ Interview "The FFVIII hero was actually supposed to have appeared in Kingom Heats Birth by Sleep, Nomura revealed. They'd even partially prepared a scenario where Laguna appears as the head of Mirage Arena. In the end, they decided that if they were to have a new character from FFVIII in Duodecim it would end up being Laguna, so they left him out of BbS."