Joystiq

Three new Kingdom Hearts titles were shown in Square Enix's private theater at this year's Tokyo Game Show. In addition to incredibly silly titles, the games all shared one thing in common: they will set new technical benchmarks on the platforms that they arrive on.

First up is Kingdom Hearts Coded, a unique reinterpretation of the original Kingdom Hearts game. The trailer begins with an ominous message that leads Jiminy Cricket in a frantic race to Mickey Mouse, to send Sora through a digitally recreated version of the original Kingdom Hearts. In Coded, players will be able to enter a "Debug Mode" which allows players to alter the world around them. In one sequence, we saw Sora gain the ability to run through objects, such as blocks. What he ran through would then explode, reinforcing the notion that Sora can have dominion of his world: it's like playing a Kingdom Hearts fanfic written by a hardcore aficionado of The Matrix. Of course, as cool as this may sound, chances are you'll never play it. It's frustratingly yet another one of the countless cell phone games that Square Enix has in development.

The other games showcased will certainly be more relevant to the Joystiq reader. "The time of the other side ... " the trailer begins. This will be Roxas' adventure, following the trials of Organization XIII. The battle system resembles the one featured in the past two console games, but there's a few new twists. Members of Organization XIII are aerially gifted, being able to float away at a whim. They also work together: we saw a four player co-operative mode on display which looks quite fun. Amazingly, the game manages to maintain visuals that are strikingly similar to the PS2 originals, albeit a bit more pixelated. Oh, and did we mention that this is on the Nintendo DS? Oh, and did we mention the title: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Certainly not the catchiest of titles. But, that wasn't the end of Kingdom Hearts games revealed today.