Kingdom Hearts II

Developed and Published by Square Enix, Kingdom Hearts II is set to bring back the magic which the original, Kingdom Hearts, created. Set a year after Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA), the story begins in Twilight Town, and follows Sora and numerous friends he meets along the way on his quest to find Sora’s lost friend, Riku. Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy are searching for their missing king.

Selling over 5 million copies of the Kingdom Hearts games, Kingdom Hearts II will be capturing the imaginations of gamers young and old. With the immense popularity of the Disney and Square Enix combination, we’ll be able to expect to see many more characters from popular Disney films, as well as Square’s Final Fantasy franchise.

Tetsuya Nomura reprises his role as Director and Main Character Designer in Kingdom Hearts II, seamlessly weaving two creative worlds into a universe brimming with imagination. Nomura is also the creator of many unique characters in the Final Fantasy canon, including characters from Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, and X-2. Joining him is Yuichi Kanemori as Battle Director. His battle system for Kingdom Hearts was designed for players of all skill levels, wedding a simple and intuitive interface to challenging and entertaining gameplay. Kazushige Nojima acts as Scenario Director, spinning together the many emotional twists and turns of Kingdom Hearts II. Nojima is also known for this work on the landmark PlayStation titles Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII.

"We are extremely proud of the success of Kingdom Hearts and could not wait for this day to announce the two new titles," said Tetsuya Nomura, director and main character designer, Kingdom Hearts series. "Our development team is very enthusiastic about creating a new chapter in Kingdom Hearts history and determined to deliver an even more unique and exciting gaming experience that will appeal to the global marketplace."

Kingdom Hearts II is set for release on New Zealand shores near the end of March, 2006.