He also revealed that the name Master Eraqus came from an anagram of Square, and said that both Master Eraqus and Vanitas would be voiced by voice actors who are very difficult to hire (Makio Inoue and Miyu Irino). Nomura revealed that the concept of the Command Board originated from when he was in elementary school as at that time he was very fascinated with board games and even made his own hence he wanted to incorporate a fun board game into the game. In early October 2009, Square Enix released their Tokyo Game Show 2009 trailer to the public on the official website. He also confirmed that a Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep demo would indeed be playable at the 2009 Tokyo Games Show together with a new trailer.
Nomura also confirmed in an interview that Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep would contain a secret ending like in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II for the next game in the Kingdom Hearts series which he confirmed a main game and the one which Nomura stated would link up Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and Kingdom Hearts coded. It was also revealed that the official names for the new enemies were the Unversed. In August 2009, new Famitsu scans revealed a revamped User Interface (having been revamped twice before) as well as new worlds after a lack of news for close to a year.
The Jissue of Famitsu covered an interview with Tetsuya Nomura, where he said that the game was, at the time, at the voice recording stage. New trailers were shown at the 2008 Jump Festa in December 2007 and the DKΣ3713 Private party in August 2008-a playable demo was also available at DKΣ3713. It was announced alongside Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts coded at the Tokyo Game Show on September 20, 2007, where a trailer was shown in a photo-prohibited theater. In 2007, Nomura mentioned a desire to create a spin-off Kingdom Hearts game on a mobile platform and for it to feature gameplay slightly different than other titles in the series. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep was directed by Tetsuya Nomura and co-directed by Tai Yasue. The title of the game is based on Kingdom Hearts II's and Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix's secret ending, "Birth by Sleep", a title which Nomura developed as he wanted a phrase having "by" as well as to use an English title like previous games.
The development team changed the platform to the PlayStation Portable so as to make use of the PSP's functions such as co-operative and competitive multiplayer gameplay. The plot was completed, but development was halted six months after it began due to development of Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories. During development of Kingdom Hearts II, the Osaka-based team had requested to be involved in a spin-off if one were to be made.ĭevelopment of the game began before the release of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. Birth by Sleep was developed by Square Enix's fifth Product Development Division, based in Osaka, the same team behind Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, and uses the same graphical engine as Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.
This game is the sixth in the series to be released, but is set first chronologically. Like Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts: Re:Coded the main theme song for the game is " Simple and Clean", performed by Utada Hikaru.
The game's premise is the origins of the series' hero and villain, Sora and Xehanort, and delves deep into the mysteries of Xehanort's bleak past and forgotten memories as well as how Sora and Riku came to wield the Keyblade in the first place. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep was developed by the same team that created Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories. The game's name is shared with the secret video at the end of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, " Birth by sleep", which depicts a stylized version of a scene from the game. It was released in Japan on January 9, 2010, Septemin North America, and Septemin Europe. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep is a Kingdom Hearts prequel published and developed by Square Enix for the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP).