I come from Puerto Rico, which is property of The United States of America. Therefore, the game releases of Puerto Rico match those of The United States of America.
I started getting into the Kingdom Hearts series with Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, then Kingdom Hearts I1.
Having an Internet connection, I found out about Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix, a re-release from Japan of Kingdom Hearts I. I learned of the Final Mix pushing several bosses (including Kurt Zisa and Sephiroth) that were already in the game, but also some elements (including the Diamond Dust Keyblade and the Neoshadow) that were already in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. However, I also learned of the new end movie, the new equipment, and new opponents (including Unknown).
Because I lived in a territory owned by The United States of America, I did not see the significance of the Final Mix. I did not even understand the significance of the phrase “Final Mix”. To me, “Final Mix” meant “awesome version of the game that you would never get to play”.
To people from Japan, though, the Final Mix was very valuable.
In real-world development, you need to make compromises. Ironically, electronic games, which are amusement devices, need the most work due to the interactivity, story, graphics, and sound on top of the programming. That is not even getting into connecting with other people and any additional add-ons if necessary. You also have finite resources: any time the game is not released is time that the game is not making money that you can pay your workers, and that is not counting worker energy and will into working into the game. (Workers get tired, you know.) There is also the risk of feature creep; you might end up wanting to add things to the software that would extend the deadline, use up resources, and may not be useful anyways. Another factor is the non-development aspects, including manuals, price calculations, packaging, commercials, websites, other forms of advertising, agreements with stores, possible pre-orders, and shipping. All of that has to end on a specific release date when the games are available to the public. Things getting cut are very likely at least. Even after release, players may find bugs. That is not necessarily an effect of cutting testing; the game is just being subjected to real-world situations with orders of magnitude of more sequences that may trigger an unknown flaw. The same can be said of gameplay enjoyment: beta testing may not catch the different ways a game can be unbalanced, confusing, or just not fun.
Now days, you can normally send a downloadable patch that would fix these flaws. However, that already is a problem to those gamers who do not have reliable Internet access or enough storage. There is also the problem of the patch-sending servers no longer being functional or simply no longer supporting the game. This was an even bigger problem in 2002; though there were several old console-specific online game services (including the Atari GameLine, the Sega MegaNet and the Nintendō Satellaview), the games and even the consoles back then were in read-only memory and therefore could not be modified. By the time Kingdom Hearts I was released, the current generation was starting to get to grips with online play, but contemporary consoles still required add-on hardware and sometimes even a large amount of external memory. Kingdom Hearts I specifically used the Japan-only PlayStation BroadBand Navigator only in helping to reduce load times. At the time, the normal case was just to cut then ship. Both the developers and the players had to suck up the flaws and omissions.
Square2 found a loophole, though.
After the popularity of Kingdom Hearts I, Square eventually approved the release of the game to The United States of America. Since that country mainly speaks English, the game had to be translated to English. That includes translating the text dubbing the voices, and modifying graphics, all to English. These new assets needed to be inserted in the game, plus the text inputs and outputs needed to be modified to a format that supports English. Those insertions and modifications require modifying the game code and assets… in other words, development. Square realized that, if they were reopening the code, putting things there, and going to the entire development then post-development (including packaging and so on) processes anyways, they can use that time in fixing flaws from the game, putting in the things that they had to cut before primary release, and even inserting entirely new things. In this case, the American versions got new bosses: Ice Titan, Kurt Zisa, and Sephiroth. Other significant additions were “Night on Bald Mountain” and new difficulty modes.
That caused an awkward moment: though Kingdom Hearts I was a Japanese game, the American version was superior. Square then decided to release a new version that had the American content added. While updated re-releases of current games was not rare even at the time, this awkward moment gave Square a good excuse. That meant opening up the old game files again, which meant going through the entire game development and post-development processes again, which meant yet another opportunity in adding more cut content and fine-tuning the game further. They even included new cutscenes, adding to the story.
That meant that now the people overseas did not have content that the native Japanese version had. You can logically think that they would export those new changes and additions, but that would essentially go through a back-and-forth of new versions where developers are repeatedly expected to keep working on the same game and players are expected to repeatedly purchase the same game. Both developers and players are going to be tired of the same game. Square decided to just stop right there and turn to new games. This updated, Japan-only version was called Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix, named such because that release would be the final time Square was going to remix the game.3 An unfortunate consequence is that international players had to import the Japan-only game and struggle through an unknown language if they wanted to enjoy the new content.
Thankfully, Square found another loophole.
Mr. Tetuya Nomura, the director of the Kingdom Hearts series, wanted a high-definition release of the Kingdom Hearts series. This also would solve a problem with the overall Kingdom Hearts story being spread over many consoles, since the remastered games would be released in a compilation, putting the games on the same console. However, by then, Square (now “Square Enix”) lost the original assets of Kingdom Hearts I, meaning that Square Enix had to remake them. Even if that was not the case, the target was the PlayStation 3, whereas the original game was of the PlayStation 2, meaning that new code needed to be made that supported the new system on top of the new, remastered assets that Mr. Nomura wanted. That meant going through the entire development and post-development processes again… which meant that they could actually port the Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts I instead of the original version. Square Enix then decided to release the high-definition releases internationally, which needed remastered English-language assets, which meant going through the processes again. This time, Square Enix decided that, since they have to go through development anyways, they could include the content exclusive to Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, meaning that international audiences can comfortably play with the ultimate version at last.
Square was no stranger to this procedure: Final Fantasy games had International Versions. Square was also not alone here: Sega did an International Version of Sonic Adventure. Once again, I once failed to understand what “International Version” meant; I thought that subtitle was just a marketing stunt.
This process followed through the entire series but went through changes along the way. Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep got Final Mixes. However, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories on the Nintendō Game Boy Advance and Kingdom Hearts coded on the Docomo cellular telephone service actually got Re: versions in the form of Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories on the PlayStation 2 and Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded on the Nintendō DS respectively. Because they were not remasters released on the same console, but outright remakes (new code and all) released on different, stronger consoles, the term “Final Mix” would have been somewhat a misnomer. The above Final Mix and Re: versions were re-released to the high-definition compilations. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance also got a high-definition re-release but got some significant new content along the way. A small problem was that, since the game was a Nintendō 3DS game re-released on the PlayStation 4, the re-release was not exactly a Final Mix. However, since the re-release remained mostly the same otherwise, the re-release was not exactly a Re: version. Therefore, the title became “Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD“.4 By the time Kingdom Hearts III got released on the PlayStation 4, though, contemporary consoles had mature, built-in online support and plenty of on-board memory, which meant that Square Enix could simply send out downloadable patches online. In fact, Mr. Nomura put the true ending of Kingdom Hearts III in the form of an online patch just in case the game got leaked early, thus avoiding spoiling the ending early… which became a good idea, since the game did get leaked early. With no actual need of re-releasing and re-selling the same game, Square Enix decided to instead release an online patch that had the content that would have once been put in a Final Mix. Installing that patch would turn your Kingdom Hearts III game into a Kingdom Hearts III Re𝄌 Mind game.
The actual value of these Final Mixes and re-releases, however, vary with the applied game. Some are skippable, while others are worth a re-purchase. When I am going through my path through the series, I shall put a small section at the end of the article where I discuss the worth of these re-releases.
From what you would expect from a game developer who runs a blog named after a term from the Kingdom Hearts games, I want to release my “Final Mixes” of my own games.
I am not planning on deliberately releasing buggy, unfinished versions of my games then fixing them later. Rather, I am aware that, despite all of the work I can put in my games, real-world experience is necessary in knowing just what parts of the game need improvement. What is one person doing balance work by himself in a closed environment compared to hundred, thousands, or even higher orders of magnitude in the real world? I cannot get that real experience if I do not publicly release the game, first!
Take Bioglobes, my current project: despite the game being based off the Pokémon series, I made a lot of important changes to the gameplay from the more interactive overworld to how the chi of the Waybeasts affect them inside and outside battle. Even if I do have some dedicated testers, there is no substitute of having many gamers engage with the game and finding out what they think of the game, especially if they are forming a competitive scene. That real experience would help me fine-tune the game until I can properly release a “Final Mix” of Bioglobes. I also want to take the opportunity of releasing a Final Mix in releasing new goodies to the game that make the Final Mix worthwhile. I might, in one instance, add all new Waybeasts to the Final Mix, though that would mean another round of real-life experience.
Thankfully, I plan on giving every translation I have the same content.
- The official name of the game is just “Kingdom Hearts“, but I am experimenting with the unofficial nickname “Kingdom Hearts I” since both the first game and the whole series share the same name. Since I shall be writing about both here, I feel that using the nickname gets rid of confusion.
- Back then, Square did not merge with Enix into what is currently called “Square Enix”.
- I actually did not notice the meaning of the terminology until I was mentally composing this article.
- I actually did not notice the significance of the terminology until I was actually writing this article.