I think January is the only month where I need games to be released. Seriously! My two most anticipated games from last year into 2019 were the remake for Resident Evil 2, and Kingdom Hearts III. Which one am I most excited for? Please, like you have to ask. It's obviously Kingdom Hearts III. This series is in my top three favorite franchises of all time right next to Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy. I've literally bought every single version of every game in the series multiple times and I even bought a replica Keyblade online to dress up like an Assassin Keyblade Master (that would be me in an Assassin's Creed robe with said Keyblade). It was an awesome fan crossover if I do s♚ay so myself.

That brings us to today. In order to help drum up hype for the game, because I'm absolutely boiling over it, I sought after not just facts about the series, but something more. I dug deep and unearthed some facts pertaining to that has plagued the series since day one. It's also one of the easiest games to find information on in this regard. Either from Square Enix being straightforward, or from fans digging inside the code of these games, this just makes me wonder what's lurking in the underbelly of Kingdom Hearts III. Hackersಌ, y✃ou know what to do. Anyway, let's get pumped!

25 Disney Castle Cut From Kingdom Hearts

While the Disney C🌊astle is a playable level in the second game, it was actually going to start in the first. If y🅺ou hack into the game’s code, you can even get inside, although this might just be the artifact of the environment built for the beginning cutscenes before Donald and Goofy set out to find Mickey.

That's definitely part of it, but early trailers did show Sora battling in the Disney Castle, so🍎 I rest my case. At least it was included in the sequel.

24 Bahamut Cut From Kingdom Hearts

Every summon in the first Kingdom Hearts is associated with a Disney character like Simba or Bambi, but there were plans to include a nod to Final Fantasy in the form of the king of dragons himse🐻lf, Bahamut.

While th𝔍ere is no model in the game's code, you can hack into it to include the menu option to summon him, but this will cause the game to crash if you do it. Sadly, he's still not been implemented in any form.

23 Mickey Or Donald Were Almost The Stars

Before Sora even entered the picture, there were a couple ideas for who should star in this game. Basically, the director, Tetsuya Nomura, wanted to make a platformer akin to Super Mario 64 and he, along with the rest of the team, wanted a recognizable character that rivaled the plumber ꦬin terms of popularity.

Square wanted Mickey to be the star whi🌼le Donald was what Disney had wished. There's no artwork up of these ideas, so it probably didn't get past early discussions before settling on Sora.🍃 I guess no one rooted for Goofy?

22 Toy Story Cut From Kingdom Hearts

At long last, Pixar is finally coming to Kingdom Hearts via the third game, and by the third game, I actually mean the eighth. Anyway, my point is that I'm so pumped to step into the world of Toy Story and Monsters Inc.

That said, did you know Nomura wanted Toy Story as far back as the original game? There's even a screenshot, while tiny, showing off what⛄ the model for the world would have looked like. Well, better late than never!

21 There Were More Final Fantasy Characters Planned

The first game, along with the second, is packed with Final Fantasy characters. However,  there were a lot more planned in the original. Final Fantasy X's Rikku was going to be apart of Leon’s gang, but was scra𓂃pped because of the new Riku and they didn't want to confuse anyonꩵe.

Tifa was going to be an optional boss on the same real𒅌m as Sephiroth’s inclusion in the coliseum. Vincent was also desired to be in it, but was dropped and was instead influenced for Cloud’s redesign.

20 Sora Was A Chainsaw Wielding Lion?

After Square and Disney decided to split the difference and not make the ga🐷me about Mickey or Donald, they settled on an original concept. While Sora wa꧂s the idea from this point on, he did go through some changes.

That is to say that he started off as being a little lion boy and instead of a Keyblade, he wielded a chainsaw blade. This was before Gears of War mind you, so I wonder if Epic Games saw th🌼is scrapped artwork and ran with it. Wouldn't that be funny?

19 The Lost Original Worlds From Kingdom Hearts

There were a lot of cut Disney worlds in the first Kingdom Hearts. There's the few I already mentioned, but did you also know that Tetsuya Nomura wanted to in♏clude more original worlds on the scale of Traverse Town?

It was cut down to just thirteen playable worlds, but he imagined twenty from the get go. Does that mean we could have had a Final Fantasy world, too? Maybe yes, maybe no, bu൲t there is some artwork floating around a﷽bout his ideas.

18 Kingdom Hearts Had Faster Loads In Japan

Japan's version of the original release, and the Final Mix version, allows players to install the game to the HDD PS2 accessory, whi🃏ch improves loads. Even though the HDD was released outside of Japan, this feature wasn’t 𝔍carried over for whatever reason.

Now sure, in the grand scheme of things, this is not something that really impact🧜s the outcome of the game, but it’s still a cut thing, so I put it in here anyway. Truth🦩fully, I couldn’t have done it since I never owned the HDD.

17 Tarzan Cut From Chain Of Memories

The world based on Tarzan was probably my least favorite in the original game, which is probably because I've never seen it. That said, exploring the jungle was fun, but did you ever wonder why it didn't return in Chain of Memories?

That's because Square and Disney lost the rights to Tarzan to put it in another game. There are still assets floating out there like Tarzan♔ cards and a screenshot of the world, too. While it wasn't my favorite, it did seem wei✤rd to not include it.

16 Atlantica Was More Than A Musical In Kingdom Hearts II

The Little Mermaid is a classic, and when 𝓰it came to translating that film into a game, I thought Square nailed it. Water levels are never good, and while it could be awkward to maneuver in Atlantica, it's leagues better than most water levels.

So, here's the fact. There are still assets in Kingdom Hearts 2's code that suggest Atlantica was going to be more than j💫ust a musical stage as therꦰe are enemies and areas to explore. It's not known how much planning went into this before turning down their scope, though.