A Review and Analysis of the Extended Big Hero 6 Trailer

Square Enix promised us more content this week, and boy have they delivered. There is so much in this new extended trailer that it took me around five watches to process the information. Now that I'm done crying about how beautiful this game is and the emotions have partially subsided, let's take a good look at this absolute buffet of hype.

First up is something we've seen a bit of before, though definitely not as fine as it looks now. Young Xehanort and Eraqus have gotten a makeover, and they are still going at that chess game, although this time Xehanort calls checkmate. He compares it to the prophesy mentioned in previous trailers, where "darkness prevails, and light expires," but then Eraqus reaches for a chess piece. (Which, if you know anything about chess, you know this shouldn't be happening if it is indeed checkmate... unless he's about to flip the board.) What he says, however, is kind of up for debate. According to the captions, he says "My move, isn't it?" However, the actual translation is closer to "It's not over yet, you know." Either way, both phrases seem to carry weight in their chess game and the big battle coming up between the seven guardians of light and thirteen seekers of darkness.

Side note, how long have these guys been playing chess, exactly?

After the chess game, we have another scene from the world of Big Hero 6, and oh boy if Sora calling his crew "Keyblade Hero 3" doesn't fill you will childish joy then you have a heart of stone. He also has a new keyblade style, which has the same color scheme as Baymax's armor, and an end that seems to resemble the microbots from the movie.

After this short cutscene, we get more of that building-climbing action from Sora in what is presumably San Fransokyo, which is pretty cool to see in a bit that's not from the Rock Titan fight. We also get to see Sora team up with Baymax, who is shown to be a member of your party (And the only member to join from Big Hero 6, sadly), and a cool finishing move with Sora's new keyblade transformation. It also looks like we're going to get to actually fly around on Baymax, apart from the special move shown earlier.

Oh yeah, and mini games. Flowmotion and drop style mini games. Joy.

Then we have the first scene that made me cry. Sora, Hiro, and the others from Big Hero 6 are sitting high up on a bridge eating ice cream (sound familiar?), as Hiro explains that his brother is still in all of their hearts (sound familiar?!). Sora then leans back, talks about how those in your heart make up the difference when your not strong enough, and has some sort of vision of Roxas sitting with Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

Also, I don't know about anyone else, but every time I see this blonde child I am going to cry.

Of course, it's not a true Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer from this point on without at least one scene of Riku cosplaying as Noctis and talking about facing the darkness. What would we do without it? And of course he's with Mickey. Nothing very new happens here except Mickey assuring Riku he can indeed face the darkness because he "finally found the strength to protect the things that matter."

(I bear no ill will toward Riku and his character arc, but every other word out of this kid's mouth is "darkness.")

Sora has some sort of phone now. It's shaped like the Cards from Chain of Memories, probably just to call back to that game. That's not the only callback, though, because not only is Sora still just itching to hear from Riku, but Ienzo is in fact the one calling. Clearly he seems to be working with the side of light now, which is pretty exciting.

I'm also really liking the fully animated cutscenes in the gummi ship. It's not something we've had before 2.8, and it is a welcome change.

Now, for the Disney montage. First we have Rapunzel being adorable as hell and going up to poke a heartless camouflaged as a giant poof, then the one, the only Davy Jones asking Jack Sparrow if he's lost. Jack also mutters something, but it is not specified in the closed captions. And of course, we have Sora giving Anna a pep talk, saying if anyone can save Elsa, it's her.

Here's something we haven't seen in a while! Remember five years ago when we first saw Sora on the beach finding Eraqus's keyblade that Aqua inherited? Well here it is again, looking more gorgeous than ever! Sora's in his new KH3 outfit this time, and the engine's shading has improved tremendously. As he picks up the keyblade, Sora asks "What's this doing here?" to which Goofy replies with the suddenly very popular saying "May your heart be your guiding key." Sora then wonders if the keyblade is going to guide him.

On a different note, it is very interesting to see that Sora and Goofy (and probably Donald) are back on the islands. This is just a theory, but I think this scene might take place about halfway to two-thirds of the way through the game, considering Sora already has his new outfit, and (given what later parts of the trailer and scenes from 2.8 imply) he seemingly "saves" Aqua in what looks like the waters off of Destiny Islands. Again, this is speculation. I will eventually post a summary of how I think this game is going to go down based on the trailers, and I will leave a link here when I do.

Next up is 'Norted Luxord (or whatever his somebody's name is). He makes a brief yet interesting comment about no one knowing what's in "the chest" they're looking for. Of course, we all know the chest he is most likely talking about: the previously mentioned "Black Box," or the chest from Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover. This means that not only are Pete and Maleficent looking for it, but so is the new Organization. (Which, let's be honest, isn't very surprising. Whatever is in this box is clearly important to the narrative that is to be KH3.)

Let us not forget, however, that he is in the Pirates of the Caribbean world, and this chest could relate to the side-plot of that specific world, but come on. This is Kingdom Hearts, and we all know that is not the case.

After this quick scene, we see Sora talking to 'Norted Larxene (or whatever her somebody's name is) in the Frozen world, saying "It's not like you've found your thirteen." Larxene simply replies with "Oh, we've got 'em." Sora and party gasp, but honestly this news shouldn't be that surprising, considering they had all thirteen in Dream Drop Distance. Unless something drastic happened since then, this isn't really news. Concerning, but not news.

Looking at the background, however, you might notice something very strange. We know for sure this is the Frozen world because Kristoff and Sven are in the background, but they aren't moving. At first it is easy to assume this is due to lazy animating (which has been a comedic trend in past games), but the snowflakes in the air have halted in their tracks as well. With this observation, we can assume something or someone has paused time in this world somehow. Given the only other time this has happened is in the data Twilight Town, this could be the result of either very strong magic, or possibly another data world.

Speaking of the data Twilight Town, the next clip we see is the Twilight Town gang plus Sora and company standing in front of the mansion with the two pictures from the different versions of the world. Hayner tells Sora that they want to help him "find Roxas," and they prepare to go to the other Twilight Town. This is honestly a bit strange, because last we found out, Roxas is in Sora's heart. Why do they need to look for him? Is it possible that the new Organization 13 separated them and hid Roxas in the data Twilight Town? Maybe it was Ansem the Wise? (That might not be too far off, considering what we saw at the end of Dream Drop Distance.) Either way, get excited, because this precious and sad cinnamon roll is coming back.

And now, a gameplay montage. Steering a pirate ship around what looks to be the kraken, flying said pirate ship into the air and ramming it back down into enemy ships like the overpowered boss Sora better be by this point, fighting both flowery nobodies and pirate heartless, some kind of awesome-looking kraken-themed finishing move, sliding shield minigames, selfie minigames, Marshmallow from Frozen in your party and kicking ass in what looks like a limit break. So many new and exciting things in just a few brief seconds!

First of all, let me say that the Pirates of the Caribbean world looks amazing, and I am so excited to play as pirate Sora causing chaos with Jack Sparrow. Second of all, Square seems to be making these limit breaks just as flashy and fabulous as they were in KH2 (if not, more so.) There also seems to be a returning theme of white mushroom heartless minigames from KH2, though they look a little different.

Back to the juicy cutscenes, and we have Xehanort's heartless talking to 'Norted Braig in Twilight Town, saying "If he waivers from the path we lay, we destroy him." Braig replies "But then... we'll have to find another vessel." We then see that they are looking down at Sora, Donald, and Goofy talking to Hayner and Olette. (I'm not exactly sure where Pence is, but he is not in the shot.) It seems safe to assume that Sora is still the Organization's ideal thirteenth vessel, but there is certainly an intriguing question as to why. Does Xehanort just want to break up the seven lights? Is Sora not actually one of the lights? I think there's also a possibility that Xehanort is aware of all the connections Sora's heart has made to others, and in destroying his light might destroy one or more of the other lights.

In addition to this scene, we have also been blessed with a new verse to "Don't Think Twice," which is quickly becoming the most stuck-in-my-head song this year.

Now, this is a scene that has quite a bit of speculation surrounding it. This brief clip shows Even with the trending yellow eyes, talking to Demyx (or whatever his somebody's name is), whose eyes we can't see. Even says "It's True. This whole plan was his idea."

Now, you might be noticing I didn't call Vexen "'Norted Vexen." This is because the nature of this scene has struck a chord with a lot of fans. First of all, Even woke up as a somebody again with the other original Organization members inside the castle of Radiant Garden in Dream Drop Distance, and Isa was the only one who Young Xehanort and Braig took with them. Going along with that, this scene seems like it takes place in Radiant Garden, so Even hasn't gone too far. The really mysterious part about this is the question of why is Demyx's somebody there? Also, who and what plan is Even talking about?

Some people have been throwing around the idea of Ienzo making colored contacts for Even and Not-Demyx so that they can act as double agents, but contacts seem a little off-tone for a Kingdom Hearts theory. If it is something related to that (which I honestly believe might be the case), then it would probably have to do with some sort of magic.

Next up is a scene of what I can only imagine is Sora in his Big Hero 6 getup yelling at a 'Norted Riku Replica (who a lot of people have suspected is the "other me" Riku mentions in a previous trailer when leaving behind his keyblade). Sora says "The Riku I know wouldn't do something like this," to which the Repliku replies with the callback line "We've always been trying to one-up each other." As of now there isn't much else to add to this other than the return of the Riku Replica.

I honestly don't care if he comes back as long as we don't have to fight him as many times as we did in Chain of Memories.

Oh-ho, here we go. Vanitas is back, which we already knew, but now he's perched on top of Ventus's chair, and I'm gonna need a shot of caffeine before taking a crack at this one. He stares down at Ventus, asking "What am I going to do with you, brother?"

Without yelling about him calling Ventus his brother, let's address the location for a second. This is the throne room from the Land of Departure, but that place has since been destroyed. Ventus is currently asleep in the Chamber of Waking, which sits inside the world's ruins now known as Castle Oblivion. So, why does it look like the throne room? My theory is that Vanitas can connect with Ven through some kind of cognitive transmission (since Ven's heart doesn't currently reside in his own body), and he sees the environment the way Ven would remember it, but he is not actually there.

And now it's time for everybody's favorite mom who turned to the dark side, saying depressing things that break our hearts. Here's the thing: I don't think this is actually Aqua. There's a good chance it's her phantom who has been 'Norted. There have also been quite a few theories floating around about the keyblade she has in this and the previous trailers. The two most common ones I have heard go like this:

"The keyblade is the kingdom key of the Realm In-Between." Now, this theory seems very far-fetched to me. Yes, it has the same shape and key chain as the other two kingdom keys, but the key chain is the same one as on the Kingdom Key D. Not only that, but the design on the key looks significantly different from the other two, which are very similar to each other.

"The keyblade is a weapon synthesized between Mickey's two keyblades." This is a little more believable, but still out of the blue. Since when has that been something that can happen? Then again, it is almost a perfect love child of the Kingdom Key D and Star Seeker, and Nomura has a history of adding unexpected changes in lore. Right now, though, all of this is purely theoretical.

This next section is an information and emotion overload. We see Xehanort evilly strolling toward our main characters in what is probably the Keyblade Graveyard, saying "Today we join the other Keyblade wielders and leave our mark on fate." He continues with "I have waited patiently... but together, we shall unlock the Keyblade War's secrets!" as the following clips are shown.

Aqua gets thrown around like a rag doll by Xehanort's guardian, who she attacked in the Realm of Darkness without a keyblade.

Kairi and Lea chat in the same field they have been in previous trailers. Kairi looks like she is throwing Lea/Axel's phrase "got it memorized" back at him.

Demyx's somebody walks through a dark portal into the computer room in the Radiant Garden castle, carrying a sack we have only seen once before in the series when Ventus was carried by Xehanort. Ienzo stands before him.

Ienzo being (I can only assume) ashamed as non-mistakable-bearded Ansem the Wise places his hand on his shoulder. Need we be reminded that the last time they were on good terms was when Ienzo was a child? You know, before he betrayed him?

Another heartbreaking clip where Lea sees Isa on top of the clock tower in Twilight Town. Why either of them are there is a complete mystery, but look at that view!

Terranort with his hand over his face. There really isn't much else to say about this except the background, which we'll get to in a minute.

Vanitas about to stab a passed-out, non-'Norted Aqua with his keyblade. He is back in the throne room of the Land of Departure, but there is what looks like a magic barrier between him and the chairs. Ventus also does not appear to be in either of the chairs.

Another scene we have seen before of Aqua taking Sora's hand, this time in his KH3 gloves.

Sora appears to be completing a dive into Ventus's heart.

Sora and Kairi sitting on the tree in Destiny Islands in what is hopefully a scene that a lot of fans have been waiting for since the first game.

The fire child is crying, which breaks my heart, and is something we have only seen once before: when Roxas phased back into Sora.

Speaking of the chocobutt-haired devil, there he mcfrickin is. He is holding Oblivion and Oathkeeper, and here is where I bring up the background behind him and the previous clip of Terranort. They seem to be in the same place, but where are they? It is certainly as dusty as the keyblade graveyard, but we never saw any buildings there. Some people think this might be a new world, but I think I recognize that building behind Roxas. It holds a strong resemblance to the large clock tower from Daybreak Town. That's right, there is a chance they are standing in the ruins of the hub world from Unchained X. If that is correct, it isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility that they are in the keyblade graveyard, just far from where we've seen before, and the first Keyblade War took place not far from Daybreak Town.

Another theory is that Roxas is in the Data Twilight Town, which has been demolished. This is not far fetched, but that structure does not match any buildings in that world, so I think the previous speculation is more accurate. But really, does it matter? Roxas is back.

---

That is where the trailer finishes off, and oh boy what a grand-canyon-sized dump of information to take in, but apparently there is even more to come. I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on this game. It has been so cool to watch the development through the trailers, and now it is on the near horizon. January 29 is so close, and hopefully the wait will be well worth it.