Twilight Town

Twilight Town is a world that appears in Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts III. It is the "birthplace" of Roxas, and one of the only two real worlds that appears in Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories. It has recently been infested with Nobodies; however, Heartless were known to have been in the city during Roxas's time in Organization XIII.

Despite its subtle atmosphere, Twilight Town is one of the largest worlds known. It is located in between light and darkness, similar to Castle Oblivion and The World That Never Was. As its name implies, Twilight Town is stuck in endless sunset, with its sun always in the same position in the sky, never rising nor setting. Much like Traverse Town in the previous game, it is divided into several distinct districts, Market Street, Sunset Terrace, and Yen Sid's Tower. The Tower is not truly part of the town; it is merely reached by a train from this world.

Settings and Areas
Twilight Town is composed of two districts, Market Street and Sunset Terrace. The town is surrounded by Machihazure no Mori (町はずれの森), a large forest that also hides DiZ's headquarters, the Old Mansion. The Woods can only be accessed through a crack in the walls of Tram Common in Kingdom Hearts II and 358/2 Days; in Kingdom Hearts III, however, the hole has been sealed, with a new passageway by the Sandlot entrance called the Chika Suidō (地下水道) connecting the two areas instead.

Underneath the town is a vast Chika Renraku Tsūro (地下連絡通路), localized as  in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, which has several entrances in Market Street. One exit leads to the Tonneru (トンネル), retaining its original name of  in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, which in turn leads to Sunset Terrace.

In Kingdom Hearts III, the areas that Sora's party are limited to a single location called Machi no Ikkaku (街の一角), which consists of the Tram Common, Underground Conduit, Woods, and Old Mansion.

Market Street
Shōten Machi (商店街) is easily the largest area of Twilight Town, and is what is most commonly referred to as Twilight Town itself. Market Street is a long, winding, steeply-sloped road that leads from the lower areas of the city to Central Station. The upper portion of the street is known as Ekimaedōri (駅前通り). There are a few shops at Station Heights, including an item shop run by Wantz.

Sentoraru Sutēshon (セントラルステーション) is a large train station that lies at the summit of Market Street, just past the Station Plaza. Its trains lead all over the world, including other districts of the city and the beach, and there is even a magic train that travels to the nearby world of Mysterious Tower. The Ekimae Hiroba (駅前広場) itself is a large, open terrace, presided over by the town's distinctive Clock Tower, which, though a twelve-hour clock, has "I" at the top instead of "XII".

The lower portion of Market Street is the Toramu Hiroba (トラム広場), an open-market area with a free tram circling around. Many shops are found here, including the Accessory Shop run by Jessie and Armor Shop run by Biggs, and a synthesis shop owned by Elmina the Moogle. In the Simulated Twilight Town, this is a candy shop instead. It appears to be the location of many homes as well. In Kingdom Hearts III, the Tram Common is populated with more people, greenery, and other signs of habitation; the armor shop has been replaced by Le Grand Bistrot, where Merlin can be found dining in the terrace out front, allowing access to the 100 Acre Wood; and the tram lot has been repurposed into an outdoor movie theater.

Both parts of Market Street connect to the Akichi (空き地), the area where the infamous Struggle battles take place, and to the Rojiura (路地裏), localized as  in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and Hayner's gang's hideout, Itsumo no Basho (いつもの場所), called Kōka-shita (高架下) in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Rokusasu no Heya (ロワサスの部屋) in the simulated Twilight Town lies above The Usual Spot. In Kingdom Hearts III, the Sandlot entryway is closed off by a large door, while the entrance to Station Heights serves as an exit from the world, making these parts of the world inaccessible.

Sunset Terrace
Another district of the town, Sansetto Jūtakugai (サンセット住宅街), can be reached by taking the train at Central Station to Sansetto Sutēshon (サンセットステーション). Connecting to Sunset Terrace is Sansetto Hiru (サンセットヒル), where Roxas spots the mysterious Ghost Train on the fifth day. Sunset Terrace is eventually joined to the Market Street areas through the Underground Concourse, which finally opens the last time Sora and his party visit Twilight Town.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Roxas is first "born" in Twilight Town in front of the Old Mansion and is given his name by Xemnas. Roxas at first turned down Xemnas's offer to join Organization XIII and wandered the city streets. After seeing a trio of friends (Hayner, Pence, and Olette), Axel sees Roxas's apparent sadness over not having friends here, appears, and gives him sea-salt ice cream, convincing him to join atop the Clock Tower.

Throughout Roxas's life as a Nobody, he, Axel, and Xion used the Clock Tower as a meeting place after their missions, where they would sit and talk about their missions, or discuss whatever came to mind. It is also here that Roxas and Xion have their final battle and where he absorbs her afterwards.

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
Meanwhile, Sora, Donald, and Goofy access a memory-based Twilight Town via a card on the eleventh floor of Castle Oblivion. A confused Sora wonders why Vexen mentions the words "my Riku" and "the other side of Sora's heart". After Sora defeats Vexen, Vexen nearly reveals Marluxia's plans (and, by extension, Roxas's existence) to Sora and company before Axel suddenly arrives and kills Vexen.

At a later point, Riku, also in Castle Oblivion, enters a memory version of Twilight Town with help from King Mickey. There, Riku meets DiZ and defeats Riku Replica once more, causing the Replica to fade out of existence. Riku later meets Naminé before confronting Ansem, Seeker of Darkness one last time, to conquer his darkness.

Kingdom Hearts II
DiZ, unknown to Organization XIII, began using the Old Mansion as a headquarters for his revenge. Along with Naminé and Riku, he set up computer systems and Memory Pods in the basement levels of the manor, and monitored Sora's progression as he regained his memories while Roxas lived in a virtual simulation of Twilight Town.

The restoration process finishes exactly one year from the day that Sora created Roxas, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy awaken from their sleep with their memories restored up to the point that they entered Castle Oblivion, but do not know how long they were asleep, or how they got to Twilight Town. Sora says that the surroundings are rather familiar, and the group wonders if they had ever been there before.

They wander the streets, looking for answers, and ultimately meet Hayner, Pence, Olette, Seifer, and the other residents of Twilight Town. In the Sandlot, the Struggle tournament organizer will explain how they end up doing Struggle battles. In the Market Street, the tram has stopped running and the Moogle shop is closed, sporting a sign that says "Synthesis Workshop - coming soon!"

Eventually, they encounter King Mickey, when he saves them from a group of attacking Nobodies and tells them to board a magic train to the Mysterious Tower. Sora and the party return to Twilight Town twice during their adventures. The first time, he learns that Kairi fled Destiny Islands and was kidnapped by Axel. As he leaves town, he is stopped by Saïx, who taunts him into defeating more Heartless for Organization XIII. The second time, the party, along with Mickey, Hayner, Pence, and Olette, go to the manor where Sora and the party awakened, and find the digital Twilight Town, which leads them to The World That Never Was.

Kingdom Hearts III
While Riku and King Mickey search for Aqua, Sora decides to follow Roxas's heart and they decided to start searching in Twilight Town. Once they arrive, they are ambushed by Nobodies and shorty after, they come across Hayner, Pence, and Olette being chased by a Demon Tide but Sora, Donald, and Goofy manage to drive it off. Sora than asks Hayner and the others if they have seen Roxas, but they do not know anybody named Roxas until Sora shows them the photo. The gang decides to help Sora find Roxas and tells them to head to the Old Mansion. Before setting off, Sora shares a group photo with the gang when Olette tells Sora about Lucky Emblems hidden across the town. After taking the photo, Sora, Donald and Goofy head to the Old Mansion.

On their way, they find a rat being attacked by the Heartless. They take care of the Heartless and Sora helps the rat to collect the fruit he found in the woods. The trio arrives at the Old Mansion and shortly after the Twilight gang arrives where they tell Sora that they have found nothing and that the mansion is their last hope. Pence tries to access the transporter but is blocked by a program. Sora is then contacted by Ienzo who decides to use the computer to speed up the process of deciphering Ansem's Code. Pence decides to help Ienzo while Hayner and Olette do jobs and the trio decide to return to the Tram Common as well. On their way out, Ansem and Xemnas are waiting and they tell Sora that it is impossible to release Roxas as he never should've existed. They tell him the only way to free him is to give up his heart over to the darkness. They then send out both Nobodies and Heartless to attack the trio and then they disappear.

Blank Points
In one scene, Naminé is shown drawing in the White Room, and saying Sora's name. In the next, Roxas, Axel and Xion are shown sitting atop the clock tower eating sea salt ice cream as they did during their Organization days. The trio look out towards the setting sun and Roxas and Xion say in unison "Sora".

A fragmentary passage
Twilight Town is seen at several points during the ending montage. First, Kairi, Hayner, Pence and Olette are shown looking up at the Old Mansion, followed by a scene of DiZ watching over a sleeping Sora in the basement, and finally Roxas and Xion walking through Tram Common as a cloaked and blindfolded Riku watches from above a nearby shop.

Characters

 *  is mentioned on a poster for Giantland as the creator of the cartoons that Scrooge is airing in town, but does not make a physical appearance.

Trivia

 * Roxas's room can be accessed using cheat codes. However, it doesn't seem to have enough leg room for Sora and company.
 * If the player equips either Kingdom Key, Oathkeeper, or Oblivion and enters Betwixt and Between, the animations for the summoning of those Keyblades will not be shown and the Keyblade will appear out of nowhere, just like they did in the first game.

🇰🇲