Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX

Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, stylized as Kingdom Hearts HD I.5 ReMIX, is an HD remaster compilation of the Kingdom Hearts series, made in celebration of the series's tenth anniversary. It includes full HD remasters of Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories with added PlayStation 3 Trophy support. It also includes a collection of cutscenes from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days up-scaled in full HD within the compilation's Theater Mode. It marks the first time Kingdom Hearts Final Mix will be made available outside of Japan, and the first time Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories will be available in Europe and Australia.

The credit roll viewable from the title screen contains cutscene footage from Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix, and Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, hinting at the announcement of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX.

Changes

 * Video output supported in 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p.
 * Audio output supported in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and DTS Digital Surround 5.1.
 * PlayStation 3 trophy support.
 * Unlockable PlayStation 3 theme for each title.
 * Updated character models.
 * Remastered background music.

Kingdom Hearts Final Mix

 * Remastered in high definition.
 * Zero EXP and Combo Master abilities have been added to the game.
 * The right analog stick now controls the camera.
 * Summons now occupy the fourth Command Menu slot.
 * Talk and other special commands are now bound to.
 * Cutscenes can now be skipped.
 * The  trailer on the game's menu is replaced with a Back button to return to the main menu.
 * Rerecorded background music.

Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories

 * Remastered in high definition.
 * Maverick Flare, Midnight Roar, Total Eclipse, and Two Become One added as new attack cards.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

 * Remastered cutscenes in high definition.
 * 2 hours and 50 minutes of fully-voiced, high definition cutscenes across 109 "chapters".
 * Includes all Roxas's Diary, Secret Reports and Character Database entries.
 * DiZ's lines were re-recorded with Corey Burton.

Development
During August 2011, Tetsuya Nomura expressed desire to release a high definition re-release of the game though he had yet to confirm such plans. The idea for a high definition re-release preceded plans for Final Fantasy X re-release, and was a focus for two Square Enix programmers for over a year.

In September 2012, Square Enix announced Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix. It was revealed that the character models from Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, like Sora's, Riku's and Ansem's for example, are being used in HD 1.5 Remix as a base for the game's characters. The cutscenes from Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, which were either unvoiced or used English voice acting, will use the original Japanese voice acting. Every cutscene from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, whether it was originally a prerendered scene or used in-game graphics, will be remade for Theater Mode. 358/2 Days was originally planned to be an HD remade game, however, it would delay the development of the new title, so it ended up being within the compilation's Theater Mode.

In January 2013, Jesse McCartney, the voice of Roxas, posted a picture on Instagram showing Roxas clearly displayed on a screen in a recording booth, along with the caption, "For all you ‘Kingdom Hearts‘ Fans. Recording the next chapter, #KingdomHearts #Roxas #Gamers." McCartney also posted a minute long video of himself recording battle and combat grunts for Roxas, while also filming what looks like Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. However, when notified, Square Enix immediately removed both the photo and video. After much fan speculation, a 2013 Q3/Q4 release was confirmed for the west on February 25, 2013. It was later announced that the game would come to North America on September 10, 2013, Australia on September 12, 2013, and Europe on September 13, 2013.

It was revealed in March 2013 in a Famitsu interview, that 66 tracks spanning across all three games (with a majority of them concentrated in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix) have been re-recorded with live instrumentation, as opposed to the original games' use of the PlayStation 2's built-in tone generator for their background music.

In June 2013, Nomura stated that the original game assets for Kingdom Hearts had been lost some time ago. He explained, "[The game data] was lost, so we had to research, and we had to dig out from the actual game what was available and recreate everything for HD. We had to recreate all the graphics and it was actually not that easy."

Pre-Order Bonus
Pre-Ordering the game will come with a Limited Edition Artbook at launch. The Artbook contains early sketches, character renders, and final pieces of artwork from Tetsuya Nomura. On July 15, another bonus was announced via the Kingdom Hearts Facebook page. By pre-ordering the game, one can automatically receive an exclusive dynamic theme for the PlayStation 3.