Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance is the seventh game in the Kingdom Hearts series, released in time to celebrate the series' tenth anniversary. Sora and Riku prepare for the return of Xehanort by taking an exam to become Keyblade Masters, and do so by traveling to various dream worlds old and new, swapping between the two along the way. The game also introduces characters from The World Ends With You to the series.

An HD remaster would eventually be released in 2017, as part of the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue collection.

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Unused GraphicsTraverse Town and La Cité des Cloches went through a lot of changes during development. Unused TextThere's more evidence of Destiny Islands being a playable world at some point. Unused AreasThey're not Flowmotion friendly.

Unused Models#

Kingdom Hearts III Logo#

Internally referred as 631-f ex420.pmo, this model was planned to appear after the credits to tease the next entry, but it was scrapped in favor of having the "III" symbol vaguely appear when Sora and Riku are seen walking into the light.

Unseen Weapons#

Dilan, Aeleus, and Braig models while used, all have their respective weapons that is never seen in-game. These are leftover assets from Birth by Sleep.

Ansem Organization XIII Outfit Boss#

chara_boss.rbin contains the model of Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness in the Organization XIII coat. His high-poly model is only ever used in the game during cutscenes, while his gameplay model isn't. Not to mention, him being in the "rbin" file meant for bosses indicates that you were originally meant to fight him in this outfit than his normal clothes.

Destiny Islands World#

Despite not being a accessible world, there's still a model for when it's supposed in appear in the world map. However, it lacks any textures.

Destiny Islands Dive Asset#

chara_d_obj.rbin contains models and assets for when diving into a world. There's several files meant for Destiny Islands, although all of them uses the same flat rainbow model.

Dream Eater Toys#

Models for the unused Dream Eaters toys still exist in the files, alongside their inventory graphic.

January 2011 Trailer Bell Tower Collision#

The Bell Tower room in La Cité des Cloches has invisible unused collision, which matches the blank of wood Sora is seen running on in the January 2011 trailer.

Unused Keyblades#

Kingdom Key D#

Normal Kingdom Key D	The Grid version of Kingdom Key D

Like with Birth by Sleep, Kingdom Key D returns once more as an unused keyblade. But unlike with the rest of the unused keyblades, it cannot be accessed by modifying the save data. It needs to replace one of Sora or Riku's pre-existing keyblade ID slots by changing the files so Kingdom Key D can be equipped. After that it's mostly usable and even has its own unique The Grid look. However, it has no actual stats, descriptions, or any summon particle effects. It's internally referred as 63-w_ri010, meaning that the keyblade was planned to be used by Riku at some point.

Soul Eater#

Soul Eater is only seen wielded by Riku during the phantom Ursula boss fight. But after that, he uses his Way to Dawn keyblade from Kingdom Hearts II for the rest of the game. Changing the equipped keyblade to Soul Eater with save data modifications reveals that it's perfectly functional as it has its own unique hit and summon particle effects. It shares the same keyblade stats and description as Way to Dawn. Although these stats and description may have originally belonged to Soul Eater as it's the first keyblade ID slot for Riku, while Way to Dawn uses the last keyblade ID slot.

SORA UNUSED KBLADE/Spare Key For Sora#

Sora has an unused keyblade that shares the same stats and looks of Kingdom Key. Unfortunately, there are no differences from the Kingdom Key that Sora actually uses besides the name of it and the icon, which isn't visible in-game from the menu. It uses the last keyblade ID slot for him.

UNNAMED/Name TBD#

Sora "UNNAMED" Keyblade	Riku "UNNAMED" Keyblade

This keyblade appears in the beginning of the reality shift animation for Nightmare's End/Mirage Split in The World That Never Was. For some unknown reason, it contains its own keyblade ID slot and can be equipped as Sora uses the yellow side while Riku uses the darker blue side. It has the attack stat of 1. But it also has a whopping magic stat of 20, making it the best magic-focused keyblade in the entire game (even more than Ultima Weapon and Unbound). However, it has no summon particles nor does it have any hitbox, meaning normal physical attacks won't deal any damage to enemies. But it's not much of a big deal when these keyblades are catered towards a magic-focused build.

UNNAMED 2/Name TBD#

Sora's Second "UNNAMED" Keyblade	Riku's Second "UNNAMED" Keyblade

This keyblade appears at the end of the reality shift animation for Nightmare's End/Mirage Split in The World That Never Was. It's so massive that it practically clips through everything, even character models. It shares the same stats as the other "UNNAMED" keyblade, but this time it actually has a hitbox, meaning you can attack enemies with normal physical attacks.

Unused Deck Commands#

DEBUG JUMP#

A simple unused command named "DEBUG JUMP", though this command works no differently from High Jump.

DUMMY#

A "DUMMY" command that does nothing.

???#

A "???" command that does nothing.

Sora Unused Maximum HP Increase#

Sora has a unused maximum HP increase when defeating Chernabog, which is impossible to obtain in-game when Riku fights Chernabog instead. This is a leftover remnant of the original idea to have Sora in the original Fantasia while Riku visits Fantasia 2000.

Unused Animations#

Sora Swimming Animations#

p_ex01_003_25.pam	p_ex01_003_26.pam
Sora's idle animation when in a pool of water.	Whenever Sora moves around in water.

There's unused animations of Sora swimming through water, which isn't possible to see normally unless the game is modified to have Sora be in areas that are exclusive to Riku.

Kingdom Hearts 1 Sora Unseen Animations#

Sora in his original Kingdom Hearts outfit has several animations that are never seen due to the extremely short moment when he's playable and a restricted environment to boot. It's possible that these are remnants when the game originally didn't have a new outfit for him or for the scrapped playable world for Destiny's Islands.

p_ex03_001_001.pam	p_ex03_001_010.pam	p_ex03_001_011.pam	p_ex03_001_012.pam
Normal standing animation in a non-combat field.	When Sora enters into combat.	For when there's no more enemies on the field.	Normal non-combat walking animation. It's also used for the status menu.

p_ex03_001_013.pam	p_ex03_001_020.pam	p_ex03_001_021.pam	p_ex03_001_208.pam	p_ex03_001_209.pam
Running animation when on a non-combat field.	When Sora grabs on a ledge.	Sora getting himself to higher ground after being on said ledge.	Hitting against a wall while on the ground.	Hitting against a wall while in the air.

p_ex03_001_212.psm	p_ex03_001_213.pam	p_ex03_001_317.pam	p_ex03_001_318.pam
Being inflicted with a daze/dizzy status effect.	Awakening from the daze/dizzy status effect.	Sora casting magic like Thunder or Sleepra on the ground.	Sora casting magic like Cura or Balloon in the air.

Kingdom Hearts 1 Riku Unseen Animations#

Like with Sora, Riku in his original Kingdom Hearts outfit has many animations that are never seen due to brief appearance he had. There's also some animations that never gets seen due to the AI refusing to perform certain things.

p_ex04_001_001.pam	p_ex04_001_010.pam	p_ex04_001_011.pam	p_ex04_001_012.pam
Normal standing animation in a non-combat field.	When Riku enters into combat.	For when there's no more enemies on the field.	Normal non-combat walking animation. It's also used for the status menu.

p_ex03_001_013.pam	p_ex04_001_15.pam	p_ex04_001_208.pam	p_ex04_001_209.pam	p_ex04_001_212.pam
Running animation when on a non-combat field.	Riku doing a Air Slide.	Hitting against a wall while on the ground.	Hitting against a wall while in the air.	Being inflicted with a daze/dizzy status effect.

p_ex04_001_213.pam	p_ex04_001_216.pam	p_ex04_001_300.pam	p_ex04_001_301.pam	p_ex04_001_302.pam
Awakening from the daze/dizzy status effect.	Being grabbed by Phantom Ursula and Julius. The former being outright impossible to happen in-game.	Riku doing his first ground combo string.	Riku doing his second ground combo string.	Riku doing his third and final ground combo string.

p_ex04_001_307.pam	p_ex04_001_315.pam	p_ex04_001_316.pam	p_ex04_001_318.pam	p_ex04_900_024.pam
Riku doing a air rush attack.	Using magic spells like Fira and Blizzard on the ground.	Using magic spells like Firaga and Blizzaga in the air.	Riku casting magic spells like Gravity or Vanish in the air.	The animation used for when getting a game over. This is outright impossible to see as the player never controls this version of Riku in the game.

Test Dives#

Room 3C	Room 3D

Within the "EX" World, there exists two unused dive maps known as "3C" and "3D". Both were clearly used for testing as it asks the player to collect the maximum number of points or defeat 999 enemies, with a one-hour time limit. However, these dive maps don't fully work anymore, thus leaving Sora/Riku falling through the empty void of darkness (no pun intended) forever until the player decides to go back to the world map.

Unused Dream Eaters#

Not Used#

An unused Dream Eater that's referred to as "Not Used". Not surprisingly, this Dream Eater is mostly non-existent as it doesn't appear on the field and cannot be interacted outside of checking its stats. It does have a link attack according to status menu, though.

Nightmare Dream Eaters As Allies#

Spellican, Commantis, Char Clawbster, Chill Clawbster, Hockomonkey, Holey Moley, Wargoyle, Brawlmari, Queen Buzzerfly, and Anti-Black Coat all have their own Dream Eater ally ID and can be added into Sora (or Riku's) party by either adding them into the spirit party menu or changing the race of a pre-existing Dream Eater with save data modifications. But don't get too excited, as doing this will merely give you an R & R Seal, although it's very buggy. For one, these R & R Seals do not have an ability link board to spend link points on. Secondly, they cannot be petted nor touched as the game will simply ignore your attempts to do so. They can't be hit with paint either to change their color, as the paint will phase through them. Lastly, going into the menu will cause a crash if any of them are in an active party due to the game trying and failing to load in the actual model of the Nightmare Dream Eaters.

Unused Cutscene#

Watch on YouTubeThere's a unused cutscene that can only be accessed by file swapping. Doing so reveals a strange cutscene of a keyhole appearing for a few seconds, Sora and Riku diving together while t-posing, and then Sora is doing a animation seen in the 2010 KH3D Demo and 2011 trailer, where he looks around before drawing his keyblade. It then shows Sora teleporting around before showing Sora and Riku with their cutscene models t-posing together as the cutscene ends.

jb_62a.bcd#

There's a unused file that is named jb_62a.bcd, which contains collision data for the opera room in Country of the Musketeers. This was also used to preview rooms during the creation of 2.5 HD Remix.

Flick Rush Unused Fail-Safe Meow Wows#

The moogle who runs the Flick Rush game in Traverse Town prevents the player from starting the minigame if they don't have three active dream eaters in the party. Modifying the room hex code to bypass this restriction causes the game to fill any empty slots with low-level Meow Wows as a failsafe.

あ Difficulty#

By changing the byte above 03 at 0x0020 in somdat0.bin, you'll get an unused difficulty that's referred to as "あ", which increases the damage dealt and taken by Sora and Riku.

Unused Music#

Deep Drive#

The battle theme for the Kingdom Hearts II version of The World That Never Was exists within the BGM folder, possibly used as a placeholder during development.

Kingdom Hearts II Dearly Beloved#

Same as above, the BGM folder contains the Kingdom Hearts II rendition of Dearly Beloved, also possibly a placeholder track.

Developer Message#

Meow Wow#

ワンダニャンは可愛いのぅ

##TEMP##Aren't you a good little Meow Wow?
Yes you are.

25-ctpi500.ctd and 100-ctpi500.ctd have unused placeholder text from a developer and someone from the localization team praising the cat (?) Dream Eater known as Meow Wow.

Oddities#

Item Command Tutorial Screenshot#

The tutorial for the item commands shows a screenshot of Riku using an item. What's very bizarre is that the screenshot shows Riku in the middle of the final boss battle despite this tutorial only being seen at the very beginning of the game. It also shows Riku using Soul Eater, which is impossible to use unless his keyblade ID slot was modified to make him equip it. These mistakes were corrected in the HD version.

Shadow Sora#

Despite not being a dream eater or even a nightmare in the game, Shadow Sora is internally labeled as one, as the folder that contains this model is named m_de_99.