Trivia / Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]

• Acting for Two:
  • Kōki Uchiyama voices both Roxas and Neku in the Japanese version.
  • In all languages, Sora and Vanitas share voice actors. Same goes for Roxas and Ventus.
  • In the English version, Corey Burton pulls triple duty with Yen Sid, Frollo, and Ansem the Wise.
• Acting in the Dark: The Unknown AKA a time-displaced young Xehanort has absolutely zero personal investment in the plot of which he is part. His English voice actor was given his lines completely out of context to ensure that he had as little investment as his character did.
• Colbert Bump:
  • This game gave substantial exposure to The World Ends with You, which, while successful, was previously considered a dark horse among Square Enix RPGs and more akin to a Cult Classic.
  • It also gave new relevance and popularity to The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, which had fallen by the wayside in comparison to other movies from the Disney Renaissance.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: There are versions for both the Japanese and North American releases. The Japanese version includes copies of 3D, Re:coded, and Days, a special KH3D-branded 3DS, and other minor goodies. The North American version (or the "Mark of Mastery Edition") is a bit less nice, only having 3D, a KH3D-branded 3DS case, and said minor goodies.
• Lying Creator: One trailer featured the striking visual of multiple Soras falling from the sky. According to Nomura, this was meant as just a thematic, trailer-only scene not planned for the game. However, possibly due to the buzz it caused, the scene was later worked into a late-game cutscene as a visual metaphor of Sora's various visits to Traverse Town. Maybe Nomura wasn't lying at the time of the statement, but it was inaccurate by the time the game went to print.
• Milestone Celebration: Dream Drop Distance is a large part of the series' 10th anniversary celebrations; the logo for it is emblazoned in the top right corner of the games cover, and it also accompanies 358/2 Days and Re:coded in a special anniversary box set. Additionally, a limited edition 3DS console with a unique 3D-inspired design is being released.
  • Also, a HD Remaster of this title contained within the "HD 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue" collection for the PS4 was released in the year of the franchise's 15th anniversary.
• No Export for You: Despite Nintendo of Europe getting the rights to publish the game in Europe, due to Square Enix's rather unfortunate decision to not localize the written text for Italy and Spain, Nintendo Ibérica, the latter's subsidiary of NOE, has now decided not to publish the game anymore. This means that, despite the Nintendo 3DS' Region Coding no longer being an issue due to the PAL version of the game still getting released in other European countries, Spanish fans will have to import the game anyway (unless they find said PAL version of the game at "select retailers").
• The Other Darrin:
  • Rhyme in both versions. In Japanese, she's voiced by Ayana Taketatsu instead of Hitomi Nabatame. In English, Ashley Rose replaces Kate Higgins.
  • Ben Diskin replaces David Gallagher as the voice of Young Xehanort, as does Takanori Okuda to Mamoru Miyano.
  • None of the Hunchback of Notre Dame actors reprise their roles except for Jason Alexander (Hugo) and Charles Kimbrough (Victor), though two of them are dead.
    • Funnily enough, Corey Burton voiced one of Frollo's soldiers in the original movie, before voicing Frollo himself in this game.
  • None of the movie actors return to voice the Tron Legacy characters. Fred Tatasciore reprises his role as Kevin and CLU from the TRON: Evolution game and TRON: Uprising.
  • Hayden Panettiere has replaced Alyson Stoner as Xion. This one is interesting—obviously the intention is for Kairi and Xion to have the same voice actor, but Panettiere was unavailable for Xion's debut, meaning Stoner is her original English voice actor.
  • Every Pinocchio cast member who appeared in Kingdom Hearts has been replaced in the ten years since: Seth Adkins having aged out of the role, Pinocchio is now played by Nick Carson, and long-standing actors Eddie Carroll and Tony Pope having died, Jiminy and Geppetto are now played by Phil Snyder and Jeff Bennett.
• Pre-Order Bonus: Pre-orders of the 3DS version were packed with three Dream Eater AR cards that could be scanned for special Dream Eaters that weren't available any other way (at least until the PS4 version made them available for synthesis like any other Dream Eater).
• Recycled Script: Pretty much Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories only with dreams instead of memories. Sora and Riku are once again de-leveled, separated and trapped inside a Closed Circle, visit worlds that are not real (dream worlds instead of memory worlds this time around), are regularly antagonized by Organization members that drop cryptic hints, Riku again faces Ansem at the end of his journey, the whole adventure is revealed to be a trap by the Organization that results in Sora falling into slumber (again) and Riku again has to save Sora from what would otherwise be an endless sleep. This time however, Riku is able to rescue Sora without having to pay the steep price he did in Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days.
• Swan Song:
  • This would be the final game in the series to feature Chikao Ohtsuka and Leonard Nimoy as the voices of Master Xehanort before both actors' deaths in early 2015.
  • This is also the last time Russi Taylor voiced Minnie Mouse in the series before her death in 2019.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Sora and Riku were originally planned to wear their outfits from Kingdom Hearts while in the Sleeping Realm, Word of God states they were given new outfits so that fans wouldn't think the game was a remake.
  • There were originally going to be greater differences between Sora and Riku's stories. Sora was planned to return to Space Paranoids, with only Riku visiting the Grid—there are elements of The Artifact here; note that Sora's plot is concerned with reconnecting with Tron, while Riku's is the one with the condensed Tron: Legacy plot. Additionally, Sora's visit in the Symphony of Sorcery would've been based on Fantasia, while Riku's would've been based on Fantasia 2000.
  • There's Dummied Out data of a texture-less ship that resembles the one in Treasure Planet, suggesting that a world for it was planned.
• Word of God: Courtesty of interviews with Tetsuya Nomura.
  • Sora seeing Vanitas standing next to Young Xehanort is due to Ventus' heart inside reacting to Xehanort's presence.
  • Master Xehanort was able to override Young Xehanort's body, which is how the latter was able to stop Mickey's time magic.
  • The World That Never Was's status as a world has been affected since the original Organization's defeat.
  • The reason Traverse Town has been expanded since its last appearance is due to it being a world set in the Realm of the In-Between, which operates differently than the worlds in the Realms of Light and Darkness.
  • While all traces of Xion have been erased from everyone's memories, Lea is still able to remember things that happened during events that involved her.

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