Footage from an early Kingdom Hearts 3 prototype has confirmed Square Enix’s original plans for the game to include a world themed after Disney’s Cars as well as assets from the canceled Final Fantasy Versus XIII project.
The leaked video was shared on YouTube by 13th Vessel, and it shows early in-development footage from Kingdom Hearts 3, confirming that Final Fantasy Versus XIII models were used as placeholders for Yozora, Nameless Star, and others. Additionally, the same individual shared details from the leaked Kingdom Hearts 3 Premium Showcase files on Twitter/X, revealing that a world themed after Disney’s Cars was originally considered for the game.
The Twitter/X user also shared screenshots from Kingdom Hearts 3 per-production footage that was obtained via the Premium Showcase. The aforementioned screenshots can be seen below.
Furthermore, they also mentioned that they found the Japanese text “カーズ（仮)” in the Kingdom Hearts 3 world list. The text translates to “Cars (tentative).” They stated that they were unable to any resources from the Cars world, though, according to them, there are more references to it in the files. They also found some in-development video files from the Frozen world and gameplay tests, which can be seen in their video. The mention of “tentative” suggests that plans for a world themed after Disney’s Cars was under consideration early during development. It didn’t make its way into the final game, however.
When Kingdom Hearts 3 launched in 2019, fans were quick to notice an in-game video advert for a video game called Verum Rex. It was introduced as a trailer and looked similar to Final Fantasy Versus XIII. However, it was hinted in the game’s secret ending that there may be more to the story than just a simple advert. The ReMind DLC later confirmed that that the worlds of Verum Rex and Kingdom Hearts are connected in some capacity. Game director Tetsuya Nomura hinted at some unexpected developments occurring in the future.
