An Exhaustive Look at Kingdom Hearts V CAST 

*IMPORTANT CORRECTION* : The original release date of Kingdom Hearts V CAST was February 1, 2005 in the United States. There was never a Japanese release (in 2004 or otherwise). The only claim of a Japanese release date originated from an IGN article with other factual inaccuracies (such as listing Square as the developer), which was then cited on Wikipedia and the KHWiki for 15 years without anyone realizing. Verizon press releases, news articles, the Chain of Memories Ultimania, and the Japanese KH wiki and Wikipedia all imply that V CAST was limited to the US. Full sources in this thread: www.khinsider.com/forums/index.php?threads/kingdom-hearts-v-cast-game-files-ripped.211584/post-6664208

"Wonderland might still be out there, so don't lose hope" is a weirdly poignant final line to end on. I dig it.

I'm the OP of the KHInsider thread that has led the charge in bringing this game back to life. I wanna give credit to Daguar and kraze1984 for doing much of the heavy lifting in getting the game playable, and to Wedge for uploading the initial install chapter that started the whole thing, as well as Cbajd5 for Agrabah and Eriyu for Maleficent's Castle. And shoutouts to the forum mods for never closing the thread no matter how long it goes without a new post! That thread started nearly 8 years ago now, in the summer of 2016. It's been a long and slow process, and the work still isn't done with Wonderland missing, but I'm hopeful that someday, somehow, we'll find that final piece. That's why I'm glad videos like this exist, spreading the word. V-CAST isn't just some weird phone game, it's an important chapter in the development of Kingdom Hearts as a franchise, and an exceptionally ambitious effort in the early days of mobile phone games. Superscape endeavored to faithfully recreate the Kingdom Hearts console experience on a platform where 3D games of any sort were a tall order, let alone an action-RPG-puzzle-platformer, and for that I applaud them. It might not be a "good" game, but it's one that deserves to be preserved and appreciated.

I can't wait for Caw to be an integral puzzle piece in the Master of Masters' grand scheme in KH4.

I actually had no clue that Agrabah and Maleficent's castle had been found, that's so cool to hear. You joke about a "Re:VCAST" but I'd legitimately love a fan remake of this game with bearable controls and other improvements, it's such a cool fun oddity reflective of KH's early days, things weren't set in stone and they were still trying to figure it out.

Now we just have to find the entirety of Coded.

This is weird to say, but there was actual thought and care put into this game, more than I would've thought. I mean, it's not amazing, but it's more thought than some games now-a-days ARGHM-GOLEM-ARGHM. I think the part that suffers the most is the combat. Other than that, they tried, right? They really did try, especially for the device it was on.

Only found out about KH V Cast recently, and I gotta say, it's amazing it's even one world is playable over a decade after the game was taken down. It's such a weird part of KH's history, and it's good to see such a comprehensive video on it.

Hey man just wanted to say I'm really impressed with this video. Your knowledge of the series was one thing, but when you went into music theory and dropped the word "motivic" I had to double check your subscribers. Can't believe you're under 1000. I have a feeling you'll get there soon, keep up the great work.

Oh wow, I had no idea people had managed to find these worlds! I've been curious about VCast for...well, over a decade. What a fascinating part of KH history. Thank you for this video! Finally getting to see something like this was such a treat.

Huh, what a weird little thing. I knew a guy who worked on shovelware like this. I wonder if anyone on the devteam was a fan of the original series, or if they were just chugging along, throwing in whatever they had access to? For the most part, it really seems like they were doing the best with what they had, given how incredibly limited the technology they were using was and how pressing crunchtime must've been.

I just found this video. I recall another youtuber (yuriofwind) talked about this game. It has been years sense I last saw that video (or any other video of theirs) and I swear that they said this game was cancelled before anything substantial was made. To find out there was even more to this game (and that there was a publicly released version) is mind blowing. Just one chapter remains to be found so it can be rebuilt fully? Here's to hoping that the people behind this rebuild are successful. Thank you for making this video!

If I may: It's extremely cool that Ian still had the files for the soundtrack all these years later and willingly shared them with the fanbase when asked about it, and all things considered, despite the quick turnaround time and the technical limitations, he did a solid job on the soundtrack, however small the tracklist and however short the songs and jingles may be. It's very cool to know that, even though this was realistically probably just some contract job for a mobile game, he took the time to listen to the soundtrack of the source material and draw on that for his work. Shows a level of care that... I mean, let's be honest, it's a level of care you wouldn't really expect to see from an old flip phone era mobile game, especially this early in the franchise's lifespan, Disney branding attached or otherwise.

this was a really well put together analysis of an otherwise forgotten part of KH's history! good job!

This was such a wave of nostalgia. I remember begging my sister to buy me this game on my terrible first phone. I knew it existed, that I had played a kingdom hearts game on my phone back in high school, but I couldnt remember a single thing about it until now. Thank you for reminding me of this strange era of kingdom hearts

My friend found this video randomly in her recommended The fact that the subtitles censor the word ̶f̶l̶*̶a̶t̶ is such a cherry on top. Fantastic video.

My first thought upon seeing this video's title was: "How do we know anything about the cast of Kingdom Hearts V? We're not even at IV yet!" I'm glad I decided to actually watch this video - was very nice to learn about this little game! Jank aside, there's a touch of personality and creativity in it that I wouldn't have expected to see in a game of this scope. Also cool of Ian Livingstone to share the music files and answer some questions!

This was so fascinating. Thanks for creating this wonderful video that helps perverse this title.

the first thing that came to mind listening to those midis was kh if it was runescape and now i cant think of this game without thinking it's just kh runescape mix. great content, your channel is underrated!

Fantastic video that collects and condenses all pertinent info anyone could ever want to know about KH V-Cast! I knew about the game as a kid, but only knew one kid with the proper verizon phone who could play it, and he wasn't a KH fan, lol. This definitely deserves to be discovered by the wider KH community Also, I lost it on the dramatic zoom in on Jafar, only to see his face looking like he just got done scarfing down an entire lemon at 19:25

I've always been deeply interested in this game since I heard about it many years ago, good to see so much of it has been recovered. Here's hoping we get Wonderland someday.

This is such a well put together piece. Thank you for all the work ya put into it

If KH V-cast was canon to the series turn then the story would’ve taken place post KH1

I’ve only heard about this game in passing, so it was fascinating to learn more about it in so much detail. Thanks for your research!

Great content man! Thanks for the quote, hope that all our efforts will help the community to find Wonderful episode and finally complete the game!

Awesome video! There's so much more to it than I thought! I figured it was just that island level and that there was no story whatsoever. Here's hoping Wonderland gets found soon!

Earlier into the video I thought it was funny that the game reminded me of Deathtrap Dungeon because of the tank controls. Blew my mind that the music was done by Ian Livingstone so I immediately had to look it up to get that it was a different guy with the same name.

Fantastic deep dive into the game, I really liked the investigation of even the most minute stuff that the devs put in it! It must have taken *a lot* of tries from you to get everything, but it's fun to document the amount of care put into this game (despite its limited goal and lifetime)

I watched this originally around when it came out and was curious if you had any interest in doing a deep dive into the original coded?

I’m glad someone agrees about the KH2 Cave of Wonders. Like I remember really being excited to see the Relic Chamber again with its charming platforms and traps now with a more agile Sora. But I was disappointed when I entered in the Cave of Wonders only to be met with this flat bare bones terrain with weird construction beams floating in the air. The hallway world design is the one thing in KH2 that hasn’t aged well for me over time.

I love this! Excellent look at a really interesting piece of Kingdom Hearts media 😁

Swashbuckler's island music sounds straight out of Runescape

I have to know about this lost game 😮thank you for covering lost media 2.4.24

Damn, what a find D:

this definitely feels like a disney interactive version of what kingdom hearts could be. honestly disney should try making their own kingdom hearts content again just for the fun of it XD :D

This is incredible. What a great video

First of all, great video, well structured and researched, this was recommended to me out of nowhere and as a KH fan I was surprised how well done this video was, I didn't even know this game existed until now. A few improvements I would suggest however: 1. Get a better microphone, better audio quality will not only improve the video itself but this will make more people want to stick around and watch your stuff, especially longer-form content such as this. 2. Fix the audio levels. Your voice is way too quiet and is almost drowned out by the music, but thankfully it didn't get that bad and I could hear everything you were saying.

Why is it that i want to make an rpg maker adventure based on V cast.

comment about the 300 crabs 10:20

this is so super cool fun and fresh ‼️‼️ epic video random person i definitely do not know🦕🦕

excellent video :)

I did not even know anyone got this game up and running on an emulator. The power of fandom.

I've been seeing KH VCast before but wow this is actually the quality of early Mobile Games being close to GBA games both in 2D and 3D. Growing up playing so much Java and Symbian games, it's just amazing these games actually exist. Before Crisis and Coded are also the things I'm actually looking forward to play someday.

I want to explore the heart of V Cast Sora, he SHOULD be canon too!!!! >:O

this is better than kendrick lamar's diss track against drake

Gotta find me a flip phone to emulate this on to see it how god intended

We should get Nick Robinson to find Wonderland lmao.

11:28 What the heck happened to Maleficient's face?

for the ranking of Cave of wonders, you forgot one, the Chain of Memories of the PS2 VERSION of the game.

10:33 Oooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

:3

IMO still seems more fun than Re:COM

I am like number 267

Why does the graphics look like Shrek’s treasure hunt

this looks like a crappy .exe game 😭