Removed content in the Kingdom Hearts series

In the process of developing a video game, many ideas are discarded as unworkable for one reason or another. However, if the idea makes it far enough into the development process, aspects of it can be still be found within the code of the released games, or it may show up in trailers or interviews with the developers.

The following list covers much of this removed content. It is not comprehensive, and focuses on the more interesting elements.

Bahamut summon
Bahamut was originally planned to appear as a summon in Kingdom Hearts, but was removed before the game was released. Through cheat codes, a "Bahamut" option can appear in the Summons menu and can be selected. However, since there is nothing on the game disc to execute, the game will crash when chosen.

Disney Castle
As seen in the game's beta trailer, Disney Castle was originally set to appear as a playable World in Kingdom Hearts. Removed for currently unknown reasons, the world can still be accessed via cheat codes, as areas of the world exist from the game's opening cutscenes.

Crumbling Island
An area known as the Crumbling Island was meant to appear in the End of the World as the setting for the final battle between Sora and Riku before the climactic battle with Ansem. It appears as a remnant of Destiny Islands, consumed by the darkness.

Dive to the Heart
A screenshot from an early magazine scan shows the Dive to the Heart was set to appear in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, likely as a memory-fabricated floor in Castle Oblivion, but was discarded.

Deep Jungle and Jungle King
Deep Jungle was set to appear in the game - as an early screenshot of the game testifies - as was its Keyblade, Jungle King, as a Card, but was removed due to Disney being unable to secure the rights to use Tarzan in future works.

Edge of Ultima and Detection Saber
Through the use of a cheating device, two palette swaps of the Ultima Weapon can be obtained in Kingdom Hearts II. These are the "Edge of Ultima", a version of the original Ultima Weapon with a glitched appearance, and the "Detection Saber", a palette swap of the original as well, except slightly larger. When these Keychains are accessed in Sora's Items menu, no picture of the Keyblades are shown, only map icons.

Alternate Xemnas forms
In his final battle, Xemnas was originally intended to use two forms other than the World of Nothingness; King (キング), which is humanoid and fittingly has a crown adorned with Nobody sigils, and Kentauros (ケンタロウス), a spiked torso fused with a centaur-like creature, fittingly enough as the word Kentauros is the Greek root word for Centaur, meaning "piercing bull-stickers". Both of them appear to be created from the skyscrapers of the Dark City.

The Great Crest
In early trailers, The Great Crest area of Hollow Bastion was shown in its Kingdom Hearts incarnation as a playable area. This area, however, is inaccessible in the final game.

Buzz Lightyear and Woody summons
Buzz Lightyear and Woody, characters from Pixar's Toy Story series, were at one point planned to appear as new summons in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. Their models appear within the game coding, albeit without textures.

Profile sprites and Pinocchio's World
Pinocchio's World was originally set to appear in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, but was eventually removed due to space restrictions. Tetsuya Nomura explained that the planned plot for the world was, "Set in a circus and playing off the story of Pinocchio, a puppet with a heart, and the Nobodies who possess no heart, we planned for a sad episode with Roxas and Xion looking for hope for themselves." The world would have included Pinocchio (as a human) and Gepetto, as well as the villains, Honest John and Gideon from the original film. The profile sprites for the characters still appear within the final game's code.

Hades and Megara were also planned to appear in Olympus Coliseum, and Tinker Bell was apparently planned to have lines, before she was made mute. These characters' profile sprites also appear within the final game's code.

Weapon palette swaps
Palette swaps of Midnight Roar and Twilight exist in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days's game data, but do not appear as formal weapons.

Altered enemy
A Darkside was set to appear in Beast's Castle instead of a Dark Follower.

Wing Gear and Wind Maker
The Wind Maker (ウィンドメイカー) was to be an aerial attack Keyblade when the Wing Gear (ウィングギア) was equipped. However both the Keyblade and Gear were ultimately cut and the Wind Maker's appearance given to Leviathan.

Light Seeker
A version of the Kingdom Key D, the Light Seeker (ライトシーカー), was set to be an equipable Keyblade for Ventus. It can still be equipped through the use of a cheat device on the Japanese version.

The Jungle Book World
The Jungle Book was originally set to appear as a playable world in the game, but was removed. The world can still be accessed by the use of cheat codes. A number of areas are accessible, including Louie's Throne Room.

Pleakley
Pleakley from the original Lilo & Stitch movie was set to make an appearance in Deep Space, but removed for unknown reasons. His model is still in the game's coding, albeit without textures.

Cutscenes
Certain cutscenes which appeared in early trailers - shown at events such as the Tokyo Game Show and Jump Festa - were later altered for the game's final release. For example, the scene in which Master Xehanort reveals his plan to forge the χ-blade to Ventus was originally meant to appear in Olympus Coliseum, rather than the Keyblade Graveyard. A scant few scenes were also omitted, including one where Terra watches a young Sora and Riku partake in a swordfight, as well as individual lines, such as Terra telling Aqua that searching for the light Master Xehanort is after will lead them to him.