While the Kingdom Hearts series is getting close to 20-years-old, the title fully side-stepped the jewel-case phase. Though PlayStation switched over to the bulkier plastic cases that have dominated the market since PS2, we are left to wonder… what if they never gave that trend up? Fan podcast Triangle Squared has re-imagined a Kingdom Hearts 3 PS4 jewel case that is both an amazing throwback and something I desperately want for my collection.
The construction of the jewel cases happened in late-January, right before the release of Kingdom Hearts 3. Sharing the project with Triangle Squared’s Twitter followers, they conducted a giveaway with a custom case:
7 days until @KINGDOMHEARTS III! In my hype, I've designed this custom case! With a week to go, if this gets at least 250 retweets, I'll randomly choose a winner from those who RT! If it gets to 500, a 2nd winner and 1000 a 3rd. Like and Follow as well! #KingdomHearts #SquareEnix pic.twitter.com/bd7kOE8yfu
— Triangle Squared (@TriangleSqrd) January 22, 2019
(Editor’s Note: Feel free to RT, but the contest is firmly over unless they choose to reboot it).
This isn’t some lazy, slap-dashing of the current PS4 box art on a jewel case. No, this is an individualized work of art that should be appreciated as such. The front is adorned with a pretty great Kingdom Hearts logo, with the Destiny Island trio (Sora, Kairi, and Riku) on the left and the Dark Seeker Saga’s origin protagonists, Ventus, Aqua, and Terra. In the middle, we see Master Xehanort with his arms wide open–readying for battle.
Moving to the interior, we get some more detailed additions. Behind the front cover is the Kingdom Hearts 3 pattern–you know, the one that is incorporated into the Japan-exclusive KH3 slim version and theme. On the right, behind the CD we get small glimpses of what is really likely Dark Meridian — the beach locale that frequents through the Door to Darkness. And then we have a rainbow-colored inspired from the stained glass settings that are oh-so-common in Kingdom Hearts games.
Last but not least, the back works in artwork and screenshots that were available pre-release. This includes the primary Disney characters, as well as Roxas, Xion, and Axel/Lea. You can check all three of those images below:
This isn’t the first throwback jewel case project we’ve seen — some of you may remember that we covered a Death Stranding PS1 case which looks really cool. However, it looks leagues behind the work that went into the Triangle Squared version. In fact, feel free to look at a collection of their other renders below:
Yupp, I designed it and assembled it! Do em often! pic.twitter.com/pYXfAEhVSA
— Triangle Squared (@TriangleSqrd) February 16, 2019
If you still haven’t played the game yet, we did a spoiler-free review where we awarded Kingdom Hearts 3 a 9.0 out of 10. Meanwhile, check out some other cool fan projects like an artistic re-imagining of a Kingdom Hearts x NieR: Automata world or the terrible things fans are doing with the game’s photo/selfie mode.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is available now on PS4 and Xbox One, and you can support Nomura and Square Enix by picking up the title on Amazon. Meanwhile, show some love to Triangle Squared by following them on Twitter or checking out their podcast.
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