Unlocking Kingdom Hearts 3’s secret movie takes a little work

Even when it launches on Jan. 29, Kingdom Hearts 3 won’t have all of its content available to check out. Square Enix won’t give players access to the game’s epilogue until Jan. 30, and won’t allow them to unlock a secret movie (a series tradition) before Jan. 31.

But gaining access to the latter post-release addition, the secret movie, will take a bit of work on the part of players. Unlike the epilogue, which can be viewed upon finishing the game’s main storyline, the secret movie only unlocks after players complete an additional set of requirements.

In an interview with Famitsu, director Tetsuya Nomura gave a few more specifics as to what those requirements are. The secret movie is only accessible after photographing a number of Lucky Emblems, which are Mickey Mouse-shaped Easter eggs scattered throughout the game. Sometimes, Donald and Goofy will prompt the player (who controls happy-go-lucky hero Sora) to stop and take a picture of a Lucky Emblem somewhere in the area. But for most of the game, finding them and snapping a photo is on the player alone.

The number of Lucky Emblems needed to see the secret movie — which will also only be viewable upon completion of the game — is not yet clear. Nomura told Famitsu that the harder the difficulty setting, the fewer Emblems players will have to seek out. But “even Standard isn’t that strict, I think,” he said, according to Kotaku’s translation.

However, playing on the easiest setting will mean that the secret movie won’t unlock until every last Lucky Emblem is captured and saved to Sora’s Gummiphone, the game’s version of a smartphone. And that’s not the easiest task; in our experience, the Lucky Emblems are very well-hidden throughout the background of every world.

For fans who want to get every last drop out of Kingdom Hearts possible, though, get ready to take a lot of pics. Until then, read our review of Kingdom Hearts 3 for more on what to expect from this long-awaited game.