Kingdom Hearts DS bound for North America

With Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories shipping to retailers this week, Square Enix and Disney Interactive Studios wanted to give fans something else to look forward to. To that end, they confirmed today that the franchise's Nintendo DS debut, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, would be coming to North America.

358/2 Days is set between the events of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2. The game follows KH2 character Roxas while he was a member of Organization XIII, and as is the series' trademark, will take place across a wide variety of Disney universes. 358/2 Days will also introduce a multiplayer mode to the series, allowing four players to join up together locally.

While the companies did not announce a North American release window for 358/2 Days, the DS game is scheduled for a February release in Japan. 358/2 Days was one of three Kingdom Hearts projects first unveiled at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show. The others include Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep for the PlayStation Portable and the mobile phone game Kingdom Hearts Coded.

For more on 358/2 Days, check out GameSpot's hands-on impressions of the Japanese edition.