Kingdom Hearts Collection Key Art Has Fans Sleuthing To Work Out If AI Was Used

Yet another reason why Digital is the way to go. Physical media doesn’t even get quality box art anymore.

Insane to use AI for a product that you already have art for. Like why wouldn't they just reuse the artwork from the last compilation?

Lol dude they can't even be bothered to like use photoshop for 10 minutes

Damn, I had this bundle wishlisted. Going to delete it now and wishlist the individual games.

@Vivianeat That’s….a bit silly don’t you think? I know AI sucks but opting to buy the games individually only serves to put more money in Square Enix’s pockets and be more expensive for you since it’s not bundled together.

Maybe they used AI, but I don't trust internet "sleuths" on this or many other issues.

I'm sorry but the language used by these people who believe it's AI is way too final. "ai WAS used" no because there's no definitive proof "ai MAY have been used" I'm as anti-ai as the next person but these kind of hard accusations with no definitive proof are ridiculous

@cylemmulo Remember the times when saying something was Photoshopped was negative? Now we all miss human-made Photoshop work lol.

They’re going to add an all new episode called Kingdom Hearts 3+4 Final Touch ReDigit to explain why Donald now has four fingers on his left hand.

@TerribleTerabytes I for one would rather have crappy box art but actually own the game.

@Dr_Corndog
Once people recognize the secret reason for Donald’s four fingers, they will feel ashamed of their words & deeds.

Hurry everyone, blow this nothing-burger issue out of proportion! Quickly now!

It probably is gen AI since Squeenix has been so vocally supportive of it.

If I made games and had to look at articles with stories like this I would laugh so hard.

What a flipping shocker. Definitely not buying. Not that I would have anyway since it's likely going to be a game key card but now I'm doubly not buying. In fact, they owe ME money now!

@SalvorHardin

Four in the beak and one in the...

@TerribleTerabytes a lot of this anti-AI stuff is not exactly rational.

@xmkbest “This wasn’t Wario art made out of love! This was made out of photoshop!”

I don’t even know what to think. They’re weird designs, but looking at the original version, it looks practically identical.

I'm more worried about the KHI Sora at the center. That pose reminds me of Sonic's pose on the cover art for Sonic Origins Plus. That and the fact Mickey isn't facing the player.

Minor nitpicks more than anything.

My knee-jerk reaction to the headline was “of course they wouldn’t use AI!” but then I saw Donald’s fingers… I just got sad.

@StewdaMegaManNerd The argument seems to be that they used AI to rearrange the original. That’s what led to mix-ups like Donald’s fingers.

Is the world going to come to an end over this ?

Just think, they’re now exists a social media subset who habitually pinch zoom gaming media, sleuthing their way to mad likes and maybe even a showering of precious gems and riches.

What an age.

@zockermiller It's so funny to me how people keep saying "I'd rather own the game" when there's no such thing these days. Every game has updates or patches. You will never have a full, complete game out of the box offline ever again. You're holding on to an outdated ideal that isn't realistic in the landscape of modern gaming.

I am very strongly against AI. I'm sorry, there's just no way around that. It's not like I was interested in getting this anyways, but it's pretty disappointing that we're going from the questionable decision to have only cloud versions of the games to now the choice to use AI art adjustments.

@TerribleTerabytes

"Every game has updates or patches. You will never have a full, complete game out of the box offline ever again."

The Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth Trilogy Asian Switch physical copies that I got a few months ago are completely on the cart, without any patches whatsoever. Also, even if a genuine physical game has bug fix patches, there is still a functioning build on the cartridge, just without the bug fixes.

Outdated doesn't mean impossible.

These "AI Tools" seem to be more problematic than their worth.
If I need to go back and correct a Computer', then it's counterproductive and costing more money anyway. Just let the humans do it correctly and be done!

@Vivianeat if you want to pay more, that’s your business. The collection cover for the bundle isn’t going to appear when the games release on your Switch Home Screen, it will be the individual games.

@axelhander people looking for fame and/or attention. It’s getting way out of hand.

@SalvorHardin he has four fingers the same reason Piccolo in the DBZ anime does. Because 3 figures traditionally have conentations to the Yakuza. Odds are to keep with Japanese censor boards the Japanese artist drew Donald with four fingers.

Is it dumb... Yes... Is it AI.. maybe, but probably not.

@TerribleTerabytes for me it’s funny how people still believe that games aren’t complete or you don’t own a physical. More than 78% of games on PS5 and even 80% on NSW are complete and can be played no problem! Check Does It Play and you’ll see your comment is wrong. Hell even Switch games get reissues where the games have patches on the cart. So check that before believing what so many believe and is wrong

That's disgusting. They have enough money to hire an artist for that.

Doesn't Disney have strict character models regarding their classic characters that they wouldn't want third parties altering without approval? The number of fingers depicted on the hands of their characters is part of the character design. I wonder if this mistake could get them in trouble with Disney

Just completely disgusting and shameless.

@xmkbest I mean there's definitely a difference between like photoshopping a person to make them look different and using photoshop to move and organize assets around. But i totally get the sentiment. Everything with AI is like this. Going to be like "remember when calling into customer service blew but you actually got a human being? good ol days"

@zockermiller Does it play is not accurate. I own at least 10 games that they claim is either complete on cartridge or disc, or doesn't require an internet activation of some kind. But they're not complete or do require an internet connection

Please, if the internet has taught me anything about AI art, it’s that most people can’t even tell the difference.

There's no "if" here. They absolutely used AI with this.

Sometimes we’re really our own worst enemies. Nobody wants to just enjoy anymore, we want to find a reason to ruin and boycott everything, and the media only amplifies the worst instead of celebrating and enjoying the best. Tiresome

I bet Nomura is not happy about this at all.

@Astropez I guess some can be wrong but that is extremely rare. I have so many games that are exactly as they said. You need to know that it’s a huge collective of people. You need to tell them if something is wrong. They are super active

@zockermiller Does it Play? Sure, maybe. Is it complete and final? In some cases even the optimal way to play? Nope. Hence my comment.

@TerribleTerabytes well that’s why I check Does it Play and their database. The point is to have the game from beginning to end playable even without a patch. Of course stuff gets added that’s they the cart revisions are important

Missed opportunity to say "Things aren't as simple and clean as they first appeared."

If you look at the building on the left side of the image which in the original art is only the upper part of the building, but follow it down on the AI enhanced version and check out the front doors, it's got the clear hallmarks of melting details that's common with AI junk.

@AmplifyMJ How can you truly enjoy something when they apply the bare minimum LOL

Of course a Sora game would be on a game 'key' card.

@AmplifyMJ it’s really sad isn’t it? These comment sections used to be a good laugh, people sharing their thoughts and excitement and it helped me get worked up for new releases but, like so much of the internet these days, it’s just attention seeking outrage from the chronically online. It’s a shame the people running things here, rather than trying to do better, simply encourage it for a quick click.

@Dr_Awkward None of it is rational. It's people blaming a tool for automation, for a) "theft" despite all art drawing from what came before and 2) the follies of capitalism and class society, as if those things don't use anything and everything.

@zockermiller a 10% failure rate in a 250+ game collection which contains a fair share of "big" games is not extremely rare, especially when they used to claim (don't know if they still do) to double checking every submission 🤷

Oh no! Not my kiddie cartoons!

@axelhander there are legitimate grievances around water, electricity, and land usage, imo

[Joke connecting AI model Sora to Sora the Kingdom Hearts Protagonist - No I don't have the energy to finalize this joke so all you get is the concept]

Come and get your pitchforks here! Quality Pitchfork amd Torches satisfaction is guaranteed, perfect for your internet outrage. Today's special.offer is a 2 for one deal.so come and get yours today!

*Nor refunds, all sales are final

I hate these people, but at the same time I don't think they're wrong here.

I use AI A LOT, from art, to music, to modify images. And there's a lot of details in all the buildings that have all of the clear sign of being generated by an AI.

FFS is this going to be the way for every game going forward? At what point does it stop being merely having concerns and becomes a witch hunt instead?

Some people really need to go outside and touch grass.

@dew12333 I would strongly consider packing it in. The number of people being accused of using AI in work that is entirely their own is ludicrous. These internet reactionaries who claim to know definitively when AI is used don't even know what human art looks like to compare. A bit like AI detection software. That's all a con too.

Remember the whole AI thumb thing in a Nintendo trailer some months back? That turned out to be rubbish too

@-wc- it seems to me we wanna fight, fall out and look for reasons to be disappointed. Not everyone, clearly, but it’s always the negativity that’s the loudest, and I personally feel like the joy and excitement is being sucked out of everything, not just games, in the race to be first to find something to complain about. And if it turns out whatever flaw or fault that’s initially screamed about isn’t actually true or there in the first place, there’s no retraction, apology, just swiftly move on to the next screaming headline to get everyone all riled up. I’ve clearly stung you and I apologise for that.

@Dr_Awkward There are no legitimate grievances about any of those things that are directly the fault of AI. All of it is capitalism, class society, and corporate greed. (Also this: https://blog.andymasley.com/p/the-ai-water-issue-is-fake )

China is leaps and bounds ahead of us in many things, AI included. And they have like a tenth of the data centers (around 500 I believe). AND they regularly pass laws to ensure AI doesn't encroach upon the happiness and well-being of ordinary people.

@JPEGMakima @NerdyPaul This is why I don't immediately trust people when they say something is AI:

https://fortune.com/2026/05/18/6-7-million-people-ripped-apart-ai-generated-monet-painting-real/

@Astropez not sure when the last time was when you accessed their site but it’s way more than 250 games now. That database is over 3000 now

Maybe he'll grow another finger in KH4?

@mattmanforever You do realize that you can use the mute button too, yeah? You didn't need to engage with them in the first place. And even if I were to mute all of y'all, other people still have to see this arguing, at least until the mods remove the posts for flaming/arguing or off topic.

I'm very very bad at detecting if something is AI or not. My first thought was that Donald was positioned behind Sora in the original picture because his hand was messed up. Human artists make mistakes like that all the time, and it's not like they would have had to fix it since you can't see it in the original final version. Maybe whoever rearranged the characters didn't notice it. Also, I can't tell what's supposed to be wrong with Sora's shoe, it looks totally normal to me. I would like to end this comment by reiterating the fact that I'm bad at detecting AI.

@mattmanforever It's better to report a single off-topic reply than reply to it. But I agree that we can move on from this now.

Whether AI was used in its creation or not (I think it's 95% likely it was but I digress), that doesn't change that this box art looks BAD and I'm dumbfounded that the marketing teams at both Square Enix and Disney looked at it and said "yeah, seems fine to me".

Whoever thought this was a good idea should be shown the door.

Can't Square just release KH on Switch system without using some dubious technology that stirs up controversy?

I suppose AI artwork for the S2 box isn't as bad as the cloud versions on Switch 1. But they never do this stuff on the other platforms.

@BenAV artists make that kind of mistake a lot with characters. Watch an episode of the Simpsons and you'll see times that a character is drawn with 4 fingers instead of three. It's shocking how common that is because people tend to reference their own hands when drawing hands.

Not saying it's not AI, but considering how wrong these "Internet sleuths" tend to be until Square says something it's human error.

@-wc- not defending the use of AI, but professional animators ***** that up all the time. Not saying it's good art, it's pretty bad boxart. But, Humans themselves screw up proportions and anatomy all the time. Look up Rob Liefeld he is a professional artist who screws up proportions and purposely avoids drawing feet because he's bad at it. And he made millions drawing professional comics.

Human artists screw up art all the time. It doesn't make something AI, just means it could be AI or an over worked artist or junior artist who screwed up a hand.

@-wc- Okami on the Nintendo Wii infamously had the IGN logo on it. Like it was key art from their game they lifted with the IGN watermark on it.

Capcom also famously misspelled their own game's name on the spine for the 3DS title Resident Evil Revelaitons... I mean Resident Evil Revelations.

That's pretty heinous and pre-AI. Humans ***** up enough on their own without AI

It might be an AI error but it equally might not be. It’s crazy to see all these people w ting like human artists never make mistakes, lol. It all depends on deadlines and who is involved (how experienced, well trained, etc). Hands and faces are notoriously difficult (and feet!) and errors are frequently made there. Look at the hilarious articles ripping apart the many egregious anatomy errors made by Rob Liefeld, once one of the highest paid professional comic artists in the world. I bet if you posted Rob Liefeld art today people would be insisting it was AI because “no human would make this mistake,” lol.

Edit: I didn’t read the comments and apparently people are already talking about Liefeld up there, lol. I guess he is the most obvious example.

@zockermiller sorry I wasn't clear. I was talking of my collection. When I own 250+ games and 10% of it is wrongly flagged, and I have a very average game collection (I have maybe 3-4 very niche games), then sorry but 1 in 10 is not extremely rare. It's not super common either but for stg claiming to be a definite tool for players... It's rather bad.

Unrelated but standalone wise, how much does this game take up on storage?

Like 1.5 + 2.5 remix.

@Mikeg1965

This is the bigger issue than largely-misguided complaints about intrinsic plagiarism, IMO. The average consumer should be skeptical when a company uses AI, not because of some imagined "theft of creativity"; but because the results will most likely be crappy since outside of certain very limited boundaries AI just isn't very good.

@Dr_Awkward

There are also legitimate concerns about job destruction and anti-consumer activity ( ex: offloading customer support to badly-functional AIs ), IMO. These just tend to get overwhelmed or coopted by complaints about "plagiarism" that hinge on not understanding how LLMs actually work, in ways that make me wince given how "violating the laws of physics" they are. Given that the popular claim would require the LLMs to literally be perpetual motion machines.

Ai is a tool, and just like any other tool it can be used correctly or incorrectly, and obviously they used it incorrectly and very sloppily...

@Vivianeat Huh? You save over $50 by just buying the bundle. If you're going to buy one of the games, you might as well spend the extra $30 for the full lot.

I for one hope they used AI because I like progress. Also, artists who work with AI trained on their own work are simply better and more productive. The crowd clinging to the old ways are planning their obsolescence.

@metaphysician Job destruction is not a legitimate concern, we'd be digging holes with spoons if it were.

@NerdyPaul
What! stop laughing at wild accusations and overblown reactions online. I can't do that sorry.
I really love the comment sections for articles relating to subjects like -
....the casting of actors
.....use of AI
....game preservation by theft
.....gender bad discussion
.....modding
.....Fanboys / Corporate slaves
.....politics in games
....copyright/trademark/patent infringement

They bring me the most entertainment, and almost as equal amount of enjoyment goes to the articulate and intelligent peoples comments, especially in the above conversations.

Shouldve just used the All In One box art instead. That one was neater and looked cooler and I liked how it included the other cover art.

@Dazman

It is both possible, and ethically necessary, to show proper concern about whether a new tech will destroy livelihoods. That doesn't mean you should reject progress. . . but it does mean you need to balance the benefits of progress with effort to mitigate the harm to those on the wrong side of said progress.

Or, TLDR: Humans are not horses, it is unacceptable to go "Well, we need fewer humans, just let the excess starve".

@metaphysician It's not ethically necessary to preserve uncompetitive roles - that's business destruction. Indeed, efficiency is the moral imperative as it frees people up to do other things, We'd all be subsistence farming acting on views like yours. And if these people cannot retrain and literally "starve" as you say, then they're typical precariat who have outlived their usefulness. It's a pattern which has played out time and again throughout Human history during periods of elite overproduction. That's just life.

Edit: in terms of gaming though AI opens up a lot of doors for solo-devs because of the economies of scale it brings. Suddenly one can work on all sorts of things which there was previously not time for. It's a great opportunity for those who embrace it and it'll likely cement the indie scene as the centre of gravity in gaming.

The Internet said it, so it must be right. Case closed, guys.