Re:Coded > Kingdom Hearts: Coded
Before Re:Coded was ever released, or even announced, there was Kingdom Hearts: Coded. Coded told the same exact story that Re:Coded told, but it was only available for the Docomo Prime Series-P-01A from Panasonic, a cell phone available only in Japan. The game was released in episodic installments that were available for download every month or so.
The gameplay of Coded versus that of Re:Coded was drastically different. For in-world scenes, Coded used the typical text boxes that could be found in Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days, while Re:Coded used cutout emotion renders similar to the style of scenes in The World Ends With You. Combat was completely different in Re:Coded with the addition of the Command Deck system featured in Birth by Sleep while combat in Coded was pretty consistent with that of Kingdom Hearts. For the most part, Coded featured puzzle challenges rather than full combat.
In the end, Square-Enix decided that the events in Coded were important enough to be seen outside of Japan and the limited availability of the cell phone made it difficult to play. Thus, the planning process for Re:Coded was put into place, allowing a wider audience and ultimately, the rest of the world, to experience Kingdom Hearts: Coded.
