Iwata Asks: Kingdom Hearts 3D details

The latest Iwata Asks focuses on Kingdom Hearts 3D. Square Enix’s Tetsuya Nomura and Nintendo president Satoru Iwata were the main participants in the interview. We’ve rounded up a bunch of details from the discussion which you can find after the break.

The Impact of Super Mario 64

– Iwata thinks of Nomura as the mentor for Theatrhythm Final Fantasy producer Ichiro Hazama
– When Hazama introduced the idea of that game to Nomura, he thought than an idea like that wouldn’t come from a developer
– Nomura thought Hazama’s “I want to use existing visuals to make a game” concept was interesting
– For this reason, he greenlit the project
– Nomura felt he lacked something Hazama had when he talked to him
– There was an extremely long queue at a play opportunity event for Theatrhythm, and there had been a lot of positive feedback online
– Nomura realized that impressions were improving after people had a chance to try out the game
– Because of this, Nomura wanted to make a demo version for the eShop
– Nomura often looks at how people react to his games
– He likes to view their responses to trailers/promo videos as well
– Seeing these reactions help him see which parts of a game resonate with the audience
– Nomura wants his staff to see reactions as well
– Kingdom Hearts was the first game Nomura directed
– One day, Nomura, Shinji Hashimoto, and Hironobu Sakaguchi were in the same room
– Hashimoto and Sakaguchi were talking about a discussion with Disney, saying something like “Mickey Mouse would have been great, but we can’t use him”
– Nomura then said, “I want to be a part of this”
– This is how Kingdom Hearts began
– At the time, Nomura wasn’t thinking of making a game featuring Mickey Mouse
– In the end they both came to the conclusion that they would “let Tetsu give it a try”.
– Nomura was influenced by Mario 64 greatly
– When Nomura said he wanted to make a game like that, his colleagues said, “but Mario’s already a world-famous character. It would be impossible to start from scratch with an all-new character.”
– They didn’t think Nomura could compete with Mario
– One person said, “The only way you could do it is with characters that are as well known as Disney’s”
– This stuck with Nomura, and he jumped at the chance when he heard they could be working with Disney characters

It’ll Definitely be Fun

– Nomura visited Disney for a meeting
– Initially was just a discussion
– Nomura didn’t know what would be discussed
– He had a vague idea of what game he wanted to make
– Nomura visualizes what he wants to make before starting work on it
– He thought of the game in a 3D space and it was taking shape when he went to see Disney
– Disney had its own ideas, asked if they wanted to turn any of these into a game
– Their ideas were different than Nomura’s
– Disney seemed to think they’d agree to whatever the company wanted them to make
– Disney was excited about their ideas, but Nomura wasn’t really interested in any of them
– Their ideas didn’t fit with Nomura’s vision
– Nomura stopped a presentation halfway through and said, “I won’t make such games”
– They were surprised to hear this
– Nomura: “Yes, they were certainly surprised. (laughs) However, since I did not understand what they were saying in English, I decided not to care too much about that, and told them about my primitive idea for Kingdom Hearts: all-new characters going on a journey through the worlds inhabited by Disney characters. I visited their place several times afterward. In the first meeting, I showed them a design document with a picture of Sora, the main character from the game. I’d drawn him carrying a weapon that looked like an enormous chainsaw. ‘What on earth is this!?’ they said.”
– Disney was shocked when he told them it was a chainsaw
– Sora went through a lot of fine-tuning before he became the character you see today
– Disney eventually accepted the character Nomura showed them
– Disney always says that Kingdom Hearts is very important to them
– Nomura didn’t think his ideas would be impossible even though others feel otherwise
– Nomura kept saying, “If we can do this, it’s going to be really great” and, “If we don’t do it, it’s our loss!”
– They had several opportunities to speak with Disney’s president at the time
– He was very generous
– People around him would sometimes be opposed to something, but he would say it was OK
– Not many people inside Square Enix who had experience of making such an action-oriented game at the time
– Nomura: “There were several moments during development when the staff would panic and become anxious, not knowing whether the game we were making was going to be fun or not.”
– Nomura told his staff not to worry and the game would be fun

Square’s Intentions

– Nomura believes Sakaguchi and Yoshinori Kitase had a big influence on him
– In terms of battle systems, he’s been most influenced by Hiroyuki Ito
– Monolith’s Tetsuya Takahashi was an influence as well
– Even though these people have influenced him, Nomura didn’t absorb everything he could from them
– Instead he mainly absorbed how to think about creative projects
– When Iwata listens to Nomura speak, he feels that Nomura is a leader who can make his team understand and believe in what they have to do
– Nomura’s staff says it helps a lot when he makes a promotional video
– Promo videos aren’t just for the public; they’re for the staff as well
– In a way these videos are like a moving spec sheet
– Nomura on the Hikaru Utada collaboration: “Well, I’m a fan of Utada-san, and I thought that since we were using world-famous Disney characters, we’d need a song by the very best artist. For me, that could only be Utada-san. Lots of people said it would be impossible to get her, but we made her an offer anyway, in the spirit of ‘you never know until you ask’. Surprisingly, she seemed keen on the idea, and so the matter was settled.”
– Nomura on how much of the series he had in mind initially: “At first I only had a vague general framework. I’d sort of thought up to about KH II. Yes, when No. I was announced, I had thought up to KH II, and by the time of the three titles being announced simultaneously, I felt like I’d got everything fitting together quite well. When this game, Kingdom Hearts 3D, was announced, it felt like just one more stage of the grand plan.”
– Nomura enjoys trying to make games with limits the team is given

A Jump Big Enough to Make You Laugh

– Nomura was surprised with the 3DS’ 3D effect when he first aw it
– He thought the effect would be more subtle
– Nomura tries to use as many features in a system as possible
– Nomura feels he can try all sorts of new things with a new IP (like The World Ends with You), but he can’t go too far with Kingdom Hearts
– Regarding the 3DS hardware, he’s most pleased with its analog controls
– Nomura was relieved with this since analog controls are very important for action games
– Iwata believes the free-flowing action in Kingdom hearts 3D is the most dynamic of any game in the series
– This was one of the first features Nomura wanted to add in
– Free-flowing action came about because the 3DS has a 3D effect and analog controls
– Some staff who worked on KH3D say the movements in older games are too slow
– It was difficult to build the game with this feature since you can kick off a wall to jump as far as you like
– Maps were made bigger to account for free-flow action
– Nomura says jump-kicks are a bit difficult to control but “they’ll make you laugh”
– Players will be surprised with how far they can jump
– Nomura enjoyed playing around outside the castle in Super Mario 64 without any goals and this is what Nomura had in mind for KH3D’s free-flowing action
– Iwata: “Ah, I remember (Shigeru) Miyamoto-san saying that he wanted to create the game where just picking up the controller and moving around in the world was fun, even when there was no particular game mission to complete. When I saw that he’d actually managed to achieve that, I was really impressed, as it was something I had wanted to do myself. Mario responded exactly to your intentions when moving, and it looked like all his motions were smoothly connected. I think Mario 64 changed action gaming forever, actually.”
– Once you’ve mastered jumps, they’re satisfying to pull off
– Nothing made it into Kingdom Hearts 3D as Nomura originally imagined
– The vision grew to a point where he could say “we’re doing something audacious here”
– Nomura on Dream Eaters: “They came about because my family had cats and dogs when I was a child. The thing with pets is that you’re present from the moment they’re born all the way through their development, so you develop a real affection for them. That’s why I thought that, if some Dream Eaters became players’ companions as soon as they were born, players would feel a similar level of affection towards them as they do to towards their pets. That was my motive when I created the friendly Dream Eaters.”
– Most of the games let you befriend enemies in command-based battles, so he wanted to try something similar with full action battles
– Nomura wanted Square Enix to be the first company to achieve something like this
– Nintendogs had an impact on Nomura and wondered “why can’t I make my Nintendogs fight?”

Kingdom Hearts-esque

– In making Kingdom Hearts games, the team doesn’t really talk about whether games are Kingdom Hearts-esque or not
– Kingdom Hearts as we know it comes from Nomura’s mind
– For Nomura, Kingdom Hearts-esque involves a sense of depth
– Nomura: “I hope people feel a sense of depth when they enter the world of Kingdom Hearts. I don’t want it to look like we’ve just made something flimsy and superficial, and are just trading off the Kingdom Hearts name.”
– Setting is important to Nomura rather than something that can be seen on the surface
– When Kingdom Hearts 3D was announced at E3 2011, Nomura noticed that the audience got really excited and thought “Thank goodness…”
– He was relieved by the public’s reaction
– There has been a strong reaction to each Kingdom Hearts 3D trailer
– Fans were really taking an interest in the game
– Nomura thought people would be interested in it, but not to this extent
– There was a strong lineup of games announced for the 3DS at E3 2011, and he didn’t believe Kingdom Hearts stood out
– The public reacted positively to the Japanese Kingdom Hearts 3D bundle as well
– Nomura worries about the conflict between meeting fan’s expectations and being accessible to new players
– Nomura: “Nomura: I worry a lot about that… I feel it’s something that has to be dealt with eventually. We try to make the introductory part of every game accessible for new players, for example by having the main character enter the world and ask ‘what is this place’? That puts them in the same boat as the player.”
– Nomura: “If a puzzle is presented both to players who have experience and those who don’t, the ones who don’t have experience may think that they are lacking some prior knowledge required to solve the puzzle. That is, they think they can’t solve the puzzle because they haven’t played previous titles in the series. So, although it’s always a difficult question that will never go away, we’ve included a system in this game that will allow players to learn the entire plot of the series so far.”
– Nomura says you don’t need to know every detail in order to enjoy the game

A Satisfying Tangle of Sub-Plots

– Nomura believes the all-star line-up of characters from previous titles in the series makes Kingdom Hearts 3D appealing for existing fans
– Because Kingdom Hearts 3D is like a prologue to a forthcoming battle, it was necessary to include all of the characters from the series thus far
– Nomura was amazed by the reactions to the opening movie when it was shown at Odaiba in Tokyo
– Nomura says that there are a lot of complicated sub-plots that are connected together in the game
– New mysteries are introduced as well
– 3D’s development was short for a Kingdom Hearts game
– The team still put everything into it and didn’t cut any corners
– Nomura feels a sense of completion and achievement
– Nomura was nervous at first when talking with Iwata for Iwata asks
– He also found it easy to talk with Iwata, probably because it’s fun to talk to someone who loves games
– Iwata feels that he and Nomura have a lot in common when it comes to the development period
– Iwata: “Our discussion today has taught me that you are someone who really does visualise and imagine things very vividly. That is the secret behind the success of the free-flowing action in this game as well. Forgive me for saying this, but looking at the screen, it really is a mystery to me how you managed to incorporate such crazy action into the game.”
– Nomura: “Yes, my colleagues did say it would be difficult when I mentioned I wanted to do something like that. (laughs) But the fact that we’ve managed to achieve it really is a testament to our staff. Coming up with the concept is one thing, but making it a reality is the staff’s role, and I’m very grateful to them for doing that.”

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