Nintendo of Japan has added in a new Iwata Asks interview for Kingdom Hearts 3D. Although an English version isn’t available currently, Nintendo of America will most likely translate the discussion as the game comes close to launch overseas.
Read on below for a summary of the talk. The first bit of discussion focuses on Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and covers the origins of Kingdom Hearts. Expect more information soon.
– First time Iwata and Nomura met
– Iwata said he was interested in meeting Nomura for some time
– Theatrhythm Final Fantasy demos were made following the strong reaction at game events
– Those who attended such events wrote on Twitter, blogs, etc. that they’d lined up multiple times
– The staff felt that peoples’ impressions improved after playing, so Square Enix decided on making demos
– The staff watches players’ reactions as they view the trailers that are shown to those in line
– This allows them to see what areas cause reactions
– Kingdom Hearts (2002) was Nomura’s first time as director
– Producer Shinji Hashimoto and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi were talking
– Nomura was called over for something else and ended up joining on on the conversation as the two were discussing Disney
– Said something to the effect of, “Mickey is nice, but he can’t be used.”
– Nomura chimed in, said he’d like to work on whatever it was they were talking about
– At the time, Nomura didn’t actually have a desire to make a Mickey game
– His interest stems from Super Mario 64
– It came out at around the time Nomura was creating Final Fantasy VII
– Nomura was shocked by Nintendo’s game
– Nomura spoke to his staff about making a game similar to Mario 64, but was told that Mario is a character who’s known throughout the world, and it would be impossible to do the same thing by making a new character
– This person told Nomura it would be impossible unless it’s a Disney-level character
– Nomura remembered this as he volunteered to work on Sakaguchi/Hashimoto’s project
