IGN: Why don't you tell us about what we are seeing at E3 and what you guys have on the show floor for us?

Tai Yasue (Co-Director of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]: Okay, well, today at E3 we have the playable demo and with Sora and Riku. You can play your journey on the Three Musketeers stage world, it's pretty exciting. We're introducing a lot of cool, insane action. It's pretty insane, you can swing on poles, slide down ramps. You can really go beyond. 

IGN: Okay, so, back up a little bit. You can play as both Sora and Riku.

Yasue: That's right.

IGN: They're the main players. So we don't have a cast of 3 like we did in Birth by Sleep?

Yasue: No, we don't.

IGN: Now we have 2, but that means both of them have to be equally insane.

Yasue: There are a lot of differences in the game play between Sora and Riku. We have these characters that come along known as spirits or dream eaters. For Sora he sort of cooperates with them, Riku actually sucks them in and you could actually change your style, so there is sort of a difference in play between both of them.

IGN: Okay, excellent, so where, for Kingdom Hearts fans who have been playing all these different games, where in the timeline or universe does the 3DS version take place?

Yasue: Okay well, Kingdom Hearts 3D starts right after Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded

IGN: The one that I didn't play!!! (laughs) continue.

Yause: Okay, and it sort of shows a glimpse of the future I guess, and it ends, the next one definitely will be Kingdom Hearts 3. This one really precludes Kingdom Hearts 3, the console version we're thinking about.

IGN: Okay, so it precludes Kingdom Hearts 3?

Yasue: That's right, it directly connects to the future.

IGN: Very interesting, now 3D Dream Drop Distance, that is correct?

Yasue: That is correct.

IGN: You are still using that name, it hasn't been changed, lets talk about that, tell me about it, where did that come from?

Yasue: Well, Nomura came up with that, our director for several reasons I guess. It really has a lot to do with the gameplay and also the setting. "Dream," Sora and Riku travel through the Dream World, so that is why it's called "Dream." And "Drop" is the system where Sora and Riku switch out during the gameplay about every 15 minutes they sort of drop to the other character.

IGN: Is it always in those 15 minute intervals?

Yasue: Well no. Actually, it depends on how you play the game, you can drop whenever you want. There are certain spells that enemies do on you where you will just drop very quickly.

IGN: So can you switch between them at any time?

Yasue: Yeah, you can switch when you want 

IGN: So this is very unlike Birth by Sleep, where you were sort of playing one story, are Riku and Sora's stories completely interwoven then?

Yasue: Yes, that's right. We really wanted to connect the two stories compared to Birth by Sleep where they had separate stories. This time we sort of wanted to connect the two stories so I think you'll have a very different game feel, or game experience.

IGN: Excellent, well, I guess it's always a hard question to answer, but the average player, the average Kingdom Hearts fan, how long would it take them, start to finish, to get through this?

Yasue: This one I guess is longer than Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, it's 35 hours.

IGN: Really, how many?

Yasue: Our testers, when they were playing, they played for 35 hours.

IGN: 35 hours! It's loud in here (laughs) 35 hours, and that includes main quests. Are there side quests?

Yasue: Yes, there is a Link Portal System. So what happens is, when you look at the bottom half of the screen, there are these portals on the map and if you click on them, if you touch them, the mission starts and if you keep on playing to clear them all it takes more than 35 hours. 60, 70, endless hours.

IGN: Not a short amount of time.

Yasue: If you want to play the main quest, ugh, 35 hours I guess, the average game play time.

IGN: Excellent, now what would you feel the over tone is of Kingdom Hearts 3DS? With Birth by Sleep it was a lot of these students trying to come to age and trying to figure out where their master is and all this stuff, but what is the real driving motivation of Sora and Riku this time?

Yasue: Well, it is centered on Sora and Riku and they want to become keyblade masters. The Mark of Mastery exam, if you pass that, you become keyblade masters. So, in a way, Sora and Riku are growing in this title as well. But it centers more on Riku this time, he really comes to terms with the darkness inside of him.

IGN: Okay, is there any multiplayer functionality in this?

Yasue: There is this Flick Rush card game.

IGN: I love card games.

Yasue: It's sort of like a speed card game. What you do is, for the game, for the battle, you create your own sort of monster, dream eaters like I said, and what you do is you get to make them grow. In multiplayer mode you use cards to control them and battle them with your friends so that is pretty exciting.

IGN: So it's a little different from the actual combat you would play in single player. And it's card based?

Yasue: It's card based but what you would do is use the cards to control the abilities your dream eaters would normally have. It is really connected in a way too the game.

IGN: Gotcha. How would you say that Kingdom Hearts 3DS stacks up and kind of compares to all the other Kingdom Hearts games? Have you guys looked at this like a full Kingdom Hearts game? Is it more a spin-off?

Yasue: It is definitely a new experience. This is it, we have gone all out. It is a handheld, but we have gone all out as if it was a console game. It really goes beyond Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, it is like Kingdom Hearts on steroids.

IGN: Kingdom Hearts on steroids! (laughs) It's insane, it's on steroids, it sounds like a dangerous, volatile game.

Yasue: Yes! It's very intense, very dynamic.

IGN: Cool. Well thank you very much for coming by. I guess my last question is can we expect it anytime soon? When is it hitting store shelves?

Yasue: Oh! It is coming out July 31 is North America and July 20 in Europe.

IGN: Well, thank you very much for your time today it looks like a great game.