We’re finally really close to a release but how have things been going?

The volume is beyond comparison. When I showed it to my boss the other day, he said “There’s 4 games’ worth in there.” In fact, what you have all seen so far is the mere “tip of the iceberg” if you will. Even within the worlds that have been presented there is much more to the real thing. The challenge is to see if we have managed to make that a trend for all worlds. As we...

GMR: Why did you guys decide to make a Kingdom Hearts game for GBA? Why not tell this entire story within the context of Kingdom Hearts II?

Tetsuya Nomura: The story for Kingdom Hearts II already existed when we worked on the original Kingdom Hearts. At the time, the story for Chain of Memories wasn’t concrete. Kingdom Hearts II continues where we left off in the original, but a year later. Initially, we weren’t planning on telling the story of that one &ldq...

Q: Sora does the drive mode with Goofy in the demo. Are there other drive modes with different characters in the game?

Nomura: I can’t really say.

Q: Are there any other characters that aren’t Disney but help the main character?

Nomura: I can’t answer that.

Q: How often do Disney reps see the game?

Nomura: They don’t really see it in development at all.

Q: Are there problems working with Disney?

Nom...

1UP: You’re working on so many games right now — how do you have time to work on four, five projects?

Tetsuya Nomura: Well, I’m right at my limit — I’m busy, tired, jet-lagged, and sore, but I’m going to be okay.

1UP: In what we’ve seen of Chain of Memories, you go back to a lot of the familiar Kingdom Hearts locations. Does the game also feature some new locations and levels?

Nomura: Well, first of all, yes, the...

---At the end of the previous installment, KH, there was a secret movie that was to bring light on what the sequels could be like. When you made those sequences, did you already have in mind what CoM and KHII would be like?
Nomura: In a kind of vague way yes. The most precise visions I hade were those of KHII as I already had decided that it would take place a year after KH, that the atmosphere would be different in some ways. If I was to create a KHII I wanted it to begin in the most i...

Kingdom Hearts II:Final Mix+

---Anyway, let's start with the news of this "new project" which appeared at the end of the latest trailer. Boy, were we surprised
Nomura: Thanks to everyone Kingdom Hearts has gained phenomenal popularity worldwide. That is why next year the series will be taking a new step... although for the moment I can't be any more concrete.

---If only you could do something about that (laugh). Is it something Disney specializes...

---When was the XIII Organization founded?
Nomura: The timing is when Philosopher Ansem's 6 disciples turned into Heartless. The XIII Organization is called like that just because it has recruited 13 members, but it doesn't matter if it has "XIII" in its name or not. All 13 members were already gathered in KH:COM but the members that were in Castle Oblivion still called it as the "Organization."

---Besides Xehanort, did the other 5 disciples that turned into ...

---When did KHII's development officially start?
Nomura: In the previous game, I inserted a secret movie in hopes of creating a sequel, but to actually pull it off, KHII had a number of hurdles that I had to clear first. Like our wish "to give Mickey more spotlight", we had to wait until Disney allowed that and once it's settled, then we could finally talk about KHII's development.

---Once the project started, did you have an image of how you wanted KHII to b...

Narrator: What happens when Final Fantasy style characters are thrust into the Disney universe? You get a new action RPG game called "Kingdom Hearts". If you saw our story last month, you learn how these two heavyweights, Disney and Square, came together to seamlessly blend the two worlds. This month, we're going to dive deeper into the gameplay and explore this submissive action RPG.

Takeshi Endo (Stage Planning Director - Square): In the beg...