Interviewer: Can you tell the fans a little bit more about the story behind 3D [Dream Drop Distance] and how that fits into the whole Kingdom Hearts series?

Tai Yasue (Co-Director of Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]): Kingdom Hearts 3D takes place right after Kingdom Hearts Re:coded and it centers on Sora and Riku taking the Mark of Mastery exam. Yen Sid calls on Sora and Riku and he wants them to become Keyblade Masters. They go on a quest, a journey to become Keyblade Masters into these Worlds of Sleep, Worlds of Dream, and they go around opening Keyholes for each world.

Interviewer: So this is the first Kingdom Hearts game to be on the 3DS. We had obviously Re:coded on the DS, but the 3DS gives us new features, the 3D obviously being the main one; how has that helped Kingdom Hearts 3D? What role does that play in the game?

Yasue: We really wanted to integrate all the 3DS features into the game in a sort of seamless manner. For example, the bottom view, the touchscreen, we really wanted to infuse that into the battles. Nomura said he wanted to use that not just as a reference point, as a map or something, but something that fits into the battle. And so for example, when you use the Reality Shift system, in the battle, Sora or Riku dives into the bottom of the screen, and then you could use the touchscreen to deal blows, make special abilities that a really unique to each world. For example, in the Tron Legacy world, you get to hack or crack your enemies and control them. Words appear, it's sort of a program code that appears; you touch them and you get to control your enemies. For Fantasia, you could play musical notes and then flowers would bloom and rainbows would appear and it changes the whole reality of that world. I guess for the Three Musketeers, there's a comic book that comes out on the bottom of the screen and that lets you touch the comic book and will deal blows to your enemies. So that's what I thought was sort of cool. Also, we have a Dream Eater system and what you can do is actually pet your Dream Eaters, like your mascot pets, and you could feed them using the touchscreen. I guess that gives it intimacy with your character; I think the players would get really attached to his or her Dream Eater.

Interviewer: You talked a bit briefly about obviously some brilliant characters both from Disney and Final Fantasy; how do you choose? We're getting all of our favorites back but how do you choose new characters to feature in the game? There's so many to choose from, right?

Yasue: First we come up with the idea for the world, and we try to fit characters in that may fit the world. For Traverse Town this time, Nomura wanted to use The World Ends With You characters. That was sort of a surprise for us to develop; we didn't really expect that, but it was a good thing because I think we were able to bring something new to Traverse Town. We made new images for the city, for the maps. For example, some of the buildings sort of resemble Shibuya in a way; the fountain for example, and a lot of the graffiti, and that gave it a whole new look. I thought that was really fresh.

Interviewer: Are there any characters or worlds that you couldn't fit in or that you'd personally like to see in the future of the Kingdom Hearts series?

Yasue: For Kingdom Hearts 3D, we were planning on doing a Fantasia 2000 and Fantasia at the beginning of production, and for example, we wanted Riku to go to 2000 and Sora to go to the old Fantasia, and in the end we found a lot of good locations in Fantasia. There's a lot of rich content so we just decided to concentrate on that. On a personal note, I would really like to make a Pixar world; that'd be kind of cool. Toy Story is amazing I think.

Interviewer: You briefly touched on the Dream Eaters; they're pretty much completely new to what we've seen before in Kingdom Hearts. Could you give us a good idea of how they feature in the game? What was their inspiration? Because they have quite a strong visual style as well.

Yasue: Nomura first came up with Meow Wow as a sort of dog-cat character, and he just wrote it up in a simple manner. It's really kind of cool; I thought he was just joking when he first gave it to us. When we made movements, animation and effects, it was really cute. After we got inspired and drew a lot of bats and rams, and all sorts of animals. I guess the concept in a way was for them to be cute with a twist? Cute and a little twisted so they have a lot of character in them I think. Some of them look lazy, some of them look really angry. There's a lot of personality behind each of the characters.

Interviewer: And obviously this is a long-running franchise. We've got some really hardcore fans that have been from the start. How are you hoping to see them react once they've finished the game? What are you looking for from an emotion level from your fans once they've finished 3D?

Yasue: Well at the very end, we've added a lot of last boss battles, so I think in a way, they'd feel a lot of success. And also, Kingdom Hearts 3D really connects to Kingdom Hearts III so I think there really should be a feel of anticipation? For the future I guess? Kingdom Hearts 3D really connects the past with the future of Kingdom Hearts, so you don't want to miss it.

Interviewer: Has fan feedback played any kind of role into the Kingdom Hearts series? How did that affect 3D?

Yasue: I think everything actually. We're always listening to our fans; I think that's one of the most important things. Choosing the worlds for example, Notre Dame, we sort of chose Notre Dame because a lot of the user input said they wanted that world inside the game. Everything we do, all the action, all the gameplay is from our experiences from past games; What the users said on previous Kingdom Hearts games. We sort of adjust it each time, so in a way I think that's really important. I'm looking forward to hearing a lot of comments for Kingdom Hearts 3D.