On November 18, our Japanese comrades at Dengeki published a newinterviewwithTetsuya Nomurafor the release ofKingdom Hearts Melody of Memory, The interview focuses on the game’s development with the collaboration between Square Enix and Indieszero, the music of the series and Yoko Shimomura, and the future of the series. In particular, Tetsuya Nomura talked about apossibleKingdom HeartsgameonPS5andXbox Series X. At the end of the interview, Tetsuya Nomura also teased somethingwill happen in 2022for theKingdom Hearts 20th anniversary. We summarized the rest of the interview below.
First, Tetsuya Nomura explained the proposal from Indieszero, which led to the creation ofKingdom Hearts Melody of Memory,was “making theKHversion of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy”.However,ÂTheatrhythmuses a 2D side view like presentation because it’s based on oldFinal Fantasygames.Kingdom Heartsnever used that kind of presentation though. So together, Square Enix and Indieszero thought up what aKHrhythm game would be like. They arrived at the final result inMelody of Memoryafter a lot of trial and error. In particular, they tried their best to reduce motion sickness, while simultaneously keeping the action,KHlike gameplay.
Secondly, Tetsuya Nomura didn’t give directions regarding the songs' selection inKH MoM. Moreover, they didn’t want to add songs with DLC, and tried their best to include as much as possible from the start.
Following that, Dengeki asked several interesting questions regarding the future of theKingdom Heartsseries. We translated Tetsuya Nomura’s answers below:
Dengeki: “Let’s talk about the series as a whole now.KH IIIwas the end of an arc, but there are still many characters and mysteries left unexplained.”
Tetsuya Nomura:“Of course, we’ll touch on those remaining elements in the future. But I think we’ll do things a bit differently starting now. As we’re entering a new, different world for the series' story, I want to make that story so all the hints until now can be solved.”
Dengeki:“KH UX Dark Roaddelves into the past of Xehanort. So is it possible Xehanort will keep appearing in the series' story in some form?”
Tetsuya Nomura: “KH UX Dark Roadisn’t a game teasing what’s to come, but rather a project I already had in mind for a long time. TheKH Union Ïsaid they wanted to do it, so we did.” (See our past coverage for the full story).
“So about Xehanort, I don’t think he’ll appear anymore as the story’s antagonist. But his influence remains, and that’s what theKH MoMstory shows.”
Dengeki:“One of the appeals of theKHseries is the many mysteries and foreshadowing. How far ahead do you think when making the games? For example, did you already envision Roxas when working on the first game?”
Tetsuya Nomura: “When makingKHworks, we always think at least about the thing that will release after it. So for example when making the first game, we were thinking aboutKH Chain of Memories. So, for Roxas, who starts appearing startingKH II, we had a vague idea about having a new protagonist, but it wasn’t something clear, and the end result turned out different.
Moreover, we don’t always manage to make everything we think of, just like theKH UX Dark Roadproject was shelved until now.”
Dengeki: “KHstarted with the PS2, but there was no new game released on PS3 and PS Vita (except the remasters). Did you ever plan to make new games for these consoles?”
Tetsuya Nomura:“I had some vague ideas about a game on PS3, but I was working onFinal Fantasy Versus XIII, so we never did a new game. As for PS Vita, it had high specs compared to the other portable consoles, so we once discussed that if we made a game on PS Vita we might as well rather make a home console game. But the opportunity never presented itself.”
Right after that was when Tetsuya Nomura got asked about a possible game on PS5 and Xbox Series X, aswe detailed in a separate article.
The last part of the interview focuses on the music ofKingdom Hearts, its composers, and Tetsuya Nomura’s thoughts:
Yoko Shimomura was asked to compose the OST of the firstKingdom Heartsgame because the Square Enix music department of the time recommended her. Moreover, Tetsuya Nomura previously worked with Yoko Shimomura onParasite Eve, and she was easy to talk with. Nomura mentioned she is incredibly respected amongKingdom Heartsfans now. He praised her music, saying it has a lot of lot of emotional waves.
Dengeki also asked Nomura about Takeharu Ishimoto and Tsuyoshi Sekito, two composers who are now regulars on theKHseries. He mentioned he asked these two to compose for the series startingKH Birth by Sleep.Takeharu Ishimoto worked onDissidia FF, and did the OST forSubarashiki Kono Sekai, The World Ends With You, and they knew each other for a long time. Nomura said Ishimoto is good at making cool songs, so he often asks him to make battle BGMs. Nomura added Tsuyoshi Sekito is great at making bright and cheerful songs, which fit theKHseries. Sekito is also part of the Osaka development team, so they’re near each other, and it’s easy to ask him to compose BGM for systems and mini-games.
The release date for the soundtrack ofKH MoMwas decided before the release date of the game itself. And then they realized they still didn’t release theKH IIIOST, so they decided to releaseKH MoMtogether with theKingdom Hearts II, II.8, Unchained Ï & Union Ï [Cross]OST with everything on the same day, November 11. (In Japan). Nomura’s job when it comes to the OST was supervising the design of the package, etc, and he also wrote some comments in the liner notes.
The song that to this day still left the biggest impression on Tetsuya Nomura isHikari(Simple and Cleanin English,KH 1Opening). Because back then he never expected Hikaru Utada would be singing for the series. He still can’t forget the goosebumps when listening to the final version for the first time at the studio. It’s hard picking which other song is his favorite afterSimple and Clean, but he considers many songs inKHto be masterpieces.
Overall, Tetsuya Nomura is pretty strict with the music aspect of the games, and he’s very strict on whether the song matches the image of what he had in mind too. They tend to do a lot of retakes. For example he took a long while to OK the Twilight Town field BGM inKH II.For battle and boss BGM though, the required standards aren’t as complicated, and they simply focus on making hype and cool BGMs.
Tetsuya Nomura ended the interview saying theKingdom Heartsseries will take a little break afterKH MoM, but that the series is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2022, so we should look forward that. That’s thesecond time Nomura teased 2022.
Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory, is available now on PS4, Xbox One, and Switch. You can grab iton Amazonto support DualShockers. Previously, more games in theKHserieswere teased by Tetsuya Nomura.
