Tetsuya Nomura’s fingerprints can be found all over Final Fantasy – from the overwhelming zips and belts that wrap around certain character designs to Final Fantasy 7’s Limit Break system and beyond – but the genre icon says his life’s work is arguably Kingdom Hearts.
The Kingdom Hearts series overseer and co-creator said as much in an interview with Famitsu (translated by Genki), putting the multiverse-spanning Disney franchise over dozens of other games he’s worked on.
“Kingdom Hearts has become my life’s work, so I can’t leave it out,” he says. “I never imagined it would become such a long journey. At the beginning of the project, I made numerous trips to Disney headquarters for meetings, and many of the things we discussed back then have come to fruition over time. It truly has become a land of dreams and magic.”
As the story goes, the initial egg of an idea came from Super Mario 64. Developers at Square Enix wanted to make a game with similar free-form movement, but the company didn’t have an icon as recognizable as Mario or, say, Mickey Mouse… until co-creator Shinji Hashimoto ran into a Disney executive in an elevator, that is. The rest is modern history, and it’s still unfolding in the forthcoming Kingdom Hearts 4.
“There are still things I want to accomplish, and we are trying something new in the fourth installment, so please look forward to it,” Nomura adds.
Kingdom Hearts 4 reared its head earlier this month, showing another look at the game’s more grown-up Sora and the more realistic city that he’s found himself trapped in. A few returning character’s turned up, as well, but details are otherwise light.
The game’s due to launch across PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2 at the same time.
Nomura, you’ve done it again: Kingdom Hearts 4’s new trailer features a character from a now-delisted spin-off MMO, and we wouldn’t have it any other way
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