Update 1: You can now view and download this video from our video archive.
Update 2: The European website for Kingdom Hearts 3D has also updated with this same trailer.
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Update 1: You can now view and download this video from our video archive.
Update 2: The European website for Kingdom Hearts 3D has also updated with this same trailer.
Masuno: My name is Ryan Masuno. I'm the Product Manager for Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance]. GamerLiveTV: A lot of people have been looking forward to this because it's the debut of the series for Nintendo 3DS. How psyched are you to bring it to another platform?
Masuno: It's really exciting. It takes advantage of all the 3DS' capabilities. The 3D integration is amazing, and more importantly, this title is the follow-up to Kingdom Hearts II that fans have been waiting for. You know, the continuation of the story; this is it right here.
GamerLiveTV: Can you give us a little detail of the story; where it's going this time?
Masuno: So at the beginning of the game, Yen Sid is basically telling the gang ― King Mickey, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku ― that there's an impending threat coming their way, and that Sora and Riku need to be stronger in order to have a chance against them. Basically, Sora and Riku have a natural ability to use the Keyblade, but they were never properly trained to become Keyblade Masters. So what Yen Sid basically tells them is that he's going to send them to the sleeping worlds to unlock seven keyholes, and if they come back from that, then they'll be granted new powers, new abilities, and be considered true Keyblade Masters.
GamerLiveTV: Is the combat about the same as the first two games or is there anything new or exclusive to the 3DS version?
Masuno: The basic combat system is going to feel familiar to anyone who's played Kingdom Hearts I and II, and some of the other ones like Birth by Sleep, but the new features in this make it even different. There's a feature called "Flow Motion" ― characters are able to interact with anything in their environment. If there's a wall, they can kick off of it and perform a really fast stunt-like movement. That can all be chained to attacks, they can be chained to other movements; they can spin off of a wall and hit a pole and spin off of it, and then jump to a rail and ride on it, so once you get the hang of it, you'll basically be able to free roam around the entire stages. That's great for movement and for battle. There's also a feature called "Reality Shift" ― when players are in battle, they can actually enter the bottom screen where they'll be prompted to input some touch-based contextual inputs, and that's different for each world. If you perform them correctly, you'll be able to perform a really powerful attacks on each of the enemies.
GamerLiveTV: Are there going to be some familiar Disney worlds that people have seen in the previous games or are there going to be new ones? How does that work?
Masuno: Every Disney world that you encounter in this game are going to be new to the series.
GamerLiveTV: Can you give us an example of what kind of world you'd expect in the game?
Masuno: We have The Grid from Tron Legacy, the recent movie. We have Fantasia and Hunchback of Notre Dame to name a few.
GamerLiveTV: And the game is coming out actually this summer! It's just about finished!
Masuno: It's almost there: July 31st, 2012.
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sqexgal has completely translated this interview, and you can read this translation below. The full version of the interview contains strong spoilers for Kingdom Hearts 3D, and can be read here. For a spoiler-free version, keep reading.
— Speaking of the previous titles, about when do you start thinking of the ‘next title’? Nomura: It’s a gradual process. When Kingdom Hearts was in production, I was considering ideas for Kingdom Hearts II and Chain of Memories. And when those two were in production, I was thinking of ideas for the next three, 358/2 Days, Coded, and Birth by Sleep.
— Were you thinking of KH3D when those 3 titles were in production?
Nomura: KH3D was put together relatively quickly, I was still concepting the story when I brought it to the table.
— What about in the secret movie of Birth by Sleep Final Mix…?
Nomura: Well… (Laughs.) Now that you mention it, that secret movie was referred to as “A fragmentary passage”, meaning bits and pieces of something whole. A story connected to Kingdom Hearts exists out of that, but I don’t know whether or not it’ll be told hereafter.
— The secret message and secret movie of KH3D were loaded with things to wonder about. Is it finally time for KH3?
Nomura: I’ll leave that up to everyone’s imagination. Though, it might be a curve ball. (Laughs.)
— Lastly, a message for our readers.
Nomura: We’ve decided to distribute a KH3D demo in North America as well as Japan. You can play part of Sora’s scenario in Traverse Town. So if your friends haven’t played it yet, you can recommend it to them. And of course, give the co-op mini game Flick Rush a try. Also, an unannounced title is being prepared as well, though it’s something lighter. There are still songs continuing to be distributed for Theartrhythm Final Fantasy so you can look forward to that as well.
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Director interview: The full version of the interview contains strong spoilers for Kingdom Hearts 3D, and can be read here. For a spoiler-free version, keep reading. Make sure to read the end, where he refers to future titles!
— When did you start thinking up the idea for Kingdom Hearts 3D? Nomura: Probably during the production of Birth by Sleep. At the time there weren’t plans to start another Kingdom Hearts title, but when I looked at the 3DS hardware, the idea came to me.
— It seems that every entry into the Kingdom Hearts series aims to utilize the features of its platforms, so what elements of the 3DS were you looking into?
Nomura: I thought that the Flowmotion ability was something I wanted to do in the next Kingdom Hearts, so why not do it now with this title? I thought of the Dive Mode function afterwards when I saw the 3DS in action. It’s similar to the Gummi Ship mini game that appeared in KH1 and KH2, but this time rather than ride a vehicle I wanted the characters to drop directly into their destination world. Since the Dive Mode appears first, it feels like the game’s system is established from there.
— What sparked the idea to introduce the Flowmotion ability?
Nomura: I’ve been working on a few action RPGs outside of Kingdom Hearts like Final Fantasy Type-0 and Final Fantasy Versus XIII, so the first thought I had was I wanted it to clearly stand out from the others. I planned on showing that this is the direction the Kingdom Hearts series is headed. When I thought of the elements that really defined the Kingdom Hearts series, I thought of the bold sort of action that realistic characters can’t express. My idea was that with Flowmotion, you’d be able to jump to impossible heights in comparison to how you could jump in the previous titles.
— It seemed that the Flowmotion system might dishevel the game’s balance, but there was a lot of attention put towards regulating it.
Nomura: Well, the staff really didn’t like it. (Laughs.) If the character could make a huge jump freely, then there is no telling where he’d go. Since you had to deal with every action the player made, the opinion coming forth in the beginning was that it was difficult. But since I explained to the staff that this was the sort of direction Kingdom Hearts was going, we did it anyways.
— In the games prior to this one, there were treasure chests you couldn’t reach until you had obtained High Jump, but this time it seems you can take just about all the treasure using Flowmotion.
Nomura: It makes things interesting, doesn’t it? Flowmotion is designed to take over the movement if you don’t control it, but if you’re able to use it well, you can obtain the treasure chests without needing the High Jump ability. It’s a different style compared to the regular Kingdom Hearts games, which I think is one of the system’s charms. I thought it’d be better this way rather than making it boring with restricted actions.
— For the title KH3D, we thought it was very clever how the ’3D’ doesn’t just stand for ‘three-dimensional’, but also for the first letter of each of the three words in the subtitle.
Nomura: I thought of making it ’3D’ with three D’s early on. However, while I was able to settle on ‘Dream’ and ‘Drop’ smoothly, the last one just wouldn’t come to me. When we were at the point where we had a scenario, ‘Distance’ occurred to me from the distance between Sora and Riku, on the verge of meeting but unable to. There’s one more unsaid meaning behind deciding on ‘Distance’, and that is the distance between ’3D’ and the number 3 itself.
— When you included ‘Dream’ and ‘Drop’ in the title, were you assuming from that point in time that there would be a Drop System?
Nomura: Yes, I suppose so. We have made KH titles before in which the story is divided between characters, but because some people were of the opinion that each story felt like a short-story, this time we decided to think of the plot as one string from the beginning. For it to be like that, we had to consider many things regarding how to best handle switching back and forth between which character the player is controlling. We considered whether we should let people choose when to switch, but we wanted some sort of thrill. Throughout the series so far there’s always been that thrill of danger when HP is running out, but that becomes less of a threat as the player levels up. I thought, I want to put in something else on top of that, and it took the shape of forcibly switching the character being controlled with Drop. Also, if we had made the switching completely optional there would be people who only went along playing either Sora or Riku, and one of the characters could get too much stronger than the other, so it’s also a means of controlling that.
— With more than fifty breeds of Spirits you can make friends with, the Spirit growth system is also a factor that makes this game worth more than a speedrun, isn’t it?
Nomura: Well it was like, if I were to make a system where you get an enemy character onto your team and develop them, this is how I’d want it to be. I wouldn’t want players to get enemies on their team by defeating them, I would want to have people experience the process of raising them from birth until they got strong, and have them feel attached to the target of their raising. To bring that system into reality, it would have been weird setup-wise to make friends with Heartless and Nobodies, so we went with creating a new type of being called Dream Eaters. In the beginning there were less breeds, but I thought it was lacking variation, and I told the staff they’d probably need to make more than fifty. We had to show they were cooperating with Sora and Riku to fight enemies, so riding on their backs and the like with link attacks was necessary too, which made our workload incredible.
— Which Dream Eaters did you design yourself?
Nomura: The only one I drew myself is Meow Wow. I drew it basically all in one go, and didn’t edit it at all. As for the other Spirits, I showed Meow Wow to the staff and requested that they ‘please give them a design that is strange, charming without being too cute’. They drew for me in high spirits, and came out with one interesting design after another.
[Question removed due to spoilers. Click here for the full version of the interview.]
— Many worlds in this title are appearing for the first time in the series. How did you choose them?
Nomura: Basically, from the Osaka Development Team’s proposals. Worlds they wanted to have appear, what they wanted to do there–I received proposals for both those things, and I chose from among them. You know, in the beginning there was even the idea to divide ‘Fantasia’ and ‘Fantasia 2000′ between Sora and Riku in Symphony of Sorcery.
— Did the characters from The World Ends With You appear in Traverse Town due to the Osaka Development Team’s proposal, too?
Nomura: No, in the first scenario they planned to have Leon and Cid and the others like always. However, it would have been weird for them to be in the Traverse Town in this title, and maybe it’s time to give the “arrive in Traverse-Town, Cid says ‘Hey kid’ routine” a rest. So, when I thought about who’d feel fresh to put in, I thought it might be interesting to depict teenagers from a city like Shibuya coming into contact with country kids like Sora, thus I decided to put in the characters from TWEWY. Also, another reason was that in this title, Traverse Town is a world in which many things must be explained, and Joshua is just right for the role of explainer.
— Being able to view flashback scenes whenever we wanted with the Memento feature was new.
Nomura: Production-wise, we were trying to make the story as deep and layered as possible, but then we’d have to show many explanatory cutscenes. I’d always thought there was no way to progress the story other than to increase the number of cutscenes, but I think we found a way after all with the Memento feature. It’s like, people who want to enjoy the story can watch it whenever, and people who want to hurry and advance through the game can fly through and perhaps watch it while taking a break.
— We thought it was very refreshing being able to read summaries of all the past titles with the Chronicles feature too.
Nomura: Those were originally written by Oka (Mr. Masaru Oka: Scenario and Cutscene Director) with revisions by me. If we’d had time I would have wanted to do them in pictures, but we couldn’t go that far this time. It is, of course, so people who hadn’t played a title could follow along, but the text is written to be so clear that it even includes parts that weren’t asserted definitively in each game, so if people who already know the story read along to see if they had things right, they may discover new things. I think pictures would have been a good way to do it too, but text does have the advantage of allowing people to reexamine the necessary parts straight away.
[Question removed due to spoilers. Click here for the full version of the interview.]
— Now we would like to ask a few questions about the future of the KH series. First of all, if you get the letters ‘Secret Message Unlocked’ in the credits for this title you can read a message in the Keyword Glossary. The English letters there surely mean we can hope for KH3 next?
Nomura: I will leave that to your imaginations. Well, you’ll know the answer soon, I suppose.
— At the end of the credits, when Sora and Riku go into the light, the shape of the light looks like a III…
Nomura: I can’t go into detail, but you could think of it as a secret message from me.
— Now, is there a possibility you will make a KH3D Final Mix title?
Nomura: I don’t know what might happen in the years to come, but as of now there are no plans. Osaka Development Team have several titles on their hands, it’s not the right time for that.
— At the end of the secret movie for KHBBSFM, an interesting message that said ‘Birth by Sleep -Volume Two’ appeared. Is there a chance that a KHBBS2 will be appearing?
Nomura: It seems that many people thought that, but during that movie there were the words ‘A fragmentary passage’, weren’t there? That means a ‘bits and pieces of something whole’. In short, a story for ‘Volume Two’ exists that ought to be told, but the story cuts off with those scenes. Because of that, I won’t say there is absolutely no chance that we will produce a title to follow KHBBS , but there are no plans as of now.
— In an interview in the KH Days Ultimania, you said ‘I’m thinking of a mystery KH that made the producer go “what??”‘. Was that KH3D?
Nomura: No, it wasn’t. I originally planned to make that after KHBBS, but we ended up making KH3D and the project was stopped. It’s a shame, but we won’t be starting that project again.
[Questions removed due to spoilers. Click here for the full version of the interview.]
— Are there any Disney titles you’d like to see appear in the future of the series?
Nomura: I wish and wish, but I’ve wanted for a long time to have Pixar titles appear in the series. I’m already working on many ideas, but I can’t say whether they will become a reality or not.
— Pixar has many wonderful titles, and we’d love to see them appear. Finally, when will next play a new Kingdom Hearts game?
Nomura: I still can’t say when, but various developments have already started regarding a new title in the Kingdom Hearts series.
— More than one?!
Nomura: I am sure we’ll be able to make some kind of announcement when the time is right, so in the meantime I’d like you to keep playing KH3D. There’s a high degree of freedom in the play style and the story is full of mysteries, so I would be very pleased if you tried playing on a high level of difficulty and investigating the plot. Also, the mini game ‘Flick Rush’ is pretty exciting, so please give it a try.
Scenario mysteries: We can't show this interview without giving strong spoilers for Kingdom Hearts 3D, so please click here to read it.
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Update: Square Enix Members have published a blog post and updated their Kingdom Hearts 3D page regarding the screenshots based in Traverse Town. They also offered the following explanation of the first world of the game:
The are many worlds that Sora and Riku will visit, each with their own unique characteristics and charm. One of the first worlds for you to discover will be the familiar Traverse town which has appeared at various points throughout the Kingdom Hearts series. It's the first major playable world and acts as an introduction to Dream Eaters, spirits that will aid you in your quest and protect you from the evil spirits, known as 'Nightmares'. During their journey through Traverse Town you'll come across Neku, Shiki, Joshua, Rhyme and Beat, characters from The World Ends With You. Much like Sora and Riku, they've become separated and you must help them be reunited with their partners. Learn the abilities needed to fight in the Realm of Sleep and you might just be able to help them do that
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Kingdom Hearts 3D Since the Kingdom Hearts 3D-related part of the interview contains some spoilers for the game, we will not put it on the front page-- instead, click here if you don't mind spoilers.
Kingdom Hearts series & future
- “Regarding the title’s concepts, during Kingdom Hearts there hadn’t been anything past KH2 and Chain of Memories, then after that I thought of 358/2 Days, Coded, and Birth by Sleep. Thus conceiving the ideas for titles occurs through gradual stages.”
- “Since I decided to make KH3D rather suddenly, the story I presented was rushed since it was still being planned.”
- The fragmentary texts that appear in the secret movie are tied to the story of Kingdom Hearts, however there is no telling whether it will be explored hereafter. (He avoids saying whether or not it relates to the secret movie of Birth by Sleep Final Mix.)
- (Will the next title finally be KH3?) “I’ll leave that up to you.”
- (The next title…) “Maybe it’ll be something unexpected akin to a ‘fast ball’.”
- It’ll be something “lightweight”, but he is refraining to divulge the unannounced title.
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Click for a larger image.
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GI: What is the first element you create when starting a new Kingdom Hearts game? TN: "It differs every time, but I usually start with the gameplay mechanics. At the same time, I work on the structure of the story and then flesh it out from there with the gameplay linked to the story."
GI: What was the visual inspiration for the colorful and cute Spirit allies and Nightmare enemies compared to the darker Heartless and Nobodies in the past games?
TN: I've always wanted to incorporate a system in which you can turn your enemies into allies. When I decided on having the story take place in the world of dreams, I needed a new category of enemies. That's how I thought about creating new characters that can be added as allies. I had the team apply many different color patterns, keeping in mind that these are fantastical creatures that live in a dream world. Then, I picked the pattern that was the most colorful and stood out the most.
GI: Would you ever want to see a high-definition collections of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II similar to the upcoming Final Fantasy X HD remaster?
TN: I do have an interest in HD versions, and I'm currently researching them. If it is possible, I would like to do something about the series being spread over so many different consoles, too. I am thinking alot about the future.
GI: You released Birth by Sleep on PSP. What are your thoughts on the Playstation Vita?
TN: We have been invited to make games on different new platforms, and every time we have created titles making sure that they are highly compatible with the platform. The PS Vita is definitely a powerful device that is very interesting, but because of it's high power, there isn't much of a difference with a console. So even if we were to make a game, we would have to be very careful about how to create it for that device. I also feel that it's about time that Kingdom Hearts should go back to being on a console.
GI: What do you say to the segment of Kingdom Hearts fans that believes the increasingly complex storyline of Kingdom Hearts stands at odd with the child-focused Disney element of the franchise?
TN: First of all, this series is not intended to be child-focused, and so the complexity of the story is purposefully made prominent. That being said, with a series being around so long, there are a few items I have in mind so that a wider audience range can enjoy the experience. For the time being Dream Drop Distance, there is a new function called Mementos, and in the section called Chronicles, the player can read a summary on each of the titles from the Kingdom Hearts series. Whether you are just starting out or you have played all the games before and need a refresher, it has all of the key information summarized.
GI: In recent interviews you hinted that Dream Drop Distance is the last game before Kingdom Hearts III. Do you see it this way?
TN: I'm not able to disclose any information on what's coming next or any other future plans, but you may be able to find a hint if you play through Dream Drop Distance to the very end.
GI: Square Enix has released several iPhone and iPad games both of new franchises and classics. Are you interested in creating Kingdom Hearts game or other titles for IOS?
TN: There is something I am working on, but I'm afraid I can't reveal the specifics. I feel that there needs to be progress made on the tablet devices and there should be more games for that platform. I'm not sure which title this would come to pass, but I am researching about IOS as one of the platform options.
GI: How is Final Fantasy Versus XIII coming along? It's been nearly six years since it was announced. Why is this project taking so long to develop?
TN: We would like to ask for your patience on an official announcement for this title. It always takes time when tackling the challenge of doing something new, but we are doing our best to bring information to the fans as quickly as we can. Your patience is greatly appreciated.
Some interesting quotes:
"I do have an interest in HD versions [of KH1 and KH2], and I'm currently researching them."
"I also feel that it's about time that Kingdom Hearts should go back to being on a console."
"There is something I am working on [for iPhone/iPad], but I'm afraid I can't reveal the specifics [and it's not necessarily KH]."
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Update 1: goldpanner has translated the description of the novel provided on the page. You can read this translation below.
Release date 28th June, 800 yen
Sora, Riku, I would like the two of you to take the Mark of Master Exam.
"Now, Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery exam shall hereby commence."
Master Xehanort has revived!
Their two journeys to bring peace to the world just barely over, Sora and Riku have received news from Yen Sid regarding a new threat drawing near.
In order to face this new world crisis, Sora and Riku must face the Mark of Mastery Exam.
For this the must go to the 'Realm of Sleep', release the seven Keyholes of Sleep, and gain a new power.
Update 2: Square Enix have created a page for the novel on the Square Enix e-STORE. This confirms the release date and price, and also reveals that the novel has a planned length of 242 pages.
Update 3: Amazon.co.jp have added a pre-order page for the novel, confirming that Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] Side Sora will be written by Tomoko Kanemaki, the author of previous Kingdom Hearts novels.
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takaturtle from KH13 has scanned all pages from the Ultimania containing interviews with Tetsuya Nomura, or other staff who worked on Kingdom Hearts 3D. Since these pages contain some spoilers about the game, we won't embed them here-- instead, please click this link to see them. A partial translation of the Tetsuya Nomura interview, using these scans, has appeared online, and again, this interview contains spoilers. For this reason, please click here to read it.
Update 1: Lightning_XII from GameFAQs has translated even more of the interview scans. These interview excerpts contain a lot of Kingdom Hearts 3D spoilers, so proceed with caution! If you're ready, you can read it here. We will keep updating as more interview excerpts appear.
Update 2: Peterko from KH13 has uploaded various scans from the Ultimania, in great quality! To be specific, these scans contain the Tetsuya Nomura interview, and the list of 20 secrets from within the game. Thanks to him, you can view these scans by clicking here.
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