The World Of Tetsuya Nomura | Chapter III: Kingdom Come

0:01Tetsuya Nomura is hands down one of the most captivating and interesting figures in the video

0:06game industry. His original ideas and iconic style have played a large part in some of Square Enix's

0:11most successful titles. Whether you love his crazy story designs and concepts or you think he's

0:17actively ruining video games as we know it, he's a big name in the industry and he's a hard worker.

0:23Even today, Nomura bounces between projects frequently and based on my research for this

0:28video series has had projects in circulation since 1991. Hi, my name is Joe. When I like

0:35something a whole lot, I want to find out what's going on behind the curtain. This video is that

0:42I did the research and write up for my benefit, but I did this video part for yours, so I can pass

0:48on this information as completely and definitively as possible without bAurong my friends and family.

0:55In this video series, I will examine all of Tetsuya Nomura's works to the best of my ability.

1:00I understand there are countless videos available regarding the very start of his career. So some

1:04information may be quite familiar to you if you frequently watch videos on this topic,

1:09but I've done my best to make what you watch here today a smidgen more informative and entertaining

1:13than videos before. And before long, we'll be in uncharted territory. I'll include all of my

1:18sources in the description below, and I'll include a number on screen if I am citing a source. I'll

1:23also include fun facts and text boxes on screen to give you some bonus information if you're

1:28actively watching the video. I've grouped each project as accurate to development as possible,

1:34but Nomura would sometimes be bouncing between four to five projects at a time. So, I've arranged

1:40all titles in order of release, with out-of-place blurbs about relevant titles if necessary.

1:46Now that everything's out of the way, let's dive into the prolific career of Tetsuya Nomura.

2:23Way way back in the 1980s, the fourth generation of consoles sparked what is often considered the

2:28first major console war. Sega and Nintendo were neck and neck for the better part of a decade.

2:34[COMMERCIAL]: Genesis does what Nintendon’t [JOE]: Advancements in graphical capabilities

2:39began to grow exponentially, bouncing between both companies, with Sega carving out an early

2:43edge through 16-bit hardware before experimenting with CD-ROM technology through the Sega CD add-on.

2:50In 1988, Nintendo would collaborate with Sony on a similar expansion for the Super Nintendo.

2:55This was going to be called the Nintendo PlayStation and allowed the Super Nintendo

2:59to handle games developed for CD-ROM. The folks at Sony would work hard on this project and

3:04eagerly announce it at 1991's Consumer Electronics Expo in Chicago, Illinois. Hours later, Nintendo

3:10announced that they were breaking their deal with Sony to pursue the same project with Phillips.

3:14A ruthless betrayal. So, in the mid ‘90s, when Sony's brand new PlayStation hit the scene and

3:20absorbed several third party developers, a monkey wrench was thrown into the feud between Sega and

3:24Nintendo. [CRASH]: Hey, plumber boy mustache man, your worst nightmare has arrived. Pack up

3:31your stuff. I got a little surprise for you here. Check it out. [JOE]: Nintendo replied with the

3:35Nintendo 64, which cost them Squaresoft, as we've discussed, and Sega came up with a Sega Saturn.

3:41With titles like Resident Evil, Tekken 3, and FINAL FANTASY VII, however,

3:46the PlayStation was slowly bringing down its competitors. Sega's response was the Dreamcast,

3:51the first sixth generation console, released in November 1998 in Japan and launched in

3:56North America on September 9th, 1999, the same day as FINAL FANTASY VIII's American release.

4:02This may have been a calculated move, as a tech demo of Squall and Rinoa’s dance was developed

4:06by Square for Sony's first unveiling of their upcoming PlayStation 2 earlier that year in March.

4:12The demo acted as a way to showcase the console's processing power and graphical capabilities,

4:16as the sequence was not pre-rendered and entirely real-time in-engine. This specific demo

4:22was developed by Visual Works, the now formally separate development team that had been behind

4:26Square's cutting edge FMV cinematics since FINAL FANTASY VII. Another demo Square provided for

4:32the event was one using models from the upcoming Final Fantasy: The Movie as a means to demonstrate

4:37how much more emotion could be conveyed on characters using the PlayStation 2's hardware.

4:41All this, and the PlayStation 2 was completely backwards compatible with games for the original

4:46PlayStation, unlike Sega's Dreamcast. The third demo prepared by Squaresoft for Sony was one done

4:51by DreamFactory, featuring a densely packed bar fight where four characters hold off several more,

4:57breaking tables and chairs along the way in a set that is decorated with active flames, waterfalls,

5:02and mirrors. This sequence was intended to test the PS2's capabilities for lighting, reflections,

5:08and overall performance in a densely packed scenario. This was the only demo shown by Square

5:13to not include a pre-existing idea. So many fans began to speculate that

5:17considering DreamFactory's involvement, an Ehrgeiz 2 was in the works.

5:23Around this time period, or maybe during the development of FINAL FANTASY VIII, Shinji

5:27Hashimoto was approached by Disney Interactive Japan about a partnership for a game famously due

5:33to a chance elevator encounter. [DAN WINTERS]: This started out through an elevator ride.

5:38So Square's offices are in the same building as our offices in Tokyo. [TETSUYA NOMURA]:

5:43I've heard some people saying Square was the initiator. That story has been circulating around,

5:48but that's not quite what happened. Disney initiated it. The offer came to our producer

5:54first. [JOE]: The Disney Interactive suit that had approached Hashimoto had their reasons to

5:59make this pitch. Disney was struggling in the Japanese market, and they were working in the

6:04same building of the studio that had made the legendary FINAL FANTASY VII. The math was simple.

6:10At some point after this, Hashimoto brought this to Hironobu Sakaguchi. As the two were

6:14wrapping up a conversation about the potential project, Tetsuya Nomura stepped in the room,

6:19as he was due to meet with the two of them for something different entirely. Nomura recalls this

6:24moment in time. “I had been called there for some completely different reason. But when I arrived,

6:29Hashimoto-san and Sakaguchi-san were talking about a discussion they had with Disney,

6:34having an exchange along the lines of ‘Mickey Mouse would have been great, but we can't use

6:38him.’ At that moment, I basically put my hand up and said, ‘I want to be part of this.’

6:44And that's how it all began. But at that point, I wasn't really thinking of making a game that

6:49featured Mickey Mouse.” This knee-jerk reaction was due in part to Nomura's flurry of ideas and

6:56tendency for them to be insanely ambitious, but also because of his water cooler conversation

7:02about Super Mario 64 back in 1996. Here, Nomura had a clean chance to pitch a project to two

7:10people who knew his work and how hard of a worker he was, with the inclusion of popular characters

7:16such as Disney's now on the table. Though it would take some development and would

7:21go through various drafts, this chain of events was the dawn of what would become Kingdom Hearts.

7:28Throughout 1999, Nomura worked as a one-man team for the title and split

7:32his time between Parasite Eve II, The Bouncer, and FINAL FANTASY X while working on the game.

7:39In his first meeting with Disney, Nomura already had a vague idea of the game he wanted to make.

7:45Disney had plenty of pitches for him, but he halted a pitch halfway through when he realized

7:49time was getting short. He told them he would not make such games and offered his concept:

7:55all-new characters going on a journey through the worlds inhabited by Disney characters.

8:01The Disney folks, though shocked at his demeanor, obliged, and Nomura now had to

8:06actualize the pitch that he gave. He began with sketching the main character, Sora.

8:12“I'd drawn him carrying a weapon that looked like an enormous chainsaw. ‘What on earth is this?’

8:17they said. When I told them it was a chainsaw, they looked really shocked, absolutely speechless.

8:24They were looking at the design document, probably saying, ‘This is terrible,’ and so on.

8:29It was all in English, though, so I didn't understand a word.” Disney had accepted his pitch,

8:35but he would soon learn that everything had to go through them with this specific project,

8:39a new hurdle he had not yet faced. [NEWS ANCHOR]:

8:49Our top story, Mikado, the company heading the International Space Project, announced the launch

8:55of an additional solar power generator satellite. [JOE]: Despite speculation about DreamFactory's

8:59tech demo for PlayStation 2, Ehrgeiz was going to stay in 1998. The game showcased was actually

9:06a prototype for The Bouncer. [The Bouncer]: The Bouncer. [JOE]: The Bouncer was a logical

9:11step forward for DreamFactory. Instead of being a fighting game with adventure elements like the

9:16games produced before, this game was a beat-em-up with a narrative, following bar bouncers Sion,

9:21Volt, and Kou, as they stop a grieving rich boy from decimating the city of Edge with a

9:25solar powered death ray. The staff for this title was a variety between established Square Legends,

9:31DreamFactory developers, and newcomers to Square. Seiichi Ishii and Takashi Tokita split directing

9:37and scenario responsibilities, with Ishii credited for the original story, and Tokita credited for

9:42its dramatization. Among the producers were Hironobu Sakaguchi and Shinji Hashimoto,

9:47though their participation in the project might have been on the lighter side. Noriko Matsueda

9:52would compose the soundtrack alongside her new partner in crime, Takahito Eguchi, who had just

9:57joined Square with 1999's Racing Lagoon. Yusuke Naora is credited as the art supervisor, Tetsuya

10:03Takahashi as the background supervisor, and Tetsuya Nomura was in charge of character designs.

10:08Though it seems star-studded, there was more involvement from Square than Ishii

10:12would have liked. Development was especially hard on him, and we'll cover that later.

10:17On a mechanical level, The Bouncer is pretty monumental in Square's library of games.

10:22It was one of, if not the first title that began development for PlayStation 2 in the company,

10:28though it would end up being the company's fourth title published for the console. The

10:31Bouncer included full voice acting, [DOMINIQUE]: Good morning! [JOE]: up-close facial animations,

10:36and ragdoll physics. All new and impressive developments made possible with PlayStation 2

10:42and its use of DVD discs to store games. With this format jump, a single disc could now carry

10:47around 4.7 GB of data, dwarfing the CDs available 700 megabytes. Square, at this point renowned for

10:54their cinematic approach to game development, had a pretty promising setup when first setting

10:59out to create The Bouncer. [PSWORLD]: Now, for all those of you with long memories,

11:02this sequence might look familiar. Yeah, you may remember it from several of the original

11:07PlayStation 2 demonstrations. This one being courtesy of FINAL FANTASY creators Square.

11:12It was an initial glimpse of a title that promised to be an adventure-based fighting game.

11:17This game eventually made it onto Japanese store shelves just before Christmas of last year. And as

11:22you can see, it's gone through some major changes. [JOE]: Things flaunted in the game's tech demo,

11:27like reflections, fire effects, waterfalls, and breakable objects did not make it to the final cut

11:33of The Bouncer due to growing pains. The game was delayed several times, even going dark for a few

11:39months after it had been hyped up by the company for some time. Regarding development, Tokita would

11:44comment, “The hardest part was definitely working with the PS2 for the first time.

11:49Also, working with the large capacity media DVD was a new thing. The burden on the programmers has

11:55become heavier, so adjusting the schedule was the biggest obstacle.” Our three bouncers, residents

12:01of the city of Edge and employed at FATE, a bar on Dog Street, are a wonderful example of Nomura's

12:06tactics in his early 2000s character design. All three are interchangeable protagonists,

12:12each with their own variations on the game's plot, so we'll discuss them one by one before

12:16analyzing them as a group. [SION]: You're not getting paid enough to die, now get out of my

12:21way! [JOE]: Sion Barzahd is the most sketched out character for The Bouncer by Nomura. His design in

12:27the tech demo of the game uses a simple big baggy t-shirt and jeans, with a pocket chain and some

12:32light accessories. His first deviation away from this involved a set of headphones and a big jacket

12:37with Dog Street's first conceptualized logo of a bulldog. A similar outfit was given to Dominique

12:42Cross in the final product. The next depiction of Sion involves the usage of X shapes on his

12:47zipper and pendant and addition of a headband and cinch cords dangling from his jacket sleeves,

12:53gloves, and pant legs. In the next design, the headband is removed. His collar is added with

12:58a humongous cross as its pendant, and his shorts are shortened to be above the knee.

13:03The next draft is his final appearance in the game. While Sion is one of three in The Bouncer,

13:08I've also noticed he's one of three in Nomura's protagonist designs for this window of time

13:12just before Nomura's true big break. We'll discuss this as each of Sion’s long lost brothers appear,

13:18but for now, I'd like to note his hair, chains, boots, and color palette. While admitting that

13:24he made use of real life references in FINAL FANTASY VIII in an interview for The Bouncer,

13:29Nomura stated in the same interview that his approach to designing these characters was in no

13:33correlation to real people this time. In this same interview, Nomura confirmed that he was working on

13:38The Bouncer simultaneously with other projects, which gives likelihood to the idea that any

13:43similarities to his future work are intentional. As we’ve discussed before and will again later,

13:48Nomura liked the idea of challenging the animation team to push them and the PS2. He had done so in

13:531999 by including fur and accessories on Squall's design. With Sion, he pulls out all the stops

13:59and attaches a chain dangle anywhere he can. His outfit is heavy on dog imagery, though it seems to

14:05be more of a fashion statement than a character statement. Sion's outfit is from a fictional

14:09fashion brand named Dog Street. The brand's logo is an icon of Rinoa's Australian Shepherd, Angelo,

14:15from FINAL FANTASY VIII. in the center of two crossbones fashioned to look like dog bones.

14:20This icon appears as his pendant and a simplified version appears as the dangle on his glove.

14:25A few times in his outfit, a sole dog bone is used, such as his jacket zipper or the

14:30dangles at the back of his boots. Angelo's head is used as the shape of his wallet chain as well.

14:36Sion wears bunched up tube socks and compression shorts and sleeves, quoting Tifa's design in FINAL

14:41FANTASY VII. At the same time, his short sleeve jacket, shorts, and thick boots call to mind Zell

14:47from FINAL FANTASY VIII. And with a dangle off of his glove, Nomura carries the trend of including a

14:52chain at the end of a protagonist's weapon, which he had begun trying out with Squall's gunlade.

14:57Sion's outfit uses five colors: white, black, blue, red, and yellow. A simple approach,

15:04making use of all three primary colors and using black and white as accents. His haircut can be

15:10seen as Nomura's return to form, experimenting with spiky hair. Squall's hair had spikes, but was

15:15intentionally grounded. Sion is Nomura's second spiky-haired protagonist after Cloud Strife.

15:20Keeping that in mind, we can see that the shape of Sion's hair is slightly asymmetrical to the right,

15:25balancing out against his wallet chain and glove on the left in a similar,

15:28albeit subtle, fashion to Cloud in FINAL FANTASY VII. However, this time, Sion's hair is brown,

15:34which could have been brought from Squall's design in FINAL FANTASY VIII.

15:38See also has two unique alternate outfits which cannot be said for most characters in The Bouncer.

15:43The first is his design as he was seen in the tech demo: A large baggy t-shirt and baggy jeans.

15:49Next is an entirely new design where Sion wears his hood up. In this new outfit, he wears a black

15:55hoodie with a blue interior and two sets of cloak clasps holding it together, one fastened and the

16:00other one undone. The chain dangle is removed from his glove, as is his pendant, but he retains the

16:05Dog Street emblem on his belt buckle, which holds up his black shorts that have a flurry of plain

16:10cross designs in the bottom of the right leg. On the right sleeve of his jacket is the Dog Street

16:14emblem. On the back of his jacket is the text logo for Dog Street. [DOMINIQUE]: You're looking busy,

16:19Kou. [KOU]: Hey, if we're not doing anything, it means the bar is doing just fine, right,

16:23Sion? [JOE]: Kou Leifoh's design is certainly the simplest of the bunch, but with it we can

16:29see Nomura experiment with tattoos and patterns. All throughout Kou's design seem to be challenges

16:35for the game's texture artists. His combat pants are decked out in camouflage, and his black

16:40leather vest has an icon of a tiger embossed on the back. He has an all over body tattoo,

16:46which seems to be an expansion on Nomura's tattoo experiments with Zell in FINAL FANTASY VIII.

16:52His body art uses the same neotribal style Nomura used for Zell's and Red XIII's tattoos, but on a

16:58scale he had never done before. [VOLT]: Today's not your lucky day, punks. [JOE]: Volt Kreuger

17:04fills in the blanks between Kou and Sion. His jeans are about one and a half times the length

17:09they should be, and that means that his shins are covered by a second layer of cuffed denim.

17:14Volt wears a belt to hold up his jeans and another to tighten his black leather jacket complete with

17:20a patch depicting Cactuar, a cheeky nod as Nomura is Cactuar’s creator. Takashi Tokita acknowledged

17:26this in press for the game. Volt's design is Nomura's experiment with leather belts, studs,

17:32and piercings. Likely included to challenge the model team and the animators, as facial animation

17:37was a special focus for this title given the PS2's new specs. [SION]: I'm a bouncer. I make a living

17:43putting my life on the line. [ JOE]: Overall, Sion, Volt, and Kou are a microcosm of Nomura's

17:49ideas in this time period. Bold colors, black belts, zippers, studs, piercings, spiky hair,

17:57patterns, tattoos, the list goes on. But this list can really be boiled down into two categories:

18:04silver accessories, and contemporary fashion trends with a special interest in Japan's Visual

18:09Kei movement. Silver accessories encompass all the typical Nomurian belts and whistles:

18:14Zippers, belts, piercings, chains, dangles, buttons, pendants, studs, you name it.

18:21Contemporary fashion trends explain why Nomura makes use of patterns like camouflage, crosses,

18:27neotribal tattoos, and baggy clothes like Kou's combat pants or Sion's big jackets.

18:33Finally, the Visual Kei movement can explain his idea to use tattoos, spiky hair,

18:39all-black or vibrant color palettes, and even the sometimes androgynous nature of his characters,

18:44though The Bouncer isn't quite as affected by this specific design choice. Sometimes Nomura

18:49draws from different fashion subcultures in Tokyo, but Visual Kei is his personal favorite style.

18:55Hints of his previous methods, such as emulating world cultures, or drawing from world history,

19:00may still remain, but from here on out, they take a backseat to Nomura's interest in popular

19:05culture and fashion, at least for now. [ECHIDNA]: This time, I'll make sure I finish you off along

19:11with your friends. The remaining cast reinforces my suggested sorting of Nomura's design choices.

19:16Echidna is a representative of the Tokyo Gyaru subculture, specifically its Ganguro style.

19:22Ganguro is characterized by deeply tanned skin, lightened or bleached hair, and high contrast

19:27makeup, often with strong white concealer accents around the eyes and lips. Ganguro is translated as

19:32“blackfaced”, but it is not related to western blackface or its historical context. The tan

19:38skin and lightened hair were used in deliberate contrast to mainstream Japanese beauty standards,

19:43which traditionally emphasized pale skin, dark natural hair, and little to no makeup.

19:48Within that context, Ganguro functions as a visible rejection of conventional aesthetics.

19:54We can see this subculture in Echidna's design as she has tan skin with white makeup,

19:59an over-the-top boingy springy haircut, and wears a mismatched revealing outfit in line with Gyaru.

20:05Original sketches for Echidna even give her a fur boa, but this did not make it

20:09to the final game. [DAURAGON]: What's wrong, Dominique? [JOE]: Antagonist Duragon C. Makado

20:15seems to be a fusion between all of Nomura's rival characters thus far. He's a smug blonde bad boy

20:21who has wealth in common with Rufus Shinra, a trench coat in common with Seifer Almasy,

20:26and a haircut in common with Sephiroth. On his trench coat is a belt strap adorned with a chain

20:32that spirals down his right arm and drags on the ground next to him. Underneath his trench coat,

20:37he wears a pair of black overalls with a zipper pouch in the center and a belt around his waist.

20:42And on his back is a tattoo of a dragon. He also fights alongside a panther, which while not a dog,

20:48could be seen as another illusion to Rufus' design. This panther is actually also a woman.

20:55This is Kaldea Orchid, whose outfit is more flowy and traditional than the rest of the game's cast.

21:01Her design isn't quite inspired by street fashion trends, but instead

21:05quotes traditional Japanese wear. Her full outfit includes a cream kimono inspired dress,

21:10a green obi style belt, her red one-shoulder cape, black gloves, stockings, and heeled boots accented

21:17by a silver dog tag necklace. Her standard outfit matches up with her sensei, Wong Leung.

21:23Kaldea is Sion’s ex-girlfriend, so she shares a similar alternate outfit to his

21:27black cloak design. Hers takes an approach more aligned with fetishwear than Sions,

21:32involving her wearing a balcony bralette, a pair of high leg bikini briefs, and apron style

21:37chainsaw chaps decorated with the same cross emblem motif used in Sion’s alternate outfit.

21:43If you thought that was revealing, wait until you see Nomura's promotional art of Kaldea,

21:47depicting her wearing nothing but lingerie bottoms with Dog Street written on them

21:51and Sion’s Dog Street pendant. [SION]: It's Mugetsu. [MUGETSU]: [laughter]

21:57I've been waiting for you. Now that I don't have to worry about Dauragon or the girl. [JOE]:

22:03Mugetsu's design goes in the fetishwear direction a little bit further. His outfit, and most ninjas

22:08in the game, quote bondage fashion and fetishwear even more explicitly. His mask involves several

22:14straps and skin-tight leather over chain mail. In character art by Nomura, his gloves seem to have

22:19clawed fingertips and make his arms girthier, adjacent to most of Nomura's monster designs

22:24in the final game. This isn't fully translated. We'll talk about her work a bit more later,

22:29but it is likely that the side characters in The Bouncer were designed by Fumi Nakashima,

22:33the game's assistant character designer. If that's the case, Mugetsu and the designs for

22:37the Al Bhed people in FINAL FANTASY X may have some more things in common. [PD-4]: Three on one.

22:44Those are acceptable odds. [JOE]: PD-4's design is quite simple, involving a fully zippered pleated

22:50turtleneck muscle shirt, a pair of orange and black athletic joggers and one long black glove

22:55on his left arm, balancing out the tattoos, bionic eye, and hair swoop on his right. In his alternate

23:00outfit, his joggers change color and he loses the shirt, showing off the full design of his tattoo.

23:06PD-4 has silver hair and yellow eyes, something Nomura would make use of frequently in his future

23:11projects. [LEANN]:

23:16Sorry to keep you waiting. For now, the best we can do is buy you some time. [JOE]: Leann Caldwell

23:21has a sleek neofuturist outfit that seems like a toned down Yuffie Kisaragi with hints of bondage

23:26peppered in. This design is strikingly similar to Rikku's in FINAL FANTASY X and includes another

23:31interesting Nomura accent: tiny dots. At the top of either side of her jacket are three little

23:37studs in a triangle pattern. something first done on Sephiroth's Pauldrons in FINAL FANTASY VII,

23:42and something that will intermittently reappear in later projects. Her alternate outfit is her in

23:46a bathrobe and slippers as she is depicted in the game's opening cutscene. [VOLT]: When we grow old,

23:52she's still going to look the same. [SION]: I'll tell her when the time comes,

24:04but until then, I want her to live a normal life. [VOLT]:

24:12Yeah, maybe you're right. [KOU]: Volt, it's your shift. [VOLT]: Okay, I'm coming. [KOU]:

24:22Man, I'm so bored. This place has been too quiet ever since that incident. [SION]: Hey,

24:28if we're not doing anything, it means the bar is doing just fine, right? [JOE]:

24:33At this point in his career, we can look back on what Nomura had done so far and start to

24:38notice patterns in his design choices. Nomura hasn't gone on record much about The Bouncer,

24:43only stating he works on many projects at once frequently and that his time with this game

24:47enabled him to make even more detailed designs. We'll frequently come back to this cast throughout

24:52this time period because of this. It is likely due to his many projects that there is art of

24:57Aya from Parasite Eve II wearing Dog Street jeans despite The Bouncer being released a year later.

25:02I believe that while it came out first, The Bouncer was sort of a dumping ground for Nomura's

25:06design work in this brief period. His designs here will come back quickly in the projects

25:11that he worked on concurrently, but will also make subtle returns later on in the decade.

25:15[PS2 GUY]: What people will do for the little entertainment system.

25:23I'm here for the PlayStation 2. The best entertainment system to hit the to hit the world.

25:30It's going to be great. [JOE]: PlayStation 2 was released in Japan on March 4th, 2000, in the US on

25:36October 24th, 2000, and in Europe on November 26th, 2000. DreamFactory and Squaresoft's The

25:42Bouncer would launch in December 2000 in Japan, March 2001 in the US, and June 2001 in Europe.

25:50The game was a bit of a flop due in part to the promises it did not keep when jumping

25:54from the tech demo to the final product, and due in part to general lackluster production.

25:59Players and critics noted that the game was more cutscene than gameplay.

26:03Josh Strife Plays on YouTube has done the math: The game's run time is nearly an even split,

26:08leaning more to cutscene run time. The Bouncer contains 44 minutes of cutscene cinematics,

26:149 minutes of loading screens, and approximately 40 minutes of gameplay by his calculation. The game's

26:19graphical feats were not held against it, but The Bouncer was certainly not free from scrutiny.

26:25After this, Square would no longer work with DreamFactory. Regarding development

26:29for The Bouncer, Seiichi Ishii had this to say: “Originally, it was conceived as a fighting game

26:34with quest mode and story mode being added as extras, but then we started getting requests to

26:39make it cinematic and our direction became muddled. We could create the fighting battle part,

26:45but we had no experience creating the story part. So, we asked Square to provide some personnel.

26:50In the end, it became a huge team consisting almost entirely of Square people. We made

26:56‘Bouncer’ thinking there would definitely not be a next time. In fact, Square's subsidiaries were

27:01disappearing one after another, so we thought it was our turn next.” Throughout the stressful

27:06development of this game, Isi developed shingles. His doctor warned him to change his environment.

27:11And so, he sought out a few places in Japan before settling on moving to Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

27:17Despite this, he did not resign from DreamFactory. Today, Ishii still lives in Canada,

27:22though he is disgruntled with rising prices and is the sole employee of DreamFactory.

27:31At the same time as The Bouncer, FINAL FANTASY X began development in 1999,

27:37first as a script titled Seven Teen: Angelic Impact: X Devil’s Shock.

27:42This project took place in a world where people die at the age of 17 due to a pandemic.

27:48It would follow a young protagonist named Tidus who was searching for a cure before his

27:52time was up. His sister, Yuna, was a traveling nurse healing people affected by the disease.

27:59The large plot twist in mind was that her rituals would be revealed to be spreading the disease.

28:05A majority of the concept art for this version of the game was done by Yusuke Naora. After a while,

28:11it was determined that the protagonist would be a plumber who lived in a city called Registan.

28:16The script underwent a name change to FINAL FANTASY X, and the familial tie between Tidus and

28:21Yuna was scrapped. This new plot had a majority of the basic story beats that the final product would

28:27and was developed as a beta build to be showcased at Square's Millennium event in Tokyo. [GAMESPOT]:

28:33Square recently held their Millennium event in Japan. The company showed off FINAL FANTASY IX

28:38for the PlayStation and FINAL FANTASY X and XI for the PlayStation 2. While the details

28:44of FINAL FANTASY XI are not yet known, it was announced that it will be an online-only RPG.

28:50Square also unveiled plans for their new internet gaming software dubbed Play Online. The Japanese

28:56release date for FINAL FANTASY IX is this summer, while X and XI are set for release in the spring

29:01and summer of 2001. No word yet on the US release dates for the titles. [JOE]: In January 2000

29:09at the Millennium event, FINAL FANTASY IX, X, and XI were all announced in succession.

29:16IX would be a traditional high fantasy RPG on PlayStation as an homage to the older FF titles,

29:22including several of the original developers of those games on staff. FINAL FANTASY X was

29:28set to be the first PlayStation 2 entry for the series picked up by the team behind VII and VIII,

29:34and XI was the company's first MMORPG, or massively multiplayer online role-playing

29:40game. This genre was growing quite popular as the internet began to develop,

29:44and FINAL FANTASY XI would be Square's crack at it. XI was announced for a summer 2001 release.

29:51Journalists noted that was the same release window given for Hirobu Sakaguchi and Square Pictures’

29:56Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which was briefly showcased at the event as well.

30:01The main attraction at the Millennium event, however, was when the beta build

30:05for FINAL FANTASY X was shown off. This build had several differences to the original product:

30:11Hair physics, a different logo, and an open world map. It also flaunted its inclusion of PlayOnline,

30:19a service Square intended to launch as a means to make strategy guides, fan communities,

30:24merchandise storefronts, and online service games live in one place. FINAL FANTASY X's

30:29use of this system would allow players access to a strategy guide built into the game.

30:36All the while, Nomura was hard at work on his unannounced project with Disney.

30:41By early 2000, he had created plenty of concept art for the game. First,

30:46Sora's chainsaw blade was swapped out for the Keyblade, a large key-shaped weapon.

30:51Nomura drew out ideas for locations, encounters, and the game's monsters. In one of these

30:57illustrations, Disney's own Donald Duck and Goofy can be seen alongside Sora fighting Chernabog,

31:03the large demon from Disney's 1940 film Fantasia. The proposed locations seem to be generic,

31:10including a wild west world, a castle world that is split in half with Mickey Mouse's face on it,

31:15a world resembling a town or boardwalk with a tower with skulls, devil horns, and bat wings at

31:20the top, and a location modeled after a tropical island with slides, bridges, and ladders galore.

31:27At the corner of this sketch is a concept for the protagonist to slide along the slides on his feet

31:33and jump over tree branches. Another early sketch depicts a monster towering over the protagonist on

31:39a stained glass platform decorated with Hidden Mickey emblems. Things were coming together in

31:44Nomura's new kingdom. Slowly, but surely. [TIDUS]: Listen to my story. This may be our last

31:56chance. [JOE]: FINAL FANTASY IX being handled by a different team allowed Yoshinori Kitase to back up

32:03and decide who could be taught to take the reins of the FINAL FANTASY series beginning with X,

32:07the installment he was in charge of. As the group had been used to in working on VII and VIII prior,

32:13the pressure was on this time because this would be the first FINAL FANTASY on PlayStation 2,

32:19which, midway through development, also needed to show that The Bouncer and its lukewarm reception

32:25was not representative of Squaresoft at its best on the console. The power trio of Kitase, Nojima,

32:31and Nomura would begin to transition out of their previous seats of power

32:36as Sakaguchi and others had begun to do with FINAL FANTASY V. Kitase maintained his director role and

32:42appointed three directors to their own thirds of the game. Motomu Toriyama as event director,

32:48Takayoshi Nakazoto as map director, and Toshiro Tsuchida as battle director. Yusuke Naora would

32:54split the art director role. This time around, he focused on the world of FINAL FANTASY X,

33:00while Shintaro Takai would handle the battle art direction, namely the game’s summons, this time

33:06coined as Aeons. Takai had worked as a director in the effects teams of VII and VIII before

33:11being significantly promoted for X. Speaking of promotions, Tomohiro Hasegawa was now working as

33:18the real-time graphics director for X. Kazushige Nojima handled the main scenario for FINAL FANTASY

33:24X and would frequently collaborate with Toriyama, Kitase, and newcomer Daisuke Watanabe on it.

33:31Watanabe had just begun work at Square with 1999's Threads of Fate, and FINAL FANTASY X was

33:37his second project working for Squaresoft. On this title, he is credited as scenario planner.

33:48All in all, Kitase and Nojima's involvement with FINAL FANTASY X was similar to their

33:53work done for VII and VIII, but with the added responsibility of mentoring the next generation

33:58of creatives for the FINAL FANTASY series. The old power trio would not be complete, however,

34:04as Nomura had bigger fish to fry alongside FINAL FANTASY X's development. This led him to being

34:10credited solely as the game's character designer rather than a fancy conglomerate role that he had

34:15been credited for in VII and VIII. Despite his busy schedule outside of X, or perhaps because

34:21of it, Nomura too had his own sidekicks for this game. Since his time on FINAL FANTASY VII,

34:28Tetsuya Nomura worked on some projects with Fumi Nakashima as an assistant character designer or

34:33character illustrator. This included FINAL FANTASY VII, Ehrgeiz, Parasite Eve II, and The Bouncer.

34:41Here in FINAL FANTASY X, Nakashima was now the chief sub character designer.

34:47Also on VII was Tetsu Tsukamoto, who had been credited for monster design work.

34:53He then went on to work on FINAL FANTASY IX and X during their concurrent development windows,

34:58serving FINAL FANTASY X as monster designer. Nomura handled the main cast's designs,

35:05and Nakashima and Tsukamoto would be in charge of filling in the gaps while he was away.

35:10For the first time in FINAL FANTASY history, Nobuo Uematsu would not be the sole composer

35:16of this entry soundtrack. Joining him on X were Junya Nakano and Masashi Hamauzu.

35:23Nakano had been involved in composition work for about seven years when production began, beginning

35:29his work with Square in 1996. Hamauzu had worked on VII, with his most notable role there perhaps

35:36being his position as a bass vocalist in the Latin choir sampled for Sephiroth's “One-Winged Angel”

35:42theme. Here in X, Nakano and Hamauzu would create their own music for the soundtrack,

35:48and Hamauzu would also take care of some arrangement work on top of his responsibilities.

35:53Uematsu continued his tradition of creating a pop vocal performance theme song for the game. This

35:59time, the lyrics were written by Kazushige Nojima and the piece sung by Japanese folk singer RIKKI.

36:06This song, “Suteki Da Ne?”, used Japanese lyrics this time instead of English ones. Another first

36:12for the series was the inclusion of full voice acting. [AURON]: We called it sin. [TIDUS]:

36:19Sin? [JOE]: and with its introduction means we now have more credited roles to cover for

36:25every game going forward. Masakazu Morita and Mayuko Aoki returned to the series moving from

36:31mocap actors to voice actors filling the roles for Tidus and Yuna. The Japanese cast would return for

36:38any of their respective characters' subsequent appearances, and some even had the opportunity

36:44to voice different characters in the franchise as well, which we'll discuss as they come up. The

36:49English cast was stacked, including James Arnold Taylor as Tidus, the breakout role in his career,

36:55Matt McKenzie, who had previously voiced Major Elliot in English for FINAL FANTASY The Spirits

37:00Within, voice acting legend Tara Strong, who had been in the business for 15 years by that point,

37:07and John DiMaggio, who handled the voice for both Waka and Kimari. Unlike in Japan,

37:13only some of these talents would return to voice their respective characters. [AURON]: This is it.

37:23This is your story.

37:33It all begins here. [TIDUS]: [screaming] [JOE]:

37:42The game's cinematic cutscenes would take another leap forward.

37:46this time officially being handled by the Visual Works team.

37:50FINAL FANTASY IX and Parasite Eve II were some of their first credited games.

37:57We have been using motion capture since FINAL FANTASY VIII. We didn't use it that much in

38:01FINAL FANTASY IX [HIROSHI KUWABARA]: because the characters weren't designed to be lifelike.

38:05In FINAL FANTASY X, we use motion capture almost all the time to make the characters seem real.

38:11Also we can transition between real time and full motion video smoothly now which makes me

38:16really happy. The most challenging part was, well actually there were a lot of challenges,

38:21particularly getting the details of facial expressions and the movement of hair and clothing.

38:27The time it took for a scene depends on the complexity of that scene.

38:30The shortest time was 2 to 3 weeks. Most of the time though it takes about one or two months.

38:36The longest scene we rendered took about half a year. [JOE]: Visual works would

38:40become more and more important to the company as they began to approach the PlayStation 2.

38:45A notable name here would be Takeshi Nozue, animation supervisor for FINAL FANTASY X.

38:51Nozue had previously handled CG design for FINAL FANTASY IX. [YOSHINORI KITASE]:

38:58For FINAL FANTASY VII and VIII, the setting was sci-fi,

39:02and many players responded by saying that they preferred a simple fantasy world.

39:08They seem to have a fixed notion of what fantasy means to them.

39:13And to them, it consisted of a medieval European world. I wanted to change that idea.

39:19I wanted to expand the definition of what the players thought the word fantasy implied.

39:27Going back to a medieval European fantasy didn't seem to help us advance. So while I was

39:33considering different world environments, Nojima proposed the idea of trying to create a fantasy

39:38world that incorporated Asian elements. [JOE]: The concept throughout development of this title

39:43was to further challenge what fantasy could look like. Before they had done it with machinery,

39:49then they did it again by focusing on a group of students. FINAL FANTASY IX returned a typical high

39:55fantasy. The team behind FINAL FANTASY X had three concepts of approach originating from Kitase.

40:02First, they would abandon Western imagery and embrace Southeastern Asian cultures and

40:07architecture to further differentiate the game setting than was done between VII and VIII.

40:13Okinawa, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Japan would all serve as major influences for the world of Spira.

40:21Many of these locations are surrounded by water. Another concept Kitase wanted

40:26to focus on for FINAL FANTASY X. The third concept covered was the idea of using the

40:31game setting to contrast between tradition and technology. A self-referential choice to be sure,

40:38and maybe even one representing Japan among the game's Asian influences.

40:43FINAL FANTASY X saw a great leap in graphical power being on PlayStation 2,

40:48and so several character designs would be created to push the limits of what had been done before.

40:54Each character required three different character models: A low poly model, a high poly model,

41:00and one for CG cutscenes. The low poly was used throughout most of the game's exploration,

41:06and partially in some dialogue scenes. The high poly featured facial rigging, being used

41:12in close-up shots and cutscenes, and even in battle. The CG models, of course, were used by

41:19Visual Works to create the game's pre-rendered cutscenes. Each of the required models were

41:24handled by different people, so Nomura would have to work with each of them throughout development

41:29in order to ensure the models were accurate to their artwork and each other. Nomura would still

41:35contribute ideas to FINAL FANTASY X, but they were mainly focused on characters now. A few times,

41:41characters he designed would have their premises changed and not require a redesign. As such,

41:47several characters bear artifacts of different development stages in their appearance. [TIDUS]:

41:55Blitzball. [WAKKA]: Hey, you okay? [TIDUS]:

42:01Hey! [JOE]:

42:21Tidus was there from the start. His basic design is generally close to his appearance in concept

42:26art from Seven Teen. He most likely retains his age from this prototype and the overalls from the

42:32time when he was planned to be a plumber. The plumber choice was made as a means to

42:37“get him in the water” per Nojima. Yoshinori Kitase wanted a fictional sport in the game

42:42after seeing Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and football was chosen as the basis for

42:47this game based on the then upcoming Japan South Korea World Cup. This would become Blitzball,

42:54and soon Tidus' occupation rather than plumbing. [TIDUS]: Yo, hiya. [WAKKA]: you want to

43:03try that move one more time? [JOE]: Kitase justified this by explaining: “up to that point,

43:11there hadn't been sport components in the FINAL FANTASY series, so I thought this would be a new

43:16challenge.” To contrast with the brooding and dark characters that had been done by this team before,

43:21Nojima wanted to have a cheery, bright hero as the main character of FINAL FANTASY X.

43:27Unlike Cloud and Squall, Tidus was named by Nojima instead of Nomura. His name is based on “Tiida”,

43:33the Okinawan word for “Sun”, which was intended to reflect his personality. Tidus' final look is a

43:40standout example when considering Nomura's use of asymmetry in his career. Tidus is often a divisive

43:46subject when discussing Nomura's work, mostly due to the jumble of concepts that take place

43:50in his design. If we were to break his outfit up in quadrants, no one section matches another.

43:57On his right hand, a simple glove in his short sleeve. On his right leg, a long pant leg that

44:03ends just below his knee, decorated with the emblem of his Blitzball team, the Zanarkand Abes.

44:08On his left arm, a detailed gauntlet spanning the length of his arm with different materials,

44:13patterns, and colors. on his left leg. His pant leg is unzipped, ending just before the knee,

44:20and he has a pocket chain between the layers of his overalls. It's a lot to look at, but

44:25it also isn't completely overwhelming. As FINAL FANTASY X was developed alongside The Bouncer,

44:31we can see several similarities between Tidus and Sion's designs. Sion and Tidus

44:37are both drawn by Nomura to have a sort of rectangular imposing stance in their artworks.

44:43Both wear short sleeve jackets with no undershirt, work boots, and use the simple color palette of

44:49red, blue, yellow, black, and white in their designs. Instead of a chain, as is the case

44:55with Sion's glove, Tidus' weapon has a cloth dangle, resembling the sword tassels featured on

45:01some swords used in Chinese martial arts. This ties into the Asian flavor of FINAL FANTASY X

45:07that the team worked towards in development. It's much smaller, but Tidus, like Sion,

45:13and Squall for that matter, wears a pendant and earring depicting the icon used to represent him,

45:18the Zanarkand Abes logo. [WAKKA]: You no amateur. Who you play for? [TIDUS]: the

45:24Zanarkand Abes. [WAKKA]:

45:30What team you say again? [JOE]: On this, Nomura said, “I thought about different things related

45:36to the ocean, like fishing hooks, fishbones, whale fins, and based my designs around them.”

45:43His pendant resembles both a T and a J, and resembles the shape of a fish

45:48hook to pay homage to his name, his father's name, and the nautical setting of the game.

45:54The duality between Tidus and his father, Jecht, is more of a statement to Tidus'

45:59growth and independence from his father, and even the forced independence by his father,

46:05considering the verbal abuses he endured as a boy. [JECHT]: You can't do it, kid.

46:11But don't worry, my boy. You're not the only one. No one else can do it. I'm the best. [JOE]:

46:21Among Tidus' many drafts was one scenario where he would be revealed to be an Unsent, meaning

46:27he was dead the whole time. However, after Nojima went to see the movie The Sixth Sense in theaters

46:34and its similar plot twist occurring to the film's protagonist, [COLE]: I see dead people. [JOE]:

46:41This was relinquished to Auron's character so that the concept could still be used without looking

46:47like a blatant ripoff. [AURON]:

46:54This is your world now. [JOE]: Auron's age was constantly changing in development,

46:59leaving Nomura confused about his age. This would lead to him looking quite a bit older than 35 in

47:05the final game. In the beta build story, he was the leader of a group called the Crimson Blades.

47:11The group was reworked into Spira's Crusaders. This previous tie is likely why his haori is red.

47:18We can also see some tiny dots on his boot armor. Nomura modeled Auron after Toshiro Mifune, a

47:24famous Japanese actor starring in classic samurai films such as Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro.

47:31Nomura bought a doll of Mifune and positioned it until he got a pose he liked and used this

47:37as the basis for Auron and his tucked arm. This also likely influenced his aged appearance.

47:44Nojima later acknowledged this confusion, reasoning that it was probably tough for Nomura

47:48since he typically decided the age for the characters he designed. [YUNA]: My father,

47:55I loved him. So I I will live with my sorrow. I will live my own life. I will defeat sorrow

48:03in his place. I will stand my ground and be strong. I don't know when it will be, but someday

48:10I will conquer it. and I will do it without false hope. [JOE]: Yuna's name is pulled from

48:18the Okinawan word “Yuua”, meaning “Sea Hibiscus”. It is also possible that her name is derived from

48:24the Okinawan word “Yunaa” meaning “Midnight”. Her Asian appearance was pitched by Nomura

48:31and when he sat down to design her, he decided to take the opposite approach he had to Rinoa

48:35Heartilly from FINAL FANTASY VIII. He compares the two by stating he designed Rinoa with uniqueness

48:42and Yuna with simplicity. Though it didn't come to fruition, Nomura had considered having Yuna

48:47be an idol or a pop star. As the game's narrative grew more serious, this was removed and she was

48:53given the role of a summoner. Once this creative decision was finalized, Nomura designed her outfit

48:59to fulfill the look of Japanese tradition and provide a flowy outfit to dance with.

49:05He also made sure to include boots for her pilgrimage and a tassel dangling off the

49:10end of her staff in line with Tidus' weapon. [YUNA]: Next, try laughing out loud. What?

49:17Come on, show me. [screaming]

49:29Probably shouldn't laugh anymore. [laughter]

49:33[screaming] [laughter] [sighs and gasps]

49:42[crying and screaming] [JOE]:

49:48She also has heterochromia, meaning her eyes are two different colors. One of her eyes is green

49:54and the other is blue. This design choice could be used to communicate her role as a summoner,

50:00which in the lore of FINAL FANTASY X has her send the souls of the dead to the far plane so they can

50:07rest in peace. It also foreshadows her lineage and relation to Rikku and the Al Bhed people later on

50:13in the story, as Al Bhed typically have green eyes. Though Yuna's green eye does not have a

50:18spiral-shaped pupil, which Al Bhed people do have. Her pendant depicts a hibiscus flower,

50:25an homage to her name and similar to Tidus' symbolic accessories. [LULU]:

50:31Excuses again? [JOE]: Nomura wanted to explore a new look for black mages after FINAL FANTASY

50:37IX's Vivi returned to the traditional look. The result of this exploration is Lulu.

50:43He spent time mapping out exactly how each belt should be buckled on her skirt and included that

50:49many belts as a test for the PS2's processing power. Because he kept her belt order mapped,

50:55he could ensure all three of her models were accurate and asked additional staff to keep an

50:59eye on it. Because of this, she is a great example of Nomura's design philosophy in the early days

51:05of the PS2. With every belt, chain, dangle, or different material used in a character's design

51:12is a new chance to test the dev team and the metal of the PlayStation 2's power. Lulu's

51:18weapons are plush animals, a first for Nomura to design with, and most of these plushes depict a

51:23monster previously created by Nomura, with the exception of her celestial weapon or best in slot

51:28weapon for the game, which depicts FINAL FANTASY III’s Onion Knight. In her arsenal are a Mooglel,

51:35Cait Sith as he appears in FINAL FANTASY VII, a Cactuar, and a Moomba in Pupu, both from

51:41FINAL FANTASY VIII. [WAKKA]: Sin’s toxin got to you, but you're still alive. Praise be to Yevon.

51:54All right, back to practice. [JOE]: Wakka's design bears some similarities to Tidus'.

51:59Waka is also a Blitzball player, so his outfit is similar to Tidus', but his design doubles as a

52:05worldbuilding piece to show how different Tidus is in the world of Spira. Wakka's design also makes

52:10use of a lot of X's, one of Nomura's favorite shapes to play with. It had first debuted with

52:15Squall's crisscrossed belts in FINAL FANTASY VIII before being shifted to the Dog Street cross used

52:21in The Bouncer. On Wakka's vest, we can see that arrows are used at each tip on the X shape to make

52:29a silhouette similar to the Dog Street cross. His name is the word for “water” in the Ainu language,

52:35an indigenous language spoken in Hokkaido, Japan. Wakka's personality was likened by Nomura

52:40to Kirenger from Himitsu Sentai Gorenger, the show that would kick off both the Super Sentai

52:47and Power Ranger franchises. That's all he's gone on record to say regarding Wakka.

53:11In regards to Kimahri, he notes that he sketched the character initially with the broken horn

53:16and handed it to Nojima to see what he would do with it next. Would it surprise you if I mentioned

53:21that Kimahri looks like a lion? I think his design may just be as simple as that. In my research,

53:27I've seen comparisons to Kimahri and his people, the Ronso tribe, to the Rakshasas of Hindu and

53:33Buddhist mythology. A Rakshasa is a powerful supernatural being from Hindu and Buddhist

53:39mythology. Often depicted as a shape-shifting demon or spirit associated with illusion,

53:44violence, and magical power. They are typically depicted as anthropomorphic tigers in Dungeons

53:50and Dragons. So, this comparison isn't too unlikely, but just the same as it isn't unlikely

53:56Nomura wouldn't turn in an anthropomorphic lion creature design just because.

54:02[RIKKU]: Oh, that really hurt. You know, you big meanie. [JOE]: Rikku's design seems to take heavy

54:14notes from Yuffie's from FINAL FANTASY VII, which makes sense considering the two are both teenage

54:20thieves, where Yuffie's design has more of a ninja spin. Rikku's design makes use of the Machina

54:26elements characteristic of the Al Bhed people, including goggles and the claws she fights with.

54:32Despite the frequent dissonance between Nomura's designs and the final ages of the characters, as

54:37was the case with Auron’s design, it seems great care was taken to make Rikku's age of 15 years

54:43apparent. This can be seen with the way Nomura draws her teeth in her portrait artwork, and

54:48most notably her untidy belt. To briefly return to comparison with Yuffie, Yuffie didn't wear a belt.

54:55Her pants were just undone. This could be seen as an attempt to depict her as messy and young, but

55:01I believe the belt is both a graphical and more appropriate step forward in this design choice.

55:07Riku's diving suit was fashioned to fit in with the rest of the Albed designs, which were created

55:12by Fumi Nakashima after bondage fashion in order to set them apart from the other tribes in Spir.

55:19Regarding this, Nakashima recalls, "I remember how I had all these bondage books and magazines

55:25on my desk, and the other developers were giving me weird looks. It's a cherished

55:29memory." [JECHT]:

55:33Hey. [JOE]: Tidus' father, Jecht, is Nomura's favorite character in FINAL FANTASY X. He was

55:40drawn in a burst of inspiration. And Nomura still looks back at this design and says, "daaamn!."

55:47The large Zanarkand Abes logo tattoo on his chest is leftover from the scrapped tattoo system.

55:53In this, players would be given a 100x100 grid to allot tattoos of varying shapes onto the given

56:00character's back, which would grant abilities, spells, and other buffs. Jecht is one of the many

56:07characters in the game whose final look bears artifacts of this concept. This includes Jecht,

56:13Seymour, Brother, and many others. Jecht specifically was designed before being written,

56:19so his design doesn't hold many clues about his personality. Jecht is asymmetrical in a

56:24way similar to Tidus, wearing a long arm guard on his left arm and having his hair spiked slightly

56:30right. His shorts are actually overalls that have been folded down, and the cloth on his

56:36right leg mirrors Tidus' uneven pant legs. On the cloth itself are neotribal designs,

56:42and down his left leg are X-shaped stitches and an X-shaped scar on his foot. His sword is

56:49modeled in the silhouette of an African sword. This weapon, also known as an ikakalaka, is a

56:55sword used by the Mongo people in the area that would become the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

57:01The word “Konda” means “hunter” in Nkundo, the native tongue of the Mongo people.

57:07This blade was used for hunting, sometimes combat, and some ikakalakas were forged specifically for

57:14ceremonies or status. Jecht's ikakalaka is fashioned in the shape of an anchor,

57:20just as his Zanarkand Abes logo is made to look like a fish hook. On the blade

57:24are three tiny dots at the tip and red neotribal inscriptions that resemble serpents or dolphins,

57:31likely a reference to Sin, the form Jecht assumes for a majority of the game's narrative. These

57:36inscriptions change as he transforms. Finally, there is a chain dangling with no pendant from one

57:43of the loops at the sword's guard. [YUNALESCA]: Poor creature. You would throw away hope. Well,

57:51I will free you before you can drown in your sorrow. [JOE]: He had been beating the bush a

57:56little bit, but Nomura most likely used the design for FINAL FANTASY III's Cloud of Darkness that he

58:01had discovered and grown fond of back at the beginning of his time working for Square.

58:06Yunalesca bears a striking resemblance to this unused design drawn by Yoshitaka Amano 10 years

58:12prior to this. Characters like Ultimecia and Mitochondria Eve seemed to quote the original

58:18design for Cloud of Darkness. But Yunalesca is nearly a 1:1 remake of the character in terms of

58:25design. Though this comparison is not why Nomura brought up his desire to use this design someday.

58:32We'll discuss the real reason he brought this up later. Nomura's design work for FINAL FANTASY X

58:38was more restricted than his work on VIII and The Bouncer, as he had to make these characters

58:43fit into the world of Spira. His art style was pushed to the most realistic it had been

58:48up to that point, resembling the sketches he had done for Front Mission years prior. Adapting his

58:54art style would be a new challenge for Nomura, as we'll discuss later. FINAL FANTASY X was released

59:00in Japan on July 19th, 2001. It was released in North America on December 18th of that year, and

59:07the rest of the world received the title in May 2002. It is the seventh best-selling PlayStation

59:132 title and scored rave reviews, which had become synonymous with the series mainline installments.

59:20In this era of FINAL FANTASY, each game would add small features or boss fights throughout

59:25their international releases. Japan would often get a version of the game that had less than

59:30other countries did. So once a FINAL FANTASY had made its way around the globe, a second version

59:36of the entry dubbed international would release in Japan, giving Japanese players the full experience

59:42for that title in their native language. FINAL FANTASY X International featured even more bonus

59:47content. However, in the Japanese International, European, and Australian releases of the game,

59:54a bonus DVD titled Beyond FINAL FANTASY was included. This DVD contained even more special

1:00:01features and bonus content. Namely, the interviews shown in this video, a 20-minute epilogue for the

1:00:07game titled Eternal Calm, and an announcement trailer for Square's next big game.

1:00:17Concurrently with FINAL FANTASY X, Nomura had now built a development team and assumed the

1:00:22role of director with Shinji Hashimoto as the producer of his collaboration game with Disney,

1:00:27which was now to be titled Kingdom of Hearts. Screenshots of a beta build of the game show Sora

1:00:33in color for the first time and show him exploring the stained glass platform, beach, and town

1:00:38from Nomura's early sketches. Also in place were artworks of the Disney princesses asleep and bound

1:00:45to a castle wall with large keyholes underneath. In the art, Goofy can be seen monologuing, saying,

1:00:51"The key to make your heart open is always found in your heart." Despite the screenshots,

1:00:57Sora's design had been revised one last time to what would become his final appearance. Two more

1:01:02original characters, Riku and Kairi, were created, and designs for Donald Duck, Goofy, Minnie Mouse,

1:01:09Daisy Duck, Chip, and Dale were sketched out. It seems that certain generic locations such as

1:01:15the town and beach Nomura had drafted in 2000 were kept and adapted as original locations to

1:01:21the game. But a majority of the game's locations were to be directly based on classic Disney films

1:01:26with Tarzan, Aladdin, Hercules, Peter Pan, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Little Mermaid,

1:01:33and possibly Pinocchio, and Toy Story 2 in the game's official design document for developers.

1:01:39The classic FINAL FANTASY summon mechanic would be adapted for Kingdom of Hearts as well,

1:01:44shown by a manga-like storyboard depicting Sora summoning Dumbo in the document. There were also

1:01:51plans for a world called Disney Castle, where the classic Disney characters such as Donald and

1:01:55Goofy would hail from, and Hollow Bastion, where the Disney princesses were shown to be captured.

1:02:02Just a few months prior to the launch of FINAL FANTASY X in May of 2001, Kingdom

1:02:07of Hearts was announced by Square and Disney Interactive, retitled simply to Kingdom Hearts.

1:02:13The announcement came with a trailer different from the one included in the Beyond FINAL

1:02:17FANTASY DVD. The trailer included core story moments not too far off from the final product

1:02:23and gave a look at combat and exploration in worlds based on Hercules, Aladdin,

1:02:28Tarzan, Peter Pan, the Disney Castle, and two original worlds, a beach and a town.

1:02:42In July 2001, FINAL FANTASY: The Spirits Within hit theaters. The scope for the project was huge

1:02:49and cost a lot of money. $137 million to be exact. It only made about 62% of its budget back,

1:02:57which was a significant loss for the company. It is an infamous event in the company's history.

1:03:02On the business side of Square, a lot was shaken up. Of course, the money was an issue,

1:03:07not to mention projects like Parasite Eve II or Silent Chaos that had been strained or

1:03:12outright cancelled because of the movie's ballooning budget. But as early as 2000,

1:03:17Square had entered talks with Enix considering a merger between the companies. The decision would

1:03:22have been beneficial for both parties. But with The Spirits Within’s abysmal failure,

1:03:27Enix began to have second thoughts. In order to pivot after their box office bomb,

1:03:32Hisashi Suzuki, chairman and CEO of Squaresoft since 1995, made a request to Sony for a capital

1:03:38injection in order to make up for the losses. So Sony purchased an 18.6% stake in Squaresoft,

1:03:45reintroducing about $124 million to Square. As Suzuki was busy saving the company,

1:03:50Hironobu Sakaguchi stepped down from his executive roles. After negotiating Sony's capital injection,

1:03:56Suzuki stepped down from his role as CEO, being replaced by Yoichi Wada. In his own life,

1:04:01Wada had set a goal for himself to become the president of a company by 40 years old,

1:04:05which he had roughly completed when stepping up as a CEO at 42 years old.

1:04:11Another side task Tetsuya Nomura took on was the design of faces for Hume and Elvan characters

1:04:17in FINAL FANTASY XI. Hironobu Sakaguchi requested he prepare some illustrations for the announcement

1:04:22of the game. And so he created artwork for the game, despite knowing next to nothing about it.

1:04:27Recycling his chainsaw sword concept that Disney had vetoed for Sora. We can see the

1:04:31Knight's Shield has Sora's crown emblem, Squall's Griever emblem, Tidus' Zanarkand Abes emblem, and

1:04:37a heart emblem on its design. He also went on to design two characters for the game: Cid and Lion.

1:04:44The two of them, especially Lion, are quite reminiscent of the Al-Bhed designs and fetishwear

1:04:49adjacent work in FINAL FANTASY X and The Bouncer. In an interview regarding FINAL FANTASY X,

1:04:55Nomura was asked what the FINAL FANTASY series meant to him. To which he replied, “It's my 20s.

1:05:01I've been working on it since I was 21. I gave my 20s to FINAL FANTASY is how it feels.

1:05:06I've been working on it in one capacity or another for 10 long years now.”

1:05:10In 2000, Nomura had turned 30 years old. Working at Square for just about 10 years, Tetsu had spent

1:05:17all of his 20s working mostly on the FINAL FANTASY series, getting his big break at 27 with FINAL

1:05:22FANTASY VII. Now going into his 30s, his hard work would open the door to light, offering him his own

1:05:28project to truly show his stuff. [SORA]:

1:05:37I've been having these weird thoughts lately.

1:05:46Like, is any of this for real or not? [JOE]: By now, Kingdom Hearts was well underway.

1:05:55Nomura had assembled his own development team consisting mostly of those he had worked with on

1:06:00FINAL FANTASY VII, VIII, and X with a few others from different projects he had worked on thus far.

1:06:06Yoshinori Kitase is credited as a co-producer to Shinji Hashimoto, and several other creatives

1:06:11in the company, such as Jun Akiyama, Kazushige Nojima, Daisuke Watanabe, Fumi Nakashima, Tatsuya

1:06:19Kando, Tommohiro Hasegawa, Takayuki Ohdachi, Takeshi Arakawa, Takeshi Endo, Takeshi Nozue,

1:06:29Tetsu Tsukamoto, Masaru Oka, and Yoko Shimomura worked on the game, just to name a baker's dozen.

1:06:36The title even had some newcomers to the company that would become relevant in Nomura's future,

1:06:41such as Ichiro Hazama. When setting forth to work his first director role,

1:06:46Nomura drew inspiration from his time working with Sakaguchi, Kitase Takahashi, and Hiroyuki Ito.

1:06:54He was biting off a lot to chew: his team was inexperienced in developing action RPGs,

1:06:59he was a first-time director, and he was handling Disney IP. But his team was a good

1:07:05one that he handpicked, and with the right amount of determination and reassurance,

1:07:09would be able to put it together, no doubt. Nomura derived the game's title from the Disney parks,

1:07:15pulling “Kingdom” from Disney's newly opened Animal Kingdom theme park in Orlando, Florida,

1:07:20and “Heart” from the game's core theme of connections between people.

1:07:25Regarding the game's music, Yoko Shimomura made a concerted effort to make as much original music

1:07:30as possible. [YOKO SHIMOMURA]:

1:07:34I tried not to use any music that already exists. My concern was to compose music

1:07:38that flows nicely and matches the mood. I did use some original Disney music, but tried to

1:07:43blend it well so that listeners would not feel awkward when my original music is mixed in.

1:07:47Anyway, my main concern is the flow of the music. [JOE]: She was added to the Kingdom Hearts team

1:07:52per suggestion from a sound department coordinator at the time. For the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack,

1:07:58Shimomura only rearranged six* tracks that she had not originally composed. Four* of which belonged

1:08:04to the Disney music catalog. These Four* are “This is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas,

1:08:10“Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid, and “Winnie the Pooh” from The Many Adventures of

1:08:14Winnie the Pooh (and “Mickey Mouse Club March”). The other two tracks not originally composed

1:08:18by Shimomura are Modest Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain”, as it is used in 1940’s Fantasia

1:08:24and Nobuo Uematsu's “One-Winged Angel”. These tracks were both added to the game beginning with

1:08:29its North American release, with Mussorgsky’s legendary composition being rearranged to fit

1:08:35Sora, Donald, and Goofy's fight against Chernabog from Disney's Fantasia and Uematsu's legendary

1:08:41composition reserved for the conflict against its one and only One-Winged Angel.

1:08:46Shimomura's original compositions for Kingdom Hearts are nothing short of spectacular.

1:08:51The final soundtrack has 76 tracks. Something Shimomura was surprised at herself for as she

1:08:57would typically compose 50 to 60 for a project at the time. [YOKO SHIMOMURA]: There are 76 tracks,

1:09:01which is more than usual. I usually use 50 to 60 tracks. [JOE]: For the game's theme song,

1:09:06Nomura reached out to Hikaru Utada, pitching them the idea of writing a song for the game, and Utada

1:09:12agreed, penning a theme song for the game in both Japanese and English. The Japanese version of the

1:09:17song titled “光”, meaning “light” in Japanese, was arranged for orchestra by Shimomura and made use

1:09:24of a 100-piece orchestra to record it, a rarity and a feat at the time. [YOKO SHIMOMURA]: We used

1:09:30a full 100-piece orchestra to record the theme song. I think a lot more people participated

1:09:35in this music process compared to our usual work. [JOE]: Like most facets of the game,

1:09:39Shimomura's soundtrack perfectly mixes Disney and Squaresoft RPGs. An excellent example can

1:09:45be found in the worlds based on “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “The Little Mermaid”.

1:09:49While the field themes in these worlds are pulled from the Disney library, the battle themes in both

1:09:54of these worlds are composed by Yoko Shimomura and match up naturally with those rearranged ones.

1:09:59I won't include them here to avoid being copyright struck, but the tracks in question are “Under the

1:10:04Sea” and “An Adventure in Atlantica” and “This is Halloween” and “Spooks of Halloween Town”.

1:10:12Nomura admits that were he left to his own devices, there might have been well over 20

1:10:16worlds for Sora, Donald, and Goofy to explore. In order to whittle this down to a workable amount,

1:10:22the team chose each movie carefully to provide as many different scenic locations as possible.

1:10:28Disney movies were categorized based on their aesthetics. For example, “lots of greens” or

1:10:33“underwater”. From there, the method to selecting which world would make it to the final game

1:10:39was to enter each category and compare each movie in that category based on popularity, characters,

1:10:46and if the movie's plot could bring something to the game's overarching plot. In this process,

1:10:51The Jungle Book lost out to Tarzan, and likely Atlantis to The Little Mermaid,

1:10:56as both of their settings are largely concerned with underwater cities. While the latter might be

1:11:01pure speculation, we do know that Atlantis did not make the cut for these stated reasons from Nomura:

1:11:07“It would have been a great opportunity to actually promote Atlantis itself,

1:11:11but the movie has a lot of vehicles and we just have the Gummi Ship. So, it wasn't really a good

1:11:16fit in this game because it would only be to place those vehicles or robots and fight with them.

1:11:21There was no good connection to the other worlds and the story just didn't fit that well.”

1:11:27The conceptual world based on Toy Story would also be cut, as Disney did not approve its inclusion.

1:11:33A world based on the Lion King was considered, since Simba is unsurprisingly Nomura's favorite

1:11:38Disney character. Ultimately, the level was cut since making Sora, Donald, and Goofy zoomorphic

1:11:45would require more time and processing that they didn't have, and likely due to setting overlap

1:11:50with the world based on Tarzan. Simba would still appear in the final game, however, assisting Sora

1:11:55and friends by way of the game's summon mechanic. In abroad meetings for the international releases

1:12:00of Kingdom Hearts, Nomura saw promotional ads and posters for the upcoming Tron 2.0 and decided that

1:12:07if there was to be a Kingdom Hearts 2.0, that the 1982 cult classic film would be in the running for

1:12:14representation. Monstro, the whale from Pinocchio, was planned to not only be an explorable world,

1:12:21but a boss battle at one point. This idea was cut in development, too. Neverland, the area based on

1:12:28Peter Pan, was and still is criticized for being named Neverland and only featuring Captain Hook's

1:12:35pirate ship and the London skyline. This was a move made on purpose, however, as the actual

1:12:40island of Neverland might have been redundant aesthetically when compared to Destiny Islands,

1:12:45and the city of London might have been redundant when compared to Traverse Town. Ultimately,

1:12:50the ship and Big Ben were the only remaining iconic locations from the original film that

1:12:55were aesthetically unique. Finally, though it had been included in the initial announcement trailer,

1:13:00Disney Castle would only appear in cutscenes for the final game and would not be explorable.

1:13:05Despite this, it still appears in the game's world map. The final list of locations

1:13:10available to explore in Kingdom Hearts includes 13 worlds. Four of these are original to the game:

1:13:17Sora's home world of Destiny Islands, serving the game as a tutorial zone and the known portion

1:13:23of his hero's journey. Traverse Town, a world created to house those who have lost their own,

1:13:29also serving as the game's hub world. Hollow Bastion, the stronghold of the game's antagonists

1:13:35and plot twists, and End of the World, the game's final gauntlet before its final boss.

1:13:41The remaining nine worlds in order of appearance are Wonderland from 1951's Alice in Wonderland,

1:13:48Olympus Coliseum from 1997's Hercules, Deep Jungle from 1999's Tarzan, Agrabah from 1992's Aladdin,

1:14:01Halloween Town from 1993's The Nightmare Before Christmas, Atlantica from 1989's

1:14:07The Little Mermaid, Monstro from 1940’s Pinocchio, 100 Acre Wood from Winnie the Pooh, and Neverland,

1:14:19or rather Captain Hook's Pirate Ship and the London Skyline, from 1953's Peter Pan.

1:14:25At first, the story was much simpler with a focus on gameplay in order to cater to a

1:14:30typical Disney video game fan base. But Hironobu Sakaguchi pulled Nomura aside, insisting that

1:14:36if Kingdom Hearts did not have a story with the same emotion and complexity as a FINAL FANTASY,

1:14:41the project would fail. This likely led to Nomura seeking out the talents of Daisuke Watanabe,

1:14:47Kazushige Nojima, and Jun Akiyama. Considering their work on the FINAL FANTASY games thus far,

1:14:53Nomura recruited Nojima and Watanabe by convincing them that they owed him one after he contributed

1:14:58characters for FINAL FANTASY X, which they were deep in the trenches for at the time. Inspired

1:15:04after watching Disney's Tarzan, Jun Akiyama asked Nomura if he could be involved in the project,

1:15:10just as Nomura had when he abruptly asked Hashimoto and Sakaguchi years prior. Once on the

1:15:15team, he would handle a lot of minor but important story writing, namely the Deep Jungle sequence,

1:15:21making sure to insert Disney-esque slapstick humor, and renaming Squall to Leon for mystique.

1:15:28Kazushige Nojima's contributions would span the entire third act of the game from Hollow Bastion

1:15:32onwards. To keep things in line and consider the world order, Nomura also enlisted the help

1:15:39of Keiko Nobumoto, screenwriter for the smash hit anime Cowboy Bebop, to act as scenario supervisor.

1:15:46Her job was to ensure that the scenarios that Watanabe, Akiyama, Nojima, and Nomura were brewing

1:15:52were consistent with one another across worlds and that the game was written like a series overall.

1:15:58Tatsuya Kando, who had specialized as an animator on FINAL FANTASY VII, Parasite Eve, and FINAL

1:16:04FANTASY IX, would see his first promotion here, serving as the animation director for Kingdom

1:16:09Hearts. Tomohiro Hasegawa and Takeshi Arakawa both worked as texture designers for this game as well.

1:16:16The two had started their work with Square on FINAL FANTASY VIII and were, like Kando,

1:16:21beginning to find their place in the company with this new title. Tetsu Tsukamoto and

1:16:26Takayuki Ohdachi, despite their credited roles as texture designer and art director, respectively,

1:16:32had a direct hand in designing many of Sora's different Keyblades in the game,

1:16:36as well as the different staves and shields for Donald and Goofy.

1:16:46The voice acting cast for Kingdom Hearts was stacked all around. Several of the original voice

1:16:51actors for Disney's characters reprised their roles in both Japanese and English. [ALICE]: I've

1:16:56done absolutely nothing wrong. You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to

1:17:02be so so mean. [WENDY]: Please hurry. The pirates are coming. [KING TRITON]: Young man, you are not

1:17:09from another ocean. You're from another world, aren't you? [ARIEL]: Ursula, no. I didn't want

1:17:16this. [URSULA]: Why not? Aren't you tired of following your dear daddy's orders? [JAFAR]:

1:17:24The Heartless are searching for it now. I'm certain we'll find it soon enough. [IAGO]:

1:17:32Jafar, I've looked everywhere for Jasmine. She's disappeared like magic. [JASMINE]: Who's there?

1:17:40Hello? [ALADDIN]: Just paid a visit to the cave of wonders. I found that magic carpet.

1:17:48And this lamp. [TARZAN]: Tarzan. Tarzan. Go. [PROFESSOR CLAYTON]: A circus of clowns.

1:17:56Not much use for hunting gorillas. [HADES]: It's all yours. Good luck, kid. I'm pulling for you,

1:18:03little shorty. [BEAST]: And though I am on my own, I will fight. I won't leave without her.

1:18:12That's why I'm here. [POOH]: Oh, hello, Sora. Have you come to say goodbye to Pooh, too? [TIGGER]:

1:18:22Hey there. Name's Tigger. T-I-double-guh-err! That spells “Tigger”. Well, now I don't think I've ever

1:18:30seen you before. [PIGLET]: Oh dear. I was just just Never mind. I'm sorry. [OOGIE BOOGIE]:

1:18:39You want it? Well, then come on over and get it. [JACK SKELLINGTON]: Sally, why didn't I listen to

1:18:46you? [JOE]: This game also gave Squall, Selphie, and the featured FINAL FANTASY VII characters

1:18:52their first fully voiced speaking lines. Squall's voice actor in this game is David Boreanaz, known

1:18:58for playing Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. [SQUALL]: They'll come at you out of nowhere,

1:19:04and they'll keep on coming at you as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade.

1:19:10But why? Why would it choose a kid like you? Never mind. Now, let's see that Keyblade. All right,

1:19:18then have it your way. [JOE]:

1:19:23Cloud would be voiced by Steve Burton. [CLOUD]: I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help.

1:19:32I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired.

1:19:38I fell into darkness and I couldn't find the light. For your light?

1:19:51Don't lose sight of it.

1:19:56I think I'll pass. [JOE]:

1:19:59A casting that would stick for some time. And Yuffie's voice actor, Christy Carlson Romano,

1:20:05would also reprise the character in another project. [YUFFIE]: Yeah, we had to get it

1:20:10away from you to shake off those creatures. It turns out that's how they were tracking you.

1:20:15The Keyblade chooses its master, and it chose you. [JOE]: Tidus and Wakka's voice

1:20:21lines recorded for Kingdom Hearts have lasted the entire series thus far, and Shaun Fleming

1:20:26and Dee Bradley Baker respectively, have been credited for each reuse of these archived lines.

1:20:32In Japanese, Hideo Ishikawa voices Squall. Ishikawa had just voiced Auron in FINAL FANTASY

1:20:39X. [SQUALL]: やつらはどこにでも現われる。逃げ回ってもすぐに追いつかれる｡ おまえがキーブレードを持っている限りな。 しかし子供とはな、悪かったな、キーブレード

1:20:55見せてくれないか? そうか 仕方がないようだな。 [JOE]:

1:21:00Cloud was voiced by Takahiro Sakurai, who had previously

1:21:04voiced Sion in The Bouncer. [CLOUD]: 人を探している その手がかりと引き換えにな。闇の力を利用するつもりで 取引したが逆に―― 嵐にとらわれ

1:21:23光を見失った。おまえの光を? 見失うなよ｡ 興味ないね [JOE]:

1:21:33Yumi Kakazu, who had voiced Yuffie in Ehrgeiz, reprised

1:21:37her role for Yuffie in Kingdom Hearts. [YUFFIE]: そう ちょっと手荒だったけど あいつらをまくには―――

1:21:44君がキーブレードを手放すかー キーブレードが持ち主を選ぶんだってさ あきらめなさい! [JOE]:

1:21:51Masakazu Morita reprised his role as Tidus despite the age gap, as well as Kazuya Nakai,

1:21:57Wakka's voice actor. Mayuko Aoki stepped in to offer her voice to Selphie. Sephiroth's Japanese

1:22:03voice actor, Toshiyuki Morikawa, also debuted the character here in Kingdom Hearts. Like in FINAL

1:22:10FANTASY X, a majority of the Japanese voice actors for the FINAL FANTASY characters would go on to

1:22:15voice their respective characters and possibly others in the series in their career's future.

1:22:21For the game's original characters, Miyu Irino recorded Sora's Japanese voice,

1:22:26also known for his role as Haku in Spirited Away. [SORA]: 俺の武器はキーブレードじゃない ほんとうの武器は心なんだ。 ああ

1:22:36もろいかもな でも俺の心はみんなとつながってる 大切な人と大切なともだちと! 誰かが俺のことを思っていてくれたら たったひとりでも、 忘れずにいてくれたら

1:22:51俺の心は消えない。 つながる心が俺の力だ! [JOE]:

1:22:56and Haley Joel Osman did Sora's English voice, known for and chosen because of

1:23:01his performance in The Sixth Sense. [SORA]: I know now I don't need the

1:23:04Keyblade. I've got a better weapon. My heart. Although my heart may be weak. It's not alone.

1:23:12It's grown with each new experience, and it's found a home with all the friends I've made.

1:23:17I've become part of their heart just as they become a part of mine,

1:23:21and if they think of me now and then, if they don't forget me, then our hearts will be one.

1:23:27I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power! [JOE]: After casting the Japanese cast,

1:23:32all English voice actors for the original and FINAL FANTASY characters

1:23:36were chosen based on how closely they sounded to the Japanese voice actor,

1:23:40with the exception of Sora's voices. The remaining original characters' voices are as follows:

1:23:46Riku voiced by Mamoru Miyano in Japanese, his breakout role, and David Gallagher in English,

1:23:52his first role voice acting for video games. [RIKU]: 実はそんなに考えてない ただ—— 俺は俺たちがどうして ここにいるのか知りたい

1:24:02他に世界があるのなら どうして俺たちはここでなくちゃ ダメだったんだろう? 他に世界があるのなら ここは―― そう大きな世界の小さな カケラみたいなものだから―― どうせ カケラだったら

1:24:18ここではない別のカケラでも かまわないわけだよな? そういうことだ じっと座っていても何もわからない 自分で動かないと何も変わらない 同じ景色しか見えないんだ だから動くんだ

1:24:34Well, I haven't really thought about it. It's just I've always wondered why we're here

1:24:41on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?

1:24:49And suppose there are other worlds. Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So,

1:24:58we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right? That's why we need to go out there

1:25:03and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So, let's go.

1:25:10[JOE]: Kairi, voiced by Risa Ucha in Japanese, her debut role, and Hayden Panettiere in English.

1:25:17Her most notable role in voice acting thus far being Dot in 1998's A Bug's Life.

1:25:23[KAIRI]: ねえ このままイカダに乗ってさ ふたりだけで行っちゃおっか？ なんてね かもね 海の向こうに行くの 少し怖かったけど 今はワクワクしてるんだ

1:25:39どこへ行っても何を見ても 私かならずここに帰ってこれる でしょ? ソラは変わらないでね 海の向こう 行けるといいね 楽しみだね

1:25:54Sora, let's take the raft and go. Just the two of us! Just kidding. Maybe.

1:26:03You know, I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready. No matter where I go or what I see,

1:26:13I know I can always come back here. Sora, don't ever change. I just can't wait

1:26:21once we set sail. It'll be great. [JOE]: Finally, Ansem, voiced by Akio

1:26:27Otsuka in Japanese, known for his performance as Solid Snake in 1998's Metal Gear Solid

1:26:33and Colonel Capriccola in Brave Fencer Musashi, as well as about 10 years of experience at the time,

1:26:39and by Billy Zane in English, who also had a storied career before lending his

1:26:44talents to Kingdom Hearts. [ANSEM]: 世界は底に始まりに終わる 心も同じだ

1:26:53心に芽生えた小さな闇が やがて心のすべてをのみこむ それが心のあるべき姿 あらゆる心は嵐に帰るべきなのだよ! そう心の真の姿とは 嵐だ

1:27:14All worlds begin in darkness and also end.

1:27:20The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it. It grows, consumes it. Such is its nature.

1:27:31In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came. You see,

1:27:38darkness is the heart's true essence. [JOE]: These impressive roles are only

1:27:44scratching the surface as Kingdom Hearts was also fully localized, including voice, for French and

1:27:50German speaking audiences. This was a first for Square, and likely mainly due to the resources and

1:27:56talent pool that came with having Disney on board to promote the game and assist production.

1:28:03Though a hefty project, Kingdom Hearts only features four original characters,

1:28:09not including the Heartless, the game's monsters. The rest of the cast are redesigned

1:28:14Disney and FINAL FANTASY characters. The FINAL FANTASY characters in question

1:28:19were all characters Nomura created in his work thus far. Kingdom Hearts is the first instance

1:28:24where Nomura had direct control over a project's designs and plot, which allowed him to insert

1:28:29more thought and care into each character design and redesign. [SORA]: And I'm Sora. Tarzan go.

1:28:37Sora go-go! [JOE]: Sora was deliberately conceived to be the perfect protagonist to a game like this.

1:28:43In the Kingdom Hearts Ultimania, on Sora, Nomura states, “the beginning of everything. The world

1:28:49of Kingdom Hearts began with this character. It was honestly such a huge honor that an extension

1:28:55of my own design would be joining the Disney character family, and very special feelings went

1:29:00into creating him. Like, he was the culmination of all the protagonists I'd drawn so far.

1:29:06It was a long road to the Sora we have now, but even so, he's still developing as a character.”,

1:29:12and a long road it was. There are plenty of things to discuss with this character's rich design.

1:29:18First, I'd like to discuss his similarity to Sion, as it is constantly discussed among fans.

1:29:24I have an interesting take that may explain some of their uncanny resemblances.

1:29:28Sora's first design pitch to Disney was vastly different from the one used in the final game.

1:29:34Here, he is a highly accessorized half boy, half lion. This version of Sora was designed in 1999,

1:29:42likely concurrent with Nomura's work on The Bouncer. In an interview regarding The Bouncer,

1:29:47Nomura said that some designs were not approved by DreamFactory. Considering this, here's my guess

1:29:53to a possible design timeline between Sora and Sion: Sion's big poofy coat design may have been

1:29:59rejected because The Bouncer is a fighting game and Sion would need an outfit that would better

1:30:03accommodate constant motion. So, Sion likely moved forward to his design with a headband at this

1:30:09time. In Sora's original design, he wears a collar with a crown pendant dangling off it by a chain.

1:30:17Like Sean's design, he wears a big baggy short sleeve jacket, shorts that end just under his

1:30:23knee, and a pair of work boots with tube socks. In this design, we can see that Sora has a pocket

1:30:29chain dangling from his right side, which Sion had in his first design. We know that Sora's design

1:30:35would need revisions because Disney was not a fan of his chainsaw blade. Project timelines differ

1:30:41and Disney was likely a bit more time consuming to work for than to work with DreamFactory on

1:30:46The Bouncer. Sora's original collar necklace was transferred over to Sion and Sora's crown pendant

1:30:52would instead hang from a chain around his neck. This is largely speculation, but by using clues in

1:30:58the sketches, seeing Sora's collar move to Sion, we can pinpoint that maybe Sora wasn't a copy of

1:31:04Sion. Maybe the two are long lost brothers. Nomura did state that Sora was an amalgamation of his

1:31:10characters thus far, but prior protagonists like Squall and Cloud were certainly not incorporated

1:31:16in Sora's design DNA the same way that Tidus and Sion were. For example, we can put Sion,

1:31:24Tidus, and Sora's early concept together and see that these three are long lost brothers.

1:31:30Based on Nomura's artwork, I'd wager that Tidus is the eldest of the three, Sion the middle child,

1:31:35and Sora the youngest. All jokes aside, there are tons of similarities in their designs. The three

1:31:41wear pendants emblematic to their character with dangles at the end of their weapons,

1:31:46work boots with tube socks, pocket chains, short sleeve hoodies, and spiked hair. Though

1:31:51this wouldn't be the case for Sora's beta build, considering his final look, these three characters

1:31:57also make use of the same color palette for their designs: red, blue, yellow, black, and white.

1:32:04I haven't mentioned it yet, but it's interesting to see these three when put next to Zell from

1:32:10FINAL FANTASY VIII with his similar outfit, color palette, cheery attitude, and proficiency in

1:32:16hand-to-hand combat. If these three are long-lost brothers, I'd wager that Zell is their dad.

1:32:23There is even more to unpack when we take a deeper look at Sora's beta design. It is this addition

1:32:28of Sora that seems most like an amalgamation of every protagonist Nomura had drawn so far,

1:32:34though likely with the exception of Aya Brea. Going down the line, Cloud is represented by

1:32:39way of Sora's asymmetrically spiked hair, holding his weapon over his shoulder, and the chest piece

1:32:45he wears under his coat that looks similar to Cloud's soldier belt. From Squall, Sora has a

1:32:50unique weapon akin to the Gunblade, just being a fusion of a key and a sword instead of a gun.

1:32:56The two wear pendants with their character emblem that are also reflected in their weapons.

1:33:01Sora also has a lion icon on his sleeve in this draft, something similar to a Griever lion.

1:33:07We've discussed Sora and Sion’s similarities. It seems the two were worked out in parallel,

1:33:12which allows a natural flow of ideas into each other's designs. From Tidus,

1:33:17Sora wears a stud earring, also bearing his crown emblem, just as Tidus wears an earring bearing

1:33:22the Zanarkand Abes emblem he is associated with. Sora also wears folded down overalls for pants,

1:33:28has a pocket chain on his left side, and has thick work boots and tube socks like Tidus,

1:33:33and Sion for that matter. The most original thing about Sora in this form

1:33:38is his half lion appearance. This is evidently because Nomura's favorite animal is the lion.

1:33:44This specific touch, though, could be attributed to Squall for his lion icons, or maybe even

1:33:50Red XIII. But I believe it is an original flare made to make Sora the ultimate Nomura character.

1:33:57Not only does he have all these influences and several emblems on his design, but he's half lion!

1:34:03One could even say Sora resembles Zidane Tribal from FINAL FANTASY IX.

1:34:08This resemblance is actually the reason Sora is a full human in his final appearance.

1:34:14In his final appearance, Sora is a full human and loses a lot of the touches that tied him to

1:34:20the FINAL FANTASY character's past, but a good amount remain. He retains the spiky hair and

1:34:25over-the-shoulder stance tying him to Cloud, The Keyblade, pendant, and now hair color tying him to

1:34:31Squall, his pocket chain is altered to feature his character emblem similar to Sion, and his

1:34:37color palette ties in with Tidus and Sion, though this was not the full reasoning for Sora's clothes

1:34:42to be colored this way. Nomura even threw in an untidy belt similar to the one used for Rikku

1:34:48in FINAL FANTASY X for good measure. Just like with Rikku, this belt helps communicate Sora's

1:34:54youth and disorganized nature, which players are further clued into when seeing his bedroom.

1:35:00[SORA’S MOM]: Sora, dinner's ready. Come on down. Sora? [JOE]: The Squaresoft side of his lineage is

1:35:06even reflected in his mannerisms. When Sora wins a match in the game's Olympus Coliseum based on

1:35:121997's Hercules, Sora has three different victory poses. All three are direct references to Cloud,

1:35:21Squall, and Zell.

1:35:28Sora was also, however, deliberately designed to be the perfect mascot of his game.

1:35:34That means he had to be equal parts Square and Disney. In his final look, we can see that the

1:35:40line work for Sora's design is less rugged and straight and more rounded and smooth.

1:35:45This was done to make him mesh better with his cartoon companions, Donald and Goofy. To represent

1:35:50his Disney side, Sora features several nods to Mickey Mouse. Using Squall and Sion as examples,

1:35:57we can see that when Nomura adds a chain dangle with a pendant to a protagonist's weapon,

1:36:01it typically uses the emblem found on their necklace and may even be featured on their weapon.

1:36:06Sora's Keyblade is a bit different. Sora wears a crown pendant, and this emblem can also be seen in

1:36:12the teeth of his Keyblade, but at the end of the Keyblade's chain dangle is a hidden Mickey emblem.

1:36:18It's a clashing of emblems, but serves to bring that Disney side of his character forward.

1:36:23Secondly, Nomura distinctly based Sora's color palette on Mickey Mouse,

1:36:28making sure to include red shorts, yellow shoes, a black torso, and white gloves. When rounding out

1:36:35the lines of his design, Sora's shoes take a bulbous appearance resembling Mickey's.

1:36:41Sora's color palette is impressive. While it is used to echo Mickey Mouse, it even ties him closer

1:36:47in design with his best friends, Riku and Kairi. The colors used for Riku and Kairi retroactively

1:36:53add a second layer of meaning to Sora's use of color. The trio all share the color yellow in

1:36:58their design, a color commonly tied to friendship. Pulling this color from each of them, we see

1:37:04that each character has their own main color: Sora is red, Kairi is wisteria, and Riku blue.

1:37:13One could easily note that Sora's outfit also contains blue, albeit in finer details.

1:37:19This could be a nod to his childhood friendship with Riku. While Sora doesn't wear any wisteria,

1:37:25Kairi's hair is a subtle red, which could serve to show her attachment to Sora, which itself

1:37:31becomes an important plot thread on many levels. Sora's name is the Japanese word for “sky”. His

1:37:37friends on Destiny Island, Riku and Kairi, have names relating to the land and sea, respectively.

1:37:44This is the first of many uses of the land, sea, sky trope in the Kingdom Hearts series and the one

1:37:50from which all future uses originate. [SORA]:

1:38:06Whoa. Give me a break, Kairi. [KAIRI]: Sora, you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down

1:38:17here. [JOE]: Kairi was the first heroine Nomura had full control over. Her design is simple,

1:38:23but it still emanates Nomura's style. Her haircut and the basis of her outfit are based

1:38:28on Utada's look for the cover art of their 2000 single, “Risk”. She's got a layered outfit with

1:38:34asymmetrical accessories and a simple necklace featuring a teardrop-shaped stone as its pendant.

1:38:40This could be a subtle nod to her heart of pure light revealed in the game's third act.

1:38:45Her sandals make use of cinch cords, a rare fastening for Nomura to make use of. Like Sora,

1:38:51she too wears a belt that isn't fastened properly, again communicating her age and naivete.

1:38:57We can also see that like Cloud and Tifa, though much more subtly,

1:39:01Sora and Kairi both feature a symmetry likely as a means to implicitly signal their connection.

1:39:07Her top is dual layered with a white tank top over top of a black one. This could be seen as a nod

1:39:13to her position as Sora's light in the darkness. Another pivotal event in-game. [SORA]: Say Kairi,

1:39:20what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up? [KAIRI]: I've told you before.

1:39:25I don't remember. [SORA]: Nothing at all? [KAIRI]: Nothing. [JOE]: Her backstory was

1:39:32largely complete in the game, and she was even thought to be made playable,

1:39:36but it did not happen “due to circumstances”, Nomura says.

1:39:42The first syllable of her name, “Kai”, is pulled from 海洋, the word for “sea” in Japanese.

1:39:48Nomura used this as the basis for her name and added り at the end to make her name more feminine.

1:39:55Doing this also enables her name to sound like 光, the Japanese word for light. Which, light

1:40:01is a subtle theme in her design and the name of the game's theme song written by Utada. [KAIRI]:

1:40:08I wouldn't mind going to see it. [SORA]: I'd like to see it, too,

1:40:12along with any other worlds out there. I want to see them all. [KAIRI]:

1:40:17So, what are we waiting for? [RIKU]: Hey, aren't you guys forgetting about me? So,

1:40:24I guess I'm the only one working on the raft. [JOE]: Riku was designed to clash with Sora.

1:40:30Just as Nomura had modeled Cloud and Sephiroth against each other,

1:40:33Riku has long silver hair and symmetry in order to clash with Sora's short spiky hair and asymmetry.

1:40:40Riku even has turquoise eyes just as Sephiroth does. His outfit is thought out pretty well,

1:40:46and can tell you everything you need to know about him in one look. Riku's main character arc in the

1:40:51game is his submission to darkness in order to travel, manipulation by Maleficent, and possession

1:40:57by Ansem, seeker of darkness, before setting out on a journey to claim his body back from darkness.

1:41:03This can be communicated in the amount of black used on Riku's design. His sleeveless turtleneck

1:41:08muscle shirt, a Nomura classic, is only yellow on his front-facing side. On its backside,

1:41:15his vest is entirely black. Two black straps are crisscrossed both on his back and front,

1:41:21a shape that would be given deeper meaning within this series in a later installment. But for now,

1:41:26without that extra lore in mind, as it likely wasn't thought up quite yet, this “X” shape can

1:41:31be seen as a sort of restraint, symbolic of his struggle with the power of darkness. Riku's bottom

1:41:37half is what seems to be a pair of black pants with flowy chaps fastened similar to overalls

1:41:43and fastened with belts on his ankles. This is the second iteration of this pant choice. The first

1:41:48being Wakka as he appears in FINAL FANTASY X. On Riku's pair of pants, we can see that his belt

1:41:55is neatly fastened and tucked away in his belt loops. A nod to Riku's perceived maturity, as he

1:42:00is one year older than Sora and Kairi, which in adolescence is sometimes a considerable age gap.

1:42:07His shoes take less of a boot style look and seem to attempt to emulate running sneakers

1:42:13with the largest spattering of the color white on his outfit that isn't reserved for accents.

1:42:19In a way, Riku's design clashes with Kairi's once more as she is modeled to embody light

1:42:24while his design is cradled in darkness. While on the topic of color palettes, Riku's is the

1:42:30same as Sora's first Keyblade, the Kingdom Key. [RIKU]: We've always been rivals, haven't we?

1:42:38You've always pushed me as I've always pushed you. [SORA]: Riku. [RIKU]: But it all ends here.

1:42:45There can't be two Keyblade masters. [SORA]: What are you talking about? [RIKU]: Let the Keyblade

1:42:52choose its true master. [JOE]:

1:43:06While on the topic of color palettes, Riku's is the same as Sora's first Keyblade,

1:43:11the Kingdom Key. It is revealed at the beginning of the third act of the game

1:43:16that Sora's Keyblade was originally intended for Riku, and the key's usage of blue, yellow,

1:43:21and silver makes this distinction clear once it's in his hands. When commenting on Riku's design,

1:43:28Nomura said “he carries the responsibility of playing a more worried protagonist than

1:43:33would suit Sora. In that way, maybe he's more of a classic Square style character.

1:43:38The things Riku does to restore Kairi's heart are perhaps less about his feelings for her and

1:43:44more about his regret over sins he has committed. Or so I think. He's a surprisingly immoral guy.”,

1:43:51My guess here is that Riku being likened to a Square type character is in reference to

1:43:56his writing. He's strikingly complex, adding a nuance to the game's narrative that was likely

1:44:01spurred by Sakaguchi's advice to Nomura on the game's plot. He's not really a full-on villain

1:44:07at any point. He's just a scared and worried kid who goes down a terrible path because

1:44:12he thinks it's the only way. [RIKU]: You've got to run. The Heartless are coming. [JOE]:

1:44:20By the end of the game, he's grown wise to his mistakes and actively tries to make up for them.

1:44:25When possessed by Ansem, Riku's appearance changes. This design was based on muscle

1:44:30and sinew. I'd say this is a great example of Nomura's monster design and character design

1:44:35work meeting in the middle. Several monsters he designed around this time period especially

1:44:41were fleshy and muscly ever since Nomura's work on Parasite Eve. Here, a humanoid character

1:44:47who fights the protagonist one-on-one is decked out in a bodysuit featuring this design tactic.

1:44:53The heartless emblem on his chest does not feature a thorny cross in the middle because Riku's heart

1:44:58had not yet fully fallen into darkness. The “X” pattern once featured on Riku's chest,

1:45:04is now prominently featured on the belts that hold up his skirt, communicating constraint without

1:45:09sacrificing the lore importance of his Heartless emblem being open. The Keyblade he uses to battle

1:45:14Sora, the Keyblade of Heart, features a heart shape in the negative space of its teeth in order

1:45:19to show that Kairi's heart is needed to complete the key. [ANSEM]: Take a look at this tiny place.

1:45:26To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison surrounded by water.

1:45:33And so this boy sought out to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other

1:45:41worlds. And he opened his heart to darkness. [SORA]:

1:45:50Riku! [ANSEM]: Don't bother. Your voice can no longer reach him where he is.

1:45:58His heart belongs again to darkness. [JOE]: When speaking on Ansem's design,

1:46:03Nomura admits he was naturally motivated to create him because he likes this type of character.

1:46:08His first draft included golden hair and pale skin, but the exact opposite was decided upon.

1:46:14His final appearance is extremely reminiscent of Sephiroth and perhaps characters like Dauragon

1:46:19from The Bouncer when considering the overall adjacent design on his cloak and his original

1:46:24skin and hair color. In the final battle against him, Ansem fights alongside his dark guardian,

1:46:30a heartless creature greatly resembling the bottom tier of FINAL FANTASY VI's Statue of the Gods.

1:46:36The Heartless has several straps restraining him in crisscross patterns, which would,

1:46:40like Riku's own, be picked up later in the series and given an in-universe explanation. Ansem’s

1:46:46robed appearance was based on the Sephiroth clones from FINAL FANTASY VII, but saw several

1:46:52role changes throughout development. Two of these roles were breadcrumbing Sora along his journey,

1:46:57similar to the Sephiroth clones, and another being known to be an old man from Destiny Islands.

1:47:03The final conflict against Ansem is a boss rush consisting of a staggering 11 stages.

1:47:08There are multiple phases where Sora is left to fight Ansem alone, and five stages involve using

1:47:13the flight commands featured in Neverland, the game's world based on Peter Pan. In this fight,

1:47:19Ansem takes on his final form attached to the world of chaos, a large Heartless battleship.

1:47:25At the top of the ship, Ansem is seen fused by tendrils in his back to a huge hulking Nomurian

1:47:31monster Heartless. The enormous fleshy heartless that Ansem is fused to is even closer in likeness

1:47:37to the bottom tier of FINAL FANTASY VI's Statue of the Gods than his dark guardian used before.

1:47:43[ANSEM]: Kingdom Hearts, fill me with the power of darkness.

1:47:52Supreme Darkness. [SORA]: You're wrong. I know now without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts

1:48:01is light! [JOE]: Back in the earliest days of pre-production, after designing the chainsaw blade

1:48:07that Disney scrunched their faces at, Nomura would have to go back to the drawing board:

1:48:11“As a result of being asked for a necessity behind defeating enemies, the concept of a ‘key that

1:48:17frees hearts stolen by the enemies’ was born. As such, the birth of the Keyblade was the foundation

1:48:23upon which the entire scenario of Kingdom Hearts was created.” This necessity was also highlighted

1:48:28in the Heartless's designs originally. Before their heart-shaped emblem, the creatures had

1:48:33keyholes on their chests. This was reworked into the Heartless emblem, which seems to mash up the

1:48:39idea of a cross, an “X”, a heart, and a keyhole all at once. There is no one credited monster

1:48:46designer for Kingdom Hearts. So, it may be safe to say that Nomura designed most, if not all of them.

1:48:53However, this claim could be partially false as other talents such as Tetsu Tsukamoto

1:48:57and Fumi Nakashima were also on the game's dev team. But again, neither of these artists are

1:49:03credited as monster designers. The Soldier Heartless was the first to be designed and

1:49:08served as the basis for what the species should look like. Shadow Heartless were designed to be

1:49:13something that the team could replicate in large quantities, and their movement patterns served as

1:49:18the basis for the animation team when animating the many other types of heartless in the game.

1:49:24The Keyblade is one of Nomura's most iconic weapon designs, and by far the one most thought through.

1:49:31One of the main items Sora will carry is the Keyblade. It is not only a weapon to defeat

1:49:36enemies, but it has a symbolic purpose of locking the door to each world.

1:49:44The Keyblade's appearance and abilities change depending on what kind of chain is attached.

1:49:49These key chains alter Sora's attacking ability in different ways. For example, one of them

1:49:54will raise Sora's attacking ability while at the same time drastically reducing his magic points.

1:49:59It is one of the centerpieces of the game's lore, but it also has several appearances.

1:50:05One of its most unique facets is the keychain system, allowing Sora's weapon to transform

1:50:10based on what is attached at the end of the chain. Nomura's previous two FINAL FANTASY protagonists,

1:50:16Squall and Tidus, only had seven unique weapon designs each. Sora's Keyblade has 16 different

1:50:23appearances, and in the Final Mix release, 18. In a JRPG, weapons with different appearances aren't

1:50:30anything new, but Kingdom Hearts' Keyblade is unique in this way. Each design is intentional.

1:50:36Most are based on each Disney IP featured in the game, but three are based on FINAL FANTASY,

1:50:42and two are based on Sora's relationship with his closest friends. We've discussed Sora's

1:50:47first Keyblade, the appropriately named Kingdom Key. It is the most narrative centric, containing

1:50:52iconography relating to Sora and Mickey Mouse, while also sharing a color palette with Riku

1:50:57to foreshadow the truth about how Sora obtains it to begin with. His Ultima Weapon, a FINAL FANTASY

1:51:03tradition carried to Kingdom Hearts, is based on the Dream Sword featured in the opening sequence

1:51:08of the game. Built out around the blade are golden filigree designs that turn teal toward the handle.

1:51:14The key’s teeth are an ornate heart reminiscent of the game's logo and three triangles resembling the

1:51:20crown featured in Sora's iconography, and again on the logo. This key’s chain is similar to Kairi's

1:51:27pendant with an ornate golden design on it. There are two Keyblades fashioned after Kairi and Riku,

1:51:34further cementing the idea that their designs were based on light and darkness.

1:51:38Oathkeeper is a Keyblade Sora receives after attaching a good luck charm from Kairi to the

1:51:43end of his keychain. [KAIRI]: Take this.

1:51:49It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me. [SORA]: Don't worry, I will. [KAIRI]:

1:51:56Promise? [SORA]: Promise. [KAIRI]:

1:52:04Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you. [JOE]: It is nearly all white,

1:52:11makes use of angel wings for its crossguard, and uses a heart on its hilt and blade tip. The heart

1:52:17on the tip features yellow accents that are echoed on the keychain used for Sora's ultimate weapon.

1:52:23The teeth of the Keyblade are fashioned after the Japanese kanji for the word 光, meaning light.

1:52:28In early stages, this Keyblade was dubbed the Kairi Keyblade, and it is Nomura's personal

1:52:33favorite of the lot, designed for Kingdom Hearts. There was also a Riku Keyblade, though this was

1:52:39not its final name. Oblivion is a Keyblade that Sora can find in the treasure chest in

1:52:44the same area where he fights Riku one-on-one in their most climactic conflict in the game story.

1:52:50It contrasts Oathkeeper in every way. It is a nearly all black key, making use of demon wings at

1:52:56its crossguard with an ominous purple gem at its hilt. Its blade is more gothic than Oathkeeper’s,

1:53:02featuring a chain running down the middle. This is also a direct contrast,

1:53:06as Oathkeeper's blade is two parallel thin blades with a hollow center. Oblivion's teeth are modeled

1:53:13after the Japanese kanji for 闇, meaning darkness. The keychain is a dark version of Sora's necklace,

1:53:19left over from a draft of the game where Riku would also give Sora a lucky charm.

1:53:24The keychain itself could be a reference to Sora's willingness to follow his friend into darkness

1:53:29before the Keyblade chose him. [RIKU]: There you are. What's going

1:53:36on? [JOE]: Riku receives his own original weapon in the form of a sword, dubbed the Soul Eater.

1:53:41The main goal of its appearance was to portray a sword without a blade. As such, it takes shape

1:53:46after a demon wing with an ominous eye at the center. Ansem uses a variation of this weapon

1:53:52in the final boss fight of the game as well, implicitly confirming the weapon's origin.

1:53:59[DONALD & GOOFY]: Your majesty! [MICKEY]: Now, Sora, let's close this door for good! [JOE]:

1:54:05Mickey also has a Keyblade. His is an inverted color swap of Sora's. Fan speculation has pointed

1:54:12this inverse key to be tied to Sora's color palette as a means to balance the Kingdom

1:54:16Key's use of Riku's colors. But one must keep in mind when considering this perspective that

1:54:22Sora's color palette is based on Mickey's. Thus, I believe it was intended for Mickey's Kingdom Key

1:54:28to be colored to match him, which furthers the idea that Sora was meant to match Riku.

1:54:33There are Keyblades to go with most of the Disney properties featured in the game,

1:54:37using iconography, colors, shapes, and materials from each respective world to make the Keyblade

1:54:43blend in with its surroundings. These make a majority of Sora's arsenal, including

1:54:48keys based on Alice in Wonderland, Hercules, Tarzan, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio,

1:54:56The Nightmare Before Christmas, Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, and The Sword and the Stone.

1:55:02Sora even has Keyblades that resemble Cloud's Buster Sword and Squall's revolver dubbed Metal

1:55:07Chocobo and Lionheart. Metal Chocobo's keychain is a Chocobo trinket, and the key itself features

1:55:13material slots just as Cloud's blade does. Its name and keychain make reference to a scene in

1:55:19FINAL FANTASY VII when Cloud is compared by Tifa to a Chocobo on account of his spiky blond hair.

1:55:26Lionheart features Squall's Griever dangle as its keychain, using the same icon as its teeth

1:55:31and featuring ornate inscriptions that imply the shape of a Gunblade.

1:55:35In Final Mix, a key resembling Sephiroth's Masamune, dubbed One-Winged Angel, is added.

1:55:41The key is a long katana with Sephro's meteor as its teeth. The hilt is decorated with fire,

1:55:47a nod to Sephiroth's burning of Nibelheim, and the keychain is his single black angel wing dangled

1:55:53by a red ribbon, one that suspiciously resembles the one worn by the maiden he famously murders.

1:55:59It's pretty well thought out when compared to the other two FINAL FANTASY keys, though

1:56:03their inclusion is just as interesting as this one. [GOOFY]: Hey, why don't you come with us?

1:56:09We can go to other worlds on our vessel. [JOE]: Four of the worlds featured in Kingdom Hearts are

1:56:14original to the game. The first that the player visits is Sora's home world of Destiny Islands.

1:56:20The idea for a tropical island setting was always in the plans for Kingdom Hearts,

1:56:25possibly including Set Island being the game starting location. It's an interesting and subtle

1:56:30self-insert for Tetsu. In interviews, he related Destiny Island to his desire to take a beach

1:56:35vacation after working on Kingdom Hearts. [TETSUYA NOMURA]: My favorite is Destiny Island

1:56:42because when I designed it, I wanted to get away from work and go to a tropical island. This island

1:56:47looks very relaxing. At the same time, this world contains many keys that help you solve problems

1:56:52later in the game. It's a very important location. [JOE]: But when compared with the beaches of Kochi

1:56:57Prefecture, Japan, it's hard to believe that vacation was the only thing on Nomura's mind when

1:57:03dreaming up the islands. It's not confirmed, but I believe it isn't entirely insane to speculate that

1:57:09Sora's home world of Destiny Islands is based on Nomura's own hometown of Kochi Prefecture.

1:57:15In order to populate the island with more kids to play with, Tidus and Waka from FINAL FANTASY X

1:57:21and Selphie from FINAL FANTASY VIII were chosen to fill out the beach. All three are significantly

1:57:26de-aged from their original appearances. [SORA]: Huh?

1:57:44What a dream. This isn't a dream.

1:57:55Where am I? Oh boy. Do you know where we are?

1:58:05Hey! [JOE]: The world Sora is sent to after Destiny Islands's destruction, Traverse Town,

1:58:13acts as a gathering hub for displaced people when their worlds are destroyed by the Heartless.

1:58:18Because of this, both Disney and FINAL FANTASY characters reside in the town. Characters

1:58:23from Cinderella, The Sword in the Stone, 101 Dalmatians, a story book allowing Sora to meet

1:58:30with Winnie the Pooh and his friends, Donald's three nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, a fountain

1:58:35depicting Lady in the Tramp from Lady in the Tramp and eventually characters from Pinocchio,

1:58:40all live in Traverse Town, neighbors to prominent characters from FINAL FANTASY VII and VIII.

1:58:46In that way, the town seems to emulate a Disney theme park where many characters from different

1:58:51films and in this case some of Japan's most iconic video game heroes reside. The world's nature as

1:58:59being a space for refuge adds to the impending doom feel that makes Kingdom Hearts still feel

1:59:04like a FINAL FANTASY title, albeit with the subtle looming delivery present in a classic Disney film.

1:59:11Hollow Bastion, the stage for all of the narrative's revelations and intense story beats,

1:59:16is also known to be home for most of the FINAL FANTASY characters that appear in the game.

1:59:21Unfortunately for them, Maleficent, the evil fairy from Sleeping Beauty,

1:59:26has made their home world her dominion, and it is there that she plots with other Disney villains

1:59:31in order to gather the seven Princesses of Heart and open the Door to Darkness,

1:59:35which Maleficent can then use to rule all of the worlds. Maleficent, the seven Princesses,

1:59:41and Mickey, Donald, and Goofy were the only characters Disney allowed the dev team to move

1:59:47from world to world. They were very adamant that there should be no scenario where, for example,

1:59:52Aladdin and Tarzan cross paths. Only each world's respective villain and princess, if any, have the

2:00:00ability to travel between worlds. And even some villains, such as the Queen of Hearts from Alice

2:00:05in Wonderland and Professor Clayton from Tarzan, are not in cahoots with Maleficent at all.

2:00:11Yet somehow, Pinocchio's main cast moves from Monstro to Traverse Town partway through the game,

2:00:17and Tinkerbell and Genie follow Sora, Donald, and Goofy on their adventure as summons after meeting

2:00:23them in their respective worlds. It seems that the team had to individually outline with Disney which

2:00:29characters were okay to move around and which ones needed to stay put. The game's final world,

2:00:35End of The World, was thought up by Kazushige Nojima when he had his hands on the game's

2:00:41third act. It acts as a way to visit all of the worlds prior, contains some intense lore that is

2:00:46still relevant and open-ended in the series today, and serves as the battleground for Sora, Donald,

2:00:52and Goofy's final showdown with Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. [RIKU]: Take care of her. [JOE]:

2:01:00The original from scratch designs end there, but Kingdom Hearts is also home to several Disney and

2:01:06FINAL FANTASY cameo characters, either outfitted or completely redesigned by Nomura for the game.

2:01:12[DONALD]: Donald Duck [GOOFY]: Name’s Goofy. [JOE]: Donald Duck and Goofy featured their

2:01:16classic Disney attire for much of the game's early development. Per Disney's suggestion,

2:01:21their original designs were peppered with zippers in order to line up better with Sora's design,

2:01:26and Nomura took care to not make the outfits out of character. Regarding this, Nomura says, “they

2:01:32said they wanted to see a Nomura style design. So, in order to have them match Sora, I put zippers,

2:01:38which I make frequent use of, on every important spot. The base colors are the same as their

2:01:44standard costumes. I took care not to make them feel too different from their usual selves.”

2:01:49The biggest change made was switching the coloring of Goofy's hat and shirt. But this

2:01:53change allows the game's main trio to stand out in a vibrant red, blue, and green. [DONALD]: Wake up,

2:02:03Goofy. Wake up! This is serious! [JOE]:

2:02:12He hasn't spoken about their designs when at Disney Castle, but Donald's outfit very much

2:02:17resembles the Black Mages of FINAL FANTASY, and Goofy's asymmetrical design is in line

2:02:23with several of Nomura's past FINAL FANTASY protagonists. In meetings with Disney, it was

2:02:29suggested to Nomura that Donald be a knight due to his temper. But Nomura had already decided Donald

2:02:34was going to be the mage because he thought it would be cute to hear him yelling out spell names.

2:02:39Nomura could not imagine Goofy wielding a sword or axe, and so dubbed him a “weapon-hating captain of

2:02:46the knights” and had him fight with a shield. [MINNIE]: Oh, and to chronicle your travels,

2:02:52he will accompany you. [JIMINY]:

2:02:57Over here! Cricket is the name. Jiminy Cricket at your service. [JOE]: Though not redesigned,

2:03:06Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio joins the party and acts as a scribe of the game's events,

2:03:11explaining an in-game menu feature dubbed Jiminy's journal that allows players to track collectibles,

2:03:18view character files, read up on the game's plot, and even access special reports that expand the

2:03:24universe's lore by way of a scientist's personal writings. [GOOFY]: Oh, I guess we'll need new

2:03:30duds when we get there, huh? [JOE]: Sora, Donald, and Goofy appear differently in the game's worlds

2:03:36based on The Little Mermaid and Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. [TETSUYA NOMURA]:

2:03:41Prior to actually getting into the production process, I had told Disney that I would not

2:03:44intentionally alter any of the new Square character designs just for them to fit into the

2:03:49world of Disney. I did not think it was necessary. Besides, there are already dissimilarities

2:03:54along Disney character designs. For example, Donald and Tarzan don't blend together well.

2:03:59So, I did not force myself to adjust my designing style as long as the color and

2:04:03the feel of the characters matched and wasn't awkward when seen on screen. [AKIRA FUJII]:

2:04:09However, the three main characters, Sora, Donald, and Goofy, travel through all of these worlds,

2:04:14so we tried to maintain some consistency so they would blend well together while

2:04:18sustaining their visual independence. I was unsure about the Nightmare Before Christmas

2:04:23world and the Winnie the Pooh world. In the beginning stages of production,

2:04:27they are both so distinct that I thought of changing the styles of the three main characters

2:04:31as well. [JUN AKIYAMA]: We suggested the change of costume. Our director, Nomurasan, drew image

2:04:36illustrations for Donald and Goofy in the Little Mermaid world, and we discussed the designs

2:04:40with Disney who approved them. Other costumes were drawn based on rough sketches by Disney.

2:04:45Nightmare Before Christmas World is not an ordinary Disney world. So the key was how well

2:04:49we could blend Disney characters such as Donald and Goofy into this particular world. [JOE]:

2:04:54Their appearance in Atlantica was designed earlier on in development to pitch the concept of Disney.

2:05:00It is because of this that Goofy's hat reverts to his original green hat when he is a sea turtle,

2:05:05a mistake left uncorrected by Nomura. Their appearance in Halloween Town,

2:05:10the world based on The Nightmare Before Christmas, was given extra special care

2:05:14in order to adhere to Tim Burton's style. Sora's design was based on imps and vampires,

2:05:20Donald's on mummies and the invisible man, and Goofy on werewolves and Frankenstein.

2:05:26In concept art for this appearance, the boys were only based on one idea each. Sora as a vampire,

2:05:32Goofy as Frankenstein's monster, and Donald as a mummy. In concept arts drawn at the same

2:05:38time as this, we can see that there were plans to include different outfits, at least for Sora, in

2:05:43the worlds based on Aladdin and Tarzan. But this did not reach fruition. [MICKEY]: Don't worry,

2:05:49there will always be a door to the light. [GOOFY]: Sora, you can trust King Mickey. [JOE]: Mickey

2:05:56Mouse is only featured once in Kingdom Hearts despite being Disney's most popular mascot.

2:06:02And if Nomura's team hadn't consistently pleaded with Disney to feature him, he wouldn't have been

2:06:07in the game at all. This was because of Capcom's Magical Mirror starring Mickey Mouse for Nintendo

2:06:13GameCube being developed at the same time as Kingdom Hearts. In the end, Disney allowed

2:06:18Nomura to use Mickey, but only once in a small indirect role that would feature his silhouette.

2:06:25Nomura, understanding the power of the cartoon rodent icon, made sure to include him in a pivotal

2:06:31role regardless of this one appearance rule. Several other popular Disney characters make

2:06:36appearances by way of the game summon mechanic in echo of the one used in the FINAL FANTASY games.

2:06:42Rather than featuring the classic FINAL FANTASY monsters and summons, Sora can spend his MP to

2:06:48briefly fight alongside a guest Disney character. These characters include Simba from The Lion King,

2:06:54Mushu from Mulan. [MUSHU]: I am Mushu [JOE]: Dumbo, Bambi, and even Tinkerbell from Peter

2:07:00Pan and Genie from Aladdin. [SQUALL]:

2:07:06Sora, let's go. [JOE]: Kingdom Hearts features cameos from other Nomura designed characters

2:07:12originating from FINAL FANTASY VII, VIII, and X. Instead of being from their own respective

2:07:17storylines and worlds, they all originate from worlds original to Kingdom Hearts

2:07:23and featured their own slightly altered stories in order to align with the mythos

2:07:27of the game. [CLOUD]: The great god of the underworld is afraid of a kid? [JOE]: Their

2:07:31original stories and personalities were considered when creating their new ones in the writing room.

2:07:36As such, these characters are not directly related to their original appearances and

2:07:41in Kingdom Hearts appear as parallel universe interpretations. Nomura explains this choice to

2:07:47use these characters in the Kingdom Hearts Ultimania: “As I kept making the story,

2:07:52I thought about which characters to put in each role. And there were many places where Disney

2:07:56characters would not fit in. When I thought about which character would guide Sora in Traverse Town,

2:08:02nothing struck me. Then I thought I should just make new characters, but they would just

2:08:07show up once in a while and they would not be as appealing as the Disney characters around them.

2:08:12Since that was the case, I came upon the idea of using FINAL FANTASY characters to choose

2:08:16which characters that would fit the roles. When it came to choosing who would be the swordsmen

2:08:21who guide Sora, I believe that Squall fit that role the best.” [SQUALL]: All right,

2:08:26then have it your way. [JOE]:

2:08:31The first cameo decided for the game was Squall Leonhart, protagonist of FINAL FANTASY VIII.

2:08:37His appearance in this game resembles his concept art for FINAL FANTASY VIII with a longer haircut

2:08:42and a reworked outfit. His leg belts are built into his pants this time, which have

2:08:48zippers running all the way down the legs. His boots also have zippers going down the middle.

2:08:53He no longer wears his bomber jacket, instead wearing a short sleeve jacket with a Griever

2:08:58cross icon on his left sleeve, something likely pulled from concept art for Sora.

2:09:03It might be a stretch, but considering that the cross is red on and on Squall’s sleeve,

2:09:08I can't help but think about Seifer. On the back of his jacket are Rinoa's angel wings.

2:09:14These wings are in place to imply that he couldn't save her when his original world, Hollow Bastion,

2:09:19fell to darkness, an idea reinforced when reading his in-game character bio.

2:09:24With his newly exposed arms, Squall wears three belts on his left forearm,

2:09:29and his gloves feature extra straps on the back of his hands. All these slight edits change his

2:09:35appearance enough to unify his design with the art style of Kingdom Hearts and differentiate from

2:09:40his original portrayal. [SQUALL]: We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other.

2:09:47Thanks to Jun Akiyama’s work, Squall would go by the alias “Leon” for Kingdom Hearts in order

2:09:52to make his first appearance more of a reveal. Explaining this, Nomura said, “in Disney Castle,

2:09:58if people saw in the beginning that meet Squall was written in the letter, people would have an

2:10:04image of Squall in their head and the impact of the first meeting would be weak. Then Akiyama told

2:10:09me that he wanted to change only Squall's name. We decided we would take the last part of his name.”

2:10:15This was retroactively used to further his apparent past failures, where Squall purposely

2:10:20assumes the name Leon to distance himself from who he was when he failed to save his loved ones.

2:10:26Cid Highwind from FINAL FANTASY VII is another mentor to Sora. His design was described by Nomura

2:10:33as “rather mismatched”. A quick look at his new appearance here calls to mind Volt Kreueger from

2:10:38The Bouncer, mainly due to his pants, pose, and haircut. His trademark cigarette has been

2:10:45switched for a long toothpick. Cid’s familiarity with space travel and computers translates nicely

2:10:51into the game's Gummi Ship system, and Cid thus acts as a means of upgraded transport,

2:10:56as any Cid normally would in a FINAL FANTASY. [YUFFIE]: I think you might have overdone it,

2:11:03Squall. [JOE]: Yuffie's role was in early stages of development planned to be for Rikku from FINAL

2:11:09FANTASY X. Nomura says that “something happened”, and Yuffie had to be shuffled from being a

2:11:16different pre-existing role to Rikku's role. Then Yuffie's original role was cut due to time

2:11:22constraints. This seems to have been anticipated as Nomura revealed that Yuffie and Rikku's designs

2:11:28were made so that either character could fill the role. Fan speculation towards Rikku's absence

2:11:34is that it would be confusing for there to be two “Riku” characters in the same game, one

2:11:39with two Ks and one with one, but both pronounced the same in English. In Japanese, the two “Riku”s

2:11:45are pronounced differently enough, but perhaps considering the large western appeal of the use

2:11:50of Disney characters, English pronunciation was heavily taken into account. [YUFFIE]: Besides,

2:11:57I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to. [SORA]: What's that supposed to mean? [JOE]: In Yuffie's

2:12:02final look, we can see that her design is actually equal parts Yuffie and Rikku, which is interesting

2:12:08considering her final look would have been largely the same should it have been Rikku in this role.

2:12:14Rikku brings the scarf, untidy belt, and gloves. Yuffie retains her tube top, short shorts, and

2:12:21fishnets from her appearance in FINAL FANTASY VII. The two of them are already comparably dressed

2:12:27in their original appearances. So, one character lends to the other in regard to the actual layout

2:12:32of the outfit. The design originally being for Rikku also explains how out of place Yuffie's

2:12:38ninja star looks in her artwork for Kingdom Hearts, as if it were half-hazardly sketched

2:12:43without altering the hands position to clutch it better. [SORA]: How about a rematch sometime?

2:12:49Fair and Square. No dark powers involved. [CLOUD]: I think I'll pass. [JOE]: FINAL FANTASY

2:12:57VII's protagonist, Cloud, appears in Kingdom Hearts as well. Whereas all other FINAL FANTASY

2:13:03cameos take place in original locations, Cloud appears in the world based on 1997's Hercules.

2:13:10His design is the most radically different, as it incorporates elements from Vincent Valentine and

2:13:15Sephiroth as well as his own original look. This was done to illustrate that Kingdom Hearts' Cloud

2:13:21faces a crisis of falling to darkness. Adapted from his original struggles in FINAL FANTASY

2:13:26VII in order to better suit Kingdom Hearts. [CLOUD]: I tried to exploit the power of darkness,

2:13:32but it backfired. I fell into darkness and I couldn't find the light. [JOE]: Nomura notes

2:13:40that while this is the rationale as to why Cloud's scarf and claws resemble Vincent, he would have

2:13:46liked to add Vincent to Kingdom Hearts as well. Cloud is given several extra belts in exchange for

2:13:51his soldier belt and has extra armoring around his right hip. His Buster Sword is completely wrapped

2:13:57in bandages communicating restraint. When he uses the power of darkness, Cloud sprouts one black

2:14:04angel wing from his back. This is described by Nomura as an homage to Sephiroth.

2:14:30Sephiroth, too, makes an appearance in Kingdom Hearts.

2:14:33slightly redesigned, likely to align with what using darkness looks like in this new universe.

2:14:39Sephiroth was not present in the original Japanese release of Kingdom Hearts,

2:14:43though he was designed for it and a model was being built for him to be added.

2:14:48Due to time constraints, Sephiroth did not appear in this version, but the addition was revived

2:14:53so that the game could have a super boss that pushes the player to their limits in

2:14:56the game's combat system. And who else would better fill this role than Sephiroth?

2:15:21In his Kingdom Hearts outfit, Sephiroth has more color, featuring blue and red accents against his

2:15:26original black and silver. His hands have a slight claw look to them. His soldier belt is

2:15:32also removed, replaced with a buckle fastening his cloak together with demon wings on it.

2:15:37In his appearance, Sephiroth sprouts a black angel wing from his right side, the same side his wing

2:15:43arm is in his safer Sephiroth appearance and the opposite of Cloud's wing in Kingdom Hearts.

2:15:49This is actually a huge step in Sephiroth's likeness, because this black wing sprouting from

2:15:54his right shoulder appears on him more and more as FINAL FANTASY VII gets additional materials.

2:16:00Tifa was planned to appear in another secret match at the coliseum just like Sephiroth for the Final

2:16:05Mix release, but ultimately she did not appear. Nomura explains this in press for a later title:

2:16:12“In fact, back when we were working on Kingdom Hearts Final Mix,

2:16:16some of the staff members wanted to have Tifa show up. They said battling with Tifa would

2:16:21be fun in a melee sense and originally wanted to add both Sephiroth and Tifa,

2:16:26but due to tight schedules, we could only go with one character, so we inserted Sephiroth

2:16:31into Kingdom Hearts Final Mix.” [GOOFY]: Gawrsh, there's nobody here. Sure is spooky.

2:16:38[DONALD]: Aw phooey, I'm not scared. [AERITH]:

2:16:43Excuse me. Did the king send you? [JOE]:

2:16:50Like Yuffie, Aerith's role was planned to be for a different character. Her role would have been

2:16:56filled by Aya from Parasite Eve. Some developers that had done work on FINAL FANTASY VII and were

2:17:01now developing Kingdom Hearts requested that Aerith appear, and at about halfway through

2:17:06development, the switch was made. It's unclear if Aya's original Kingdom Hearts design was

2:17:11translated to Aerith as it was between Rikku and Yuffie or if the design is new and original to

2:17:17Aerith. Unlike Rikku, there is no leftover sketch or concept art that we know of at this time that

2:17:23shows what Aya could have looked like in Kingdom Hearts. Considering this though, it's interesting

2:17:29to note that Aerith loses her shortsleeve jacket in Kingdom Hearts and instead wears a sole dress,

2:17:35just as Aya does in the opening moments of Parasite Eve. A would have been interesting as

2:17:40the Traverse Town gang would have consisted of one character from FINAL FANTASY VII, VIII, X,

2:17:46and Parasite Eve: A perfect sampling of Nomura's work before Kingdom Hearts. This group was instead

2:17:52flooded with FINAL FANTASY VII however, perhaps indicative of Squaresoft's future.

2:17:57Or maybe this replacement of Aerith for Aya was a balancing act of fate, since Aya's character

2:18:02was supposed to more closely resemble Aerith back in 97. Aerith's final design is as simple as her

2:18:08original one, but altered greatly. She doesn't wear her jacket, only wears her bracelets on her

2:18:14left wrist, and now wears a purple sash belt around her waist. She wears an extra choker

2:18:19necklace and her ribbon in her hair is much more alert than in FINAL FANTASY VII. [AERITH]: Okay.

2:18:25You know there are many other worlds out there besides your castle in this town,

2:18:29right? [GOOFY]: Yeah. But they're supposed to be a secret. [AERITH]: They've been secret

2:18:36because they've never been connected until now. When the Heartless came,

2:18:42everything changed. [JOE]: If we take a look at Aerith's narrative significance in the game, it's

2:18:48something easily swappable with a character like Aya. The sequence where Aerith and Squall explain

2:18:53the plot’s stakes to our heroes would feel more natural should it have been Aya debriefing Donald

2:18:59and Goofy rather than Aerith. Alas, Aerith's popularity prevailed, leading to her inclusion.

2:19:06The FINAL FANTASY characters don't end there. Sora, Riku, and Kairi's home world, Destiny

2:19:11Islands, is also home to three characters from the FINAL FANTASY series: Tidus and Wakka from

2:19:17FINAL FANTASY X, and Selphie from FINAL FANTASY VIII. Tidus was the first FINAL FANTASY character

2:19:23drawn for Kingdom Hearts. His design is a much much simpler version of his original design,

2:19:29as he is also de-aged greatly. This Tidus wears a simple yellow vest with white sleeves and his

2:19:35iconic sectional shorts with his left leg unzipped above the knee. He wears a fanny pack around his

2:19:41waist with some simple yellow sandals and carries a red bokken blade with him. Selphie from FINAL

2:19:47FANTASY VIII is perhaps the least redesigned FINAL FANTASY character for Kingdom Hearts. Regarding

2:19:53her design, Nomura says, "I planned to give her a different outfit from her FINAL FANTASY VIII one,

2:19:59but once her model was complete and I compared them, it was basically the same. My mistake."

2:20:04As a child, she fights with a jump rope, a supposed precursor to her original nunchucks.

2:20:10Nomura originally had the idea to include Irvine from FINAL FANTASY VIII with Tidus and Selphie,

2:20:15but no matter how many times he tried, he could not make the cowboy fit on a tropical island.

2:20:21Instead, Wakka was drawn last minute to fill this role with a much simpler design than the one used

2:20:26in FINAL FANTASY X. Wakka's shirt, then, is likely carried over from the original Irvine concept,

2:20:33as his open neck shirt with beads looks much closer to Irvine's vest and bead necklace.

2:20:39Wakka's X with arrows to resemble a cross shape is on both of his knees. He fights with his Blitzball

2:20:46as he does in FINAL FANTASY X. Kingdom Hearts also allowed Nomura to design his own Moogle.

2:20:52The trademark merchant race from the FINAL FANTASY series makes an appearance in each title,

2:20:57portrayed differently in each new installment. Kingdom Hearts' Moogles are Nomura's ideal Moogle.

2:21:03Later in his career, this Moogle design would be interpreted in FINAL FANTASY titles that

2:21:08Nomura had a large part in. [SORA]: The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in.

2:21:15But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out! [JOE]: Nomura

2:21:20flexed his artistic chops the most thus far for Kingdom Hearts, providing several artworks

2:21:25and key visuals. On Premonition, the artwork used for the game's main cover. Nomura says,

2:21:31“Disney requested a key visual that could be used to represent the entire Kingdom Hearts world,

2:21:36and we had many huge meetings in order to decide on this one drawing. Both Disney and

2:21:41Square shared a vision for Kingdom Hearts, but it was an extremely tough job to represent it in

2:21:46one drawing. I was particularly stressed over how to represent Donald and Goofy in a serious scene.

2:21:52People tended to misunderstand the tone of Kingdom Hearts, and I wanted to wipe that out.

2:21:57After several rejected pieces, we finally arrived at this one. I think that it was the first time

2:22:02in a long time that I had poured so much heart and soul into an artwork.” But Premonition was

2:22:08just the tip of the iceberg. In total, Nomura drew about 13 key artworks for Kingdom Hearts.

2:22:14Pieces like Friends and Piggyback were made in order to conceptualize the bond between Sora

2:22:20and his friends, with Piggyback being created before Donald and Goofy's new designs were made.

2:22:25There are two untitled group artworks that also feature the main quintet, likely drawn for the

2:22:31same purposes. For sure, the piece used for the game's title screen was drawn by Nomura especially

2:22:38for an advertisement and as such was “pounded out in a single day”. The portraits of Kairi and Riku,

2:22:46titled Red Sunset and Blue Sky, respectively, were drawn around the same time as Foreshore. It is

2:22:53unclear whether they were made for advertisements as well. Blue Sky is meant to depict the cutscene

2:22:58when Riku teases Sora about liking Kairi by tossing him a paopu fruit. [RIKU]: Sora,

2:23:07you wanted one, didn't you? [SORA]: A paopu fruit. [RIKU]: If two people share one,

2:23:13their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what.

2:23:20Come on. I know you want to try it. [SORA]: What are you talking? [RIKU]: [laughter]

2:23:22[JOE]: Though this scene does not happen midday, the artwork sky is blue, likely on purpose to

2:23:31contrast with the next piece, and also because blue is a color tied to his character. Instead,

2:23:38the sunset sky is given to Kairi's artwork, Red Sunset, which is meant to depict her deep

2:23:43in thought and is not based on a specific scene in game. The presence of Red in this piece calls

2:23:49to mind Sora's character color, further tying the two together. Throne, the artwork featured

2:23:56on the game soundtrack, was drawn by Nomura under extreme stress in the final days of production.

2:24:02He liked it so much that he would have preferred it over Premonition to be the game's key visual,

2:24:07which, while unfulfilled now, would return much later in the series and even in works unrelated

2:24:13to Kingdom Hearts. Connections is a piece done by Nomura in a similar manner to Throne, stressed

2:24:19and quickly. But in this piece, he purposely made Sora look older to foreshadow a potential sequel.

2:24:26This artwork is the first glimpse at Sora's appearance in Kingdom Hearts II.

2:24:30When commenting on this piece, he established one of his classic character traits: being extremely

2:24:35vague in interviews. When mentioning Sora's older look in the connections artwork, he says,

2:24:41"I'd like you to imagine for yourselves what it means. I'm still daydreaming myself."

2:24:46Kingdom Hearts Final Mix brought with it four new artworks. One Piece, Rest, was colored twice

2:24:53with a day and night version created. The day version was used for the game's cover art and

2:24:58the night version for the EP containing the four additional tracks to the soundtrack for Final Mix.

2:25:04In this artwork, we can see Nomura makes use of a similar illustration style to his work on

2:25:08Foreshore. This is likely on purpose, because Nomura mentioned that he wanted to make more

2:25:13artworks like it for the game, and the nature of a Final Mix release gave him some extra time to

2:25:18grant himself wishes of that nature. Rest depicts Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, and Riku in an all new

2:25:26artwork surrounding what seems to be rubble from a building and statue. At the top, Riku is leaning

2:25:32on a statue of an angel's wing, making it look as if he has the wing. This is likely Nomura making

2:25:37rounds once more, if not subconsciously. When speaking on Riku's Soul Eater sword, he mentioned

2:25:43that its wing design would make it look cool as he carried it on his back. The thing is though,

2:25:48as Nomura notes immediately after saying this, is that Riku doesn't carry his sword on his back. We

2:25:54can see Nomura trying to pull this off in one of the untitled group artworks done for the original.

2:25:59On the part of the rubble above Sora's head, there are etchings that read “Deep Dive: Kingdom Hearts”

2:26:05in a semi-gothic graffiti style. The game's title and Sora's head have crowns etched into the stone

2:26:11above them. To the right of Kairi, we can see an angel wing icon oddly similar to Rinoa's wings and

2:26:18text underneath that says “dive into the sky”. In Final Mix, Foreshore is replaced with a new piece,

2:26:25also done in the same style, titled Wind. This one depicts Sora with his hood up and waving

2:26:30a blue flag. The fourth piece is untitled, but is known as the Kingdom Hearts Ultimania

2:26:36Revised Edition cover art, which it wasn't before. Connections was used for the Ultimania

2:26:42companion book to Kingdom Hearts, but to include all the new content and plot threads in Final Mix,

2:26:47a revised edition was made and published with this artwork as its cover. Donald and Goofy's

2:26:52appearances here are pulled from the same Untitled group art I was mentioning earlier. And it seems

2:26:58that Riku and Kairi were redrawn for this piece, as well as Sora in the center. On either side of

2:27:04Sora are Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and Unknown, the secret story boss in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix,

2:27:10who we'll speak about shortly. This piece was quite ahead of its time, showing how much

2:27:14Nomura already had planned for the narrative of Kingdom Hearts were it to become a series.

2:27:19Sora's depiction in this artwork would become quite important in the series going forward. But

2:27:23for now, it remained on the cover of the revised Ultimania, our official first look at it.

2:27:37The secret ending in Kingdom Hearts featured some new characters, all of which donned black cloaks,

2:27:42save for a pre Kingdom Hearts II design of an older Kairi. Nomura admits that he had ideas

2:27:49for a sequel floating around all throughout production. This secret ending seems to have

2:27:53been tacked on as an implicit sales pitch to Square's directors, as Nomura frequently uses

2:27:58the word “if” when describing a sequel in interviews after the game's release.

2:28:12The cinematic features a boy in a black cloak fending off waves of Heartless,

2:28:16wielding both the Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades simultaneously.

2:28:21Toward the end of this scene, a blindfolded boy that seems to be an older Riku is shown

2:28:26briefly before being asked by the dual wielding boy “where's Sora?”

2:28:31A quick shot of an older Kairi watching a star falling is shown before cutting to black.

2:28:36Similar to the international releases of the FINAL FANTASY games, Kingdom Hearts released again in

2:28:41Japan as Kingdom Hearts Final Mix. This version of the game included all the additional content from

2:28:47the North American release, as well as additional Keyblades, stat adjustments, a new palette swap

2:28:52for every Heartless in the game, some extra cutscenes, and even more secret endings.

2:29:18This new edition of the game includes a secret boss fight against the Enigmatic Man or Unknown,

2:29:24one of the black cloaked figures featured in the game's secret ending. We'll discuss the design of

2:29:29Nomura's iconic black cloak later, but for now, take note that the secret endings of Kingdom

2:29:34Hearts were its origin, and it would go on to be a plentiful and powerful story device in the

2:29:39rest of the series. At this point in time, it's likely that the Enigmatic Man was just what his

2:29:45name implied, even in Nomura's own head, as the ideas he had for a potential follow-up were still

2:29:51well in their infancy. This is demonstrated when the Blond Haired Kid, as he was known in

2:29:56online forums at the time, is depicted to have yellow eyes, a trait his final design never has,

2:30:03as well as Kairi's appearance in these cinematics never leaving them. The new secret ending in Final

2:30:08Mix, Another Side, Another Story [Deep Dive], featured Mickey wearing one of these cloaks

2:30:14and another blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment that implies narrative weight. This was intentionally

2:30:19used to push on Disney the idea of featuring him in a more prominent role. During development of

2:30:24this cinematic cutscene, Nomura noted to his staff that he'd like to do another project like this,

2:30:29but longer and with more fight scenes, and thought aloud that the world of FINAL FANTASY VII could be

2:30:35a fun setting for this sort of project. [SORA]: Kairi!

2:30:44[KAIRI]: Sora!

2:30:49[SORA]: Kairi, remember what you said before. I'm always with you, too. I'll come back to you. I

2:30:58promise. [KAIRI]: I know you will. [JOE]: Tetsuya Nomura's work on Kingdom Hearts was monumental for

2:31:04his career. Perhaps as important as his time on FINAL FANTASY VII. Considered to be one of the

2:31:10greatest video games of all time, Kingdom Hearts would receive overwhelming praise from critics and

2:31:15consumers. Going on to be the eighth bestselling PlayStation 2 title just under FINAL FANTASY X,

2:31:21the game is a harmonious blend of both Disney and FINAL FANTASY, offering a simple yet complex and

2:31:27emotional JRPG story line with the backdrop of dearly beloved Disney films such as Pinocchio,

2:31:34Aladdin, and Peter Pan, as well as featuring cameo characters from FINAL FANTASY VII,

2:31:39VIII, and X, 101 Dalmatians, Mulan, The Lion King, Sleeping Beauty, and many other Disney classics.

2:31:48Its narrative was able to navigate the balancing act between a complex narrative reminiscent of

2:31:52Squaresoft's RPGs and a coming of age tale of friendship and courage akin to a classic Disney

2:31:58film. Kingdom Hearts was Squaresoft's first true action RPG in quite a while,

2:32:03and was a massive launch forward for the company and the game's development team.

2:32:07From a water cooler conversation about Super Mario 64 to a story about a boy, his key,

2:32:14and his friends, Tetsuya Nomura had gone from an employee, to iconic designer, to iconic director,

2:32:21in just 9 years working at Squaresoft. And yet, there was so much more to come.

2:32:32As if his work on FINAL FANTASY VII and VIII wasn't enough, Nomura kept pushing forward

2:32:37until he could finally realize his own project from beginning to end. After being told it

2:32:42wasn't possible, he just shrugged it off and kept believing anyway. He kept his head down, and soon,

2:32:49opportunity appeared before him, ready to be unlocked. With the overwhelming success of Kingdom

2:32:55Hearts, Tetsuya Nomura was now more than just a character designer, and he had his own world

2:33:00to tell stories from. Though Disney and FINAL FANTASY were truly an odd couple, he made it work.

2:33:07As the Disney adults say, “when you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are. Everything

2:33:14your heart desires will come to you.” My name is Joe. I have talked. Thank you for watching.