Tetsuya Nomura Discusses Kingdom Hearts' Past, Present

How did the concept behind Kingdom Hearts, one of Square Enix's most successful new concepts in recent years, come about? "I don't remember the details, but I was talking with [current Square Enix corporate executive] Shinji Hashimoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi," producer Tetsuya Nomura told Famitsu magazine in an interview. "The topic came up that it'd be nice if we could make a game with Disney. I had been wanting to make an original action RPG by that time, and I had had the basic game system for KH in my mind for a while by that point. I thought it'd be a good opportunity for me, so I raised my hand and told them to let me handle it."