Tetsuya Nomura: Kingdom Hearts has become my life's work

Tetsuya Nomura's fingerprints are visible across Final Fantasy, from the heavy zips and belts in character designs to Final Fantasy 7's Limit Break system, but he says a different series has come to define his career. In an interview with Famitsu (translated by Genki) he stated, "Kingdom Hearts has become my life's work, so I can't leave it out." The idea for the project traces back to Super Mario 64: Square wanted a game with similar free-form movement but lacked a recognisable icon.

That changed after co-creator Shinji Hashimoto ran into a Disney executive in an elevator, setting the collaboration in motion. Nomura recalled making numerous trips to Disney headquarters for meetings and said many of the early discussions have since taken shape.

"I never imagined it would become such a long journey. At the beginning of the project, I made numerous trips to Disney headquarters for meetings, and many of the things we discussed back then have come to fruition over time.

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