Nomura talks Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix development

Following last week’s report, Famitsu Dengeki PlayStation has an interview this week with Kingdom Hearts series director Tetsuya Nomura.

According to Nomura, development on Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix, Square Enix‘s upcoming HD remaster of Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories announced at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, was decided before Final Fantasy X HD, which has kept quiet since its Tokyo Game Show 2011 announcement.

The high-definition work on Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix was made possible by the great efforts of two programmers from Square Enix’s Osaka team over the course of a year. The Osaka team is basically unchanged, and it’s thanks to them that Kingdom Hearts has continued to progress. Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix‘s development is in its final stages.

In addition to two games, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix also includes high-definition cutscenes from Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. This totals in at about two to three hours of footage, according to Nomura.

Back to the games, camera function has been modified to be based on Kingdom Hearts II‘s. And don’t expect a secret movie when you beat them. Nomura says there won’t be one.

Touching upon a few separate works, Nomura said:

• The World Ends With You is a personal favorite. He wants to broaden it, but right now hopes that people can enjoy the iOS version.
• His work on Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is finished. He drew the costumes for Lightning and Snow.
• Final Fantasy Versus XIII development is progressing, so please wait for a followup report.

Thanks, Game Nyarth.