Kingdom Hearts is an action RPG series that uniquely combines characters from the Disney and Final Fantasy universes. This formula has already reached sales of 39 million copies and has an unusual beginning.
In an interview with Toru Iwate, then Global President of Nintendo, director Tetsuya Nomura of Square Enix shared interesting details about his sources of inspiration. Among them was the game Super Mario 64; the 3D graphics and freedom of movement in this game greatly influenced Nomura.
Despite the initial idea and inspiration, colleagues at Square expressed doubts, arguing that Mario was already an established character and it was impossible to start a new project from scratch. Some even suggested that success was only possible with well-known characters like Disney heroes, which remained in Nomura's memory. He kept this thought in mind even four years later, during the development of Kingdom Hearts.
Nomura revealed that his meeting with Disney representatives was brief and consisted of a simple discussion without a clear plan. However, the director's idea was clear: to create entirely new characters who would travel through various worlds inhabited by Disney heroes.
The initial reaction from Disney representatives was shocked, especially regarding the idea that the main character would use a chainsaw-like weapon. This concept was discarded during development, and Disney agreed with the final character design.
Regarding the elevator story, Nomura mentioned it in other interviews. For example, at Tokyo Game Show 2004, he stated that it all started with a meeting between Square producer Shinji Hashimoto and Disney executives in the elevator of the building where both companies worked.
The project started in February 2000 and was initially aimed at the Disney audience. However, the plot was changed and rethought throughout the project to become grand and epic, similar to narratives from Final Fantasy.
There were many difficulties in the early stages, especially because the team lacked experience in developing action games, as this was Nomura's first project as a director. According to him, moments of panic and anxiety occurred among employees due to uncertainty about whether the game would be engaging.
The first game in the series was released in Japan on March 28, 2002, for the PlayStation 2. On the Sony console, Kingdom Hearts sold 6.4 million units, making it the best-selling Mickey Mouse game until 2019, according to Guinness.
Currently, the franchise includes 17 games, including remasters, mobile games, and spin-offs. At the D23 event (a Disney fan event), Square Enix announced that the total number of copies sold of the series exceeded 39 million. To put this into perspective, over 35 million units were sold by 2022, and Kingdom Hearts III, according to Square Enix, is currently the best-selling game in the franchise with 6.7 million copies.
Kingdom Hearts IV
The release of Kingdom Hearts IV is scheduled for 2027. A world inspired by Viva: A Vida é uma Festa has already been announced. This announcement was accompanied by the declaration of an original Kingdom Hearts series for Disney Channel and Disney+, in which Nomura will participate in the development.