Birth of KH Story... Is it true?

[Orion]

If they were able to come up with a smash hit game with only seconds on an elevator, they'd be geniuses, actually either way they'd be geniuses, they made Kingdom Hearts!

Of course the idea didn't happen in a few seconds. Nomura had had something in his mind previously, and when he stepped into the elevator he spoke with the other guy, he thought it might be a good idea, and then of course Nomura developed if further later.

 

[Apollo]

I've heard of the story, but for some reason I used to think Nomura did it while drunk :\

Or high

If they were able to come up with a smash hit game with only seconds on an elevator, they'd be geniuses, actually either way they'd be geniuses, they made Kingdom Hearts!

Would coming up with Kingdom Hearts merit someone the title of genius?

 

[redcapnumetal]

yes i can confirm that this is true. you can find it in the october 2002 issue 61 of the official us playstation magazine. the story starts on 126

"It all began on a elevator ride
" Square is right above our japan offices in the same building" explains Dan Winters, vice president of product development for Disney Interactive " So as some people from Disney Interactive were taking the elevator up to their offices and some folks from square were taking the elevator up to their offices, they got to talking and saying 'we should be working together.' That's how the whole discussion got started"
Though Winters clearly claims the Disney and Square staffers were heading upwards during that fateful ride, it so apparent in those early days where this dream-team collaboration would end up. Would it reach the heights of other historic pairings, hopping ever skyward toward gaming heaven--much like that suspender-clad plumber once did when Square and Nintendo teamed up for the 1995 Super NES classic Super Mario RPG? Or would it drop to the dark depths, stopping at every floor along the way, yielding a bottom-dweller of biblical proportions, a terrible twosome that would give Cain and Abel a run for their money?
Flash forward to today, and Kingdom Hearts is already a smash hit in japan, earning more praise from the pundits and plaudits from the public. Due to hit U.S. store shelves any day now, this disney/square RPG poised to Perpetuate its overseas opulence. But is it any good? Does it truly live up to its promise? Does it capture that unique magic offered both by Square and Disney?
The short answer: absolutely"
that is just a bit of the first page of the 11 page article. the rest goes on and tells you about nomura's idea for the battle system and all these other things it is a great article it tells you everything you want to know and if your a hardcore KH fan i would suggest tracking it down. if any asks i will re write the rest.

 

[zspek09]

Ahhh, Nomura...the greatest RPG genius in existence....:lol:

 

[Orion]

Ahhh, Nomura...the greatest RPG genius in existence....:lol:

HahahahahahahaNO

 

[xambler05]

Ahhh, Nomura...the greatest RPG genius in existence....:lol:

lol that he is.
I wish that disney hadn't done anything, i think the idea with some disney places was ok. But fighting along side the characters? It was cool for a while. Then i got mad cause they got annoying and in the way.

 

[Ta-Chan]

lol that he is.
I wish that disney hadn't done anything, i think the idea with some disney places was ok. But fighting along side the characters? It was cool for a while. Then i got mad cause they got annoying and in the way.

Hence the reason why I tried not to use any of them
Except you have to use donald and goofy, Donald's voice ruins the magic of the Hollow bastian cutscenes anyway...

 

[xambler05]

yes it does. And i wish SE made KH all on their own. Everyone knows disney is a buncha whiney little bitches wearing retarded HSM t-shirts with mickey mouse caps. They complain about every little thing.

 

[Aria]

I've heard of the story, but for some reason I used to think Nomura did it while drunk :\

I heard on another thread he got the idea for coded at a bar while he was drunk so you weren't that far off xD

 

[Chaos]

Basically.
Square and Disney share the same building in Japan (I think, I could be wrong) and the two executives began talking and bam, Kingdom hearts
Mickey was supposed to be the main character though, not Sora.

thats what basically what went down

 

[UnstoppableSound]

I remember reading a story/rumour years ago that the birth of Kingdom Hearts was when a head executive of Square Enix (Squaresoft back then) and a Head executive of Disney walked into an elevator and when they walked out they devised "Kingdom Hearts."

Please tell me if this is true or not.

and... if it is/isn't what is the full story?

I found this quote from Tetsuya Nomura:

"It is common knowledge that a chance meeting in an elevator between Square Enix and Disney people where the beginnings of an idea for a game came about, but Tetsuya Nomura also has commented on another aspect that influenced the creation of Kingdom Hearts."

In an interview conducted in Japan, which touched upon his favourite games and other such things, Nomura stated:

."..Super Mario 64 had a big influence on me. We used many of the fundamental elements in Kingdom Hearts. As for the purest experience as a player, it's the Tekken series. Every time a new entry in the series comes out, I play it until I've beaten it with every character"

And another quote from an Executive of Square Enix (SQUARESOFT, back then):

"The idea for Kingdom Hearts came about when producer Shinji Hashimoto met with a Disney executive in an elevator; Square and Disney had previously worked in the same building in Japan. The production team was composed of over one hundred members from both Square and Disney. The game began development in February 2000 and originally focused more on the gameplay with a simple story to appeal to Disney's target age range. After executive producer Hironobu Sakaguchi told director Tetsuya Nomura the game would be a failure if it did not aim for the same level as the Final Fantasy series, Nomura began to develop the story further. When choosing the Disney worlds to include in the game, Nomura and his team tried to pick worlds that had distinctively different looks. They also tried to take into account worlds with Disney characters that would be interesting. Though they had few restrictions on which worlds they could use from the Disney franchises, they tried to remain within each character's boundaries set by their respective Disney films."

You've answered your own question in your first post. Those quotes all seem legitimate and truthful, and if gained from a reliable source, then sure, things like that happen.

However, I've heard from a different interview that the creation of Kingdom Hearts came when Nomura took into his control the management and creation of a new big RPG hit. All the idea's for the gameplay, story, and other elements were already devised in his head a long time ago, he simply got the chance to put it all together for real. The elevator story seems quite plausible though, as a first step and connection to what I've just stated.

 

[Audo]

I heard on another thread he got the idea for coded at a bar while he was drunk so you weren't that far off xD

That was fake.

 

[Pratiko]

Mmm, I remember reading somewhere that Nomura had to convince Disney in North America, but he couldn't speak with them cuz he can't speak english... lol... So, he actually never heard a "No" and kept pushing them... 'Neways, it already happened, so whatever..

 

[TrueRoxas527]

I've honestly never heard of that story, but I guess it's obvious that it didn't just start there, there was some planning for something like that before.
Either way, that simple elevator conversation led KH to a whole new level! Disney probably makes most of its money from the KH games anyways, since some of their movies have turned into epic fails. (Some weren't so bad, I'm particularly fond of Beauty and the Beast, but Beast looks weird as a human)