News ► PlayStation Blog Japan speaks with Hazama, Nomura & Suzui about the development of KHMOM

[Oracle Spockanort]

PlayStation Blog Japan recently interviewed KINGDOM HEARTS series producer Ichiro Hazama, KINGDOM HEARTS series director Tetsuya Nomura, and KINGDOM HEARTS Melody of Memory co-director Masanobu Suzui about the development of KINGDOM HEARTS Memory of Melody, how Disney characters are unlocked as you play the game, why a short scenario was added to Melody of Memory, and the correlation between the acronyms of "Melody of Memory" and "Master of Masters".

Translations of the full interview will be up soon. Thanks to Antifa Lockhart, we have summarized key points of the interview which can be read below:

• Hazama and Suzui have been wanted to do a KINGDOM HEARTS rhythm game for many years, and have pitched it to Nomura several times over the years.
  
  
• Nomura felt there was a noticeable divide between KINGDOM HEARTS 3 and the rest of the series, and wanted to use a new rhythm game as a sort of omnibus of the best moments of the series.
  
  
• Melody of Memory was developed as an action game as well as a rhythm game with the original staff supervising and animating the characters so that it played like a KINGDOM HEARTS game even though it was a totally different genre.
  
  
• Disney characters are unlocked on the field by hitting special items, and they join your party as a guest for a limited time. It's possible to unlock King Mickey this way.
  
  
• The difficulty levels in this game are more suited to different playstyles with the amount of work the player has to do coordinating their own input with the buttons.
  
  
• There are over 140 songs; the team wanted to choose evenly from the games but since KH3 was being developed around the same time, the amount of songs from KH3 are less.
  
  
• Nomura didn't want this game to add nothing to the series, so a new short scenario was written for Melody of Memory.
  
  
• Nomura is aware that some people believe the hooded figure in the trailer to be the Master of Masters because the game and the character share the same acronym, which was what he wanted.
  
  
• He doesn't confirm if that's the case, but he does admit he worried that people would think Melody of Memory and KINGDOM HEARTS Chain of Memories would be connected. He made "Memory" singular to try to avoid that connection.
  
  
• Game development is in its final stages.
  
  
• Nomura hopes to continue to appeal to a broader audience because of the success of KH3. People who skipped games can feel caught up as Kairi narrates the story so far in Melody of Memory.

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[rokudamia2]

Oh Nomura you sly fox

 

[AegisXIII]

Great news.
I am really interested by this game. The graphics are everything I wanted. So much nostalgia.
At some point I hope one of the journalist will ask about the plans to support the serie on the next gen. And maybe a switch compilation.

 

[the red monster]

Great news.
I am really interested by this game. The graphics are everything I wanted. So much nostalgia.
At some point I hope one of the journalist will ask about the plans to support the serie on the next gen. And maybe a switch compilation.

Nomura said no to switch ports, sadly.

 

[ShardofTruth]

I don't understand why he didn't want to have the Chain of Memories connection. The motifs are similiar at first glance, especially the hidden memories one, even if it turned out to be trap in CoM.

 

[Zettaflare]

I like that Nomura intends for MoM to appeal to newcomers after KH3 was a big success. Makes me excited to see how he intends to do that with the next couple of games

 

[AdrianXXII]

Ah so we have confirmation that the orbs will trigger the guest party members! I do find it interesting that the framing will be that Kairi narrates the whole thing.

 

[Squood!]

On the MoM acronym bit, some people have translated Nomura's explanation with him saying that it's "all according to plan."

 

[Chie]

• Nomura is aware that some people believe the hooded figure in the trailer to be the Master of Masters because the game and the character share the same acronym, which was what he wanted.
  
  
• He doesn't confirm if that's the case, but he does admit he worried that people would think Melody of Memory and KINGDOM HEARTS Chain of Memories would be connected. He made "Memory" singular to try to avoid that connection.

I should never underestimate him again, lol.

 

[Blackrazor187]

These newcomers are going to be so confused once they all get caught up with the series.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Nomura said no to switch ports, sadly.

Square Enix executives will find a way for Nomura to make Switch ports of the HD Remixes once Melody of Memories performs beyond expectations.

 

[AegisXIII]

This one is tricky. Usually they say: we have no plans at the moment. But here they said: we tried, we failed.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Square Enix executives will find a way for Nomura to make Switch ports of the HD Remixes once Melody of Memories performs beyond expectations.

Reign in those expectations lol This isn't going to be making any big splashes considering it's coming out around the new gen launch and multiple major AAA releases.

 

[Squood!]

Is it me or is every Melody of Memory interview just the exact same interview

 

[Chaser]

Is it me or is every Melody of Memory interview just the exact same interview

Pretty much. That's why we switched to the interesting excerpts recently, since a lot of it is repeated info.

 

[MATGSY]

Reign in those expectations lol This isn't going to be making any big splashes considering it's coming out around the new gen launch and multiple major AAA releases.

If anything should be encouraging Switch ports it should've been FFX and XII. Did those underperform or something?

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Reign in those expectations lol This isn't going to be making any big splashes considering it's coming out around the new gen launch and multiple major AAA releases.

There are plenty of gamers who are dedicated Nintendo enthusiasts who don't game on competitor platforms. Third party support especially for Square Enix titles has been strong on Nintendo Switch.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

There are plenty of gamers who are dedicated Nintendo enthusiasts who don't game on competitor platforms. Third party support especially for Square Enix titles has been strong on Nintendo Switch.

Sure but we’re talking about a very loaded November. The game will do fine because it is a KH game and KH games are guaranteed a few hundred thousand unit sales but rhythm games are a niche market already on their own, and in such a crowded month so close to the holidays when people are spending money on big ticket items, the new hottest thing, and sale items, you aren’t going to see a lot of people rushing to play a full-priced rhythm game like this.

You also know what else is releasing? Hyrule Warriors.

SE should have their expectations lowered and you should as well. This is not going to sell like you think it will, and it won’t be SE’s argument for releasing HD ports of KH.

Why would a rhythm game—again, a niche product—be the metric for that anyways?

If anything should be encouraging Switch ports it should've been FFX and XII. Did those underperform or something?

No, I think they sold pretty okay for being under-marketed. KH would definitely do better than them just because fans would likely make it a big deal compared to the FF Switch ports which seemed to be an afterthought.

 

[SuperSaiyanSora]

Sure but we’re talking about a very loaded November. The game will do fine because it is a KH game and KH games are guaranteed a few hundred thousand unit sales but rhythm games are a niche market already on their own, and in such a crowded month so close to the holidays when people are spending money on big ticket items, the new hottest thing, and sale items, you aren’t going to see a lot of people rushing to play a full-priced rhythm game like this.

You also know what else is releasing? Hyrule Warriors.

SE should have their expectations lowered and you should as well. This is not going to sell like you think it will, and it won’t be SE’s argument for releasing HD ports of KH.

Why would a rhythm game—again, a niche product—be the metric for that anyways?

Yeah, and we're on the cusp of a brand-new gaming generation. Melody of Memory comes out literally one day later in many places a day after the PS5 releases, and the XSX is November 10th. You've got this, Cyberpunk 2077, Hyrule Warriors, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Spider-Man: Miles Morales and so much more.

Not to mention, a lot of people aren't keen on it being a full $60 experience, even though the content justifies it. It'd be like if Atlus put P3D and P5D on the Switch and used that as a metric for whether they should port over Persona games over to it. Scramble's on there, but a lot of people don't see a point in buying that, because it's a sequel to a game that's not even on the system.

Companies never really say full-out "no" because circumstances change, but given the response Nomura gave when asked about KH games on the Switch... That's as close of a full-out no as it's gonna get. If the Switch Pro is a thing, then maybe, but as of right now? I think that dream is done unfortunately.