Tetsuya Nomura Says He Was Pickier Than Disney About Sora’s Appearance In Smash Bros.
Sora’s appearance in Super Smash Bros. was a big moment for the series. As the final DLC character in Nintendo’s epic crossover, the Kingdom Hearts hero’s appearance finally fulfilled years of speculation and dreams on the part of fans. It was also unexpected.
For many years, a Sora cameo was considered unlikely due to the licensing restrictions involved in working with Disney. But in a new interview with Game Informer, Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura says that, actually, working with Disney was fine. It was Nomura himself who was strict.
“Obviously, I was very happy that we were able to have Sora make an appearance in Smash Bros. Ultimate. Most of the feedback when Sora was [announced] for Smash Bros. Ultimate was, ‘I can’t believe Disney okayed for him to be in this game.’ Behind the scenes, I was actually the one being very picky about his appearance in Smash Bros. Disney was the one that was like, ‘Go ahead! This is a great opportunity,'” Nomura explains.
“I thought it would be tough to pull off because it might clash with the established lore in Kingdom Hearts and the Disney worlds, so it was an opportunity I had to consider very carefully. After seeing how happy everybody was in welcoming Sora to Smash Bros., I feel like the end result was really great.”
Nomura is well-known within industry circles for his exacting attention to detail in his art. The famed artist has been with Square Enix since the mid-90s, exerting a huge amount of influence on Final Fantasy’s style before moving on to projects such as Kingdom Hearts.
According to Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai, Sora’s inclusion in the Smash Bros. roster was the result of a chance meeting with a Disney representative at an awards show, which helped to kickstart discussions with the media giant. After careful negotiations between Nintendo, Disney, and Square Enix, Sora finally joined Sephiroth, Minecraft Steve, and the rest of the guest characters in Fighters Pass 2.
Since then, Square Enix has announced Kingdom Hearts 4, which Nomura further details in the Game Informer interview. It will feature Sora’s adventures in the Quadratum, where he will seemingly venture through an abstract version of the real world. Don’t worry, though: Nomura says that Disney worlds and maybe even Final Fantasy characters will appear in Kingdom Hearts 4 in due time.
Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
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