Final Fantasy veteran and Kingdom Hearts creator Tetsuya Nomura was determined to have a non-Disney character lead his multiversal Disney series.
When he first designed the character designs and initial treatments for the first Kingdom Hearts game, Nomura knew he wanted to create an original star, which ultimately led him to first draw Sora, a cheerful protagonist who mixes classic colors. from Disney with a bit of JRPG edge.
“We talked about using an existing Disney character as the protagonist, but from the beginning I knew I wanted the main character to be non-Disney, with an all-star cast of supporting Disney characters,” Nomura said in a recently resurfaced interview with The Artist. Metal Gear Solid, Yoji Shinkawa, first published in a Hyper PlayStation 2 magazine, now available on Shmuplations. “That was something I wasn't willing to compromise on.”
“For Sora's color, I kept Mickey Mouse in mind,” he continued. “Since all the other characters are not Square characters but Disney characters, I wanted Sora's design to be a kind of 'big compilation' of all the characters I had drawn up until then. So I think he looks like a lot of characters: There's a little bit of Cloud, a little bit of Tidus, a little bit of Sion too. I was very focused on that.”
Part of the reason for a more mature, zipper-packed protagonist was because Kingdom Hearts wasn't exactly what you'd expect from a 2002 Disney license. It was an RPG that carried on the traditions of Final Fantasy in many ways (with summons and spells with similar names), but with a focus on action, anime melodrama and a stranger and slightly sinister undertone.
“My concept for Kingdom Hearts was that it would be a game with a lot of depth, something you could play for a long time,” Nomura explained. “I wanted to try to make a game where the player could do anything. Even though Kingdom Hearts is a Disney game, there are quite a few “hardcore” elements left. Things that you would think we probably need to make this more friendly – we dared to counter that expectation in several places. For example, the map is 3D, but we deliberately didn't include an easy-to-understand 2D minimap display… Originally, getting lost and having to use your head was part of the fun, I think. the recent support and excessive explanations from the developers is actually a good thing…” A vision of the future perhaps.
Before Kingdom Hearts 4 begins, Sora's lead actor said that maybe “the best thing you can do” is let the series end: “Even if you have something you love.”