Interview with KH Coded Senior Planner

Kato: Like previous games in the ‘Kingdom Hearts’ series, it’s an action RPG – a tale where you control the protagonist Sora, a tale that progresses as he defeats the enemy Heartless. You travel into the data world, where there are powers called debugging abilities unique to the digital world. The worlds have been afflicted by a disaster of bugs, and we’ve put in many devices suited to the data world. In the ending you can see a connection to ‘Birth by Sleep’ on the PSP and ‘Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days’ on the Nintendo DS.

— The events of the game happen after ‘KHII’, but the story is based on ‘KHI’, right?

Kato: That’s right. Fans of the series can enjoy it as the latest story, but we made it so people who don’t know the series can enjoy it too. It also looks back over the journey so far, so people playing for the first time can naturally get into it.

— It seems like in each world there are stages with particular features.

Kato: As the initial concept of this game, Nomura said, “I want to make something where people can enjoy the attractions of the digital world,” so in each world there are things like side scrolling or inward scrolling areas, and you can enjoy nostalgic games you feel like you’ve played long ago – that’s the core of the gameplay.

— Many Disney characters appear in the ‘Kingdom Hearts’ series. Is the development process different from that of other games?

Kato: Unlike normal games, in order to check all the connections between each distributed chapter, release dates were determined ahead of time – and there were points that needed to be amended to satisfy supervisors, that was different. People from Disney would check each world, making sure there was nothing improper about the events that happened or characters’ lines, and sometimes offered their opinions about the gameplay in each world.

— I see. With the release of the 8th chapter, the game is now complete – what would you say are the highlights?

Kato: This game is kind of an overview of the story so far, but within that framework, the choices the user makes can lead to differences in the ending. So even after playing through once, you can enjoy it many more times. Moreover, in the final battle you fight with an unexpected character, so I really want people to look forward to that.

— And there are connections to things like ‘Birth by Sleep’ too?

Kato: Yes. But that comes right at the end, so it’s a secret (laughs). Although I think people who have played ‘Birth by Sleep’ will definitely be surprised.

— How about further developments of ‘coded’?

Kato: There aren’t many devices on which it can be played, so I think it would be good if we could work on something to increase the number of users who can play it…

— So finally, tell us about the appeal of this game.

Kato: It’s a fun, lighthearted game, so please try it at least once. Also, ‘coded’ is finished, but there are mutual connections with other titles in the series, which I think can give various impressions, so look forward to that.

Vague Hint Too Vague?

So there we have it. Kato says they are interested in increasing the number of people who have the opportunity to experience and enjoy Kingdom Hearts: Coded, but no further comments on whether or not he meant different phone companies throughout Japan or actually expanding outside of the country.