Kingdom Hearts can be deceptively difficult. Sure, it features Donald, Goofy, and a teenager that helps save the world through the power of love and friendship, but the first game has plenty of foes ready and waiting to turn Sora into mush. Phantom, Kurt Zisa, and Sephiroth are all extremely tricky fights, the latter renowned for having a health bar that doesn't even fit on the screen properly.
It can be very easy to get lost, with no mini-map or directions to follow, but director Tetsuya Nomura believed these "hardcore" elements are what made the game fun. In an old interview from an issue of Hyper PlayStation 2 Magazine from 2003 - which was recently unearthed by Shmuplations (thanks GamesRadar) - Nomura talked about some of the more difficult elements of the game before its release, calling it a "wolf in sheep's clothing".
"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," says Nomura. "I wanted to try making a game where the player could do anything. Even though Kingdom Hearts is a Disney game, there are quite a few "hardcore" elements that...
