Music with pedigree

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance is already in stores in Japan and Europe, with North America joining in on 31st July. While the series is loved for many things, whether it's the Disney influences or the storylines, its music has played a big role in making it memorable to fans.

In an interview with Destructoid, the three composers behind the music all answered the same set of questions, giving their own perspectives on working on the series, the challenges with Kingdom Hearts 3D and their thoughts on 3DS itself. We've reproduced all three answers to the question asked about the impact of 3DS on their compositions and musical approach, below.

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Yoko Shimomura

The 3DS hardware is truly brilliant. In the past for Nintendo handheld games I’ve always used the internal sound source to compose. This time, I was able to use a streaming source which enabled me to compose music in a higher quality, which I am very happy about. I didn’t particularly change the way I used sound in the game at this time, but I think it will be a good idea to pursue trying out new types of BGM in the future.

Tsuyoshi Sekito

Including 3D visual effects, there was so much expressive power that it was difficult for me to believe it was for a handheld game device. As such, I also tried to create songs with a fair amount of scale sensitivity. In this particular project, this is especially true of colorful and speedy songs for Dream Eater battles and Dive Mode. I feel that I was able to better emphasize a larger scale of the world without worrying about the the small game screen on the portable device. So far, there have been no unforeseen challenges (laughs).

Takeharu Ishimoto

I actually didn’t really think about it (laughs).

Despite Ishimoto-san rather humorously not playing ball, it's positive to read about how the 3DS hardware enthused this team of composers. As anyone who's enjoyed the music in titles such as Kid Icarus: Uprising and Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy will hopefully agree, the 3DS sound capabilities can pack a punch.

[source destructoid.com]