Interview:
Realising the Absurd Volume
-- How did the Osaka development team get the chance to make 'Birth by Sleep'?
Yoichi Yoshimoto: It started around the end of June 2005, when Nomura (Tetsuya, creator of 'Kingdom Hearts') said "Let's get the Osaka team to make a new 'Kingdom Hearts' game."
Tai Yasue: At that time we hadn't decided what kind of 'Kingdom Hearts' title to make, so we were feeling our way while playing 'KHII'.
Yoshimoto: At first there was a period when we planned to develop it for the Playstation 2.
Yasue: We were making something very different to 'Birth by Sleep', with Sora as the prototype for the lead role. Then Nomura started writing the "Birth by Sleep" plans, so we worked on making our plans fit with his.
-- After that, you were asked to manage 'Re: Chain of Memories', right?
Yoshimoto: Yes. About half a year into making 'Birth by Sleep', Nomura asked us, "Could you make 'Re: Chain of Memories'?" There was less than a year until the development deadline.
Yasue: That's right (laughs). But it was a really good experience. We learned that the development process was very different in the Osaka and Tokyo teams, and came to understand the high level of quality required for making a Disney title.
So yes, BBS was put on hold because of Re: CoM, but that was in 2006, not in 2002.
About the first trailer and changes: Happened also with KH1. When you watch the announcement trailer of it you will notice several changes, like Disney Town being playable, the logo of Kingdom Hearts, or the original name being "Kingdom of Hearts". So I wouldn't call that "development hell", just simple and common gathering of ideas and scrapping/changing stuff in the early phase. Also happened with KH2, like the Behemoths that were supposed to appear in the 1000 Heartless battle as can be seen in the announcement trailer.