History Creator / TetsuyaNomura

** He's a fanboy of [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV Kain Highwind]], and Riku of ''Kingdom Hearts'' mirrors Kain's character growth and relationships with the other heroes in many ways. Nomura ''really'' wanted Kain in ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia]]'', even suggesting at one point he be in over Golbez as ''IV''[='s=] representative villain when plans for Kain as a bonus character were axed. He promised in the Ultimania for the game that if ''Dissidia'' got a sequel, Kain would definitely be included, and come ''Dissidia 012'' he kept his word.

The designer is best known for his use of [[TooManyBelts belts]] and {{zipper|iffic}}s. While he can produce simple and practical belts, as can be seen on his first iteration of Cid, he has a tendency to go for elaborate designs. According to [[https://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/kingdom-hearts-fan-questions-answered-10832218 an interview,]] the more people mock him for his designs, the more he's encouraged to use zippers and belts. These can range from the mildly practical, such as in Sora's case, to the downright improbable mesh of Lulu's skirt (which is seemingly ''[[TooManyBelts made of belts]]'').

Nomura advanced to a directing role when [[Creator/WaltDisney Disney]] and Square Enix (then Square Soft) joined forces to develop the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series. He has directed all the games in the series, as well as designing the characters, concepts, and base stories to go with them. He has also worked in the animation field, directing ''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren'' and supervising ''Last Order''. Nomura was director of the much-anticipated ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' until December 2013, when he stepped down in favour of Hajime Tabata in order to concentrate on ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII''. This didn't stop him from focusing on other games such as ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' and ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', however.

Squaresoft originally hired him as a debugger to work on ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV''. He moved on to graphic designing for the subsequent two games, as well as several other RPG games for the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Nintendo]]. His employer approached him to do character designs for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. The game succeeded in becoming the definitive game of the UsefulNotes/PlayStation, and he would go on to design characters in subsequent games, succeeding the previous designer Creator/YoshitakaAmano, as well as a number of other properties.

* KudzuPlot: Most infamously so in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series, where he both writes and conceives each game's storyline. It should be noted that most of this is due to WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants, as he comes up with an overarching story as it goes.

** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded''

* {{Bishonen}}: He has designed many of these types of characters.

** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2''

* AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder: He's the director and father of the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series while continuing to direct assorted ''Final Fantasy'' projects, doing concept art for numerous Square Enix titles in general, and is credited as a Creative Producer on most newer ''Final Fantasy'' titles. Odds are if you played a Square Enix game released after 2010, Nomura had at least ''some'' sort of input on things. Rumors abound that the reason ''Final Fantasy XV'' and ''Kingdom Hearts III'' languished in DevelopmentHell for so long [[labelnote:*]]''FFXV'' was finally released in 2016, while ''KHIII'' was released at last in January of 2019[[/labelnote]] is because Square Enix keeps Nomura too busy on too many projects and he can't give any of them the time they need.