Kingdom Hearts III development team still debating whether to include Sephiroth secret boss battle

The Kingdom Hearts III development team is still debating whether or not it will include Final Fantasy VII villain Sephiroth as a secret boss, director Tetsuya Nomura told Mirror.co.uk.

“I can’t say for certain [if there will be secret bosses],” Nomura said. “I hope, hint hint hint. I can’t say for certain. In terms of Sephiroth, do you feel like you want to battle Sephiroth again? (Laughs.)”

After some back and forth with Mirror’s Ryan Brown about how Brown’s mother plays the Kingdom Hearts series and was able to defeat Sephiroth, Nomura said, ” I don’t think I can beat him!(Laughs.) In terms of the secret boss, we can’t say anything at this time, but in terms of Sephiroth specifically, my development team are worried that we’ve had him come back so many times, so they’re maybe worried it might be redundant at this point. We’re still deliberating on it.”

Mirror also asked when Kingdom Hearts III will show up at an event, such as E3 or Gamescom, in a publicly playable state. Nomura responded, “Perhaps when we’re finally able to reveal the month and date of the release.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Mirror asked Nomura why zippers and belts are so prevalent in his character design.

“That was my preference back when I first designed the characters, so 15 years ago,” Nomura said. “At that time, people teased me about zippers and belts and whatnot and I’m the type of person if somebody eggs me on I’m gonna do it more! Nowadays, I’m not as conscious about adding them in.”

Nomura continued, “I’m not the type of person that would shrink down when people tease me about it. I’m gonna fight back! I’m gonna go back at it and do it more. So, if people egg me on saying ‘oh, Kingdom Hearts III is delayed’ well, I might even delay it further! (Laughs.)”

Kingdom Hearts III will launch for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2018.