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Grasshopper Manufacture Studios

The NZA

By The NZA
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The NZA Hondonian

The NZA

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GrasshopperManufacture.png

 

i kept threatening a Suda51 thread; here it is.

for those that dont know, dude's becoming one of my favorite designers, responsible for a number of japanese PS2 titles that didn't make it over, as well as Killer 7, No More Heroes, Flower, Sun & Rain (DS) and Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked. god knows id love to play Michigan: Report from Hell but its region 2. Now that Fatal Frame 4 has a fan-translation patch, i think ill check that one out as well.

 

Anyway, i wanted a thread for his studio's upcoming projects, including a horror title with Resident Evil director Mikami and Silent Hill composer Yamaoka, and an unnamed translation of the literary works of Kafka (!).

 

anyway, might just be me here, but ima post this anyway.

 

51 things you didn't know about Suda51:

 

He was born in Japan's Nagano prefecture. "It was a beautiful place surrounded by mountains and snow."

 

He hated it. "Since I was little I was always thinking about escaping."

 

He doesn't have any sisters.

 

He's not particularly close to his family. "When I moved to Tokyo, I didn't have any relatives or anything. I left my family behind to follow my dreams of making games. I stay away from my family - although now I have my own family. Make sure you mention how much I love my wife!"

 

It took him ages to get into the games industry. He had dozens of jobs before he broke into the world of gaming employment at the age of 24. Immediately before getting his first gaming job, making wrestling titles for Human Entertainment, he was working as an undertaker, which he hated.

 

Being an undertaker made him think about how he portrays death in games. "I'm probably one of the few game developers that's actually seen a dead body! I've always wanted people to experience death in my games in a powerful way."

 

He's a huge wrestling fan. "I started out writing wrestling games. I felt that no one else knew as much about wrestling as I did, which gave me a lot of confidence."

 

Suda was a shoegazer. When working on his first game, Super Fire Pro Wrestling 3: Final Bout, he obsessively listened to the ten-minute-long song Grasshopper by Oxford indie band Ride. "I'd work till midnight, listening to that song on repeat. That's why I eventually named my own studio Grasshopper Manufacture, because things only got made thanks to that song!"

 

He struggled to get people to listen to his ideas at first. "I was 24, the other people in the team were also very young, so we found it difficult to get our bosses to listen to our ideas. After I had some success, it became easier. My knowledge eventually convinced people to trust me."

 

He wanted to celebrate his first game sale with a hug. "When my first game hit the shops, it felt unbelievable. On release day I stayed in the games shop all day. When people were checking out the game on the shelf, I was standing behind them, almost whispering 'Buy it, buy it, buy it...'. When someone finally did, I wanted to hug them. Of course, culturally, you can't really do that in Japan, but I really wanted to follow them home and give them a big hug. I was so happy."

 

His second game featured a highly controversial ending. "After fighting his way to the top, there was nothing really left for the wrestler to achieve. So I had him commit suicide!"

 

He was sad the first No More Heroes wasn't popular in Japan. "No More Heroes 2 hasn't even been released in Japan yet. I really hope it is soon."

 

The Beam Katana used by hero Travis Touchdown isn't inspired by Star Wars. "It's actually inspired by Spaceballs!"

 

He didn't want to make another No More Heroes game. "After No More Heroes, I felt I'd told the story I wanted to tell."

 

Fans convinced him otherwise. "Once I got lots of requests from the fans that wanted to play a sequel, I sort of wanted to find out what happened next to Travis myself. Which is how the sequel came about."

 

He's sorry we didn't get the gory version of No More Heroes in the UK. "I wanted to make sure you guys got the more extreme version this time!"

 

No More Heroes 2 was inspired by a Yakuza movie. "Battles Without Honor & Humanity is referenced a few times - it was a huge influence on this game, and Killer7. It's directed by Kinji Fukasaku, who's probably most famous in the west for Battle Royale."

 

He wouldn't hang out with Travis Touchdown in real life. "He's too violent! Maybe if he promised not to kill anyone."

 

He really wanted Travis to appear in a Smash Bros game. "Can you imagine him taking on Mario?"

 

He thinks Sylvia Christel is his best female character. "In the past, I've never felt that I've been very good at female characters, but Sylvia is the first character I've been really happy with."

 

Sylvia's based on a famous actress. "Last time she was more Scarlett Johansson. This time I wanted her to look a bit like Kiera Knightley. Only with bigger breasts."

 

Her name is taken from slightly a less famous actress. "Yes, her name's a tribute to Sylvia Kristel!" She appeared in various, er, special grown-ups' films in the '70s and '80s.

 

He loves movie directors. "I put Miike Takashi in No More Heroes 2. I'd love to see him make a game. He works so fast, it'd only take him a week!"

 

The hotel in No More Heroes is also a movie reference. "It's modelled after the room Guy Pearce stays in during Momento."

 

He loves anime. "Our publishing company in Japan is Marvelous Entertainment, who do a lot of popular anime shows. I always wanted to do an anime show with them. I finally got to do it when I made No More Heroes 2."

 

His in-game anime show is called Bizarre Jelly. "I wrote the scenario myself. It's sort of a parody of Pretty Cure, which is an anime about magical schoolgirls. I had to laugh when I saw it for the first time, the characters' breasts were so big!"

 

Travis uses Bizarre Jelly catchphrases when he kills someone. "He's so obsessed with the show, he steals their lines! 'Raspberry chocolate sundae!'"

 

Bizarre Jelly was supposed to be in the first game. "I didn't get the idea until near the end of the first game, but they said we'd run out of money. This time we made sure we had the money up front."

 

His biggest regret about the No More Heroes series is a musical one. "I really wanted to include the Stranglers song that inspired the title in this second game, but the rights are just so expensive."

 

No More Heroes 3 won't appear until the next generation of Nintendo console has been released. "As long as this one sells enough copies!"

 

He's an Anglophile. "I saw England as a magical place. In fact, London was the first place I ever went to visit overseas - it inspires me so much."

 

He'd like to set a game in England - but not London. "To be honest, The Getaway really put me off, so I'd rather set a game in Manchester, in the Factory Records era."

 

British music was his first love. "In high school, my friend was a really big fan of the band Japan [who were, ironically, from Lewisham - Music Ed]. So I really got into them, and New Romantic bands like Duran Duran, then bands like Joy Division and The Smiths."

 

He used to dress like a New Romantic. "I actually dressed like Duran Duran - I had the hairstyle and everything."

 

The Cure is the band he'd have most liked to have been in. "Third guitarist at the back, just behind Robert Smith."

 

He's putting together a band. "I'm actually trying to start a band at the moment, called The Temptation."

 

They're not going to have much of a setlist. "We're only going to perform one song - Temptation by New Order. We might do different versions though, reggae, punk, electronic and so on."

 

He wishes that money wasn't such a barrier to creativity. "I'd love to make a game like Trainspotting, with a really amazing soundtrack of bands I love. But it would be so expensive just to get the music rights."

 

His favourite alcoholic drink isn't sake. "I drink it a lot, with friends, but I prefer wine."

 

He once saved Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami from drinking shame. "Once the president of Capcom invited Shinji Mikami and myself out for drinks, and Mikami-san drank so much wine he threw up. I had to secretly carry him out of the bar!"

 

He recently lost all his clothes. "They lost my bags on the flight from Japan. I had to go clothes shopping as soon as I landed."

 

Ironically, despite being temporarily shirtless, he has his own fashion label. "I love making cool clothes!"

 

His favourite writer is Franz Kafka.

 

He once tried to make a game based on the existentialist's work.

 

He didn't know that fans had translated his unreleased-in-the-west Fatal Frame IV. "Really? I had no idea! That's so incredible! I'm so glad people can play it."

 

He'd like to make a Killer7 sequel some day. "Unfortunately, Capcom own the rights, so it'll probably never happen."

 

He wants game developers to have a more punk attitude. "Just creating something is punk to me. The very first time I played a videogame, I was so shocked at the feelings I had, and I always want other people to feel that when they play my games."

 

He really likes the Burnout series. According to Criterion's server logs, he's put over 700 hours into the game.

 

His all-time favourite game is Another World.

 

He feels that making games is a battle. "I have really innovative ideas, but people don't always accept them. So it's a constant battle between compromising my ideas, or pushing them through."

 

No subjects are off limits when it comes to creativity. "I don't think there are any limitations. If it was too gross for me, than maybe, but if the publishers let me do it, then I'd probably do it anyway. I guess there is a line, but I've never hit it."

 

He won't tell us anything about his upcoming EA collaboration that also involves Shinji Mikami and Silent Hill producer Akira Yamaoka. "Will I tell you anything about it? No! Haha."

 

Bonus fact! No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is out in May.

 

all that, and no mention of his many references to The Smiths in Killer 7, or his twitter.

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The NZA Hondonian

The NZA

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today is a very good day

 

EA announced in Japan today that Mikami and Suda's new game is finally going to be revealed to the public soon. The venue: EA Tokyo Showcase 2010, an event the publisher will be holding at Japan's capital on September 15, one day before the Tokyo Game Show's doors open.

 

1 week from today...looks like this is the one with music from Yamaoka (Silent Hill), no less!! :ohface::love:

 

20z7g5h.gif

 

Which I totally don't plan on buying cause I'm a cheap ass

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Newtype Hondonian

Newtype

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First made public in early 2008, Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami and No More Heroes designer Goichi Suda have teamed up with EA on a new game. According to Japanese game mag Famitsu, that game has a title.

 

The Mikami/Suda project will be titled "Shadows of the Damned", or rather "Shadows of the DAMNED" (their caps, not mine). The protagonist is a motorcycle ridding demon killer, and the game uses an over-the-shoulder third-person point-of-view. Due out next year, Shadows of the Damned is slated for release on the PS3 and the Xbox 360.

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The NZA Hondonian

The NZA

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Suda51's next game

 

lollipop-chainsaw-600x337.jpg

 

 

 

Grasshopper Manufacture head/creative director Suda 51′s next project was revealed a couple of weeks back, and it has been attracting lots of attention. Called Lollipop Chainsaw, the game looks to be as crazy and over-the-top as Suda 51′s past releases, though this time he'll have the help of James Gunn, who wrote the Dawn of the Dead remake a few years back, in the story department. What makes this news Segabits worthy though is the interesting appearance of none other than SEGA's Toshihiro Nagoshi, (Yakuza, Super Monkey Ball) who was on hand at a recent press event to voice his support for the title, praising Suda 51 for his "aggressive" games and his focus on creating new IP.

 

 

ps i bought NMH2 new, alex. take that!

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The NZA Hondonian

The NZA

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Renting next week, will buy if i likes it - it'll be $20 soon anyway.

 

suda games nza has played:

 

Killer7

NMH 1

NMH 2

Michigan: Report from Hell

Flower, Sun, and Rain

Fatal Frame IV

Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked

 

suda games mal has played:

 

shadows of the damned

NMH 1

NMH 2

 

God Mal's so Awesome.

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Thelogan Hondonian

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I'm pretty sure I've posted that picture no less than 5 times since ASC dropped it on us a few years ago.

 

Michigan. Pfft. How about I just play Deadly Premonition while looking through the viewfinder of my digital camera instead?

 

It's no Super Fire Pro Wrestling Special.

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