For over 30 years Goichi Suda, otherwise known asSuda51, has been one of thegamingindustrys few true auteurs.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Demons and Dick Jokes
For anyone who doesnt know, what isShadows of the Damned?
Garcia Hotspur in ‘Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered’Grasshopper Manufacture
Its kind of likeSuper Mario Bros.,but in hell.
Its like a much more fucked up version ofSuper Mario Bros., as far as the story goes.
Youve said before that Garcia Hotspur went through many iterations when you originally developedShadows of the Damned.
What was the basis for his final design?
There are basically two things.
Theres a group inCrowscalled The Front of Armament, or TFOA.
Is that built-in during that early planning or is that something that happens organically throughout development?
As we made the game, a lot of it happened organically.
Some of it was stuff that I thought of, and some of it the other staff thought up.
Do you know what direction you would take a sequel?
Is that something that you have thought about or planned out?
But there are two things that, if possible, would be cool to make someday.
One of them would be a VR version ofShadows of the Damned.
For the sequel, I feel thatShadows of the Damnedwould match well with VR.
Maybe like aTime Crisisin VR pop in thing.
One thing that Id like to do is add some sort of super crazy twist to it.
What are some of your comedic influences?
Its been like this since way back in the day.
Comedians themselves are considered sort of high up in society, but not in a snobbish way.
Theyre an important part of not just the entertainment industry, but society in general.
There was this legendary Japanese group of comedians called Drifters.
Even if you didnt watch them, everybody knows who they are.
Everybody knows their most famous gags and stuff.
If youre in Japan and you grew up watching TV, youve seen these guys.
Youve been surrounded by them your whole life, you know all the references.
Do you know the show,Workaholics?
Unfortunately, its unavailable in Japan.
Its never been localized, as far as I know.
My wife and I are literally the only Japanese people I know who even know that show.
And Adam DeVine in particular, I think he is hilarious.
Their style of comedy is so funny.
I can guarantee youre not going to hear another Japanese game developer telling you that theyre inspired byWorkaholics!
Is Japanese comedy very different from the comedy that we are used to in the West?
Yeah, there are a lot of really big differences.
Youve got sometimes three, but usually two guys up on a stage.
And like, slaps him.
One of the big end-of-the-year events for Japanese people is the show calledThe M-1 Grand Prix.
Its basically a contest between all these up-and-coming stand-up comedians, and most of them are duos.
If you win this, thats like your ticket to automatically becoming a superstar.
Youve got it made now.
Its the kind of thing that you dont really see in the West very often.
Youve got more individual stand-up comedians, whereas here youve got the duos and trios and stuff.
In Japan, when you have a Manzia duo, the roles are pretty strictly defined.
Youve got one called the Boke character, and one called the Tsukkomi character.
And that Tsukkomi character is like, What the hell are you talking about?
Or just, shut the hell up.
Hell chide him or say something really sarcastic to kind of counter him.
Youve got the kind of dumb nice guy and the sharper, sarcastic, meaner guy.
Thats exactly where that dynamic comes from.
Are there genres you havent done in a while, or havent done yet that youre interested in doing?
Id like to try an adventure game.
Not just full-on action adventure, but much more adventure-based.
When you are making an action game, the action is the core loop.
You have to focus most on the action.
How do you keep that interesting?
How do you keep that fun?
But for an adventure game, it relies a lot more on the story.
How do you keep up peoples interest in that?
Are there examples of modern games that you think do that well?
Theyre very adventure-focused, and the adventure is really well done.
Speaking of looking into the past, Ive always been very fascinated byFire Pro Wrestling.
What would a Suda51 wrestling game in the year 2024 look like?
And it would be a modern-day Suda 51 wrestling game.
I definitely have something in mind already.
I tend to focus more on whats coming up.
We dont have any kind of concrete plan or anything.
Who else would you like to collaborate with?
For example, some Marvel and some DC stuff.
Id like to do Batman, and in particular,Batman Black and White.
Thats a game that I wanted to try my hand at for a long time.
Marvel-wise, it would be Deadpool.
Ive been wanting to make a Deadpool game for a long time.
Also, another game that Ive been wanting to venture to make for a long time would be Gundam.
I would love to have a go at make a Gundam game.
Whats the best Gundam?
Movie-wise, itsChars Counterattack (1988).
And as far as my favorite Gundam, Its called Exia fromGundam 00(2007).
Youve mentioned a few times that youre a big Marvel fan.
Who is your favorite Marvel superhero?
Im a big fan of the X-Men.
If you had to pick one, I would probably say Wolverine.
I loveDeadpooltoo, but I like Wolverine the most.
He has Japanese villains and collaborators, partners, and stuff like that.
I have kind of an extra special place in my heart for Wolverine.
Here in the United States, Travis Touchdown is probably the most famous character to come from Grasshopper.
Its kind of hard to choose between the two, but the first would probably be Travis Touchdown.
Travis is sort of like a part of myself.
Weve been through a lot together over the years.
Thats the first game that I did as Grasshopper Manufacture.
When I wrote that character, I again put a lot of myself into him.
I wrote this character as the kind of adult that I wanted to become in the future.
And so partly because of that, I have a really special place in my heart for Kusabi.
Sometimes people ask When are you going to bring back this character or this character.
I cant just whip the guy out for [a cameo].
You became a director just a few days into your first big job in the industry.
What advice would you give to yourself, looking back just starting in the industry?
He probably wouldnt have made it this far.
Inside the Mind of Suda 51
Can you tell me a little about your creative process?
How do you decide what things become part of your game or your story?
The first thing I think up is just a general idea for the plot.
And from there, I branch off.
Whats going to spring out of this, what kind of issues are going to arise?
I generally decide on what bang out of game its going to be first.
But in general, our games are action or action-adventure games.
So its probably going to end up being an action-adventure game anyway.
But first I decide exactly what sort of genre of game I want to make.
But the genre and bang out of game are definitely first.
When I first started Grasshopper I was very hands-on with everything, every bit and piece of the game.
Id ensure it was exactly how I wanted it because I had this image inside my head.
So I venture to keep a balance between the two.
Can we talk about some of your film influences?
Its a weird, cool movie, but its kind of a cult movie.
The character is completely different, but the name itself was an inspiration.
I watch every single Marvel movie, so recently, the Marvel movies have been a big influence.
The music is always a very big part of your games.
How does that relationship work between the music and what you create?
Im very into music in general.
Whenever Im writing scenarios, Im constantly listening to music.
Music, scenario writing, and game creation in general, theyre inseparable.
Again, I cant make games without music, theyre just completely inseparable.
What are you listening to right now?
And there are three artists in particular I have been listening to a lot.
Theres one movie or series in particular that has had a huge influence on that game.
Sort of likeShadows of the DamnedorNo More Heroes, the main character is pretty badass this time around too.
