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Suda 51 wants to remake Grasshopper Manufacture's 'Michigan'

by JC Fletcher { Oct 23rd 2009 at 11:00PM }

Not the state -- we don't know how he feels about that, nor do we think he'd have the power to remake it. Michigan (the game) was a 2004 PS2 adventure developed by Suda's Grasshopper Manufacture and directed by Contact's Akira Ueda, in which the player controls a cameraman who follows, and indirectly influences, a reporter investigating mysterious phenomena.

"There's a Spanish horror film called REC," Suda told Gamasutra, "and when I watched it, I realized it was pretty much Michigan, right there. I still have a lot of ideas along those lines, and I'd love to work with Spike sometime to make a new Michigan or a remake." Interviewer Brandon Sheffield discussed talks he'd had with US publishers about the game, who told him Sony declined it due to a lack of gameplay. So a remake would probably include more direct gameplay or ... would be for another platform.

Suda also said that he never expected to become a superstar game designer as a kid. "I wanted to become a sushi chef or an astronaut."

No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle trailer introduces one more hero

by JC Fletcher { Oct 22nd 2009 at 4:15PM }

This No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle trailer introduces Henry, who appears in the first game in a series of very exciting, eminently spoilable sequences. It appears to do for the former villain what Metal Gear Solid 4 did for Raiden -- make the fans love a once-despised character. Coincidentally (according to the tenuous comparison I've set up for the two), both characters are voiced by Quinton Flynn. He's just got a talent for characters that you'll probably like better the second time!

The end of the trailer features Henry fighting a young girl with some kind of giant robot arms. Thanks for existing, game.

TGS 2009: The Recap Post

by Xav de Matos { Oct 2nd 2009 at 10:10PM }

Last week, the Tokyo Game Show brought in over 100 posts worth of news, previews, interviews, galleries, and videos. Clearly, a lot happened. If you're looking for a comprehensive list of all the goings-on during TGS 2009, Joystiq has you covered -- and organized!

Click on a platform below to scan the highlights:

(On the far right: that's "News" and "Culture" on the top and bottom, respectively)

Continued →

TGS 2009: Interview: Suda 51

by JC Fletcher { Sep 29th 2009 at 1:56PM }

When we came into Marvelous Entertainment's hotel room, we witnessed another outlet recording a video interview with Suda 51, producer of No More Heroes and its sequel. Marvelous brought this, well, marvelous beam katana prop, which lights up and makes appropriately lightsabery noises, and someone pretended to attack him in the conclusion of the video interview. Suda gamely displayed mock fright at the beam katana attack for multiple takes while someone waved the device around in front of him.

All we did was ask him some questions about No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle and Grasshopper's other work.

Continued →

TGS2009: Shinobu decapitates, Travis works in No More Heroes 2 videos

by David Hinkle { Sep 24th 2009 at 4:58PM }

Above, you'll find a look at one of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle's playable characters, Shinobu, straight out of TGS 2009. You may recognize her from the first game -- if you don't, we're no longer BFFs and we totally want our mixtapes back. Shinobu's going to be fully playable in Desperate Struggle and looks like quite the killing machine, though we must say her weapon's lack of beam and laser technology is somewhat off-putting.

If you're wondering about series protagonist Travis Touchdown, know that he's also here in this Joystiq post. Past the break, we've got two videos showing off some of the jobs Travis will undertake for spare cash in the sequel: coconut gatherer and rare steak preparer. What? You've never gathered coconuts for some extra spending money?

Gallery: No More Heroes 2 (TGS 2009)

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EA's Rex Ishibashi talks about missing Suda 51, Shinji Mikami project

by Andrew Yoon { Sep 23rd 2009 at 6:10AM }

Remember when EA announced a new project with No More Heroes' Suda 51 and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami over a year ago? We were surprised to find that it was completely absent from EA's extravagent pre-TGS Tokyo press conference. We talked with EA Japan's Rex Ishibashi about the game's mysterious absence from the show.

"We'll make the updates when they're appropriate and when we're ready. In fact, EA Japan is now involved in some of the communication, helping EA Global to manage that very important relationship for us," EA Japan's Ishibashi told Joystiq. "We'll make the announcements on those games, but they look very promising."

Stay tuned for our full interview later this week.

Video produced by Ross Miller

No More Heroes 2 supports Classic Controller, thanks to Monster Hunter

by JC Fletcher { Sep 18th 2009 at 12:00PM }

We happened to think that the motion control finishers in No More Heroes made the fighting a lot more interesting, but if you disagree, Grasshopper Manufacture has a solution. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle will allow players to use the Classic Controller, according to 1UP.

Suda 51 told 1UP that the Classic Controller functionality is intended to attract Monster Hunter fans, many of whom play the game with the Classic Controller or Classic Controller Pro (which is bundled with Monster Hunter 3). It's a purely optional move that may help get the game in the hands of more people.

Warning: Some of the information in the 1UP article may be considered spoilers by more sensitive readers, including news about playable characters.

No More Heroes 2 trailer serves up mouthful of details

by JC Fletcher { Sep 4th 2009 at 10:22AM }

Suda Goichi takes the throne once again to narrate (in curiously deep voiceover) a new trailer for No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. While the last trailer was mostly narrative-focused, this trailer (posted after the break) goes into detail about new features in the game, including new controls for the Beam Katana(s), the ability to kick and punch with the B button, and the new 8-bit-style job missions! Be warned (explicitly, if not by knowledge of previous No More Heroes promotion): there is some toilet humor.

Additionally, we've posted two gameplay clips below the new trailer, as featured on IGN. While the footage in the trailer is from the Japanese version and therefore blood-free, the gameplay footage is very bloody and includes some tasteless (even for NMH) violence. The clips also include proof that if you thought the sword's battery charging couldn't get any more phallic, you were mistaken.
[Thanks, Ihar]

Continued →

Suda51 'loves' Travis Touchdown, hopes he becomes a 'huge star'

by Randy Nelson { Jul 8th 2009 at 9:00PM }

Speaking with Nintendo Power (and caught by Destructoid), No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda told the magazine about his mad love for series star Travis Touchdown. OK, so he didn't exactly say "mad love," but the magazine's editors tell Joystiq that Suda51 considers the character his absolute favorite creation.

In an interview published in the official Nintendo mag's latest issue, Suda expresses his hope that Touchdown will become a much more recognized character with the release of No More Heroes 2, saying, "I love him, and I want him to be a huge star." The developer joked that he'd be tickled to see Touchdown included on the roster for a future Super Smash Bros. title. "Maybe in the future, we can see him fighting alongside Link," he laughed. "That would be great."

We have to agree that Travis and his beam katana would certainly make our cut for a fantasy Smash Bros. lineup. Which Nintendo platform characters would be on yours?

[Thanks, Mark M.!]

Suda 51 plays Burnout Paradise (a lot) more than you

by Randy Nelson { Jul 1st 2009 at 9:00PM }

Grasshopper Manfacture boss Goichi "Suda 51" Suda likes to do everything to the extreme, whether it's the ultra-violence of No More Heroes or -- as we now know -- playing other developers' games, specifically Criterion's Burnout Paradise. The British dev's head honcho, Alex Ward, issued a tweet revealing that Suda had recently popped by his studio (likely after the recent Nordic Game Conference) and is a "hardcore Burnout fan."

"Hardcore" may be an understatement, as Ward disclosed that server logs show Suda has played more than 700 hours of Burnout Paradise. So, there it is: Even more proof that Suda 51 knows great games and takes everything to the extreme. It may also explain why we haven't heard anything more about the horror title he's working on for EA alongside Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami.

[Via VG247]

Suda 51: Middle market is key to refreshing Japanese game industry

by JC Fletcher { Jun 23rd 2009 at 8:30PM }

GamesIndustry.biz spoke to No More Heroes/Killer 7 creator Suda 51 at the Nordic Game Conference, and while it may seem like an odd fit to ask the Grasshopper Manufacture head -- who isn't known for big sales numbers -- about marketing, that's exactly what GI did, discussing the slowing Japanese market.

Suda approached the problem from a game design perspective. "Well, there are a lot of core gamers, and a lot of lighter users playing on platforms such as the DS," Suda said, "but there's nothing in-between. I think it's going to be very important for games to be created for that middle audience, and that will help bring the market back on-track."

Responding to a follow-up question about Grasshopper's signature style, Suda named some mass market games with their own distinct styles. "For example, Call of Duty, LittleBigPlanet or BioShock -- you can feel different core elements in each of those games. Burnout Paradise is my favourite [smiles]."

Grasshopper's PS3 game may make Marvelous 'bankrupt'

by Andrew Yoon { Jun 16th 2009 at 1:10PM }

Grasshopper Manufacture has been quietly working on a PS3 game whilst working on their No More Heroes games on Wii. The mysterious PS3 game will be published by Marvelous Entertainment, but the ambitious nature of the project may compromise the small company's financial stability. "If we do that [game] we might go bankrupt," Yasuhiro Wada, president of Marvelous Entertainment, joked to Siliconera. "We are making it, but if we make everything then it's a little too risky."

Suda51's studio is known for creating hyper-violent and stylized games that tackle controversial and difficult subjects. In addition to No More Heroes, the studio has made killer7 (pictured) and Flower, Sun and Rain.

Suda51: No More Heroes 2 got bumped from Ubisoft keynote

by David Hinkle { Jun 3rd 2009 at 10:55AM }

Yours truly and JC ran into the one, the only Suda51 last night, and proceeded to approach him. Despite his inability to understand much of the English language, he was accommodating and posed for a picture. We asked his translator why No More Heroes 2 was nothing more than a small mention during the Ubisoft keynote, and she told us that it was simply bumped due to time. Sadly, she couldn't elaborate any further than that, but we have a feeling James Cameron had something to do with it.

No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle at 'very end' of production, won't be playable at E3

by David Hinkle { May 22nd 2009 at 12:30PM }

Well, today officially sucks, because the game we anticipate the most -- Suda51's No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle -- won't be available to play at next month's E3, Goichi Suda told 1UP. We'd cancel our trip, but we already bought the frakking plane tickets!

It's not all bad news, however, as Suda51 does hint at the game being at the show, just not in playable form. He also says that the game is "at the very end of production," providing hope that it will meet its scheduled US release of January 2010 on the Wii.

Rumor: Grasshopper Manufacture working with Square Enix

by JC Fletcher { May 19th 2009 at 10:55AM }

The website for Suda 51's development company, Grasshopper Manufacture, features a list of the No More Heroes developer's "principal business partners" -- publishers and developers with whom the "video game band" has worked.

The products of each company's collaboration with Grasshopper can be identified (well, kind of in the case of EA and Q? Entertainment, both working with GHM on a currently unknown "action-horror game"), with one exception: Square Enix. According to the site, the only work done for Square Enix has been sound design for RAD, and GHM doesn't count the companies for whom it does sound work as "principal business partners."

It's possible, then, that Square Enix could have plans to publish an unannounced Grasshopper Manufacture game. The company has at least one project in the works that it has yet to divulge details on -- the mystery game with the Kennedy quote that we believe to be a Front Mission series entry. The more GHM games in the world, we say, the better!

[Via Siliconera]