Feature - You Should Really Know… Suda51

Popularly known as Suda51, Goichi Suda is the CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture and a former video game designer with Human Entertainment. His nickname, Suda51, is actually a pun based on the similarity to his given name, Goichi, to the Japanese words for the numbers 5 (Go) and 1 (Ichi).

Suda has often been referred to as an “auteur” (French for author) video game director, meaning that his vision and creative narrative tend to be very apparent, even after the long and complex production process. During his many years as a game developer, Suda has worked on titles such as No More Heroes, Moonlight Syndrome, The Silver Case and more recently, Lollipop Chainsaw and Killer is Dead. He has also collaborated frequently with other developers, contributing to games like Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Born January 2nd, 1968 in Nagano, Japan, Goichi Suda worked as an undertaker before he managed to get his foot in the door of the game development industry. During the time, the Japanese arcade scene was booming and Suda noticed an advertisement for an opening at Human Entertainment, who were best known for their Clock Tower and Fire Pro Wrestling series’. After submitting his application, Suda waited for several weeks without receiving a response and was resigned to continue his work as an undertaker, which he found quite distasteful.

After giving up hope on his application, Suda got the call from Human Entertainment and was hired right then and there. His career in game development began as a scenario writer for Super Fire Pro Wrestling 3 Final Bout. He followed up with his work on Super Fire Pro Wrestling Special, which remains one of his most infamous games to date thanks to its shocking ending (which we won’t spoil for you, but if you’re really interested you’ll be able to find out more online).

After working briefly on Human’s Syndrome series, Suda chose to leave the studio in 1998, just before the company’s eventual disbandment. Deciding to form his own game development company, Suda created Grasshopper Manufacture and began work on his first original title, The Silver Case for PlayStation. Split into two chapters, The Silver Case’s plot featured the combined stories of a murder investigation and the journalist covering the aftermath.

In 2001, Grasshopper Manufacture released its next title, Flower, Sun and Rain for the PlayStation 2. Another heavily narrative-driven game, Flower, Sun and Rain is known for its twisted plot about a “searcher” who is forced to relive the same day over and over again. Both The Silver Case and Flower, Sun and Rain were released exclusively in Japan, but Grasshopper would soon enter into North American markets with its third game, killer7.

Released in North America in 2005 for PlayStation 2 and GameCube, killer7 marked Suda’s first foray into markets outside Japan. As per convention, Suda’s unique story telling approach is quite apparent in killer7, which puts the player in control of 60 year-old wheelchair-bound assassin Harman Smith. Manifesting seven different personalities, each with their own physical form and distinct killing style, Harman is collectively known as Killer7. Although not especially successful in terms of sales, killer7 would eventually garner a large cult following, opening up North American audiences to further releases from Grasshopper. Suda’s next project was the DS game Contact, made in collaboration with Marvelous Interactive. Made to be more family-friendly than his previous games, Contact was a much shorter game than killer7 and was released in North America in 2006.

No More Heroes was released in Japan toward the end of 2007, followed by the rest of the world in early 2008. It tells the tale of Travis Touchdown, an obsessive pop-culture fan (Otaku in Japanese) living in poverty out of the No More Heroes hotel in Santa Destroy, California. After winning himself a beam katana (laser sword) in an online auction, Travis decides to become a hitman and takes his first contract to kill Helter Skelter.

After taking out his quarry, Travis is awarded the 11th rank in the United Assassins Association, which is governed by the world’s top killers for hire. Realizing that his new rank as 11th makes him a prime target for aspiring assassins, Travis sets out to secure the number one position for himself. Several years later, in 2010, No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle was released as a sequel to the first game, which sold well everywhere but Japan.

Other titles of note that Suda has been involved in include Shadows of the Damned, Rebuild of Evangelion: Sound Impact, Sine Mora, Diabolical Pitch and Liberation Maiden. His most recent releases include 2012’s Lollipop Chainsaw and 2013’s Killer is Dead and Black Knight Sword, all of which are available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In addition to those titles, he recently released Liberation Maiden SIN in Japan to huge success and is working as director for the forthcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive Lily Bergamo.In Short: Goichi Suda, better known as Suda51, is the man behind titles including Lollipop Rainbow, No More Heroes and Killer is Dead

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