Interview | Suda51 Talks No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle (Wii)

Goichi Suda, CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture: Unfortunately, the story for Travis alone is completed in No More Heroes 2. I am very curious about his life after this; however, we have no plan for No More Heroes 3.

AR: Has the game been more of a success in the US so far?

GS: Of course, I hope Desperate Struggle will continue tobe more successful than the original.

AR: For the first game, you personally went out in Japan to promote it, even giving people special NMH toilet roll! Will you be doing anything similar to gain attention for the game?

GS: I think that idea of using toilet paper for the promotion was very unique. It will be up to Marvelous Entertainment, publisher of this game in Japan, whether or not we are going to do anything similar in terms of promotion this time round.

AR: Including MotionPlus support seems like it would have worked very well. Why did you exclude it?

GS: I chose the same controller system as NMH1, yet at the same time we wanted the system to be more evolved for NMH2, but not radically different.

AR: Do you want to make a MotionPlus Wii game in the future?

GS: If there is a chance in the future, I would like to try.

AR: Why did you decide to remove the bike riding navigation of Santa Destroy?

GS: I prioritised the sense of speed as this is an action game. I want players to experience Travis’s combat much faster than before, as well as jump into the side-mission, and so on, quicker. We made a bold decision!

AR: What made you choose to do NES minigames rather than 3D ones?

GS: We used an 8-bit style for the user-interface in NMH1, but this was just for style purposes. For NMH2, we wanted to try to create the 8-bit games not simply as a ‘style,’ but take things a few steps further. The entire team was strongly passionate about taking this approach.

AR: Many of these NES games are very enjoyable! Would you consider putting a collection of them on DSiWare like Square Enix did in Japan for the Nanashi no Geemu NES games?

GS: Grasshopper cannot decide this on our own. Of course, we will suggest this to Marvelous Entertainment!

AR: You have previously said you would like to see Travis Touchdown in Smash Bros. Have you spoken to Nintendo to make sure this happens?

GS: Haha, I was only half kidding when I made that suggestion!

AR: With the first NMH coming to PS3 and Xbox 360, will it be long before Desperate Struggle loses its Wii exclusivity as well?

GS: I’ve heard that NMH2 is Wii-exclusive at this present stage. I personally think that this game should remain Wii-exclusive, but unfortunately Grasshopper doesn’t have the right to decide this.

AR: Would you ever consider doing a scaled-down version of No More Heroes on DS?

GS: I’ve never thought about that, but this is an interesting suggestion.

AR: With ‘Grasshopper’ and’Suda51’ becoming so popular now, do you want to see killer7 re-released or re-made?

GS: killer7? killer7 is a very very important game for me. The creative challenge of both the team at Grasshopper and me is packed into the game. killer7 is the part of my soul. A remake? No, but if I get the opportunity, I am certainly interested in making a new killer7.

AR: Nintendo has many popular peripherals on Wii, such as the Balance Board and Wii Speak. Would you like to use any of these in the future?

GS: Of course, I have already tried to expand my ideas many times to use peripherals on Wii, but at this moment I want to pursue game design using the Wii Remote controller.

AR: It was reported that you were taking a 'back seat' role for Desperate Struggle. Is this true?

GS: Yes, I was involved in this project as a Creative Director. I focused all my energy on writing the scenario and polishing up the game.

AR: Who took the lead role? Was it Yoshiro Kimura?

GS: Kimura-san was a Producer on the project, whilst the leader of this team was Noboru Matsuzaki, the lead programmer.

AR: Kimura-san has expressed a wish to remake Moon Remix RPG. Have you played the PSone game? If so, what did you think of it?

GS: I completed Moon. It was very good game!

AR: Would you like to help Kimura-san fulfil his wish to create a remake?

GS: Sadly I cannot comment on this as it is not related to Grasshopper…

AR: Akira Ueda recently told Cubed3 he is ready to make a sequel to the DS game 'Contact.' However, he wants to wait until you are free. Will you make time to work with him on the project?

GS: I’ve heard that Sakura Note, developed by Audio and headed by Ueda-san is like a sequel to Contact. The game has already launched in Japan, published by Marvelous Entertainment.

AR: Yasuhiro Wada also told Cubed3 that The Silver Case DS will most likely become a download game because the DS software market is weak. He says this will only happen with your permission. Will you put the game on WiiWare or DSiWare now?

GS: We’ve completed the production of The Silver Case DS; however, it has been more than ten years since the original game was released. Therefore, I have to consider remaking the game with great care. As you know, this game was our debut title, so we must think very carefully about what would be the best way to debut this game on a worldwide basis.

AR: Do you still have close contacts with Capcom? Perhaps you could do a Capcom vs. Grasshopper fighter! Would you like to see your characters battling against Capcom favourites?

GS: Capcom is indeed very ‘close;’ it takes only five minutes to get to Capcom’s office from Grasshopper on foot!! *laughs*

Capcom vs. Grasshopper!? It will be fantastic if it happened for real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If Grasshopper is able to keep making better games, I think that it’s no longer an impossible dream, and we will translate this into reality. That way we are able to repay them for their support in the past!