What are the Best Games Made by Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture?

When it comes to recognizable names in the video game industry, the first to come to most players’ minds is Hideo Kojima. The creator behind the Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding series is widely known for his style of complex narratives, cinematic storytelling, magical realism, and a lot of exposition. However, he’s not the only creator who’s made waves. Enter Goichi Suda, or as he’s known by his nickname, Suda51.

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Goichi Suda, the head and founder of Grasshopper Manufacture, is often recognized for his games and their focus on style over realism. With a cel-shading design and eccentric title, many of his notable creations range from the bizarre to balls-to-the-wall insane, but that’s just how his fans like them.

8

Killer is Dead

Fun Yet Strange

Killer Is Dead feels like Devil May Cry, but if it was dipped in a bucket of cel-shading and covered in a jazz aesthetic. You’re a contract killer named Mondo Zappa. With a bionic arm and a special katana, you travel the globe taking out monsters and strange, mutated creatures. The gameplay is hack-and-slash mixed with an over-the-shoulder shooter.

Your arm can function as a gun with various features, but your katana is your main weapon. The sword combat feels sharp and responsive, and the higher your combo, the more damage you inflict. Though Killer Is Dead can be fun, it tends to lose players with its story. Even for Suda, it gets too odd, to the point where some players have trouble following along. Still, you can’t say the game is boring. There’s a level where you basically fight a demonic Thomas the Tank Engine.

7

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse

Suda51’s Greatest Fear

Here’s a game some of you didn’t expect to find here. If you’ve heard of the Fatal Frame series, then you already know enough. Spooky horror game where you solve puzzles and use a mystical camera to fight evil ghosts. Compared to his other work, this game feels less-Suda, even though he was its designer, co-writer, and co-director.

Although it lacks his usual style of direction, the moon plays a key role in the game, as it does in his other projects. However, what makes this game so noteworthy is the irony of the fact that Goichi Suda worked on it despite having an intense phobia of ghosts. Fatal Frame: Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse might be considered the weakest in the series, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not a good game. Besides, it’s always interesting to see a creator try their hand at something different, especially when it’s outside their comfort zone.

6

No More Heroes 3

World Class Assassin Vs. World Ending Threat

Travis Touchdown and his beam katana are back. This time, that crazy otaku assassin has to save the world when an alien invasion and its superhero-themed leaders launch an attack. If the plot sounds absurd and insane, then welcome to No More Heroes 3. Leave all logic at the door.

No More Heroes 3 is praised for its stylish and satisfying combat. Along with some new one-liners, Travis has some fun new tricks and upgrades, including chips to enhance his weapons. Players also get an open world to explore for collectibles and side activities. Of course, the game feels a little rough around the edges. Some jokes get stale after a while, and the mini-games don’t have the same flair as the previous games, but No More Heroes 3 has enough good to outweigh the bad.

5

Lollipop Chainsaw

It’ll Blow Your Mind

This is one of those video games where you wish you could’ve been a fly on the wall during the pitch meeting. From screenshots alone, Lollipop Chainsaw may look like some weak cash-grab mobile game, but believe it or not, it’s a decent and comical hack-and-slash adventure. Bear in mind that the original was released in 2012, when nearly every game designer at the time was trying to make the next big military shooter, so you can bet this game stood out from the lineup.

How many games are there where you can say you played as a cheerleader, slicing up zombies with a magical chainsaw while Hey Mickey was playing? The combat is fun, the music is great, and the presentation and zombie designs are all done well. Oh, and James Gunn was one of the writers. Yes, that James Gunn. Overall, Lollipop Chainsaw feels like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, only campier, and replace vampires with zombies.

4

Shadows of the Damned

An Underrated Cult Classic

You can’t talk about Suda51 without mentioning Shadows of The Damned. Considered by players as one of the best games to follow the same formula as Resident Evil, you play as demon hunter Garcia Hotspur, fighting to save your girlfriend from the City of the Damned. One of the great things about the game, besides the disturbing array of demons, was your weapon: Johnson.

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Instead of some generic gun, you have a demonic companion who can transform into various weapons, including a torch and a motorcycle. The whole game was like playing a B movie; silly, cheesy, but great. Unfortunately, due to poor marketing and management, Shadows of The Damned severely underperformed in sales. Thankfully, the game gained a cult following, enough to earn a complete remaster.

3

The Silver Case

Where Kill the Past Begins

The Silver Case wasn’t Goichi Suda’s first game, but it was the first to be developed by his newly founded studio, Grasshopper Manufacture. With only a small staff at the time, they certainly started with a bang and began what would become known as Suda’s Kill the Past series.

It’s hard to fully describe The Silver Case without spoiling the experience. If you were hoping for extreme action, you’re not going to find it here. The game is a mystery visual novel where you investigate a strange series of murders, solving puzzles and riddles while tracking down a serial killer. For a game from 1999, the story and artwork still hold up today. Sure, it might get confusing in some parts, but like a good book, it keeps you engrossed in solving the mystery.

2

Killer7

Where Is My Mind?

There’s weird games, and then there’s Killer7. It might come off as a bizarre Capcom shooter, but in actuality, it’s a disturbing fever dream. You’re an assassin, but not any ordinary hired killer. You’re capable of manifesting different personalities, each with their own particular weapon and skills.

Most of the enemies are invisible, so you have to scan rooms whenever you hear them cackling. And when you kill them, they laugh like a mad jester. You also collect white or red blood cells from fallen enemies to level up your assassins. And believe it or not, it only gets weirder from here. You could enter a hallway and encounter a corpse ghost, or enter a laundry room where a decapitated head starts talking to you. Killer7 is absolutely unhinged, and it needs to be played.

1

No More Heroes

The Start of Something Grand

Goichi Suda has had a hand in a number of notable creations, but most players will agree that the first No More Heroes reigns supreme. Before it was ported to PC and other consoles, the original was a Nintendo Wii exclusive, which made use of its motion controls, and it certainly stood out in the Wii library for possessing an M-rating.

It also marks the beginning of Travis Touchdown’s story. Starting as a loser, he turns to the life of an assassin after running out of money from buying too many video games. The combat was great, the mini-games were fun, and the humor, while crude, was enjoyable. Though it was a breath of fresh air at the time, even after all these years, No More Heroes remains one of the best games on the Wii and a fine example of Suda51’s creativity.

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