We were fortunate enough to get a chance to speak with the man himself, and he proved every bit the charismatic, energetic and vibrant character that you'd expect to be behind such crazy titles mentioned above. He also had some rather considered answers too. Please note, some of the below may have been lost in translation.
Suda will not talk without his jacket... Actually, he probably would but this is way cooler.
PALGN: The games that you’ve made are world famous. Does any one game in particular stand out for you as your favourite?
Suda 51: Actually, I think of all my games as my kids (sic), so I can’t really answer this – they are all my babies.
PALGN: Can you please tell the audience, from your own perspective, what Shadows of the Damned is about?
Suda 51: Shadows of the Damned is an action game set in Hell… in games you can experience war, the future or the entire universe, or even Los Angeles back in the day (ed: L.A. Noire was released on the day of the interview). And for this game, we offer a completely new type of Hell.
So the main character, Garcia Hotspur goes to Hell with his partner, Johnson. Both of you break through the Gates of Hell to go and rescue Garcia’s girlfriend, as well as kill all the demons populating Hell.
PALGN: Shadows of the Damned is unique in that it not only involves yourself, Suda 51, but also legendary developers Shinji Mikami and Akira Yamaoka. What was it like to work with these two guys on the game?
Suda 51: As far as Mikami-san is concerned, we are very tight. This is the second time that we are working together, so we really understand each other very well and know what works best for us. So yeah, it was a great partnership. I come up with a lot of the creative ideas, and Mikami-san gave me a lot of feedback.
As for Yamaoka-san, I’ve been a fan of his ever since 2003 and I’ve wanted to work with him since… forever! However, he joined our project in the middle and he took care of all the music in this game. I’m really happy how it turned out.
PALGN: It must have been quite special to have three talented Japanese developers working on the one game. Would you like to do something similar in the future?
Suda 51: Definitely, it was great. But yeah, as far as Yamaoka-san is concerned, he’s our staff member, so for any future project he will take care of the music. Mikami-san on the other hand, he works for Tango, his own company, so I don’t know whether this kind of collaboration would be possible in the near future.
How big is your Johnson?
PALGN: With Shadows of the Damned, it’s a third person action game that resembles titles such as Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space, would you say that these titles act as inspirations?
Suda 51: Well of course, with Mikami-san in the project there was sure to be some influence from his works, such as Resident Evil 4. Also, we use the Unreal engine, so while we know what works well with the engine, we know that players will probably see some similarities from other games.
PALGN: Given the difference between Eastern and Western developers, who is your favourite developer from the west?
Suda 51: Definitely Criterion Games. I have a lot of respect for them and I love the Burnout series, especially Burnout 3: Takedown and Burnout Paradise.
PALGN: Speaking of the west, prominent developer Keiji Inafune says that Japanese development philosophies are dead and that most are now adopting western-styled philosophies. Would you say that Shadows of the Damned has been influenced in a similar manner?
Suda 51: I wouldn’t say that it’s just in Japan, but a phenomenon worldwide. With the advancements in technology and adoption of development for multiple platforms, we need to organise the ‘pipeline’ better. And once the Western developers have learned how to utilise a system and have successfully developed a game this way, of course you need to learn how to make such a game. So if Japanese developers feel they need to learn from Western developers, then sure they could. But they should also keep what’s good for our side. With the changing technology, you need to improve your ‘pipeline’ and I think it’s important to any successful system – something that’s important worldwide and not just for Japan.
PALGN: Shadows of the Damned has not just been influenced by games but by films as well. In particular, the styles of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, though did we see right that there is some Guillermo Del Toro there too?
Suda 51: I like his style, but I haven’t seen too many of his movies. I like a lot of different things, so I’d like to think that there are a lot of inspirations for this game. But as far as this game is concerned, this is a ‘Road Movie of Hell’.
This is going to be one HELL of a party!
PALGN: Can you tell us about the goat, and why a goat is the source of ‘light’ (ed: Just wait till you play the game…)?
Suda 51: It’s there as a lamp to get rid of the darkness. By getting rid of the darkness, Garcia can live and make it through to the next area.
PALGN: But why a goat?
Suda 51: When I had the idea about the lamp, I talked to my staff member – one of my artists, Nomaru – and he said that this lamp should definitely be a goat’s head, and he wouldn’t listen to anyone after that.
PALGN: So if this part of the game gets criticised, it’s his fault?
Suda 51: Yes. (Everyone laughs). It will be Nomaru’s fault. But I do like that idea.
PALGN: It’s obvious that you guys had a lot of fun creating this game; it seems like a free and creative outlet.
Suda 51: Definitely, definitely. It took us a while, we came up with a lot of different ideas and we talked to EA, Mikami-san and through this, this game was made. I’m very proud and confident of the result and I’m very happy with how the game was made.
PALGN: To finish off on a note on creativity, how did you feel when you were told that you had take out the blood from the Wii version of No More Heroes and then came up with the burst of coins?
Suda 51: Well, different countries have different rules. I think it’s important to respect and abide by the rules of each different country. And even though we could not have blood, we saw it as a chance to come up with a creative idea to compensate for that and still make the player feel good. I don’t necessarily cling onto the idea of having blood, but I’m happy to abide and make the best possible game within the rules.
PALGN: Thank you very much and we hope you enjoy your time here.
Suda 51: Thank you very much! Arigato!
What. A. Legend.
Shadows of the Damned is set for release on 23 June. We'd like to thank Suda 51 for being totally boss, ridiculously awesome and cool, Rie Nakano, translator and Grasshopper Manufacture Product Manager, as well as EA and Frank PR for helping to organise the interview opportunity.
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