Grasshopper's Suda 51

On the way to my interview with Suda 51, I go over what I know about him in my head. Firstly, he's the head of Grasshopper Studios, and the creator of Killer 7 and the No More Heroes series. He's in town to promote No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, which scored 8/10 in Eurogamer's review of the US import.

Secondly, he's a very nice man. That's according to Eurogamer's Oli Welsh, who interviewed him at the Tokyo Game Show in 2008. He found Suda to be friendly, open and a bit of a laugh. Highlights of the chat included Suda recalling the time he watched booth babes throwing pants to the crowd at E3. "When I saw that I was like, wow!" he said. "One day, I want to be able to throw pants to the public. That's one of my main goals." Can't wait to meet him.

On arriving at the PR agency, I remember a third thing I know about Suda 51: he's a rock star developer, the kind only Japan seems capable of breeding. It's hard to imagine Peter Molyneux in a red leather biker jacket, or Jeff Minter wearing a pair of trainers so fierce they'd frighten Tyra. But Suda's sporting both today, along with a giant smile.

We start with some small talk. He tells me he's been in the UK for two days, and I show off about having just been to Japan to see Vanquish and interview Shinji Mikami.

"Ah!" says Suda. "Don't you think Mikami looks like Eminem?"

"Um..." I picture Mikami, with his cropped hair and bomber jacket. "Maybe... A Japanese Eminem?"

"Yes, yes! A Japanese Eminem!"

I think about telling Suda he looks a bit like a Japanese Paul McCartney, especially with the bowl haircut. But I worry he'll think I mean tired old divorced Paul and not bright young happy Paul, so I get down to business instead.

With NMH2 already out in the US there's no point in discussing how development's coming along, so I begin by asking Suda about one element which didn't make it into the finished game. He was quoted as saying he was interested in featuring Wii MotionPlus functionality in the game, but it didn't make the final cut - why not?

"People really enjoyed playing the first No More Heroes like this," says Suda, swishing his arms about all over the place. "For the sequel, I didn't think it was necessary to have MotionPlus functionality to enhance the player's enjoyment, so I avoided including it.

"Would I include it in a future title? Depends on the game. If I think it's necessary to have the functionality I'll incorporate it, but if not, I won't."

Plenty of people did enjoy No More Heroes, most of them residing in the West. In fact, although the sequel being released in both the US and Europe, there are no current plans to publish it in Japan. Why does Suda think the series is more popular over here?

"I'm not sure exactly what it is," he says. "But there are a lot of different types of elements inside No More Heroes 2, and perhaps Western audiences are open to many different things compared to the Japanese audience."

Another key difference between the two audiences, or so the publisher of No More Heroes seems to believe, is their appetite for violence. The US version of the first game was full of blood and gore, while a toned down version went on sale in Japan. When word came that Europe would get the softer one there was uproar, and in the end both versions were released here. Why does Suda think we were so keen to get the gorier game? "I'm not sure... Maybe Europeans just like blood!"

That's all he can come up with on the subject, but when it comes to the issue of videogame violence and censorship Suda is more forthcoming. "For developers, it's not a good thing to be restricted when it comes to creating something. But at the same time, it's dangerous to have a situation where everyone can do whatever they want to do," he argues.

"For example... If a character dies and the player understands why the character dies, then it means something. There has to be a message for the player. Without one, if players can just do anything they like within the game - that can be dangerous." In other words, violence shouldn't be gratuitous - it should be part of the storyline? "Yes."

While Suda's in a serious mood we turn to the subject of the Japanese games industry, and I bring up the comments made by Capcom's Keiji Inafune at last year's TGS. "Man, Japan is over," Inafune said. "We're done. Our game industry is finished." Does Suda agree?

"Maybe he was just in a bad mood..." he chuckles. "There are a lot of young gamers out there, so I think there's potential. Especially now we don't just have a console-based system. There's the iPhone, WiiWare, stuff like that, which allow young game designers to try out new things. So I think there's potential for a new type of games designer in the future."

What about Suda's future? So far he's kept quiet on the question of what's next after No More Heroes 2. He won't spill the beans today so instead I ask him to tell me just one thing about it, one secret he hasn't told anyone else.

"Haha! OK," he says. "I'm a big fan of The IT Crowd." The Channel 4 sitcom? "Yes. So I want to create a game just like that. About some guys who aren't, you know, any good, but who have fun with life. That's the kind of game I want to create."

With that our brief interview is over. As I'm gathering up my stuff I mention Oli's 2008 TGS interview, and Suda's comments about the pants. "Yeah, yeah! Pants! Yes!" he exclaims excitedly, before the translator's even finished her sentence. "Yes! When Grasshopper have our own booth at E3, I will do it."

Suda stands up and puts his hands on the waistband of his designer jeans. For a minute I think he's going to drop his trousers and show me his actual pants, but he's just indicating where the branding will go. "Here, where it usually says Calvin Klein - it will say Grasshopper."

It may be a while yet before Suda gets to achieve his ambition - he says the studio's still not quite ready for an E3 booth, so there won't be one this June. But if No More Heroes 2 sells well enough in Europe, and Suda's IT Crowd-inspired follow-up is a success, who knows? Perhaps next year could be the year he finally gets to throw pants.