Goichi Suda

Goichi Suda (須田 剛一), known by his alias Suda51, is a Japanese video game designer, writer and director.

Goichi Suda was born in the city of Ueda in Japan's Nagano Prefecture on January 2, 1968, and lived in the region until moving to Tokyo when he was eighteen.

Suda has spoken little of his early life, but he did not have a good relationship with his family, and disliked living in Nagano.

He wished to design video games from an early age.

While distant from his family in Nagano, Suda is married and has his own family in Tokyo.

Among his early jobs were working at Sega as a graphics designer for their brochures.

One of his more notable jobs was as an undertaker, although he was more involved with flower arrangements.

Still determined on a career in video games, and with encouragement from his wife, he applied to both Atlus and Human Entertainment, the latter known for the Fire Pro Wrestling series.

He managed to get an interview with and hired by Human Entertainment.

In later years, Suda would come to be known by the nickname "Suda51".

The name is a pun based on the two parts of his given name—"go" translates to "5" and "ichi" to "1".

Suda's first job at Human was as a director for Super Fire Pro Wrestling III (1993), which earned him praise from the company due to the quality of his work.

Affiliated with Human Entertainment from 1994 to 1998, he founded Grasshopper Manufacture in 1998 with a number of other Human Entertainment staff to produce their own titles.

Due to this, he was appointed as both director and writer for Super Fire Pro Wrestling Special (1994), which gained long-term notoriety for the bleak tone of its story and ending.

Following Super Fire Pro Wrestling III, Suda worked on the Twilight Syndrome series; he initially had to step in as producer and director for Twilight Syndrome, but he had greater creative input in Moonlight Syndrome (1998): one of his decisions was to shift Moonlight Syndrome away from supernatural into psychological horror.

Suda, who had gathered a fan base from his work at Human, generated controversy by killing off the main character in Moonlight Syndrome.

Moonlight Syndrome would be the last game worked on by Suda for Human Entertainment, as he left due to being unsatisfied with available money bonuses.

He also sensed that Human Entertainment, which would declare bankruptcy the following year, was not a secure position.

After leaving Human Entertainment in 1998, Suda founded Grasshopper Manufacture to fulfill his wish to create original video game projects.

Its debut title was The Silver Case for the PlayStation.

He was initially approached by ASCII Entertainment, who acted as the game's publishers and provided funding.

Suda acted as director, co-writer and designer for the game.

Alongside this, Suda had the responsibility of acting as the studio's CEO, so he felt responsible for ensuring everyone got paid.

The Silver Case was a success in Japan and helped establish Grasshopper Manufacture, although had limited critical success due to the proliferation of its visual novel style at the time.

Suda's next game at Grasshopper Manufacture was Flower, Sun, and Rain, developed for the PlayStation 2.

As with The Silver Case, Suda directed, wrote and designed for the game.

Flower, Sun, and Rain was almost cancelled when ASCII Entertainment changed its policies and withdrew funding.

Suda pitched to other publishers, eventually gaining the support of Victor Interactive Software.

This would begin a trend for Grasshopper Manufacture of picking new publishers for each projects so as to remain an independent company.

Suda next acted as a producer and designer for Michigan: Report from Hell.

His best-known work has come from Grasshopper Manufacture, including The Silver Case (1999), Killer7 (2005), the No More Heroes series, and Lollipop Chainsaw (2012).

Suda is from Nagano Prefecture, moving to Tokyo at the age of 18 and eventually being hired by Human Entertainment after having a number of other jobs including as an undertaker.

His first projects were in the Fire Pro Wrestling and Twilight Syndrome series.

At Grasshopper Manufacture, he worked on their debut title The Silver Case as writer and director.

The Silver Case helped establish both Suda and his company in Japan, but Suda and Grasshopper gained international attention with the release of Killer7, Suda's first title to be released outside Japan.

He has contributed to most of the company's projects, taking on a more managerial role following the first No More Heroes in 2007.

Suda's work is characterized by a focus on themes of crime and the clash of people with different ideals.

While his early works adopted a serious tone, his later projects incorporated elements of humor.

Sexual elements have also made appearances in his work, to the point where he became worried they would become too heavily associated with him.

Aspects of his work have been influenced by film and literature, with one of his favorite authors being Franz Kafka, and incorporated references to popular sport and music.