Suda51, best known for the No More Heroes series, is no stranger to profanity. His games have always balanced surrealist metaphors and symbolism with gutter talk from foul mouthed wrestlers, cops and killers. What made Shadows of the Damned different, at least when it was first released in 2011, wasn’t how it blended high and low art together. It was the way it was positioned by publisher EA to be a mainstream hit.
All of Suda’s prior titles had been marketed as quirky, niche alternatives to normal. With Shadows, and its all star creative team (including Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami and Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka), the publisher was hoping to have a AAA franchise on their hands.
Flash forward to 2024 and Grasshopper Manufacture, Suda’s studio, is planning to re-release Shadows on their own, and this time, they are really owning their outsider status. The new content for this “Hella Remastered” edition includes four new costumes. Two are basic change ups for leading man Garcia Hotspur, taking off his shirt and making him into a demon. The other two skins are deep cuts that will only be familiar to Suda’s biggest fans. One is based on Eight Hearts, a character from Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, and the other is the same suit worn by the main character of Kurayami Dance, a Japan-only manga written by Suda, based on unused drafts for the original version of Shadows.
With the promise of an affordable price point, it seems like Shadows may finally become a hit, especially on Nintendo consoles, where Suda’s games historically sell best. Filling the niche for M-rated content that Nintendo rarely produces themselves has been part of Suda’s plan since Killer7 first launched on the GameCube. But on the other hand, it could be that the game’s sexual, violent, and most of all, curse-laden game will be too much for Switch owners. At PAX East 2024, I got to ask Suda how he thought Nintendo fans would take to the game, if he would ever give people the option to cut out all the curses, and a lot more.
This is the first time Shadows of the Damned has come to a Nintendo console, which is really exciting. Any thoughts on how Nintendo fans will receive it? You know I love the game, but well, it definitely is a great fit for some families, the kind who watch R-rated movies with their children and grew up listening to the Sex Pistols and whatnot, but there’s a lot of families who might way it’s “too extreme for the kids” so…(laughter) How do you think Nintendo fans will feel about the game?
Suda51 (via translator): Well I guess Nintendo platforms aren’t really known for having lots of like super violent games, you know? And Grasshopper is one of the few studios that has been able to put out super violent games on Nintendo platforms. In fact, that’s kind of what we do. The thing with Shadows of the Damned though is there’s lots of violence, obviously, but it’s also with the extra added bonus of being vulgar as shit (laughter). The thing that I’m a little bit worried about in terms of families with little kids and Switches is I want all the families out there who have kids and Switches is to maybe make sure your kid hasn’t purchased the game or hasn’t ripped it off from somebody or something. Just because I don’t want to and can’t take responsibility if there’s a bunch of kids running around going “Big Boner! Big Boner!” (laughter). “Where’d you learn that word?” Parents, that’s not your kids’ fault. You should be better parents (laughter).
That’s what my 8-year old does already. He learned to swear from watching me play No More Heroes 3. That’s where he learned the F-word. (laughter) I thought I turned down the voice acting, but one time I guess I forgot, and that was that (laughter).
Suda51: Sorry! (laughter)
Shadows of the Darned: Hecka Remastered?
So to that point, any thought on making a special mode for Shadows, maybe like the “Naïve Angel” mode in Bayonetta 3, where they tone down the M-rated content. They left in all the cursing, so I still couldn’t watch any of the cut scenes with my kid, but they self-censored all the gore and other visuals that kids might not be ready for. So instead of ripping out her heart when doing a magic spell, Bayonetta rips out a tomato. And instead of characters smoking cigarettes, they like, stick lollipops in their mouths. So maybe you could make a “Shadows of the Darned: Hecka Remaster” mode, sort of like how R-rated movies used to be edited for TV, with sound-alike actors dubbing over words like “Mother Fucker” with stuff like “Melon Farmer”, so the mouth shapes more or less line up with the sounds. That might be a way to draw in the Nintendo crowds?
Suda51 (via translator): (laughter) We’re not going to be able to get a mode like that done in time for this Remaster, but if we do a sequel someday, that’s something we would actually give consideration.
That would be amazing. I will work for free, by the way. I will play any character you want but, only doing weak swear words for children. But I’ll record any weak swear words you want. Crap. Fudge. You name it, I’ll say it.
Suda51: (laughter)
You know, before the translator told me what you just said, I thought you were saying “Jonathan, please stop giving me all these bad ideas. You do it every time we talk”. But I guess you don’t hate this one, and that makes me feel fantastic.
Suda51 (via translator): Yeah, I think I get where you’re coming from this time. And we’re definitely not going to be doing it for this game because of time restraints and also… I don’t feel like it…(laughter) but we could probably add options to tone down some of the gore in some of our titles to take into consideration a wider variety of players, a wider audience and stuff. But we’re not going to do that for this one.
A game for fans of Resident Evil 4 and Metroid Prime 2?
Right (laughter) Good good good. So, on a more serious bent, sorta, what would you say to people who haven’t heard of Shadows of the Damned, who maybe know Resident Evil 4, which has been on every Nintendo system since for the last 20 years or so, about the similarities and differences between the games? Do you think most fans of Resident Evil 4 would enjoy it?
Suda51 (via translator): Well, obviously it’s largely a Third Person Shooter, and a lot of the Third Person Shooter elements in the game came from Shinji Mikami [director of Resident Evil 4], who oversaw a lot of the action design and stepped in and helped with fine tuning the final product. So while I was responsible for the final script, there’s a lot of him in the game as well. Not just like the story and backgrounds and everything but the way it actually works, the way it’s played. So if you’re into Third Person Shooters, or action type games, then it’s probably worth giving it a try.
Probably? I mean, I don’t think you’re really selling it enough (laughter). Because I wanted to prepare for playing the Remaster today, I replayed the original last week, and I forgot how many times you throw curveballs at player to keep them feeling shocked and excited. Like if you’ve played Resident Evil 4, you can jump right in with the basics here, but you also get to the weird stuff like right away, like needing to change to the light shot in order to shoot goat heads and create safe zones, or having to go from full fight mode into flight mode when you run through the poison darkness to get to an exit. Which come to think it is, something you also had to do in Metroid Prime 2. So I guess that’s another reason for GameCube-era Nintendo fans to feel seen by your game. But yeah, you’re suddenly told you have to shove strawberries into monster baby door lock’s mouths, demons come in wearing shadow armor, all these change-ups that are often saved for later on in a game this size are all coming at you in the first ten minutes or so. Was it a deliberate decision to make the game rapid-fire with new mechanics and action puzzles?
Suda51 (via translator): Well it was a pretty big team on this one, and we worked to fit in as many ideas from various team members that we could in the final game. And when it comes to the script, I really wanted to keep the dialogue going at a steady rate. One of the biggest elements that’s definitely my thing in Shadows of the Damned, from the very start of planning the game, one thing that I had decided from the beginning, is there was going to be a main character and his buddy. It was going to be like partners. I wasn’t sure exactly how it was going to work out, but it I knew I wanted it to be a dude and his buddy. And possibly, a dude and his buddy who is also a ghost (laughter). That was one of the parts of the game, throughout the whole process, I put a lot of work into, a lot of thought into. It was the thing from the very beginning the thing that I was going to do, really pushed for it and just kept putting as much thought and love into it as I could. If there’s one part of the game that’s specifically a Suda thing that I’m personally proud of, and would really like people to pay attention to, it would be the buddy element between Garcia and Johnson.
Black Knight Sword: Also Hella Remastered?
Speaking of the script of the game, we’ve talked before about another game you wrote, Black Knight Sword, is like a blood relative to Shadows of the Damned. If I remember correctly, the story of Black Knight Sword was taken from one of your early scripts for Shadows. So it’s almost like a little brother to Damned in that way. The two have similar art direction as well, at least when it comes to the brief 2D segments of Shadows, though I know they had a separate dev teams and publishers. So is there any chance Black Knight Sword will see a Hella Remaster too?
Suda51 (via translator): As for Black Knight Sword, we don’t actually have the rights to that. I believe it’s probably THQ Nordic that holds the rights.
Oh no! Do they even exist as that company anymore? They were bought and sold a few times since then I think.
Suda51 (via translator): I think some dude probably bought the rights on eBay a little while ago (laughter). But no, what you’re thinking is how Digital Reality originally published the game with us, but I think THQ Nordic bought them later on. So THQ Nordic, last I heard, still has the rights. We’ve actually spoken before about buying back the rights to Black Knight Sword, but unfortunately, it wasn’t really the right time, so we don’t actually have that right now. There’s no concrete plans to revisit it or bring it back or anything, but at least the first step is getting back the rights, and that’s something I’ve considered multiple times in the past, so never say never. But not at all anything we’ve got on the blackboard right now.
Garcia’s sexy road to stardom?
It’s amazing how many of your characters are in the hands of so many different publishers and have been in so many games on so many consoles. Like every time I see the Travis Touchdown spirit and Mii costume in Smash Ultimate, I still do a little spit take, seeing this foul-mouthed, murderous otaku next to Link and Mario in game. Travis is arguably more famous than his games, in that way. People who have never played No More Heroes still know him. And Garcia, for my money, is just as interesting of a character. In some ways he’s more dynamic because of his relationship with both Johnson and Paula, and all the ups and downs he goes through with them. So what do you think it will take to make Garcia as famous a Travis?
Suda51 (via translator): You have any good ideas? (laughter). I’m thinking an OnlyFans. (laughter)
Well the truth is, I think it could happen and it should happen, just based on the quality of the game and the quality of the writing. I think that people are more ready to appreciate Shadows of the Damned now than they were 10 years ago. So I’m expecting this is going to do extremely well for you. This is going to be a lot of people’s first ever Suda51 game and they’re going to come away very impressed.
Suda51 (via translator): Thank you for saying that. And you know, back in the day when we released the original, we had a bunch of older dudes at EA who were extremely set in their ways in charge of promoting the game. And to put it in a polite way, it’s pretty clear these dudes didn’t know shit about this game (laughter). These were the guys who were supposed to promote it, really not understanding what it’s trying to do, what it’s about, what it is, you know? So hopefully, yeah. Maybe this time it’ll get a bit more of a chance to just be itself.
Super Mario, but in hell
And the way you’re promoting your game now shows that your heart is really in it. When Damned was first published by EA, some people thought “Maybe EA are the ones that really made this game and they just tacked Suda’s name on it for street cred.” But now you’re out here at replica of a bar in the middle of hell, hanging out with whoever comes in, just like Garcia and Johnson might hang out with whatever demons stroll into their life, you’re showing that the story is really about social connection. Garcia and Johnson are talking to each other non-stop in this game, and Garcia’s connection to Paula is the force that drives him forward from hell and back. And likewise, your drive to connect with the fans through this event, and through this game, well like I said, you wouldn’t be doing this if your heart wasn’t really in it. Now it’s just a matter of people taking a chance on the game and finding that out for themselves.
Suda51 (via translator): Yeah, that’s still in question, right? One last thing that I wanted to say is there’s probably a lot of people out there who don’t really fully grasp exactly what Shadows of the Damned is about. So to put it in super simple terms, in the story you’ve got Garcia who is a demon hunter, and he’s got the love of his life, Paula who is kidnapped and taken away to Hell by Flemming, this badass demon. And so Garcia and his buddy Johnson traverse the deepest depths of Hell to take out Flemming and get Paula back. To put it in even simpler terms, maybe for the Nintendo fans out there, if Garcia is like Mario, then Flemming would be like Bowser. Paula would be like Peach and then Johnson is basically Luigi. Basically, you’ve got the same exact love triangle as Mario. It’s pretty much the same exact story. It’s like Super Mario Bros., but in Hell. (laughter).
Suda, thanks so much for the conversation. It’s always a pleasure.
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is set to hit PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam) sometime this year.
