No More Heroes: Goichi Suda, a.k.a. Suda51, was able to take events from the past and transpose them into his other creations.

It all has to do with Shadows of the Damned and the collaboration between Suda51 and Shinji Mikami, the creator of Resident Evil who now works at Tango Gameworks (they previously worked together on Killer7 at Capcom). We have to go back in time a little further to Kurayami. It was supposed to be a psychological horror game built on paranoia and the effects of isolation. It was inspired quite heavily by the bohemian writer Franz Kafka. This concept was changed to Shadows of the Damned, although it is a marked departure from the original ideas.

Shadows of the Damned was published by Electronic Arts, but Mikami said nearly ten years ago, “[Shadows of the Damned] became a completely different game. That was a bit disappointing. I think Suda could not create the scenario he’d originally had in his head, and he rewrote the scenario several times. I think his heart was broken. He’s such a unique creator, so it seems to me that he was not quite comfortable with making this game,” Mikami said, adding that if the original concept had been greenlit, “it probably would have sold even less,” but it would have still been unique.

Suda took an overtly indie, independent, more accessible stance, while Electronic Arts, who were starting to suck the Ultimate Team pacifier hard at that time, wanted a more mainstream approach. Mikami also discussed the issue in a documentary on Archipel’s YouTube channel. He didn’t hold back: he said that the US publisher lied to Grasshopper Manufacture and Suda. Because they completely deviated from the original idea, even he regrets Shadows of the Damned.

How does Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes or No More Heroes 3 come into the picture? In the former game, Damon Riccitiello was the main villain, and in the latter, Ricotello was his surname. The name is very similar to John Riccitiello, who was… the CEO of Electronic Arts from 2007 to 2013. So Shadows of the Damned was created during his era. And it’s not just a casual reference to the ex-EA CEO; it’s much more than that.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes tells the story of Suda. Doctor Juvenile, a game developer, was duped after being betrayed and exploited by Damon Riccitello. The parallels cannot be ignored, and one can even take this further: it was common to see them mention using Unreal Engine in the pre-launch marketing. The game was Nintendo Switch-exclusive at the time, and the significance of this is that Riccitiello is the CEO of Unity. So that was Suda’s slick way of saying something to the ex-EA boss.

And it shows quite nicely that creative minds have a way of taking revenge on those who crossed them in unexpected yet artistic ways…

Source: PSXExtreme, YouTube