A second chance for Shinji Mikami and Suda51’s lesser-known collaboration

There
hasn’t
exactly
been
a
dearth
of
remasters
over
the
past
decade,
with
many
of
the
most
acclaimed
titles
from
previous
generations
finding
their
way
to
modern
consoles,
either
polished
and
tweaked
to
meet
today’s
standards
or
rebuilt
from
the
ground
up.

The
Last
of
Us,
Final
Fantasy
7,
Mass
Effect,
Dead
Space,
various
Resident
Evils,
a
range
of
Nintendo
classics
–
the
list
of
games
that
have
been
brought
back
for
new
audiences
goes
on.
One
entry
you
might
not
expect
to
see
on
the
list
is
Shadows
of
the
Damned.

If
you’re
unfamiliar
with
the
name,
you’ll
certainly
know
the
visionaries
behind
it;
Shadows
of
the
Damned
is
the
second
collaboration
between
Japanese
legends
Shinji
Mikami,
director
of
the
original
Resident
Evil,
and
Goichi
‘Suda51’
Suda,
known
for
the
No
More
Heroes
series.

Released
in
2011,
Shadows
of
the
Damned
was
a
‘punk
rock’
action
adventure
game
in
which
a
Mexican
demon
hunter
fights
against
the
forces
of
evil
–
with
the
help
of
his
demon
sidekick
Johnson,
who
can
transform
into
a
gun,
torch
and
motorbike
–
to
save
his
girlfriend.

It
was
published
by
Electronic
Arts
for
PlayStation
3
and
Xbox
360,
and
this
year
it
returns
to
consoles
and
PC
thanks
to
NetEase,
the
parent
company
of
Suda’s
studio
and
Shadows’
developer
Grasshopper
Manufacture.

GamesIndustry.biz
caught
up
with
both
Suda
and
Mikami
at
Gamescom,
who
told
us
this
is
not
the
first
time
they
have
tried
to
revive
the
2011
title.

“About
seven
or
eight
years
ago,
we
got
an
offer
from
someone
to
remaster
Shadows
of
the
Damned
and
we
thought
that
sounded
cool,”
Suda
explains.
“So
we
talked
to
EA
about
it,
and
they
were
like,
‘yeah,
sure,
but
it’s
got
to
be
an
Origin
exclusive’
and
that
put
us
off
a
bit
at
the
time.
If
it
could
only
be
on
Origin,
that
would
defeat
the
purpose
of
bringing
it
out
again
so
more
people
can
play
it.

“Then
a
couple
of
years
ago,
around
the
time
we
joined
NetEase,
the
idea
came
up
again
so
we
spoke
to
EA
about
it
and
the
Origin
thing
was
no
longer
an
issue.
So
since
we’re
able
to
do
it
on
all
the
platforms
we
wanted,
it
was
the
perfect
timing.
We’ve
been
wanting
to
do
it
for
years
now
–
and
maybe
we
can
get
people
to
actually
know
about
it
this
time,”
he
laughs.

Suda
adds
that
this
is
part
of
Grasshopper’s
efforts
to
make
more
of
its
back
catalogue
available
on
modern
systems.
Since
2016,
the
studio
has
worked
with
partners
such
as
Engine
Software
–
the
developer
of
the
Shadows
of
the
Damned
remaster
–
to
bring
back
seven
titles,
including
the
No
More
Heroes
trilogy,
with
another
–
2012’s
Lollipop
Chainsaw
–
still
to
come.

The
majority
of
Grasshopper
Manufacture
is
working
on
a
brand
new
IP,
so
what
is
Suda
and
Mikami’s
involvement
in
Hella
Remastered?
Suda
describes
Mikami
as
“kind
of
a
special
guest
for
us,”
with
the
development
veteran
assisting
with
promotional
efforts
(such
as
press
interviews
at
Gamescom).
Meanwhile,
Suda
is
the
remaster’s
general
producer.

“I
basically
sign
shit,”
he
smiles.
“We
get
lots
of
invoices
and
stuff.”

“We’ve
been
wanting
to
[remaster
Shadows
of
the
Damned]
for
years
now
–
and
maybe
we
can
get
people
to
actually
know
about
it
this
time”

Goichi
‘Suda51’
Suda

Shadows
of
the
Damned
wasn’t
the
first
game
Suda
and
Mikami
worked
on
together.
Their
first
collaboration
was
2005
GameCube
and
PlayStation
2
title
Killer7.
But
while
this
has
lived
on
as
a
cult
hit,
Shadows
of
the
Damned
is
less
popular
and
suffered
somewhat
at
launch.

“When
the
original
came
out,
I
did
want
to
have
a
lot
more
people
so
being
able
to
put
it
out
on
more
platforms
is
definitely
a
good
thing,”
says
Mikami.

Suda
adds:
“A
couple
of
years
before
Shadows
of
the
Damned
came
out,
there
was
another
game
that
was
themed
around
hell
and
rock
music,
Brutal
Legend.
A
lot
of
attention
went
to
that
game.
Another
thing
was,
right
around
the
time
they
should
have
been
promoting
Shadows
of
the
Damned,
EA
decided
to
put
all
of
its
budget
into
Battlefield
so
it
didn’t
really
get
the
promotion
we
felt
it
deserved.
So
because
of
these
things,
there
weren’t
nearly
as
many
people
that
were
aware
of
the
game
as
there
should
have
been.
That’s
the
main
reason
it
didn’t
meet
our
expectations.”

The
lack
of
fanfare
at
launch
is
not
their
only
regret.
Both
Suda
and
Mikami
have
discussed
in

past
interviews
how
Shadows
of
the
Damned
went
through
development
troubles
from
the
conception
stage.
Originally
it
began
life
as
the
horror
title
Kurayami
before
being
adapted
into
something
new
when
that
struggled
to
find
a
publisher.

After
finally
landing
a
deal
with
Electronic
Arts,
the
publisher
is
said
to
have
requested
several
changes
to
Suda’s
vision,
including
giving
players
a
gun
from
the
start
to
cater
to
Western
tastes.

You
would
think
this
would
be
the
opportunity
for
Suda
and
Mikami
to
remake
the
game
completely,
bringing
that
initial
concept
to
life,
but
the
former
notes
that,
regardless
of
troubles
Shadows
of
the
Damned
went
through,
it
was
a
complete
game
by
launch.

“It
may
not
have
been
the
game
we
set
out
to
make
when
we
began
but
it’s
the
game
we
ended
up
deciding
to
make,”
he
says.
“The
scenario
that
Shadows
of
the
Damned
was
born
from
was
actually
the
sixth
draft
of
the
scenario
we’d
originally
come
up
with,
and
each
of
the
drafts
that
had
come
before
were
completely
different,
so
if
we
were
to
make
one
of
those
games,
it
wouldn’t
really
be
a
remake
of
Shadows
of
the
Damned,
it
would
just
be
a
completely
different
game
all
on
its
own.”

The
pair
add
that
their
expectations
are
a
little
more
conservative
this
time
around.
There
are
considerably
more
games
released
each
week
today
than
there
were
in
2011,
but
Mikami
is
confident
they
can
reach
the
specific
audience
they’re
targeting.

“It’s
probably
going
to
be
difficult
to
have
a
huge
amount
of
people
find
out
about
it
this
time
–
but
now
there
are
enough
people
out
there
who
know
about
the
weird
ass
stuff
that
Suda
makes
and
like
that
kind
of
thing,”
he
says.
“So
I
feel
the
game
at
least
has
the
chance
to
reach
the
people
who
would
like
to
try
it.”

Fans
may
hope
that
revisiting
their
previous
collaboration
has
inspired
Mikami
and
Suda
to
work
together
again,
but
both
suggest
that’s
unlikely
to
happen
any
time
soon.
Even
hypothetically,
they
are
stumped
as
to
what
another
joint
venture
might
look
like.

“It’s
hard
to
say
what
sort
of
game
we
would
make
because
one
of
us
would
have
to
come
up
with
an
idea
and
pitch
it
to
the
other
so
that
we
both
think,
‘Yeah,
that’s
cool,
let’s
do
that’,”
says
Mikami.
“If
one
of
us
comes
up
with
a
cool
idea,
I’d
like
to
make
that.”

“Generally,
if
we’re
going
to
work
together
it
will
be
Mikami
as
producer
and
myself
as
director.
I
don’t
think
it
would
work
out
the
other
way
around,”
Suda
laughs.
“So
the
way
that’s
more
likely
to
happen
is
if
I
come
up
with
an
idea,
write
a
scenario
or
project
sheet,
and
propose
it
to
him.
If
he
digs
it,
that’s
the
new
game
we’d
work
on.”

At
this
point,
Suda
turns
to
Mikamo
and
says:
“There’s
actually
an
idea
I
came
up
with
a
long
time
ago,
you
probably
don’t
remember,
it
was
called
Zombie
Rider.”

“No,
I
remember
that,”
Mikami
responds.
“Back
when
I
was
working
at
Platinum
Games.”

Zombie
Rider
never
got
off
the
ground,
however
–
not
because
of
the
idea,
but
because
of
the
market
around
it,
Mikami
recalls.

“Ghost
Rider,
the
Nicholas
Cage
movie,
had
just
come
out
and
I
thought
it
was
a
bit
too
close
to
that,”
he
explains.
“People
might
think
it
was
a
rip-off.

“Another
reason
is
there
was
a
game
that
[Hideki]
Kamiya
was
making
at
Platinum
at
the
time,
and
looking
at
the
scenario
sheet
Suda
showed
me,
I
felt
it
was
a
bit
too
close
to
that
as
well.
I
didn’t
want
to
have
something
too
close
to
what
Kamiya
was
making,
although
I
believe
that
changed
into
something
else.
I
also
felt
it
was
too
close
to
Dead
Rising.”

“Maybe
it
just
wasn’t
fucked
up
enough,”
Suda
laughs.
“If
it
was
a
bit
more
fucked
up,
maybe
Mikami
would
have
been
into
it.
But
it
just
didn’t
have
that
level
of
‘what
the
hell
is
going
on
in
this
game?'”

Mikami
adds:
“If
Suda
is
able
to
make
that,
I’d
like
to
see
him
try.”