Suda51 might not seem like a game developer who takes no for an answer, but in the case of one dream project, he apparently hasn't had much of a choice. As the creative force behind games like game Hotel Barcelona fuses his talents with those of Deadly Premonition director Swery65.
Over the years, Suda51 has always been more prone to creating original concepts than working on pre-established franchises, but that's never been a hard rule. He started his career with an entry in the Super Fire Pro Wrestling series, and Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse brought his talents to an iconic horror brand. In his original works, he tends to cram in plenty of Easter eggs, and the oft-referenced Gundam franchise is the one that still eludes him.
Suda51 Really Wants To Make A Gundam Game
Suda51 & The Rights Holders Don't See Eye-To-Eye
Speaking at a at MomoCon 2025, an Atlanta pop culture convention, Suda51 talked about his desire to create a Gundam game. The topic came up when talking about various inspirations for his games, with Suda answering "of course" when asked if Gundam influenced his mecha shoot 'em up Liberation Maiden. Elaborating, he said that he's wanted to make a Gundam game with his game studio, Grasshopper Manufacture, for years, but "Bandai won't let us."
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Now that No More Heroes is finished, Suda 51 weighs in on the future of Grasshopper Manufacturer and the idea of working on a Deadpool game.
As Bandai Namco is the license holder for the Gundam franchise, all of the many Gundam games on the market can only exist through their licensing and approval. It's not clear how much effort Suda51 has put into acquiring a license agreement for a game, but this isn't the first time he's brought up his desire to work on Gundam. In a since-deleted ITMedia article, shared by Reddit LordEmmerich and archived on Wayback Machine, Suda mentioned that his proposal for a game with Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam's Yazan Gable was rejected.
Yazan Gable is an antagonist of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, so Suda51's game proposal might have followed a different perspective from the series.
Interestingly, Suda51's Hotel Barcelona collaborator has had more official involvement with the Gundam franchise. While Swery65 hasn't directed his own Gundam game from the ground up, he co-directed Kidō Senshi Gundam: Senjō no Kizuna Portable, a PSP port of a Gundam arcade game. Presented with this information at the MomoCon , where Swery65 was also in attendance, Suda joked that he would need to take Swery "out to the parking lot" where they could "discuss things further."
A Suda51 Gundam Game Could Be An Interesting Twist
It Might Not Be A Mis-Match After All
It's not hard to imagine why Suda51 wouldn't be Bandai's go-to choice for a Gundam game. While the tone of Gundam projects has varied over the years, it's rooted in a serious, critical take on war, and Suda's frequently over-the-top design wouldn't fit every iteration as well as it might serve the more Saturday-morning-cartoon-style Mobile Fighter G Gundam. Nonetheless, Suda's more than capable of sincere storytelling, and a Grasshopper Gundam game could be a more interesting prospect than the average mecha title.
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While Suda always seems to have his hands busy with plenty of projects, it would be nice to see him take on the challenge of a Gundam game someday. He's clearly ionate about the material, and I'd be lying if I said an off-beat Suda Gundam title wouldn't interest me more than a straightforward mecha battler. At the moment, this particular collaboration seems like a long shot, but when it comes to Suda51's career, games like No More Heroes have consistently proven that nothing's ever truly off the table.
No More Heroes
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- Top Critic Avg: 83/100 Critics Rec: 78%
- Released
- January 22, 2008
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Grasshopper Manufacture
- Publisher(s)
- Marvelous, Ubisoft, Rising Star Games, XSEED Games
- Engine
- Proprietary Engine
- Franchise
- No More Heroes
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