The Wide Wide World of Suda-Sports
Is this another April Fools’ joke, or did that crazy sonofabitch actually go and do it?
Last time we interviewed Suda51, CEO of Grasshopper Manufacture, I asked him if he’d ever make a badminton game. Suda was a budding star in the sport back in his early years at school, and those days still mean a lot to him. He told us that if he were ever to do something with badminton, he’d want it to be a massive crossover between all his franchises, including No More Heroes (which his company partially owns) and Shadows of the Damned (which they fully own). Then we laughed, because what are the chances of anything like that ever actually happening?
Well it looks like the chances were pretty good!
Grasshopper Manufacture All-Stars: Killer Badminton is the debut title from Little Grasshopper, the new “all-ages” division of Grasshopper Manufacture. Like Multiversus, WB’s upcoming crossover fighter, it looks like Killer Badminton will be free-to-play, but with an initially limited roster of characters.
It’s just Travis and Garcia to start, which is a little disappointing, but it’s nice to see the two finally take a few swings at each other, especially after their proposed franchise-meld in No More Heroes 3 was cut. Shoko from Liberation Maiden, Toriko from Flower, Sun and Rain, and Notorious from Fire Pro Wrestling World: The Vanishing also make cameos at the end of the trailer. They may be in the game too, but so far I haven’t seen them.
But is it all a big joke? I don’t think so, and not to toot my own horn, but my track record on these kinds of things is pretty spotless. To further add to the game’s legitimacy, it looks like Tony Astro, composer of Gold Joe’s theme from No More Heroes 3, did the soundtrack for Killer Badminton as well. You can get the full album on Youtube, SoundCloud and Bandcamp.
