| ||
|---|---|---|
| Annual revenue | ¥10,000,000 (FY 2008) | |
| Employees | 74 | |
| Motto | Punk's Not Dead, Call & Response, Crash & Build, Let's Punk | |
| Website | grasshoppermanufacture.com | |
Grasshopper Manufacture Inc. (株式会社グラスホッパー・マニファクチュア) is an independent video game development company based in Suginami, Japan.[1] It was established on March 30, 1998 by former Human Entertainment scenario writer Goichi Suda, and began development on its first video game, The Silver with a total staff of three.[2] By the first quarter of 2006 Grasshopper employed a staff of around 30,[3] and today the developer is comprised of roughly 74 employees.[1] Grasshopper was founded with the slogan "Salon Analog Organization," although the team's only projects to sport this were The Silver and Flower, Sun, and Rain. As the company grew in notoriety, its slogan was changed to "Video Game Band," reflecting how Suda felt Grasshopper's approach to video gaming was similar to that of a music group.
Grasshopper gained mainstream notoriety in 2005 for the cross-platform title killer7, and again in late 2007 with the release of No More Heroes. The company is noted for its unique efforts that are sometimes developed even in the face of a financial risk. For years Suda helmed a number of original titles, valuing the importance of unique material over sequelization, however in 2008 the director announced Grasshopper's first proper sequel, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Suda later spoke with Nintendo Power, expressing that he had enough ideas percolating to write up to three more No More Heroes sequels.
In addition to Grasshopper's original work, the company frequently works on video game adaptations of preexisting series. These titles are Shining Soul, Shining Soul II, Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked, Blood+: One Night Kiss, Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen and Evangerion Shin Gekijōban -Saundo Inpakuto-. Grasshopper has also developed long-standing partnerships with a number of parties. Since 2003, the company has developed most of their original work on Nintendo consoles (the team was only partially involved in porting the cross-platform killer7 to the PlayStation 2), and in terms of publishers, Grasshopper has worked with Spike, Ubisoft and Namco Bandai twice each, Atlus three times, and both Marvelous Entertainment and Rising Star Games a total of four times.
Resume
Games developed
- Main article: List of Grasshopper Manufacture games
- The Silver (PlayStation – 1999)
- Flower, Sun, and Rain (PlayStation 2 – 2001)
- Shining Soul (Game Boy Advance – 2002)
- Shining Soul II (Game Boy Advance – 2003)
- Michigan (PlayStation 2 – 2004)
- killer7 (Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 – 2005)
- Shirubaa Jiken 25 Ku (i-mode and Yahoo! Keitai – 2005)
- Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked (PlayStation 2 – 2006)
- Contact (Nintendo DS – 2006)
- Blood+: One Night Kiss (PlayStation 2 – 2006)
- No More Heroes (Wii – 2007)
- Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen (Wii – 2008)
- Flower, Sun, and Rain: Murder and Mystery in Paradise (Nintendo DS localization – 2008)
- No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Wii – 2010)
- Frog Minutes (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad – 2011)
- Shadows of the DAMNED (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – 2011)
- Evangerion Shin Gekijōban -Saundo Inpakuto- (PlayStation Portable – 2011)
- Sine Mora (Xbox Live Arcade – 2012)
- Diabolical Pitch (Xbox Live Arcade – 2012)
- Lollipop Chainsaw (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 – 2012)
Forthcoming
- The Silver Case (Nintendo 3DS localization – completed for Nintendo DS, unreleased and ported instead to 3DS)
- Silver Case, 25 Ward (Nintendo DS localization – unconfirmed since 2007)
- Black Knight Sword (PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade)
- An unnamed collaboration with Yuji Naka[4]
- Kaihō Shōjo (Nintendo 3DS – an entry in the Guild01 compilation)
- Killer Is Dead (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)
- Suda has also expressed interest in developing a remake of or a sequel to Michigan: Report from Hell,[5] writing Flower, Sun, and Rain's Sumio Mondo into a future video game[6] and developing a title for Nintendo 3DS,[7] the latter which has since been fulfilled with Kaihō Shōjo.
Soundtracks recorded
In addition to Masafumi Takada recording soundtracks for Grasshopper Manufacture's video games, Grasshopper has also undertaken sound design for the following titles:
- Robot Alchemic Drive (PlayStation 2 – 2002)
- Simple 2000 Series Vol. 31: The Chikyuu Boueigun (PlayStation 2 – 2003)
- Shin Mikagura Shoujo Tanteidan (Microsoft Windows – 2003)
- Tetsujin 28gou (PlayStation 2 – 2004)
- Steel Battalion: Line of Contact (Xbox – 2004)
- Global Defense Force (PlayStation 2 – 2005)
- Earth Defense Force 2017 (Xbox 360 – 2006)
- God Hand (PlayStation 2 – 2006)
- Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (Wii – 2007)
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii – 2008)
Trivia
- Grasshopper Manufacture's "Punk's Not Dead" slogan is reminiscent of the caption on Marjane Satrapi's jacket in the 2007 film Persepolis, which reads "Punk Is Not Dead."
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE > company. Grasshopper Manufacture. April 2009.
- ↑ Suda51 Talks Emotion In Games, 'Breaking Stuff'. Gamasutra. David Low. April 18, 2007.
- ↑ "Into the Darkness". Edge. April 2006. p. 54.
- ↑ Grasshopper, Yuji Naka Tease New Projects. Kevin Gifford. 1UP. October 20, 2010.
- ↑ Suda 51 wants to remake Grasshopper Manufacture's 'Michigan'. JC Fletcher. Joystiq. October 23, 2009.
- ↑ Suda51: More Sumio Mondo, Silver Case 'Up in the Air'. C3 News. Adam Riley. July 15, 2009.
- ↑ Suda51 wants to make 3DS game. Official Nintendo Magazine. May 19, 2010.
External links
- Official website
- Contact at ghm@grasshopper.co.jp