Shining Soul

An action RPG for the Gameboy Advance, part of the Shining series, co-developed by Nextech and Grasshopper Manufacture through the direction of Akira Ueda and the scenario writing of Masashi Niwano.

Shining Soul II

An action RPG for the Gameboy Advance, part of the Shining series, co-developed by Nextech and Grasshopper Manufacture through the direction of Akira Ueda and the scenario writing of Masashi Niwano.

Michigan: Report from Hell

Akira Ueda’s somewhat goofy horror-comedy. Lake Michigan has been enveloped by a mysterious fog. The player character, a cameraman for ZakaTV, is tasked with investigating it alongside mic operator Brisco and a variety of reporters.

Materials:
• Japanese full art scans (Archive)
• European full art scans (Archive)
• Promotional pamphlet (Archive)
• Special Movie DVD (Archive)
• Special Movie DVD promo (Archive)
• Official Perfect Guide (Archive)
• Original Soundtrack full art scans (Archive)

Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked

A tie-in game to the popular anime show by Shinichiro Watanabe, director Suda51 penned an original story for the game relating to the struggle of the indigenous Ainu people and the Matsumae clan in what would later be known as Hokkaido.

Materials:
• Japanese full art scans (Archive)
• American full art scans (Archive)
• Rythm Tracks full art scans (Archive)
• Original Soundtrack full art scans (Archive)

Contact

In this second and last original outing from director Akira Ueda the player controls Terry, a kid he communes with through the Nintendo DS, in an action-rpg adventure the objective of which is to collect enough power cells to help the Professor, who crash landed on Terry’s planet during a fight with the CosmoNOTs, repair his ship and return to his home planet.

Materials:
• Japanese full art scans (Archive)
• American full art scans (Archive)
• European full art scans (Archive)
• Official Guidebook full scans (Archive)

Blood+ One Night Kiss

Grasshopper’s second anime tie-in game, this time based on the show Blood+. Director Suda51 once again penned an original scenario more reminiscent of his older work than anything to do with the anime show. In fact, it could be considered a reprise of certain themes brought on in Moonlight Syndrome. The game was a Japanese exclusive release but a fan translation is underway.

Materials:
• Full art scans (Archive)
Analysis:
• English translation and guide

Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen
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Co-developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and Tecmo, this game is the fourth installment in the Fatal Frame / Project Zero series of survival horror games.

Materials:
• Full art scans (Archive)
• Official Guide Book (Archive)
• Fan Translation

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

In this sequel to the original No More Heroes, directed by Nobutaka Ichiki, Travis Touchdown has to once again climb the ranks of the UAA in order to avenge the death of his best friend Bishop, which was carried out by the mafia and ordered by the Pizza Bat CEO.

Materials:
• Hopper’s edition art scans (Archive)
• Erotica Comic art scans (Archive)
• Erotica Comic “No More Loser” translation (Archive)
• No More Heroes 1.5 fan translation (Archive)
• No More Heroes 1.5 official translation (Archive)
• Original Soundtrack art scans (Archive)
• Leaked production script (Archive)
• Switch ver. art scans (Archive)
• Switch limited edition art scans (Archive)
• Switch ver. Soundtrack art scans (Archive)
Analysis:
• My thoughts on Travis Strikes Again and why I don’t plan on covering any future games

No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise / Red Zone

HD remake of the original No More Heroes, released for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. The original Japanese release saw the Playstation 3 version being censored similarly to the Japanese and European releases of the original; The Xbox 360 version remained uncut. The Playstation 3 version was then released in Europe with a variety of bug fixes and fully restored blood and gore; Subsequently, it was also re-released in Japan and the USA as Red Zone.

• Art and manual scans
• Trailers
• Perfect Bible
• Erotica Portraits

Frog Minutes
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A mobile game about collecting frogs released on Android and iOs as a fundraiser for the Japanese relief fund, due to the 2011 earthquakes. It is incompatible with current iOs and Android Operating Systems.

Materials:
• Preset emulator

Shadows of the Damned

Originally envisioned as the open world horror game Kurayami, Shadows of the Damned is the result of several script re-writes that EA demanded from Suda51. The game was ultimately directed by Massimo Guarini and stars mexican demon hunter Garcia and his skull gun Johnson in a third person shooting adventure where Garcia must rescue his girlfriend Paula from the depths of Hell.

Materials:
• Russian Playstation 3 art scans (Archive)
• European Playstation 3 art scans (Archive)
• American Playstation 3 art scans (Archive)
• Russian Xbox360 art scans (Archive)
• Playbox Magazine scans (Archive)
• Kurayami Magazine scans (Archive)
• Original Soundtrack art scans (Archive)
• Edge Magazine 162 cancelled “Kurayami” announcement (One page missing) (Archive)
• Edge Magazine 162 transcript
Analysis:
• The DNA of Kurayami

Rebuild of Evangelion: 3nd Impact

A licensed rythm game based on the “Rebuild of Evangelion” series of movies.

Materials:
• Original Soundtrack art scans (Archive)

Sine Mora

A shmup co-developed by Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture. While Digital Reality handled the game development, Grasshopper focused on the graphics, music and sound effects.

Materials:
• Art scans (Archive)

Diabolical Pitch

A kinect exclusive game starring ex-baseball star Nigel Macalister, who is attracted by a mysterious amusement park in which he’ll have to pitch at a series of obstacles in order to have his wish granted: for his injured arm to be healed.

Materials:
• Full playthrough (Archive)

Liberation Maiden

An isometric shooter originally developed by Grasshopper Manufacture for the Guild01 compilation and later released individually on digital platforms. The player controls Shoko, the new president of Japan, as she boards her giant robot Kamui to fight some shit I can’t remember.

Materials:
• Guild01 full art scans (Archive)

Lollipop Chainsaw

A colorful hack and slash, co-written by James Gunn, in which a cheerleader fights a zombie apocalypse with a chainsaw while bantering with her boyfriend’s severed head.

Materials:
• European Playstation 3 Nordic Edition art scans (Archive)
• European Playstation 3 art scans (Archive)
• Russian Playstation 3 art scans (Archive)
• Japanese Playstation 3 Premium Edition art scans (Archive)
• European Xbox360 German art scans (Archive)
• European Xbox360 British art scans (Archive)
• Russian Xbox360 art scans (Archive)
• Official Manga scans (Archive)
• Go, Fight, Win!! Visual & Game Guide Book (Archive)
• Music from the game Soundtrack art scans (Archive)

No More Heroes: World Ranker

A social mobile game based on the No More Heroes series, co-developed by De-na, in which the player could create his own assassin and climb the ranks. The servers have since been taken down.

Materials:
• Original trailer (Archive)
• Collection of screenshots (Archive)
• Soundtrack excerpt (Archive)
• .apk file (Archive)
• Sound effects dump (Archive)
• Full .obj dump (Archive)

Black Knight Sword

A 2d action platformer directed by Ren Yamazaki and based on one of the rejected scripts for Kurayami. It was also a collaboration with Digital Reality, but the core development was handled by GhM.

Analysis:
• The DNA of Kurayami

Killer is Dead

The player takes control of state executioner Mondo Zappa in a hack and slash adventure in which he’s tasked with defeating WIREs, monsters powered by the moon’s dark matter.

Materials:
• Japanese Playstation 3 art scans (Archive)
• European Xbox360 Limited Edition art scans (Archive)
• Special Pre-order Soundtrack “BONUS” art scans (Archive)
• Fan edition Soundtrack art scans (Archive)
• Limited edition (JP) Soundtrack art scans (Archive)
• Limited edition (US) Soundtrack art scans (Archive)

Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day

A short running game developed by Grasshopper Manufacture to be bundled with the “Short Peace” animated anthology. Ranko Tsukigime is a highschool girl moonlighting as an assassin whose objective is to kill her own father.

Materials:
• Short Peace art scans (Archive)
• Original Soundtrack art scans (Archive)

Let it Die

Let it Die is a grinding simulator built on top of the corpse of the cancelled game Lily Bergamo. The player takes control of an army of clones, controlled through the Death Drive game console, with the objective of climbing the Tower of Barbs, which mysteriously manifested in Tokyo after the Earth Rage earthquake destroyed most of the world.

Materials:
• Art scans (Archive)
• Lily Bergamo trailer (Archive)
• Lily Bergamo Siliconera interview (Archive)
• Gameinformer Lily Bergamo interview
• 4gamer reporting on Lily Bergamo’s TGS 2013 announcement (Archive)
• Lily Bergamo Famitsu interview (Archive)
• Lily Bergamo concept art and photos of the TGS 2013 announcement (Gallery)

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes

In this No More Heroes spin-off, Travis teams up with Bad Man in order to find and complete the seven Death Balls, videogame cartridges for the Death Drive console, as legend says that the one to complete them shall be granted a gift. Said gift would be the resurrection of Bad Girl.

Materials:
• Nintendo Switch Limited Edition art scans (Archive)
• Russian Nintendo Switch art scans (Archive)
• Playstation 4 art scans (Archive)
Analysis:
• My thoughts on Travis Strikes Again and why I don’t plan on covering any future games
• The thousand references of Travis Strikes Again and what I think they mean

No More Heroes III

In this final (?) entry in the No More Heroes series, Travis Touchdown must enter the Galactic Rankings in order to save the Earth from an alien invasion.