The Blondes Era – History of GhM (2008-2016):
- Part 1 – No More Heroes 2
- Part 2 – Minor Projects (2011-2012)
- Part 3 – Lollipop Chainsaw
- Part 4 – Grasshopper Universe & Planet G
- Part 5 – Killer is Dead
- Part 6 – Let it Die
Extras:
A hub for all Grasshopper Manufacture games that aren’t covered in their own subsection.
e-Police
A phone game, produced by Bandai and developed by Tambourine. The player would unravel a mystery by communicating with the fictional police force through text messages. The soundtrack for the game was composed by Shingo Yasumoto (one half of TORN, the duo he created alongside Masafumi Takada to compose the Flower, Sun, and Rain soundtrack) and produced by Grasshopper Manufacture, who also released it as a music CD under their GhM Records label. The game itself is lost.
Shining Soul
An action RPG for Gameboy Advance, part of the Shining series, co-developed by Nextech and Grasshopper Manufacture through the direction of Akira Ueda and the design of Masashi Niwano.
- Development history
- Art and manual scans
- Trailers
- Official Guidebook
- Official Guidebook (Shueisha V Jump)
- Official Guidebook (SEGA books)
- Soundtrack (Game rip)
- Official website (Archive)
Gigantic Drive
Known as Robot Alchemic Drive in the west, this Playstation 2 3D mecha action game was developed by Sandlot, a company which, much like Grasshopper Manufacture and Spike, was founded by former Human Entertainment employees. Masafumi Takada composed the soundtrack of the game and served as sound designer.
Detective Jinguji Saburo: Innocent Black
Part of the long-running Detective Adventure Game Jinguji Saburo series, this game, developed by WorkJam for the Playstation 2, featured a crossover with Grasshopper Manufacture’s The Silver Case, with GhM getting credited in the Special Thanks.
The Earth Defense Force
Known as Monster Attack in the west, the first entry in the popular EDF series, released on Playstation 2 as part of the Simple 2000 series (Vol. 31). Once again developed by Sandlot, Masafumi Takada composed the soundtrack and served as sound designer.
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 design of Masashi Niwano. Compared to the first game, GhM had a bigger hand in development, with Goichi Suda and Nobuhiko Sagara receiving story credits and Masafumi Takada composing the soundtrack.
- Development history
- Art and manual scans
- Trailers
- Official Guidebook
- Soundtrack (Game rip)
- Official website (Archive)
Shin Mikagura Shōjo Tanteidan
Erotic visual novel developed for Personal Computers by Nude Maker, a company which (take a guess), much like GhM, Spike and Sandlot, was formed by former Human employees. Third entry in the Mikagura Shōjo Tanteidan series of mystery/detective games by Human Entertainment, it was directed by Hifumi Kono, creator of the Clock Tower series. Masafumi Takada composed the soundtrack. Interestingly enough, Shingo Yasumoto happened to be the composer for the first two games, predating the founding of Grasshopper Manufacture.
Steel Battalion: Line of Contact
Second entry in the mech-piloting series Steel Battalion, co-developed by Capcom Studio 4 (headed by Shinji Mikami, who scouted Suda for the Capcom Five project through the intercession of Hifumi Kono) and Nude Maker. Masafumi Takada composed the soundtrack and served as sound designer.
Tetsujin 28-go
Japanese-exclusive Playstation 2 game developed by Sandlot, based on the classic manga of the same name. Its gameplay systems were based on Sandlot’s earlier Gigantic Drive. Masafumi Takada composed the soundtrack.
Michigan
Akira Ueda’s Playstation 2 horror-comedy, known as Michigan: Report from Hell in Europe. 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 cavalcade of sexy reporters.
The Earth Defense Force 2
Sequel to the original EDF game, released for Playstation 2 as part of the Simple 2000 series (Vol. 81). Masafumi Takada returned as composer and sound designer.
Samurai Champloo
A Playstation 2 tie-in game to the popular anime show by Shinichiro Watanabe, known as Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked in North America. 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.
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.
- Development history
- Art and manual scans
- Trailers
- Official Guidebook
- Soundtrack (Game rip)
- Official website (Archive)
Contact: Nyannyan to issho
A mobile spin-off of Contact developed and released by Marvelous for the Vodafone Live! platform exclusively in Japan. In it, the player could raise the Professor’s pet, Mochi (Nyannyan in Japanese) and play minigames. Currently lost.
Chōsōjū Mecha MG
Another mech game developed by Sandlot, this time for the Nintendo DS. Masafumi Takada composed its soundtrack, and some tracks from this game have been featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
God Hand
3D action game developed by Capcom’s own Clover Studio, headed by Shinji Mikami, for Playstation 2. Masafumi Takada and Jun Fukuda composed its soundtrack.
Beatmania IIDX 12-14
During his tenure at Grasshopper Manufacture, Masafumi Takada produced three tracks for the popular Beatmania rhythm arcade game series by Konami. Namely, those tracks were “IceCube Pf.(RX-Ver.S.P.L.)” for BemaniIIDX 12: Happy Sky, “WaterCube Pf.(RX-Ver.S.P.L.)” for BemaniIIDX 13: Distorted and “PentaCube Gt.(RX-Ver.S.P.L.)” for BemaniIIDX 14: Gold.
Earth Defense Force 3
Third entry in the EDF series, developed for Xbox360. Known as “Earth Defense Force 2017” in the west. Masafumi Takada returned as composer and sound designer.
Biohazard: Umbrella Chronicles
Rail shooter released on the Nintendo Wii as part of the Biohazard / Resident Evil franchise created by Shinji Mikami. Masafumi Takada composed its soundtrack.
Super Smash Bros. X
Known as Super Smash Bros. Brawl in the west, part of the popular Smash Bros. crossover series of technical hand-to-hand MMA combat simulators by Nintendo. Masafumi Takada and the GhM sound team arranged some tracks for the game, with Suda himself getting a Special Thanks credit.
No More Heroes Flash Game
A collection of three minigames released for DoCoMo’s i-mode, EZweb and Yahoo! Mobile platforms. The first game sees Travis fight through some mooks on hisway to the ranking fight with Shinobu, and eventually with Destroyman if players reached a high enough scores. In the second minigame, Travis would drive his bike to Sylvia’s house after receiving a booty call. The third and final one was a shooting game based on Pure White Giant Glastonbury.
GhM was not directly involved in development. The game itself is lost.
Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen
Co-developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and Tecmo for Nintendo Wii, this game is the fourth installment in the Fatal Frame / Project Zero series of survival horror games. While it was originally only released in Japan, a translation patch has been produced by fans. A remake was released for Personal Computers and Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft consoles in March 2023.
Tabemon
In this isometric action game, produced by Bandai Namco and developed by Now Production for the Nintendo Wii, a group of adorable bulimics (the titular Tabemon, known as The Munchables in Portugal) has to eat their way through a group of food shaped Space Pirates to bring democracy to the Middle East. Grasshopper Manufacture was credited for sound effect production.
Infinite Space
Space-faring RPG set on spaceships in space, co-developed by Platinum Games (Capcom’s Clover Studio, itself headed by Shinji Mikami, who had by that point gone independent) and Nude Maker for the Nintendo DS. The GhM sound team, made up of Masafumi Takada, Jun Fukuda, Etsuko Ichikawa and Yusuke Komori, handled the sound design and music composition. Infinite Space happens to be the final project Masafumi Takada undertook as part of the Grasshopper team, before founding his own studio, Sound Prestige, on November 5th 2008.
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
In this sequel to the original No More Heroes, directed by Nobutaka Ichiki and released on Nintendo Wii, 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. The game was later ported to Nintendo Switch and Personal Computers.
NMH: Heroes’ Paradise / Red Zone
High definition remake of the original No More Heroes for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, developed by feelplus without any involvement from GhM. 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.
Frog Minutesㅤ
A mobile game about collecting frogs originally released on iOs platforms, with its profits being devolved to the Japanese relief fund for the 2011 earthquakes. The game was later ported to Android systems by Planet G in 2013. It is incompatible with modern iOs and Android systems and has since been removed from all storefronts.
Rebuild of Evangelion: 3nd Impact
A licensed rhythm game based on the “Rebuild of Evangelion” series of movies. Released on the Playstation Portable.
- Development history
- Art and manual scans
- Trailers
- Original Soundtrack
- Official website
Sine Mora
A shmup co-developed by Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture and released on every platform imaginable. While Digital Reality handled the game development, Grasshopper focused on the graphics, music and sound effects. After Digital Reality went out of business, the game was remastered and re-released by THQ as Sine Mora EX.
Diabolical Pitch
A Xbox360 kinect exclusive game starring ex-baseball star McAllister, 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.
- Development history
- XBLA Game files
- Trailers
- Official website
Frog Minutes (Mobage)
An extended version of Frog Minutes, creatively titled Frog Minutes, released during the spring of 2012 as part of the Grasshopper Universe partnership between GhM and DeNA, which would publish the game on their Mobage network on iOs platforms and later on Android ones on June 8th of the same year. This version of the game featured customizable anthropomorphic frogs, many different locales, a wider variety of frogs and microtransactions. The servers have since been taken down.
Liberation Maiden
An isometric shooter originally developed by Grasshopper Manufacture as part of the Guild01 anthology on Nintendo 3DS, and later released individually on the 3DS e-shop and on iOs devices. The player controls Shoko, a teenage girl and new president of Japan, as she boards her giant robot Kamui to fight some shit I can’t remember.
- Development history
- Art and manual scans
- Trailers
- Soundtrack (Game rip)
- .ipa file
- Official website (Archive)
Lollipop Chainsaw
A colorful hack and slash for Xbox360 and Playstation 3, co-written by James Gunn, in which a cheerleader fights a zombie apocalypse with a chainsaw while bantering with her boyfriend’s severed head.
No More Heroes: World Ranker
A social game for iOs and Android systems based on the No More Heroes series and published by DeNA, in which the player could create his own assassin and climb the ranks. The servers have since been taken down.
Dark Menace
The final mobile game published by DeNA under the Grasshopper Universe umbrella. Affectionately referred to as “Dark Space” by its non-existing fans, it was a social game in which players cooperated to shoot lasers at space aliens on spaceships in space. The game is currently lost, and its servers have been taken offline. It may have been originally announced as Alien Busters.
Killer is Dead
The player takes control of state executioner Mondo Zappa in a hack and slash adventure for Xbox360 and Playstation 3 in which he’s tasked with defeating WIREs, monsters powered by the moon’s dark matter. The game later received an expanded port on Personal Computers dubbed “Nightmare Edition”.
Lily Bergamo
Lily Bergamo was characterized as an “extreme action game” with some social integration, starring heroine Tae Ioroi in the future of 2043. The game was to be directed by Nobutaka Ichiki with designs by Yusuke Kozaki, but it was ultimately scrapped in favor of Let it Die.
Liberation Maiden SIN
A visual novel sequel to the original Liberation Maiden, produced by 5pb. (now known as Mages inc.) in cooperation with Grasshopper Manufacture. Suda51 worked on the game as a supervisor and penned some of the scenarios, accompanied by Masahiro Yuki, writer of the original Liberation Maiden. Originally released on Playstation 3, it later received an expanded port on Playstation Vita.
- Development history
- Art and manual scans
- Trailers
- Original Sound Track and Drama CD
- Theme song single
- New Japan’s Liberation White Paper
- Liberation Maiden SIN Manga
- Animated comedy shorts
- Official website
Ranko Tsukigime’s Longest Day
A short running game co-developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and Crispy’s, bundled with the “Short Peace” animated anthology released on Playstation 3. Ranko Tsukigime is a high school girl moonlighting as an assassin whose objective is to kill her own father.
- Development history
- Art and manual scans
- Trailers
- Original Soundtrack
- Official website
Let it Die
Let it Die is a 3D action game and grinding simulator built on top of the corpse of the canceled game Lily Bergamo, developed for Playstation 4 and later ported on Personal Computers. 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.
- Development history
- Art and manual scans
- Trailers
- Official website (Archive)
Astro Boy: Edge of Time
A digital trading card game for Android, iOs and Personal Computers based on the works of Osamu Tezuka developed by Project Atom, a sub-studio within Active Gaming Media. Grasshopper Manufacture assisted the project by lending Akira Yamaoka as a composer, and by having artist Tadayuki Nomaru design the character of Black Jack under Suda’s instructions. Suda also supervised the design of Hyakkimaru, handled in-house by Active Gaming Media. The game was shut down on March 29th 2018.
Psycho Break 2
A game produced by Tango Gameworks, the company founded by Shinji Mikami after splitting from Platinum Games, for Playstation 4, Xbox One and Personal Computers. A sequel to the original Psycho Break, known in the west as The Evil Within. Grasshopper Manufacture is credited as assisting with development of the game, with Tadayuki Nomaru providing additional creature designs.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes
In this No More Heroes spin-off, originally released on Nintendo Switch and later ported on Playstation 4 and Personal Computers, 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 all shall have a wish granted.
No More Heroes III
In this final (?) entry in the No More Heroes series, originally released on Nintendo Switch and later ported on Playstation 5, Xbox Series and Personal Computers, Travis Touchdown must enter the Galactic Rankings in order to save the Earth from an alien invasion.
- Art and manual scans
- Trailers
- Official Japanese Website
- Official website (Archive)
Super Smash Bros. Special
Released on Nintendo Switch, known as Ultimate in the west. This latest entry in Nintendo’s Major League Gaming Frame-Counting Competitive Tournament Fighter (MLGFCCTF) series featured two crossovers with the No More Heroes series. October 3rd 2020 saw the release of a Mii costume based on Travis’ appearance in Travis Strikes Again, while three collectible spirits based on No More Heroes III were released on August 27th 2021.
QUOTE OF ENLIGHTENMENT:
