Travis has to work hard at lots of grotty jobs. Is that inspired by real life? Have you ever had a terrible part time job?
(A booming, almost disconcerting laugh from Suda and his translator) I’ve done over thirty jobs in my lifetime. Some were better than others, let’s leave it at that. But there is a link between my and my team’s life experiences and the games we make. We want to include the message in our games that “some jobs aren’t important, and you may hate them, but if you do them to the best of your ability, it’ll turn out well. Better times will come.”
Is No More Heroes set in the same universe as your past games? There are clear references to Killer 7 and Michigan in No More Heroes.
No.
Your characters have the most interesting names in gaming. Where do you get them from?
I don’t name them by meaning, I name them by sound. I want their name to have a certain ‘feel’. Travis Touchdown, for example. It’s a name that sounds cool to a Japanese audience, but if a westerner hears it… well, then maybe not so much. That’s where Travis is in life, really.
Do you see much of yourself in Travis Touchdown, or indeed, any of the other assassins?
Yes, I do to an extent. I wish I could live like Travis. React to things the way he does. Face something different. We also share many of the same interests, such as a love for lucha libre wrestling, as you can see in his moves. But, you must understand - not the assassin part. (Eardrum-perforating laughter ensues).
