Suda is from Nagano Prefecture, moving to Tokyo at the age of 18 and eventually being hired by Human Entertainment after having a number of other jobs including as an undertaker.
Goichi Suda was born in the city of Ueda in Japan's Nagano Prefecture on January 2, 1968, and lived in the region until moving to Tokyo when he was eighteen.
[4][5] Still determined on a career in video games, and with encouragement from his wife, he applied to both Atlus and Human Entertainment, the latter known for the Fire Pro Wrestling series.
[7] Suda's first job at Human was as a director for Super Fire Pro Wrestling III (1993), which earned him praise from the company due to the quality of his work.
[4][6] Due to this, he was appointed as both director and writer for Super Fire Pro Wrestling Special (1994), which gained long-term notoriety for the bleak tone of its story and ending.
[4] Suda, who had gathered a fan base from his work at Human, generated controversy by killing off the main character in Moonlight Syndrome.
[7] Moonlight Syndrome would be the last game worked on by Suda for Human Entertainment, as he left due to being unsatisfied with available money bonuses.
[1][4] After leaving Human Entertainment in 1998, Suda founded Grasshopper Manufacture to fulfill his wish to create original video game projects.
He continued to be involved with writing and planning for Shadows of the Damned, Lollipop Chainsaw, Black Knight Sword and Killer is Dead.
[4][26][27] He later attributed much of the design and scenario concept for Shadows of the Damned to Massimo Guarini, including the in-game weapon character Big Boner.
[6] He collaborated on Lollipop Chainsaw with America writer-director James Gunn, who co-wrote the script with Suda and helped extensively with the English version.
[37] Suda has stated in numerous interviews that his work is inspired by "punk", referring to the breaking of traditional game rules rather than the music genre.
In explaining this concept, Suda said that many games were basically "copycats", mimicking other successful titles in their gameplay and themes rather than striving for something groundbreaking or unconventional.
[3][39] Suda's liking of Kafka was originally expressed in Kurayami, an in-development title based on The Castle, with a focus on nighttime combat and survival.
[40] Popular culture has also played a part in Suda's work, with several characters in his games being named after or being homages to sports people or pop singers.
[6][12][41][37] A defining part of Suda's original work has been its balance of humor, dark or mature themes, violence and sexuality.
[43][42] Another recurring theme in his work from The Silver Case onwards is the focus on the criminal elements in society, in addition to people with equally valid views coming into conflict with each other.
This approach of switching styles for each successive original project would be repeated by Suda throughout his career:[12] when talking about the contrast between Lollipop Chainsaw and Killer is Dead he described it as a yin-yang effect.
The overtly sexual elements in Lollipop Chainsaw and Killer Is Dead were likewise not his decision, but rather included at the insistence of the Japanese publisher Kadokawa Games.
[43] Shadows of the Damned in particular suffered from creative clashes with the publisher Electronic Arts, who requested changes catering to the Western market such as incorporating guns, and required five redrafts of the scenario before they approved it.