Goichi Suda is a Japanese video game designer, writer and director that is commonly known by the pseudonym Suda51. Suda came to be known by the nickname Suda51 which stems from breaking down his given name Goichi into two parts, “go” which translates to “5” and “ichi” which translates to “1”.

Suda began his career with Human Entertainment with the opportunity to direct Super Fire Prowrestling III: Final Bout. He spent five years working for Human where he directed the Twilight Syndrome series and Moonlight Syndrome. After his departure from Human Entertainment, Suda founded Grasshopper Manufacture to have the freedom to create original video game projects.

Grasshopper’s debut game The Silver Case was written, designed and directed by Suda. The game helped establish both Suda and Grasshopper in Japan, however they did not gain international attention until the release of killer7 in 2005, their first title to be released outside of Japan. Suda and Grasshopper established an international reputation with the release of No More Heroes for the Wii.

No More Heroes cemented Grasshopper Manufacture’s position as a high-quality developer in the west and Suda as a well-known game designer. The studio has developed games in collaboration with outside studios such as Nintendo to create Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, while continuing to develop original titles.