Another year, another wacky action title from Grasshopper Manufacture. Suda 51 and his drunken posse of game makers took a break from guns and lightsabers in 2012 with this week’s Lollipop Chainsaw. All the same absurdist humor, gratuitous sex, and violence of No More Heroes and Shadows of the Damned, but this time with a whirring power tool used for decapitation. Quite a way to mix it up.
The company is mixing up its publishing schedule though. Grasshopper is going to release five games made by students for the PlayStation Vita in June. Young creative minds unshackled by corporate goals crafting new wares for Sony’s game-hungry handheld? It’s a summer miracle!
These games were chosen from a pool of 9 submissions made in the Game Campus Festa hosted by a number of schools in Japan.
Four of the works are puzzle games, including Mou Sou Srur Shike Nai, Uni Uni Union, Volt, and Eledive. Octalide is labeled as an action game.
Grasshopper’s motto for years has been, “Punk’s not dead!” Touting your support of independent and forward thinking game design is one thing but actually taking the time to release a slate of games from the next generation of game designers is classy indeed.