SUDA 51 “Banned” Pro Wrestling Moves From ‘Romeo Is A Dead Man’ To Avoid ‘No More Heroes’ Comparisons
While the absence of professional wrestling moves in Romeo Is A Dead Man was believed by some to have been the result of licensing issues, director Goichi ‘Suda 51’ Suda says the move was actually done in order to distinguish its titular hero from that of his previous series, No More Heroes.
Getting his official industry start as the director of Super Fire Pro Wrestling 3 Final Bout, Suda 51 has never been one to shy away from wearing his love of professional wrestling on his sleeve, with the sport remaining a constant presence throughout his entire portfolio, from the Mask De Smith luchador personality in killer7 to Travis Touchdown’s predilection for stunners and suplexes as finishing moves in the aforementioned No More Heroes series.
Given the depth of the eccentric game developer’s love for the entertainment sport, it came as a genuine surprise when players booted up his latest outing only to discover that, despite being a combat-focused title whose main cannon fodder consists of a near endless army of undead enemies whose less-than-held-together bodies ripe for explosive combat experimentation, the titular Romeo had absolutely zero wrestling moves in his arsenal.
However, the mystery as to this gameplay decision would soon be revealed courtesy of Suda 51 himself, who spoke to Romeo’s lack of top-rope takedowns during a recent interview given to Japanese video game news outlet Famitsu, as conducted prior to Romeo Is a Dead Man‘s February 11th street date but published on the morning of its official release.
Pressed by his host (via DeepL), “Suda-san, your action sequences seem particularly focused on finishing moves, and incorporating pro wrestling techniques is also a major feature. Will pro wrestling moves be included this time?”, the game designer bluntly declared, “We’ve banned them this time.”
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“Met with genuine shock from his host, who exclaimed “Huh! Really?”, Suda 51 explained, “If I heavily incorporate pro wrestling moves into the action, it inevitably makes him feel like Travis (the protagonist of the No More Heroes series), thus diluting Romeo’s character. That’s why I banned them.”
But rather than a complete absence of any wrestling moves throughout Romeo Is a Dead Man‘s narrative, he then teased, “Though I said ‘banned’… they might still slip in somewhere.”
“Originally, we had stuff like Tiger Mask‘s [a massively popular legacy persona worn by several Japanese wrestlers] Tiger Step into Tiger Spin, and a Face Lock. We also considered parodying that famous scene from a certain shooting camp… But we scrapped it all.
“I should apologize upfront though—we should have gone all out with flashy, WWE-style diving takedowns. I won’t say what, but to the fans out there, I’m truly sorry.”
Asked in follow-up, “So, what kind of fighting style did you aim for with Romeo?”, the game’s general director, Ren Yamazaki, himself being interviewed alongside Suda 51, detailed, “The basics are sword and gun, but he also has knuckles. “
“The main style is switching weapons to fight; there’s no set pattern,” he concluded. “I want players to fight by switching between four close-range and four long-range weapons.”
