5 Reasons Why Suda 51 Is The Quentin Tarantino of Gaming

By Jack Harper /

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We live in a era of media filled with cardboard cut out heroes, ad lib level storytelling, and dialogue so plastic it€™s hard to tell if wasn't just written to move the actors to the next scene. Innovators are few and far between, because unfortunately, the idiotic masses decide which movies and games should be considered the "best." But thankfully, there are two men are out there being rebels, doing whatever they feel like doing: step forward Suda 51 and Quentin Tarantino - the rockstars of their respective fields, making movies and games that are so odd, yet never feel cosmetic in the strangeness. It€™s a shame that we can€™t have more people who feel as genuine or as genuinely talented as these two men, but sadly few have truly recognized Suda 51€˜s potential as an artist. He is a punk game-maker, an exploitation specialist in the grandest tradition, and unfortunately the nature of his games mean that they are easily - if wrongly - picked apart by critics, in much the same way that Tarantino struggles against a tide of accusations aimed at his own work. The two men are very similar, and to celebrate as much, here are my 5 reasons why Suda 51 is the Quentin Tarantino of Video Games...

5. Going Against The Grain

Suda 51 refuses to stay in one place for his games, you could be a Cheerleader in one game then a Weeaboo Assassin in the next. And he consciously follows atypical trends: blonde/brown haired Joe America-type protagonists are not what you€™ll see in his games, much like Tarantino doesn't cast Matt Damon or Taylor Kitsch in favour of talents like Uma Thurman and Tim Roth. If you€™re playing a shooter from Suda 51, your gun will be metaphor for how men use guns as an extension for their penis. Everything has something to it, and if they don€™t they are at least funny. And much like how Tarantino makes such a wonderfully strange universe, few films could ever hold a candle to what Suda creates in that regard. But then, standards as to what is and is not worthy for a hero generally work us into such small boxes, and I personally enjoy seeing something that isn€™t just a tale of redemption for a straight jawed handsome white man.