Ever since his debut as director of Super Fire Pro Wresting 3 Final Bout in 1993, Goichi "Suda51" Suda has long been one of the most polarizing figures in the gaming industry. While many of Suda's games have been regarded as classics with major followings, such as The Silver Case, No More Heroes, and Killer7, Grasshopper Manufacture's games have seen mixed success in the west. Now, after finishing work on No More Heroes 3, Suda51 has teased that he might be returning to the world of Shadows of the Damned, the 2011 action-horror shooter developed in collaboration with Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami.

Suda's relationship with the original Shadows of the Damned has a long history spanning all the way back to 2006, just after Grasshopper Manufacture had finished up working on Killer7 with Capcom. Originally envisioned as a survival horror game called Kurayami, the game was revealed in a 2006 issue of Edge magazine. After being unable to find a publisher for the project, Suda eventually pitched it to EA, who agreed to publish it, but eventually rejected five versions of the game's original drafts before it eventually became Shadows of the Damned, which ended up being far different from what Suda had originally envisioned for Kurayami.

RELATED: Top 5 Meta Moments in Video Games

Shadows of the Damned ended up having a very troubled development, eventually taking three years to complete and with Mikami and Suda publicly commenting on their disappointment with how much EA changed the game from its initial pitch to release. Suda even claimed that he believed that EA lied to him about liking the initial pitch due to how many changes they forced him and the team to make. All of this is to say that it's somewhat surprising to hear that, in a recent interview with Destructoid, Suda revealed that Grasshopper Manufacture has acquired the rights to Shadows of the Damned and are planning to grow the IP moving forward.

When asked if it is possible that characters from No More Heroes 3 such as Midori Midorikawa (who originates from The 25th Ward: The Silver Case) and Shadows of the Damned will return in future Grasshopper Manufacture games, Suda explained Grasshopper Manufacture is free to do whatever it wants with them moving forward, as well as characters from Shadows of the Damned. This explains the Shadows of the Damned-inspired level from Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, which positioned itself as a sequel to the original game.

Understandably, a lot would have to change with a sequel to Shadows of the Damned. Many elements of the original game have not aged well, including its protagonist Garcia Hotspur, who is voiced by a non-latino actor. Much of the game's writing relies on sexist humor, a trope Grasshopper Manufacture has seemed to outgrow since the release of Killer is Dead. Regardless, it appears a sequel to Shadows of the Damned is on the cards, let's hope Shinji Mikami and Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka have also freed their schedules accordingly.

Shadows of the Damned is available for PS3 and Xbox 360.

MORE: No More Heroes 3: Best Quotes From Travis Touchdown