Creator Suda51 Does Not Like Parrying In Action Games, Will Not Include Them In Romeo Is A Deadman

Famed game designer and writer Goichi Suda (Suda51), known for his over-the-top style of action, violence, and crass humor in his games, was a guest on the Kinda Funny Gamescast. During the interview, he spoke about a variety of topics, including a pitch to James Gunn regarding DC, and promoting his upcoming third person action hack-n-slasher Romeo is a Deadman. Known for Killer7, the No More Heroes series, and Lollipop Chainsaw, this latest venture embodies the stylistic visuals, attitude, and intense action.

Regarding Romeo is a Deadman, Suda51 spoke about parrying in action games, and it turns out he does not care much for the defensive mechanic, and spoke at length. Translation credit to @Genki_JPN on Twitter/X.

“Personally, I’m not really a fan of parrying in action games. So I decided okay, we are not going to have a parry mechanic in this game. I’d much rather have dodge mechanics and stuff like that…

When you are parrying you kind of have to wait for a second. You have to wait for the right moment to push the button. I can’t wait for that shit, I just push that button and end up screwing it up.

So around the time of No More Heroes 3 I decided I want to keep partying down to a minimum, if not just completely get rid of it. So there is a lot of non parry, high speed, kind of high octane badass action in this game. Again, no parrying.”

I feel he has a point. Parrying as a defensive mechanic has become heavily utilized in a lot games, especially in the action RPG genre. From games like Expedition 33, Metal Gear: Rising Revengeance, Sifu, and Hollow Knight: Silksong, it can be an effective means to turn the tide of combat, or provide an opening on an otherwise relentless enemy or enemies. However, some games practically have parrying tethered to them as the only means to progress. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, for instance, is a very skill-driven game that you can't muscle through. But it does practically turn into Parry: the Game.

Many titles can feel rather one note in this design. It's why I personally had middling feelings about Stellar Blade. It was a fine game, but every enemy could essentially be defeated the same way, regardless of the skills you acquired. As Suda51 mentioned, the No More Heroes games did have a degree of parrying in them, but they didn't govern the entire philosophy the action was built around. The balance between effective defense and satisfying offense shouldn't have to be a broad one. Yet many game designers will mimic a successful formula, but fail to understand what made that particular style of action engrossing to begin with.

Romeo is a Deadman launches February 11th for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam.

No More Heroes 3, Grasshopper Manufacture