Listen, I've subscribed to the 1UP.com features RSS so this doesn't happen again, but there's another great feature I missed - Ray Barnholt's in-depth appreciation of Grasshopper Manufacture, named 'Formula 51'.

It's especially good on Suda51's earlier work, which is less well-known in the West, including PS1 'detective adventure' The Silver: "Along with the enigmatic story, The Silver's visual style gave a preview of Grasshopper's future work. Words dance around the screen at all times, seemingly random yet logical within the story's context. The settings are often dark, always fitting for a brooding character. Even the font, large and bold, is memorable. These gimmicks made up a style GHM called "Film Window," which referred to the practice of arranging text and graphic windows in a handcrafted manner."

Barnholt is also smart to spot that Sega's Shining Soul for GBA is a Grasshopper game 'in disguise', noting: "Soul [which was pitched as a "communication RPG"] seemed to be a launching point of sorts in the future development of Contact. This title has much of the same staff, including director Akira Ueda, who also did the bulk of the background graphics." In any case, great to see this kind of expansive, levelheaded writing out there.