Suda51 tried to make Sony’s iconic character fat, and it almost worked 

Hiromichi Takahashi, CEO of Amata Games and former game director at Sony, recently took to his personal X (formerly Twitter) account to share a bizarre yet hilarious episode from his days at Sony. The story involves Suda51 (Suda Goichi), the founder of Grasshopper Manufacture and developer behind iconic titles such as Lollipop Chainsaw, Killer7 and the Silver Case. 

During his time at SIE (Sony Computer Entertainment, at the time) Hiromichi Takahashi was the director of the 1999 virtual pet game Doko Demo Issyo which, despite being Japan-exclusive, became a massive commercial hit and birthed a still ongoing series. 

Toro Inoue, one of the characters appearing in Doko Demo Issyo, grew particularly popular among Japanese audiences. The low poly white cat soon became the face of Sony, although he was never officially elevated to the status of mascot. But it seems this iconic Sony character almost went through a “massive” change of image following the release of Doko Demo Issyo, as Takahashi lightheartedly reveals in a series of posts. 

Following Doko Demo Issyo’s success, Sony apparently hoped to expand upon the IP by soliciting ideas from external developers, as Takahashi explains: “I’m not sure what the circumstances behind it were, but after Doko Demo Issyo became a hit, my superiors asked external companies to submit proposals for a game that would feature Doko Demo Issyo’s characters. I ended up receiving several project proposals while still not really being sure what was going on.” 

However, it seems Sony’s attempt was not successful, as Takahashi recalls not being impressed by the majority of proposals. “Most of the projects simply used the characters without a proper understanding of what Doko Demo Issyo was about. As I wasn’t briefed on the proposals, none of them really spoke to me and I just kind of sat through the presentations giving vague responses.” 

But surprisingly, there was one oddball proposal that Takahashi liked, and it came from no other than Suda51. “But there was one project that I haven’t been able to forget to this day. If I recall correctly, the catchphrase was ‘Toro’s gotten fat!!’ and it featured an extremely fat Toro. The game was about going on a diet with him, and it was presented to me by Mr. Goichi Suda. It was over the top and entertaining.” 

Unfortunately, Fat Toro did not become a thing due to the gravity of his public image. “As you would expect, I couldn’t bring myself to fatten up Toro (who was basically the face of the company at the time),” Takahashi recalls. In the end, Sony did not end up going through with any of the external proposals, but Takahashi says that if things had taken a different course, there might have been a fat Toro game.