I recently spoke with No More Heroes creator Suda51 about a previously unexplained moment in Travis Touchdown history. Specifically, I found out the story behind Travis's unique look in the 2019 reveal trailer for No More Heroes 3.

Disheveled, bearded, and wearing a neck brace, this middle-aged gamer playing Ape Out wasn't the same man No More Heroes fans had grown to love. At least, not for the first few minutes. Shortly after this scene in the actual game, Travis hits a button on his Switch-esque Death Glove and suits up into Iron Man-style mecha armor before returning to his prior well-coiffed, fresh-and-clean look.

It's one of many surrealist, high-flying moments that are thrown at No More Heroes 3 players with little-to-no explanation. Fans of the franchise have more or less learned to just go with it when stuff like talking cats turn up, or previously buxom scientists turn into trees. Personally, I assumed the neck brace was there to help Travis heal from the beheading he received in Travis Strikes Again from John Winter, a character based on famed game developer Jeff Minter. As it turns out, there was even more to the story than that.

According to Suda:

"Oh yeah, I meant to mention this in Travis Strikes Again or afterwards, but in the years between that game and No More Heroes 3, Travis got jumped by Kimmy Howell. You know how she was stalking him in No More Heroes 2, and said she'd be back to kill him after she got stronger, before Travis spared her life. Well at some point between those two games, she hit him with a surprise attack, but he got away alive, and was healing up back at the No More Heroes motel. You're actually the first person from the press to ask me about this."

At this point, Suda's translator and friend James Mountain let me know that he'd actually asked Suda about this a while ago, but at the time he said "I don't remember." So I wasn't actually the first to ask, but I was the first to get an answer, which is fun.

It's also nice to get a little extra context for why Travis ends up having a final confrontation with Kimmy later on in No More Heroes 3. The two engage in a fierce rap battle, among other things, before drawing their laser swords for one last time. I was personally saddened to see the way things turned out between them, as I always hoped Kimmy would become a playable ally in the series someday. I see now why Travis wasn't feeling as forgiving.

The post Double-sided Beam Katana wielding woman responsible for Travis Touchdown’s neck injury appeared first on Destructoid.

Ranking the next generation of buttkickers

[Warning: This article contains end-game spoilers for multiple new titles. You have been warned!]

We're at the stage with a lot of modern action franchises where their original leads, (and their audiences), are old enough to be parents and grandparents. Their creators are often in the same boat, leading them to think a lot about how to pass their legacies off to the next generation. That's part of why we saw Ellie take the lead from Joel in The Last of Us Part II, Indiana Jones team up with his kid Mutt in The Crystal Skull (and maybe yet another kid in the upcoming Dial of Destiny?), Rick's daughter Judith become the co-lead of The Walking Dead in its last season, Dante hand-off leading man duties to newcomer Nero in Devil May Cry V, and so on.

These sorts of "passing the torch" milestones are a natural part of life, even when those lives are purely fictional.

It's hard to say if and when these "passing the torch" moments will stick. We certainly haven't seen much from James Bond Jr. or Rodimus Prime in a while. But in 2022, there were more than a few games where the next generation of action hero took the lead in an effective way. Here are my top five for the year.

Remember, spoilers are present for almost every game on this list!

#5: Gotham Knights

When playing a Batman game where you face off against supervillains, the challenge and excitement are baked into the premise. On the other hand, using the world's greatest detective and martial artist to fight a common human criminal can be a little anticlimactic. In order for a game to really make you feel like you are Batman, he's going to have to be overpowered, leading to initial thrills, but at the risk of longer-term malaise. There's no question at this point who would win in a fight between the dark knight and 5-10 random goons.

By making Batgirl and all three generations of Robin the leads of Gotham Knights, the initial tension factor is immediately turned up a notch. And personally, I've always found it more impressive (if not a touch less realistic) to see a kid like Damien Wayne beat the crap out 10 musclebound henchmen at a time than to watch his Dad do the same thing.

Gotham Knights lets you do just that, and while the game is definitely better in theory than it is in practice, it's still worth a mention on this list. Let's hope that the next time we see the caped crusaders' sidekicks take the lead they get to star in a title with a little more punch.

#4 No More Heroes 3

This one is a bit of a cheat, as the game originally released on Switch in 2021, but it didn't make it to PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox until this year, so it was new to a lot of people in 2022. It's also a game that will always feel new to me. It's so packed with eye-opening moments, at least for long-time fans. The beheadings, the sudden rap battle, the surprise Smash Bros. mode, and the list of curveballs the game throws at you is downright diabolical.

And they saved the biggest twist for last. In the post-credits scene, Travis Touchdown's son Hunter and daughter Jeanne suddenly appear. They immediately slice up an alien God and announce that they've come from the future to recruit Travis and his grandson Scott to help them kill the past. It's a real cliffhanger! [End Spoilers]

It's also the right direction for the series to head down. In his first appearance in 2007, Travis Touchdown was a spot-on tribute/parody of a certain kind of videogame enthusiast. Now 15 years later, it makes perfect sense for his descendants to be picking up where he left off, symbolizing today's modern V-tubers and Twitch streamers and whatnot.

It's such a fun idea that I would have ranked it #1 if it weren't for the fact that the No More Heroes series is on indefinite hold, and there's no guarantee that a game costarring Travis's offspring will ever get made. Fingers crossed they'll at least show up in a badminton game someday.

#3 LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

If we've learned anything from the Star Wars sequel trilogy, it's that people ultimately didn't really want to see the continuation of the Skywalker storyline. When Episode 9 revealed that Rey was the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine, effectively untwisting a plot twist from Episode 8, the fandom collectively groaned in unison, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in disappointment and were suddenly disinterested.

Since then, almost all the most popular Star Wars content to be released has barely involved the Skywalkers. Grogu, the wildly popular "baby Yoda" who is actually not related to Yoda at all, is the perfect emblem of what people want from Star Wars today. They still want it to look and feel like old Star Wars, but only on the surface. Under the skin, they want the new leads of the franchise to be their own people.

Ironically enough, that's what the latest LEGO Star Wars game manages to pull off. With an expanded combat system and a more fully cohesive retelling of nine movies' worth of narrative, it's the perfect blueprint for what the future of LEGO Star Wars should look like. I'd also argue that the stories of the sequel trilogy work best here, as playing through them in the context of the other six movies, all wrapped together with a cohesive LEGO look, does a lot to make them feel like they belong together.

The option to pick up Grogu as DLC doesn't hurt either.

#2 Bayonetta 3

The future of the Bayonetta series has never been less predictable, with a suddenly announced prequel set for release in a few months, and plans for a numbered sequel to the main franchise totally up in the air. That said, Platinum games has made it clear that they want to push the franchise's story forward, and when they do, they intend to have a new lead in the role of Bayonetta.

From the very start, Bayonetta 3 defies expectations around who exactly you'll be playing as. From the very start, we're given reason to believe that the old Bayonetta from the first game may be dead, and the one we play as for the bulk of the game is a more youthful, pigtailed multiverse version of the character. Later on, it's strongly hinted that this new witch is actually the child Cereza that Bayonetta met via time travel in her first game. And if that weren't enough "passing of the torch" for you, this new Bayo is later dragged to hell, leaving Viola, her daughter from another multiverse, to take on the Bayonetta mantle.

This new potential star of the series is everything the original Bayonetta wasn't. Where "classic" Bayo is a graceful femme who frequently pole dances nude to Frank Sinatra songs, her replacement is a bumbling, butch punk rocker who's big on physical comedy and unrevealing plaid pants. She's actually a lot like Travis Touchdown from No More Heroes, which is probably a turn-off for some Bayo fans, but I personally can't wait to see her take the lead in Bayonetta 4 someday.

#1 God of War: Ragnarok

Full disclosure, I don't like these games at all, but I can still appreciate how masterfully they've established Kratos as one of gaming's best "anti-heroes-turned-grumble-Daddies" (Dadnti-heroes?) If you grew up with a grizzled, grumpy Pappa who lost his soul to trauma, a constant state of fight or flight, and life-crushing responsibilities, chances are modern Kratos will remind you at least a little of your own Father.

But to be a real successful sire to an offspring, you have to let your kid become the star of their own story. With God of War: Ragnarok, Kratos finally does just that, allowing his son Atreus to be fully playable (at times). Much of the game's story also centers around the boy. The thrust of the whole adventure comes from the revelation that Kratos's son is actually the shape-changing Norse God Loki. That's a lot of responsibility for a home-schooled teen, and the choices between staying true to his Dad and finding his place in the greater Norse mythology brings consistent relatable tension to the father-son dynamic. [End Spoilers].

It's been prophesized for a long time that Kratos will eventually kick the bucket, though his enduring popularity would make that a tough pill to swallow for both GoW fans and franchise owners, who are both enjoying a record level of popularity for the series. That said, if and when Kratos does finally breathe his last baritone, bearded breath, God of War: Ragnarok has shown us that there are plenty of places for the series to go without him.

The post The Top 5 “Passing the Torch” action games of 2022 appeared first on Destructoid.

The Switch version was updated to 1.1.0

No More Heroes 3 Japanese audio is in, thanks to a new patch that also coincides with the launch of the game on PC, PS4/PS5, and Xbox One/Xbox Series X.

The Switch patch isn't massive, but brings the game up to version 1.1.0, and adds a new Japanese voice option to the game. It's enough to get me to play it again for sure!

As for the rest of the versions, the PS4, PS5, and Xbox editions were all touched in some way. The PS4 port had the least to fix (minor bugs), while the PS5 version has a small handful of fixes (including jump and dodge button flipping). That same swath of fixes applies to both the Xbox One and Xbox Series X ports.

So if you're having issues, update your game! It usually goes without saying, but just in case you assumed you could play it day one while offline. You can find the full patch rundown below!

No More Heroes 3 Nintendo Switch Ver.1.1.0 Update Details

PS5 Version Ver.1.002 Update Details

PS4 Version Ver.1.01 Update Details

Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One Ver.1.0.6.0 Update Details

The post No More Heroes 3 Switch gets Japanese voices amid multiplatform release appeared first on Destructoid.

A date for the drop of its Switch exclusivity

Publisher XSEED Games has locked in a date for No More Heroes 3 on a bevy of new platforms. No More Heroes 3 will hit PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on October 11, 2022.

The previously Nintendo Switch-exclusive game now has a date locked in for other platforms, as well as a special "Day 1 Edition" of the game. This version is available for pre-order through the XSEED store for $59.99, and contains a soundtrack, art book, and commemorative license plate.

Store pages aren't live yet for the other versions. XSEED says that more info about the digital editions of No More Heroes 3 will arrive at a later date.

A world without heroes

No More Heroes 3 was released last year, just for the Nintendo Switch. And while it was certainly a return to more of Travis Touchdown and his usual action and antics, it also had some technical hurdles to overcome.

Frequent load times were a point of contention in our review, and performance woes seemed to affect the general consensus. There's hope, then, that No More Heroes 3 arriving on platforms with more hardware power to spare could help smooth out those edges. XSEED and Grasshopper say that these new platforms will see improved HD visuals and framerates, as well as faster load times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itdHpJ3TVio

But for some other players, this might be their chance to finally experience the next step of Travis Touchdown's journey. Though other games have since been ported around, this finally brings the third entry out to most gaming devices. It'll be on PS4 and PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Windows Store. The Xbox versions will support Smart Delivery, too.

For those hoping to finally see Travis leap onto next-gen consoles, the wait's not much longer. No More Heroes 3 hits PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on October 11.

The post No More Heroes 3 heads to new platforms in October appeared first on Destructoid.

PC, PlayStation, and Xbox versions are due this fall

Whether you intentionally held off getting the one and only Nintendo Switch version of No More Heroes 3, or you kinda just let it slip, some great news: it's also coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in fall 2022, including a physical release from XSEED.

There's a lot to praise in No More Heroes III — it's a blast to see Suda51 unleashed like this — but graphics and performance aren't a part of that lovefest. Players just had to tolerate them. The upcoming ports should be a step up, but whether the game runs "ideally" on these platforms or simply "better than it did on Switch" remains to be seen.

In today's announcement from XSEED Games, the publisher cited "improved HD visuals, framerates, and faster loading times." You hear that, Gold Joe? Time's up.

[caption id="attachment_317104" align="alignnone" width="1920"] _{What's inside the No More Heroes 3 Day 1 Edition.}[/caption]

Apart from a digital release on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms, XSEED will be bringing out a physical No More Heroes 3 Day 1 Edition this fall. The boxed edition will cost $60 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S with a copy of the game (it's weird to have to mention this nowadays!), a 70-page softcover art book, a CD with "select songs," and a 7"x4" Santa Destroy license plate. The cover art is illustrated by artist Yusuke Kozaki.

When it comes to timed Nintendo Switch exclusives like this, it's almost always a gamble on where they'll end up when the dust fully settles. I wouldn't have predicted an Xbox release for No More Heroes 3, but PS4 and/or PC? Sure. Now are you in, or are you in?

Travis loves to hate FU, and so will you.

The post No More Heroes 3 won’t be a Switch exclusive much longer appeared first on Destructoid.

We had a great batting average last year

Twenty twenty-one probably isn't going to make the history books as one of humanity's finest years. From a pandemic that continued to come in waves to Betty White dying on December 31st, it was a rather garbage year. Except for the games. If there was any shining beacon to be found in 2021, it was the games we all enjoyed. And enjoy we did. I mean, in a year with a new Resident Evil, Psychonauts, and Metroid, we gave our game of the year crown to a dog that paints. That's just how good the games were last year and I hope we'll be able to say the same about this year come next January. We've already posted the list of our most anticipated games of 2022, but in order to truly say goodbye to the past 12 months, we need to take one last look at Destructoid's most anticipated games of 2021 to see how they turned out.

CJ Andriessen: Fantasian

How did Fantasian, the Apple Arcade exclusive from Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, turn out? Well, let's see here. I gave both halves of the game an 8/10, it was nominated for Best Mobile Game at the Game Awards, and it won Apple Arcade Game of the Year at the App Store Awards. Oh, it was also named Best Mobile Game right here at Destructoid.

So yeah, it turned out pretty damn great. If you're still sitting on a free trial of Apple Arcade, you should think about giving it a go. Especially if you love tough-as-nails throwback RPGs with immaculate art direction, an outstanding score, and some innovative ideas for the genre.

Jonathan Holmes: No More Heroes 3

I'm still thinking about No More Heroes 3.

That's partly because I see new fan art of the game nearly every day. It came out about five months ago now, but it's still sparking new ideas in the minds of players. It's not all good, though. The game left us with so many questions unanswered, so much potential yet to be tapped. And we're sad that the series is over. But like with the Mother franchise, it almost feels like No More Heroes belongs to the fans now. Those unanswered questions are open spaces for our minds to play in, and that play might last forever.

Of course, if and when I get to interview Suda51 again, I'm going to get as many official answers to those questions as I can. Why is Travis wearing a neckbrace, bandages, and boxer shorts in the opening cutscene? Why does the U.I. sometimes look like a Twitch streamer's split-screen setup? Why do you enter a pile of flower petals before starting a boss fight? Why is there a visual novel subplot about dead magical girls, and what does Travis do with their compact? Who was that man who walked into traffic? What would Flemming from Shadows of the Damned have looked like if he had made it to the game? And that's not even half of the questions I have backed up and ready to go.

Hopefully, I'll get to ask them someday and help contribute to the Grasshopper Manufacture community's greater understanding of what exactly the heck is going on in No More Heroes 3. In the meantime, I'll keep thinking about it just for fun because it's one of my favorite games of 2021.

Zoey Handley: Evil Genius 2: World Domination

Well, I liked it. I loved the original Evil Genius and was hopeful that the sequel would fix its glaring problems. And I think it did! It's paced better, it allows you to feel more diabolical, but it retains a lot of what made the original fun. It even managed to tie in better characters. I had to really focus to get it finished for review, but I absolutely loved the experience.

It did decently well with others in the press, but it currently is at 65% positive for user reviews on Steam. What? There's a wide range of complaints and many of them are completely contrary to the praise I have for Evil Genius 2. Ahh, well. One person's trash is another person's treasure horde. I just find it disappointing for two reasons: first, I want the series to continue, and a poor reaction puts that at risk. Second, I loved Evil Genius 2 and I want others to share in that love.

Do me a favor. The next time you feel like punishing our uncaring society, maybe pick up Evil Genius 2. I need validation.

Josh Tolentino: Sakura Revolution

[Cries in "Shut down 6 months after launch."]

Not that getting hyped for a wife casino was ever a "sure bet", but honestly, as a Sakura Wars fan, this was kind of a blow. The game didn't even make it far enough to implement the planned characters based on Hololive Vtubers Shirakami Fubuki and Houshou Marine!

And by all indications, the early reception to Sakura Revolution was quite positive! Unfortunately, it was also expensive to develop, based on every available public source. Gacha games like Sakura Revolution live and die by their ability to build a reasonably sustainable audience before the team exhausts their initial "runway" of content and funding. Making a pretty game likely shortens that runway by a fair bit.

Not to mention, the gacha scene itself is stratifying as older, established games shift into audience-retention mode, leaving less room for new apps to capture a slice of the pie. Launching into the teeth of a global pandemic that makes everyone think twice about rolling the dice on their favorite JPEGs can't have helped matters, either. And so Sakura Revolution was shut down, replaced by an offline archive-style app for existing players to replay story scenes or voice lines from.

At least Sakura Wars itself lives on. Sega doesn't seem to have backed off its plans to keep the brand alive, though nothing concrete's been announced as of yet.

Chris Moyse: Bright Memory: Infinite

I do not, generally, have a good track record with these annual "anticipated game" articles. I don't know what to tell you. It is what it is... I don't get in a wild tizzy at the prospect of shoo-in releases from The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, or The Last of Us. I just tend to get more excited about the stuff sneaking in from the little guys — the unfortunate dice roll being that, sometimes, these leap of faiths don't always quite turn out quite how you might have hoped.

All that said, it must be made clear that Studio-FYQD's Bright Memory: Infinite is not "bad." In fact, it's very good. The Battle Angel: Alita-like FPS blends smooth melee combat with punchy shooter mechanics, all wrapped up in an intriguing dystopian dose of cinematic sci-fi. Ultimately, what lets the title down is that it still feels like something of a proof-of-concept rather than a fully realized idea, and given that the original Bright Memory was also something of a proof-of-concept, FYQD's 2021 iteration only impresses as "the next stage of development" rather than "project complete."

It should be fully clarified that Bright Memory: Infinite, while not quite the release I was hoping for, is absolutely a success in regards to scope and design. Almost entirely the work of a single individual, Shelia's lead-flinging journey is visually stunning, mechanically sound, and offers gameplay design equal to that of the biggest AAA studios alongside visuals that, frankly, surpass many contemporaries. For its flaws, Bright Memory: Infinite is a triumph of design and solidifies Studio-FYQD as one of the scene's most talented and ambitious developers.

I look forward to their future endeavors.

Darren Nakamura: Frosthaven

It didn't come out! It turns out a global supply chain crisis has a big effect on thirty pounds of printed cardboard and plastic, and of course, a game of this scope needs all sorts of playtesting and proofing. It's scheduled for this year now, and it sounds like it's much closer to crossing the finish line, so we can actually expect it now when 2021 was a lot of wishful thinking. At the very least, designer Isaac Childres was at PAX Unplugged last month showing off the new features and playable classes. I tried out a demo session, and although it was set at too easy a difficulty for experienced players, it was fun! So, here's to my most anticipated game of 2022.

Eric Van Allen: Tales of Arise

I had a few anticipated games this year, but Tales of Arise was certainly the highest on my list. And thankfully, the renewal of the formula found the perfect balance.

It's still incredible how Tales of Arise manages to balance convention and new ideas, bringing the Tales series into new levels of production and scale while also retaining the action RPG systems that have made it stand out. While it still fell prey to some classic Tales issues like a third-act lull, the sheer style and incredible story it tells were well worth the wait. As a new Tales, it's certainly set the series up for a bright future ahead.

Jordan Devore: Elden Ring

I felt a bit of electrified hype typing out the words Elden Ring just now, but it's not out yet. And while I definitely went out on a limb with this pick last year — we didn't know the release date yet, much less the slightly pushed-back date — it's almost ready.

I was fortunate enough to get into the closed test, so I've died a shitload to the wandering Tree Sentinel warrior who taunts you immediately following those first steps into the open world. The newfound freedom with this format is already enticing to me as someone who loves to ~explore~ these games more than anything, and I've got high hopes for the more magic-tinged combat as well after messing around with some of the flashier options and facing the beta's castle-guarding big-boy boss. What a fun moveset to figure out!

It's hard to have reasonable expectations given From's pedigree, so I won't even try.

Chris Carter: Resident Evil Village

Well, Resident Evil Village won one of our biggest Game of the Year awards in 2021, so that's all folks! I probably won this round.

But seriously, while Village was a bit more "boulder punching" camp compared to the very eerie Resident Evil 7, a lot of people really took to Village in a big way. It had a few traditional extras and took some cues from Resident Evil 4, which isn't a bad game to copy notes from. And hey, I wanted more Chris Redfield, and I got it!

It'll be interesting to see where Capcom takes the series from here, but between RE7 and Village, they have a lot of feedback for what people actually want to see. I'm happy the series is still relevant: I was pretty worried when Resident Evil 6 came out!

Anthony Marzano: NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…

I missed the original Nier releases back in the Seventh Generation, so I was one of those Nier fans going into Replicant 1.22. My only exposure to the series was Automata, but the bleak story and world resonated with the Charlie Kaufman and Patricia Highsmith fans within me. So the chance to go back and see how the tragic tale all started was exciting for me. From the opening credits where a haunting choir sang minor chords as I watched “snow” fall on a summer day in Tokyo, I knew I was in for another painful ride. What awaited me went beyond all I could have hoped for.

Not knowing much of the original story, I expected to see more of the same themes presented in Automata. A treatise on the banality of war and how it destroys all that it touches with a dash of “don’t trust the government.” What I didn’t expect was that Automata was Taro writing a “happier” story and that Replicant was the writer letting out all his sadness and anger about the American-Led War on Terror with no buffer.

The experience was only deepened as the real world acted as backing vocal to this sad song. The concept of a world ravaged by disease and pandemic was all too real for me as I worked through the game in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. The bigger gut-punch came as I was working on Route B in August. As I watched and read of the fall of the Afghanistan Government, the lessons and warnings of Replicant's story only became more evident. I was watching families flee in fear for their lives in the real world while reading passages of Shades wondering why they were being slaughtered. It hurt, to the point where I had to stop playing for a few weeks because it was like touching a raw wire of emotion. Though I was able to return to the game, the constant reminder of the real world peeking out from behind the curtain never left me.

To put it bluntly, I don’t think NieR: Replicant ver 1.22 could have come out at a better point in history to drive its point home. As the world around us slowly dies, we need to take its allegory of hatred and division as only a destroyer to heart, lest we want to end up like its tragic cast.

So yeah, my most anticipated game of the year was about as good as it could have been on both gaming and meta-levels. Oh yeah, also the music was totally banger. Ok, I’m gonna go cry now.

Those were our staff picks, but how did your most anticipated games of 2021 fare? Be honest: did you even get around to playing them? We won't judge!

The post So, how did Destructoid’s most anticipated games of 2021 turn out? appeared first on Destructoid.

"Suda-verse Badminton" is my future GOTY

No More Heroes 3 is packed with hints about the future of the series. But for now, none of them are happening. Suda told us that while working on No More Heroes 3, he decided to put the series on pause. The game's polarized reception had nothing to do with it. It's more about Suda's priorities. His plan for the next decade is to work on games starring characters owned by his company, Grasshopper Manufacture.

And that doesn't just mean the big, numbered games in the series are over. I asked Suda if he might consider continuing No More Heroes as a comic, an animated show, or with a smaller-scale game like Travis Strikes Again. None of those ideas are part of his plans right now, but many of the characters from No More Heroes 3, like New Type Kamui, Midori Midorikawa, and Notorious could return in their own games. Grasshopper owns all three of them, where Travis and most other characters from No More Heroes are the property of Marvelous Inc. When pressed further, Suda actually confirmed that Notorious will play a role in one of the three games that Grasshopper is currently working on. And one of them might be a new entry in the Shadows of the Damned series.

That's right, Suda announced that Grasshopper has reclaimed the rights to the Shadow of the Damned franchise! That must have cost them something, right? I'd be shocked if they spent all that money without a plan to at least port the original game to modern consoles, with a potential sequel to follow.

During our interview with Suda, we talked about all that, how fusing with a video game console made Travis immortal, why Dr. Naomi turned into a tree, the chances of a Grasshopper Vs. River City/Kunio-Kun crossover, and a whole lot more.

Suda, a former high school badminton champion, even teased the release of a giant Suda-verse badminton game. Is he joking? "Maybe." But then again, Cat Girl Without Salad was started as a joke too...

The post Suda51 says No More Heroes is “no more” but Shadows of the Damned may live again appeared first on Destructoid.

Yes, more DLC?

In a massive interview with The Gamer, Suda51 revealed that he and the team at Grasshopper Manufacture had to leave about an hour of No More Heroes 3 cutscenes on the cutting room floor. For Suda fans, that's nothing short of heartbreaking. It's also not surprising. The game turned out great in the end, but there are a lot of times when a new character suddenly pops in, makes a big deal out of themselves, then disappears just as quickly. It's easy to want and expect more. As it turns out, Suda felt the same way.

I can't say more without mentioning big No More Heroes 3 spoilers, so consider yourself warned. 

Out of all the bosses in No More Heroes 3, Midori Midorikawa was the one diehard Suda fans were most excited for. She made her debut in a comic that came with The Silver Case 2425,  the recent re-release of Grasshopper's first game and its direct sequel. There we learn she's a regular schoolgirl who suddenly discovers she can kill people without really trying. That's about all we find out. In No More Heroes 3, she fights Travis before befriending him. She also reveals that she is an alien, that she was in a space jail called "Blackhole Prison" along with FU and the rest of his cronies, and that she is dating New Type Kamui; some sort of new iteration of the central character of The Silver Case. It turns out that he's already friends with Travis, and better yet, he's also become one of the most powerful beings on the planet. Kamui's good guy attitude and God-like powers go a long way to encourage Midori and Travis to make nice.

And that's pretty much all you find out about her.

In the interview, Suda reveals that in the original script, Travis dies (!), and "...he ends up getting sent off to a place called Blackhole Prison, and in this prison, Travis meets another prisoner named Fleming. Fleming and Travis end up fighting, and after the battle, they talk things out, and it's revealed that Fleming is not only a character from the Shadows of the Damned, but he's also Midori Midorikawa's father. There was another entire scenario that was going to go over this, but due to time and budget constraints, we ended up having to cut out the entire thing."

Here's some context on why that's so huge.

In Travis Strikes Again, the game that came directly before No More Heroes 3, it's revealed that Shadows of the Damned is a game within the game. When Travis enters the game's sequel, Damned: Dark Knight, he finds out what happens to Garcia and Johnson from Shadows of the Damned. It's here where we first start to get the idea that in the No More Heroes games, the afterlife is just a different video game. I mean, in the Damned: Dark Knight level, Travis is essentially in hell, and what is hell if not the ultimate prison?

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Later in Travis Strikes Again, Travis says goodbye to his physical body completely and becomes a pixel art character on Mars. He is offered the opportunity to live there forever but instead elects to return to his body, and the only way to get back to it is to be beheaded. Without getting into detail, let's just say something extremely similar happens in No More Heroes 3, and while it's not explained how it all works, it sure as heck looks like Travis has the power to use video games to resurrect himself. And maybe Flemming Whatshisface (yes, that's his actual name) also has this power? Is that how he got out of his own game and into the space jail of the No More Heroes world? Or is Blackhole Prison just another part of Shadows of the Damned's Hellscape?

Maybe we'll get to find out. By all accounts, No More Heroes 3 is selling pretty well. At $60, it's #7 on the eShop charts and has been hanging around there since it launched on August 27. Travis Strikes Again did not do those kinds of numbers and it still ended up getting two DLC packs. If No More Heroes 3 gets the same treatment, and one of the packs is about battling Flemming in space, I'll buy it on day one.

Or maybe Suda is planning a full-sized Shadows of the Damned sequel starring Midori and her dad? Does Grasshopper own the rights to the Intellectual Property again?

As always with Suda's games, we're left with more questions than answers, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

The post No More Heroes 3 almost crossed over with Shadows of the Damned appeared first on Destructoid.

"Farewell, to all Travis Touchdowns everywhere!"

The third No More Heroes went live today for the Nintendo Switch, adding on to the legacy of Travis Touchdown. But a message coinciding with today's release of No More Heroes 3 indicates that it might be a farewell for the hero.

No More Heroes creator Goichi Suda, also known as "Suda51," released a short message today for fans. In it, he mentions an alternative title for the game, "No More Heroes 3 FINAL BOUT — All-Out Galactic War!" It was a bit too long, though. But as hinted by the "final" part of that title, Suda says Travis Touchdown will be "coming to the end of his final battle, and will be embarking on a much-deserved, long journey."

He closes the message out by saying goodbye to Travis, No More Heroes, the fleeting moments and days, and bidding farewell to all Travis Touchdowns everywhere.

https://twitter.com/nmh3_ghm/status/1431216210381705216

Does this mean an actual end to the series? I consulted with Chris, who reviewed No More Heroes 3 for us, and he believes there's still some wiggle room for the future, but it also could be an end, for now at least. "We might find out in 10 years or so," he said.

Considering the future of the No More Heroes series has been up in the air before now, I'm hesitant to rule anything out. But does Travis deserve a break? After three No More Heroes games and the side venture of Travis Strikes Again, maybe that's the case.

Either way, it sounds like Travis got a decent send-off. If you're picking up the new No More Heroes this weekend and need a quick refresher on the decade-plus legacy of Travis Touchdown, be sure to take a look at our extensive recap of No More Heroes' story so far, leading up to No More Heroes 3.

No More Heroes 3 is out right now on the Nintendo Switch.

The post No More Heroes creator bids farewell to series with launch of No More Heroes 3 appeared first on Destructoid.

Get to the endzone with the touchdown-tips

I can't get enough of No More Heroes 3. It's got so many overlapping parts, and the tension between them is endlessly engaging. It starts off as a stress-based action game with a steep learning curve. Then, about halfway through, it starts giving you more and more Easter eggs to hunt for in the open world, peppering the pure violence with... peaceful wandering?!? I beat the game after about 20 hours, but at least six of those hours were me just looking around for lost kittens. Then, after it was all over, I spent another six hours getting toy figurines, finding other unlockables, refighting bosses, and just thinking about the game's story.

And I haven't even touched New Game+ yet!

So now that No More Heroes 3 is finally out, I wanted to give you some tips that may help you enjoy every aspect of it, from action to exploration, from story to unlockables. We've got some gameplay tips, a guide on where to find some of the most well-hidden Easter eggs, and even some mild hints on where the series may go next. But don't worry folks. We'll make sure not to spoil any story beats or other specifics.

Time to enter the Garden of Insanity!

Don't forget your sushi

This is a silly one, but if you've played a lot of No More Heroes 1 and 2, you may not be in the habit of using No More More Heroes 3's new Zelda-esque health and status rejuvenation system. It's particularly easy to sleep on because your restorative items don't appear on a subscreen, and some of them don't need you to pay attention to them at all.

There's two kinds of sushi to choose from — the kind that immediately improves your stats and/or gives you the ability to come back to life after taking a beating (like the fairies in the Zelda series), and the kind you have to use manually munch on mid-battle. It's that second kind that I straight up forgot existed for a little while, making some boss fights feel impossible.

In order to use the "take-out" sushi you've bought from Bugzaburo, hit up on the crosspad. You can also select different types of sushi you may be carrying in your pockets (gross!) by hitting left or right on the crosspad. The type of sushi you have selected also shows up as little colored pixels near the bottom of the screen. Try to keep an eye on them. It may help you to eat your snacks and stay alive!

Make the most of your dodges, grapples, and death glove

When fighting a bunch of aliens with a laser sword, the obvious thing to do is hit them with the sword as much as possible. And there is a time and place for that! But in No More Heroes 3, you're going to have to mix it up a bit if you want to excel. If you've played Travis Strikes Again, you know what I mean. That game has a ton of depth too, though it can be a little hard to see. No More Heroes 3 takes that depth and presents it in a clearer, more user-friendly package.

So if you hoped you could button-mash your way to wins, give up hope now. From the first boss on, it's just not an option. He has a ground-based attack that you need to jump over in order to avoid, and getting hit by it two or three times will probably kill you. More often than not though, the dedicated dodge button is the best way to avoid enemy attacks. When timed properly, it causes your foe to move in slow motion, allowing you to land multiple hits while they're trapped in a nearly frozen stance. This works on some distance attacks too, which is crucial, because nearly every enemy in the game has both long-range and short-range moves.

The best thing about being able to attack a jerk while they are stuck is you may get in enough hits to make them dizzy. That's when you can grab them and slam them with a wrestling move. Not only do grapples do more damage than most other attacks, landing one also automatically recharges your beam katana. That's crucial. It doesn't matter how long your combos are if your sword goes limp mid-strike.

Another great way to avoid running out of katana juice is to lean into your death glove moves. The dropkick, which is unlocked from the start, has a soft lock-on feature and it does big damage. The other moves are unlocked a few bosses in, and will make or break most battles from there on out. Use your glove to slow enemies down, push away heavy hitters so you can pick off the weak ones without a crowd to deal with, and get that projectile launcher in the sky to support you whenever you can.

Unlike the "Full Armor Travis" and other specials, you don't want to save your death glove moves for a rainy day. The sooner you use them, the sooner you can recharge them for another round. If you're really low on health and are too scared to get in close, you can always run around for a bit to wait for your death glove abilities to recharge. Once you have all four ready to go, few will be able to stand a chance.

Reexamine the map on a regular basis

A lot of games will tell you right away when there is some new thing to do on the map or some side-quest to veer off on. No More Heroes 3 is not one of those games! If you've played Flower Sun and Rain, the pacifistic adventure game that set the stage for the original No More Heroes, then you know that Suda51 isn't always big on explaining what to do in his open worlds. No More Heroes 3 is no exception. Finding new jobs to do for cash — or alien battles you need to complete in order to open the boss door — are key parts of the game's flow, and both my take some digging.

There are also off-to-the-side text-based "Adventure Mode" sequences and other NPCs that will unlock new featured on the map, and they are even tougher to find. They start to pop up on the map screen after the first or second boss, with zero fanfare. You need to stop and look at the map after beating every boss in order to see if there's anything new. The "Adventure Mode" bits have an icon that looks like word balloons, and the Easter egg NPCs are represented by a little green "Person" icon. Hover over to it and it says (you guessed it) "Person."

What kind of person, and what they'll ask you to do, will remain unknown until you chat them up. Don't miss out on what they have to offer! Planting trees, punching statues, and picking up scorpions is a lot of fun, and the only way to unlock those options is to get to know your neighbors.

Get the 80 Chip if you want to hunt for Easter eggs

Getting various kinds of Easter eggs to even appear on your map is just the first step. Finding them means combing over every quiet, uneventful, potentially unimportant piece of real estate in the game. Most of the stuff you can find gives you some skill points and/or in-game currency. That will help you beef up your stats, but the real point of finding them is seeing all the unexpected places Suda and his team decided to hide the next scorpion and/or fertile patch of soil.

That said, some secrets are so well-hidden you will straight up never find them without a little help. That's where the 80 Chip comes in. It makes a loud noise when you're about 30-or-so in-game feet away from a secret. The closer you get to the thing in question, the more intense the sound. You get the chip by building it in Naomi's lab, and you should have the parts for it pretty early on. It works for kitten finding too, which is a relief. The thought of all those sad homeless cats, lost in a broken world during an alien invasion, is enough to get me in full "In the arms of an angel" mode.

Here's where to find the most hidden Easter Egg Man

But the 80 Chip can't find everything. There is one chain of Easter eggs that you won't even know about unless you check your Spam Email (which is worth doing anyway, just for the dad-joke-quality Suda51 movie puns). Doppelganger, the social worker turned serial killer from Travis Strikes Again, starts hiding on the map fairly early on. He emails you about it, taunting you, and his hints about where he's hiding are pretty vague.

This guy is the only "secret item" on the map that the 80 Chip doesn't detect, and if I'm being real, finding his third location took me something like four hours. I don't want you to ever have to go through that, so I took screenshots of all his hiding spots. But if you want to find him yourself, squint really hard right now, then scroll down about seven screens. We'll pick up with some less fully revealing tips and hints from there.

Here's Doppelganger's first hiding spot, in a backlot near the off-ramp to Perfect World.

His second spot is near the entrance to Destroy Stadium in Santa Destroy.

His third hiding place is behind the trailers in Thunder Dome, between the public toilet and the t-shirt alien.

Hist fourth location is back in Perfect World, at a gas station that is about a 10-second drive from where you arrive on the map using fast travel.

His fifth spot is in Call of Battle, up the road away from the beach. Look for an armory on your left, on the way to an army base. Run down a slope and explore the fence around it. Doppelganger is around the corner to the left.

His sixth spot is back in Santa Destroy, on the border of Mexico (which looks like a plunger on the map).

His seventh spot is in the ruins of Call of Battle. Walk in through the entrance near the backroad entrance to the beach. He's in one of the nooks facing the ocean.

The eighth spot is back in Perfect World in the residential area. There's a culdesac near the tip of the island. He's standing there in plain sight. Hope he didn't murder nauybody!

His last hiding spot is right near your motel, but to get to it, you have to go around back. There's an alley between the Motel and Beef Head video, near what Beef Head's outdoor picnic tables. Doppelganger is right there, behind a trailer.

For finding his true self, Doppelganger gives you some 5,000 UtopiCoins and a t-shirt. But it's the same shirt you get from the start if you have a Travis Strikes Again save on Switch!

You're killing me, Doppelganger...

Read up on Travis Strikes Again

No More Heroes 3 is like Captain America: Civil War meets Twin Peaks: The Return. You don't need to know the backstory of Ant-Man, Bobby Briggs, and every talking raccoon and tea kettle to understand what's going on, but those details add color to the adventure.

Travis Strikes Again holds a lot of No More Heroes 3's backstory. That's probably because it technically is No More Heroes 3, and the actually No More Heroes 3 is its direct sequel.

Confused? Just wait, it gets worse.

Travis Strikes Again also tells at least four different stories in three different ways: through in-game cutscenes, in-game faxes sent by a few different parties (including your cat!), and a visual novel mode called Travis Strikes Back. It's a lot. I love the game, and I still forgot like half of the lore from it. There's just so much, and it's delivered in so many ways, like a dream that keeps changing formats. Suda's fans love him for those sorts of transgressions, but dang, it can be hard to keep it all straight.

So if you never played Travis Strikes Again, or you're just straining to remember it, here are key areas to refresh on: The Death Drive Mk II, Badman and The Black Dog, Dr. Juvilnille, Doppelganger, Shinobu, Bad Girl, Henry Cooldown, Sylvia Christel, and Damon Riccotelo. All of them were either introduced in, or were massively changed by, Travis Strikes Again. The hyperlinks above should help you get started on learning how.

As you explore, keep in mind that Suda's own career, the nature of the afterlife for video game characters, new-ish faces like Midori Midorikawa and Kamui Uehara from The Silver Case, and various themes from No More Heroes 1 and 2 also make up parts of the game's backdrop.

Again, you can enjoy No More Heroes 3 without knowing all that stuff, but boning up on your lore can be a lot of fun. It's unnecessary, but then again, aren't most things?

Learn about Takashi Miike

Travis Strikes Again ended with a teaser for No More Heroes 3. All in all, it looks like that plan worked out pretty well. It's no surprise then that No More Heroes 3 has not one, but two, but three moments that could be considered hints about where the series is going from here.

I'm not going to tell you what they are.

What I will tell you is, throughout the game, Travis and his friend Bishop talk about how much they love film director Takashi Miike. He's royalty in Japanese cinema, and director of some of the best game-to-film adaptations, including Yakuza and Ace Attorney. He even made a cameo in No More Heroes 2.

But that was a long time ago. For about a decade, no one was sure if No More Heroes 3 would ever happen. But it's here, breathing new life into the character of Travis Touchdown. Miike may have inspired aspects of this resurrection, and I won't be surprised if he plays a hand in wherever Travis goes next.

So if you want to know more about this master filmmaker, this retrospective from Mordibly Beautiful is a nice place to start, but it probably won't be the end. Miike's filmography is just one of the many threads that No More Heroes 3 weaves together. Sometimes it feels like the start of 10 different projects that never really end. I hope that's the case. While people have waited a long time for this revival, I think playing it will make them even hungrier for No More Heroes 4, 5, and 6.

Long Live Santa Destroy!

The post No More Heroes 3 tips, hints, and Doppelganger hiding spots appeared first on Destructoid.

It's in the basement and I bet some of you would never see it

As I was talking about my No More Heroes 3 experience with our own Jonathan Holmes, we reminisced about a few mechanics we totally missed early on. For me it was upgrading. Like...the entire leveling up and upgrade process. For him, it was using items in battle. Oops! We made it through roughly 1/3 of the entire campaign separately missing these core mechanics. Here's where to find the No More Heroes 3 power up machine upgrade station so you don't suffer the same fate.

Following the intro you'll gain control of Travis in the open world, with the No More Heroes motel serving as your base of operations. There's several entrances here to note. You can access the main floor right in front of the hotel, and Bad Girl's room to the side on the second floor. Or, you can hop down to the basement from a streetside entrance. Or! You can just go into the motel and use a firepole to slide up and down into all three floors of the hub/base of operations.

Either take the aforementioned street entrance or slide all the way down the pole to access the lab. Here is where you'll find an arcade machine device, where you'll get your No More Heroes 3 upgrade on.

This is what it looks like when you walk up to the fresh machine. It's literally how you level-up in No More Heroes 3, as you can increase your health, attack, power (battery), and death skill (cooldowns for abilities) ratings.

These function just like experience points in RPGs, using WESN (World's End Super Nova, aka experience) to bump up those values. You can also unlock special moves, akin to the Devil May Cry series, through spending WESN.

If you look above, we've leveled up health and attack power a few times, and the death skill cooldown timer once.

Also note that the chip lab is in the same location. It's actually directly to the left of the power-up arcade machine and it looks like a PC with multiple monitors. You can craft chips (charms/equipment) here with random materials you earn throughout the game from battles, and equip three at once. Some of the cheap chips have a tradeoff (less light attack damage for more heavy attack damage), some are straight upgrades.

Again, do this early and visit it often! It's so easy to get wrapped up in sidequests and main story events that you forget that the lab even exists.

The post Don’t forget to visit the easily missed No More Heroes 3 upgrade station appeared first on Destructoid.

Another Touchdown for Travis

[Update: Pix 'N Love will be restocking the Collector Edition and the Deluxe Edition (which is signed by Suda51 himself, and sold out in minutes last time) of No More Hereos 3 on Wednesday, July 21, 16:00 (UK time). if you want a second shot at either of these sets, get the site bookmarked and get ready to click as fast as you can! Purchasing either one is sure to be a desperate struggle.)

It's been a big week for fans of the No More Heroes series and the larger "Grasshopper Manufacture Extended Universe." Copies of Limited Run's collector's editions of the first two No More Heroes games (featuring art books co-written by yours truly) have begun arriving in mailboxes. The Silver Case 2425, a collection of two visual novels from early in Grasshopper's career, also just made it out to customers. The limited physical edition of that game comes with a special Silver Case comic book that co-stars Midori Midorikawa, a teenage girl who can effortlessly kill a group of horny idiots.

She was also recently confirmed to be a boss in No More Heroes 3. We can only imagine how she'll end up getting along with Travis, gaming's most notoriously idiotic, horny hero.  Then again, Travis has changed a lot over the years. He even wears a "Fuck Racism" t-shirt in this new game, a decidedly socially conscious move for a once selfish man. It's anyone's guess as to where this is all going.

There are also hints that No More Heroes 3 will cross over with Killer 7, another one of Grasshopper's rabidly-adored titles. Yesterday, the official site for the game revealed that the text adventure stories from Travis Strikes Again will continue into this new game. One screen from this decidedly retro mode strongly hints at an appearance from  Killer 7's Young Harman Smith. It's a stretch, given that we just have this one screen to go on, but this wouldn't actually be the first time the two games crossed paths. It's also worth noting that the prior text adventures for Travis featured appearances from both Dracula and Epona (from the Zelda series). In the same scene. So again, anything's possible.

[embed]https://twitter.com/suda_51/status/1410071688528625666[/embed]

The only thing we know for sure is, the time for this kind of fanciful speculation is almost over. No More Heroes 3 launches next month, and just like with No More Heroes 1, 2, and The Silver Case 2425, it's getting a physical collector's edition, this time from Pix 'N Love. I have to guess that they waited to announce this package until those other special editions from Grasshopper had been delivered. By the looks of it, the timing was perfect. The site actually went down from excessive traffic earlier in the day. It's back up now, so I'd jump on the chance to check it out while you can.

This collector's edition comes with a 96-page art book, four lithographs, and a cardboard sleeve, and wouldn't you know it, they're only making 2,000 of them. History has shown that this artbook may end up being the rare first appearance of a new character that will end up being an important boss in some future Grasshopper title, so Grasshopper fans like myself have basically two choices here: buy now or fear missing out.

I bet you can guess which one I picked.

The post No More Heroes 3 gets some spicy crossovers and a sweet collector’s edition appeared first on Destructoid.

We had to wait until the end of E3 to get more No More Heroes 3

Compared to years past, the Nintendo Treehouse Live stream following its highly celebrated Direct was a lowkey event this year. No surprise announcements, just some in-depth looks at a few of the games we'll be playing over the next couple of weeks and months. We found out more about Metroid Dread, got a great look at the Advance Wars remakes, and saw some of the Monster Hunter Stories 2 demo that'll be available for download later this month. If you watched the stream live, there's actually a game that didn't air with the rest of the titles. If I had to guess why it's probably because the game is rated M for Mature. And dammit, it earns that rating.

Of course, I'm talking about No More Heroes 3. Following its E3 Treehouse stream, Nintendo dropped the below video onto its YouTube channel. Unfortunately, you have to actually go to YouTube to watch it thanks to the website's dumb age-restriction rules. During the 20-minute hands-on, you'll get a look at Travis's expanded apartment, customization and upgrade options, DonMai Sushi, and a fight against Gold Joe, one of the new villains of the game. Be sure to watch through to the end for a special message from Suda51.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-iLPK5vl4M

No More Heroes 3 launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on August 27.

The post Take a bloody new look at No More Heroes 3 appeared first on Destructoid.

Bad Girl's back, all right!

We are a little more than four months away from the release of No More Heroes 3, which is more than enough time to drive into Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes if you haven't yet. I can understand if you've avoided it thus far. I mean, I've seen its Metacritic score and as somebody who bought it day one, it's a bit of a tough recommendation. If you haven't tried it by now, you're probably not going to at this point, but it's clear the people at Grasshopper Manufacturer think you're missing out by not giving it a go.

Yesterday, Suda51 hosted a live stream for No More Heroes 3 and out of that, we got this Garden of Sylvia video below. It gives a quick recap of the series, tells players to go look up anything it doesn't tell you on Wikipedia, plugs Travis Strikes Again, and shows off some brief new footage from the upcoming sequel. I'm just happy to see Bad Girl and Shinobu fighting side-by-side.

What's that? You thought Bad Girl was dead? Gee, I guess you should have played Travis Strikes Again then.

The video ends detailing a combo pack for Japan that bundles all three of the main games together in the Killion Dollar Trilogy. Nothing like that has been announced for North America, but as a reminder, if you like your games physical rather than digital, No More Heroes and Desperate Struggle currently have a pre-order up on Limited Run Games through this Sunday.

The post This No More Heroes 3 video really wants you to play Travis Strikes Again appeared first on Destructoid.

Why is there a watermelon there?

The upcoming 51st issue of Nintendo Force magazine is dedicated to Suda51, featuring over 30 pages about his games and his career, including a 51-question interview with the man himself. It's a whopper alright, filled with exclusives and surprises, one of which I'm able to share with you here. 

But first, a little context. 

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is a 1984 film starring Peter Weller (best known as the original RoboCop) as the titular brain surgeon, rock star, and world hero. A man of Japanese and American decent, Buckaroo considers himself first and foremost to be a citizen of the planet Earth, and alongside his friends (including a lanky Jeff Goldblum in a cowboy outfit!), he must save his home from a cavalcade of alien scum such as John Whorfin (John Lithgow), John Bigbooté (Christopher Lloyd), and John Smallberries. 

It's the kind of movie I assumed Suda51, creator of characters like Travis Touchdown, Mondo Zappa, and Garcia Hotspur, was already well acquainted with. I was wrong about that! But I'm still really glad I brought it up. In fact, our conversation may have influenced where he's headed with his next game. 

NF: This crossover in Smash is just one of many amazing collaborations you’ve been a part of over the years, from team-ups with massive talents like James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid), as well as smaller but equally brilliant names like Dennaton (Hotline Miami) and Shawn Alexander Allen (Treachery in Beatdown City), just to name a few. Are there any other creatives that you'd like to collaborate with in the future, like maybe a fashion brand? Or some other artist outside of gaming? Or maybe even work on a film adaptation? Like take on an old Hollywood IP that’s filled with potential like, I don’t know... Buckaroo Banzai?

(At this point Suda asks me to explain what Buckaroo Banzai is, and it takes a while. As I explain, Suda looks up the movie on his phone and laughs a few times, ooh-ing and ahh-ing here and there, presumably at names like "John BigBoote'" and other more eye-opening details about the film.)

Suda: You know, I’ve never actually seen this movie before, but it sounds right up my alley. Just hearing about it makes me feel like it’s my style, like something I would totally be into.

After No More Heroes 3, the next game I’m going to be making is going to be a whole new IP. There’s not really much I can say about it just yet, but I feel it is probably going to be something really similar to what you just described in Buckaroo Banzai. I want everyone to really look forward to it, it’s going to really be kind of, for lack of a better term, a screwed-up game, with lots of just crazy stuff in it. Yeah, I definitely feel a lot of similarity between what I just heard described of Buckaroo Banzai and my upcoming IP.  So please look forward to that.  

The full 51 question interview with Suda51 can be found in the 51st issue of Nintendo Force Magazine. Order before February 22nd for a discount. And be sure to tune into today's Nintendo Direct if you're a fan of Suda's. You won't be disappointed. 

The post After No More Heroes 3, Suda51 will work on a game for buckaroos appeared first on Destructoid.

Press my buttons, Travis

Yesterday was full of surprises for hack-and-slash fans who own a Switch. Not only did Nintendo release a two-hour demo of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity but then Xseed simultaneously shadow-dropped No More Heroes 1 & 2 on the system at the same time! Just like that, owners of the hot hybrid console were instantly covered in a sticky mess of violent crowd-skewering action. 

Now that we've all had a day to rest on those releases, maybe it's a good time to swing back around to the new trailer for No More Heroes 3 and see what we can find. From the looks of it, the game will be less a direct sequel to No More Heroes 2 and more of a continuation of the lesser-known No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again, the actual third game in the series. New interstellar villain FU appears to be standing on a boardroom table, which we can guess is in the office of Damon Riccitiello, Travis Strikes Again's CEO antagonist and not-so-veiled parody of former EA CEO John Riccitiello.  

Take a closer look at No More Heroes 3's user interface, and Travis's Joy-Con-studded glove in the opening of the trailer, and you'll see hints that the "chips" from Travis Strikes Again may also be coming back... again. Previously, those chips were used to give Travis and other playable characters (Shinobu, Bad Girl, and Badman) massive, over-the-top abilities like Jedi-style telekinesis and the power to create black holes. Speaking of Badman, it looks like he'll also be back for the threequel, though it's not clear if he'll be playable or just a punching bag (that's him getting pummeled at the 00:58 mark).

As someone who loved the highly personal, pseudo-autobiographical story of Travis Strikes Again but was in and out of love with actually playing it, it's great to see that No More Heroes 3 may be bringing the best of all worlds to the table. 

The post I tugged on the latest No More Heroes 3 trailer and hints of what’s to come came out appeared first on Destructoid.

COVID strikes again

Of all the delays we've seen this year due to the pandemic, this one somehow felt like the most inevitable. Grasshopper Manufacture and Suda 51 have confirmed the highly anticipated Switch-exclusive No More Heroes III will not see release in 2020. According to the message posted by the developers on Twitter, COVID-19 resulted in work delays on the title, and rather than rush it out, Suda wants his team to prioritize quality as development gets back on its feet.

An important announcement regarding the Nintendo Switch exclusive title No More Heroes 3.#NMH3 #NoMoreHeroes3 #SUDA51 #NintendoSwitch #TRAVIS #TravisTouchdown pic.twitter.com/ijsz4shnDl

— Grasshopper (@Grasshopper_EN) September 10, 2020

It's not all bad news though. Suda confirmed he'll be working with Darick Robertson, comic book artist and one of the creators of the comic book series The Boys, which has been adapted into a popular show on Amazon Prime Video. Robertson will be providing original illustrations for No More Heroes III, as well as its key art.

Presenting "Demzamtiger & His Master" - a specially commissioned piece for NMH3 by Darick Robertson. pic.twitter.com/hk3FvsGJh7

— SUDA51/須田剛一 (@suda_51) September 10, 2020

The post No More Heroes 3 won’t be powering up its beam katana until 2021 appeared first on Destructoid.

Sounds Marvelous

Everyone's favourite hot scoop news outlet, the Taiwan Digital Game Rating Committee, is at it again. The latest release to mysteriously appear on the governing body's website is none other than a Switch port of Suda 51's groundbreaking action-RPG No More Heroes.

Originally released for the Wii in 2007, No More Heroes shook up the action genre with its wild, highly stylised aesthetic, over-the-top action, and painfully cool/uncool characters. Eventually ported to PS3 and Xbox 360 as Heroes' Paradise, the series would receive a sequel - Desperate Struggle - in 2010 and a spin-off title - Travis Strikes Again - in 2019. A third mainline entry is currently in development.

This new rating seems to suggest that Travis Touchdown's original adventure will be headed to Switch at some point in the near future. Given that No More Heroes III has a tentative release date of 2020, it would be snug to assume that the original game will be arriving alongside this new sequel. We will update you should any new info be forthcoming.

No More Heroes rated for Switch in Taiwan [Gematsu]

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Suda you cheeky bastard

A few weeks ago during the New Game+ Expo, Suda51, developer of the highly anticipated No More Heroes 3, gave everyone a new look at the upcoming game, but proceeded to block most of it with his melon. Well, during today's annual "Devolver Digital Game-Marketing-Is-A-Joke-But-Please-Follow-Us-On-Social-Media-And-Here-Are-Some-Press-Releases-Please-Write-About-Our-Games" showcase, Suda51 was back at it again, this time giving fans just the briefest of looks at Motel No More Heroes.

via GIPHY

That's it. That's the story. No More Heroes III is supposed to launch exclusively for Nintendo Switch in 2020. Curious to see if it'll be pushed to 2021 like several other titles that were supposed to release this year.

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2020? Good luck

No More Heroes 3 is easily one of the most anticipated games of 2020 and at The Game Awards, a fresh new trailer debuted in during the pre-show. It teased an extended trailer at the end, which you can watch on repeat below until your eyes bleed.

The post Here’s the extended edition of The Game Awards’ No More Heroes 3 trailer appeared first on Destructoid.

Travis Cooldown

There are no doubt plenty of fans itching to jump back into the stylistic and lurid world of No More Heroes, but in a recent interview with series creator Goichi "Suda 51" Suda (conducted by Wccftech), it was revealed that there may still be some wait before we can get our mitts on Travis Touchdown's beam katana.

The famously esoteric game developer stated that No More Heroes III is currently around "35 to 40%" complete, which suggests that, given the sequel's 2020 release date, we are unlikely to see the release of the new title in the front half of the new year. Grasshopper studio, despite its pedigree, is a fairly mid-size developer, and as such will be taking its time to produce a game that matches up to its predecessors.

This is fine, of course, as I'm sure fans just want No More Heroes III to be the best title it can be. Elsewhere in the interview, Suda noted that the new game would be a mid-sized open world adventure, and would see the return of the series' trademark motion controls. As an amusing side note, Suda was asked to describe one of NMH III's new boss characters in three words, and chose "Thanos. Venom. Joker."

No More Heroes III is currently in development for Nintendo Switch.

Suda 51 interview: No More Heroes 3 [Wccftech]

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The legendary punk-rock game designer sits one-on-one with Destructoid

Suda51 doesn't seem to be quite sure of what he wants No More Heroes 3 to be. He knows the story he wants to tell. He's currently in the middle of writing the scenario for it, with the general plot of the game mapped out and the smaller story elements starting to fill in. The invasion seen in the debut trailer, beings coming from space or something else along those lines, will be a major theme in the game. For Suda, writing No More Heroes 3 is the easy part. 

"Fans see a lot of themselves in Travis just as I do," Suda says to me through his translator. "Instead of being some big, oversized hero, he is just this dude you'd see around the block, someone who'd live in your neighborhood. Travis is the type of character people can relate to, and because of that, he's easier to write for and easier to think of ideas for and is just a whole lot of fun."

In a big, empty conference room at the J.W. Marriott in Los Angeles, I sit down with Suda to find out everything I can in less than 30 minutes. It's the first day of E3 and he's just dropped a bomb on fans, announcing No More Heroes 3 will be coming in 2020. He knows expectations are high. While never a best-selling franchise, the No More Heroes series has its share of dedicated fans, who've supported it through two mainline entries and one side-story that sold well enough to warrant this third numbered game. With that kind of support, Suda is taking a different approach to the development of this game. Instead of just making it and seeing how fans react, he wants the No More Heroes nation to tell him what it is they want to see in this game.

"Since the second No More Heroes," he explains, "I've wanted to do a third entry in the series, a big 'turning point' type game for the franchise. The timing has just never been right for it. While Travis Strikes Again is a stepping stone for the series, it did get in the way because that was another year or two we couldn't work on 3. Now that we've announced the game and have the time to make it, we really want to pay attention to exactly what fans want to see. No More Heroes 3 will be the type of game I personally want to play. It's going to have the things fans and myself want to see in it. That's the type of game we're making this time around."

Suda defers often to fan input throughout our conversation. No More Heroes 3 has only been in development for about six months, since right around the launch of Travis Strikes Again. The team he has working on it totals less than 100 people and he wants to make sure everything they're doing for the game is something the players will want. He knows he won't be able to do everything. Grasshopper Manufacturer is still a small studio and budgets don't grow on trees, but his goal for is to deliver a product that feels hand-tailored for those who have supported him and the franchise for more than a decade.

So when I ask him about part-time job minigames, he defers back to fans. They can return if fans want them to return, in either 8-bit form or something more along the lines of the original game. The open-world design from No More Heroes is also on the table, and given the concept art above I wouldn't mind seeing it return. But if fans would rather have an experience closer to No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, that's what they'll get. Outside of the story Suda has in his mind, nothing is quite set in stone.

There are, however, a few confirmed details of how the game will play. Travis's beam katana and wrestling moves will play a major role in the combat of the title. The Death Glove and Death Drive from Travis Strikes Again will also be present to enhance Travis's arsenal. The mecha suit from the trailer is connected to the Death Glove and, in this game, Travis will be able to use it in the real world.

The game will also feature a more mature Travis. It has been several years since the events of Desperate Struggle and a few years have passed since Travis Strikes Again. Travis has killed many people and, as he's risen and fallen in the assassin ranks, his morals and personal codes have changed. In No More Heroes, Travis did everything is his power to not kill women. In Desperate Struggle, either sex was fair game for his beam katana. While he isn't about to go around slaughtering kids, Travis is not exactly the cool cat we first met back in 2007.

"I'm still in the process of writing up the scenario right now," Suda says, "so even I don't know how Travis is going to turn out. But to put it simply, Travis has become more hardened, both physically and emotionally. Not just as a killer, but as but as a person because of the experiences he has gone through. In No More Heroes 3, you're definitely going to see some stark character development that builds off the previous games in the series."

With so much of the story still unknown to even Suda himself, I ask about the return of Shinobu. Originally an enemy of Travis in No More Heroes, she returned in Desperate Struggle as a massive fangirl of the best killer in the world, becoming a playable character in the process. Shinobu appeared in Travis Strikes Again as a downloadable character, but Suda isn't committing to bringing her back in No More Heroes 3 just yet.

"If Shinobu does end up being in the game, we're going to try and get Kimberly Brooks back to do her voice work as she did in Travis Strikes Again."

Not many characters from the series live long enough to see a sequel. While Shinobu might find her way back for NMH3, the trailer made it known United Assassins Association ranking agent Sylvia Christel will return, voiced once again by Paula Tiso. Rowan Atkin Downes is also returning to voice Travis Touchdown. I have no doubt No More Heroes 3 will see a host of new eccentric enemies to dismember, but there is one expired assassin Suda wishes he could bring back for the game.

"Captain Vladimir is a character I really like. He had a really great backstory and I loved his situation. If there was a way, I'd like to bring him back especially considering the content of the new game."

No More Heroes 3 is set to launch next year, and clearly there is a lot of work to do. Suda has to figure out what exactly will be in the game, what won't be in it, and how to fit Shinobu into the story because I refuse to believe he isn't already thinking about ways to incorporate her. The game will be a Switch exclusive, though I'm told candidly that this is for the time being. Given that Suda is exploring every facet of the Switch hardware to maximize the fun players will have with it, I can only assume No More Heroes 3 will be just like the first two games in the series: way more fun to play on a Nintendo console.

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Getting answers straight from the horse's mouth

One of the big, surprise announcements from Nintendo's E3 Showcase was the confirmation Suda51 is working on the oft-requested No More Heroes 3. In a presentation full of must-have titles, it was the standout for me. As luck would have it, I was scheduled to interview the man himself just hours after the world premiere of that trailer and ask about his upcoming game. While a full recap of our interview is coming, I wanted to share this tidbit of info about how No More Heroes 3 will control.

The first and second No More Heroes games were obviously inspired by the hardware they originated on. That idea rings true for the third installment. The capabilities of the Switch are playing a large role in how the game is being developed, and that includes using the full functionality of the Joy-Con controllers.

"The first two games had mechanics that were based off what the Wii could do and the functionality of those unique controllers," Suda explained through his translator. "Because this is another installment in the mainline series, I definitely want to bring it back to what I did with the Wii originally, which is take advantage of the Joy-Con and everything those make possible with the Switch now. So the way we're making the game currently, you can play the entire thing with the Joy-Con attached to the unit itself. You'll have no problem playing like that at all, but I believe the best way to play the game would be to take them off. That's not to say it'll play exactly as it did on the Wii but it's going to be a lot similar and along the same lines to what you could do with the Wii controllers."

No More Heroes 3 is still early in development and Suda said there may be more ideas implemented into the game based on what he and his team discover as they continue to work with the Switch dev kit. 

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'Welcome to the Garden of Madness'

Travis Touchdown is back on the job. No More Heroes 3 is coming to Nintendo Switch next year, as announced this morning on the Nintendo Direct E3 broadcast. Ready to rock 'n' roll?

Travis Touchdown returns to Santa Destroy after a ten-year absence in the latest numbered entry in the No More Heroes series... No More Heroes 3 for #NintendoSwitch is coming in 2020! #NMH3 pic.twitter.com/p3bIUckyzq

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) June 11, 2019

"Thanks to everyone's support of [Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes], we are finally able to make the dream come true," said fashionable game director Suda51. "Thank you all so much!"

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