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.

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Can Travis be far behind?

Recently, No More Heroes creator Suda51 held the first-ever "Grasshopper Direct" event. It's a madcap show, packed with curses and cosplay, serving as a fantastic example of modern anti-marketing. Most of the "real" content on display is non-game related news like the reveal of new t-shirts, gallery showings, and related merch, while the most shocking moments of presentation pop in under the guise of unrelated, intrusive advertisements. First, there's Pistol Yakuza (a John Wick-esque movie and game combo) at 5:59, and a trailer for Electric Thunder Tiger 14, starring Electro Triple Star (the first boss of Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes) at 9:38.

It's hard to say if these projects are factual or imaginary, which is right on brand for this franchise. When Travis meets Electro Triple Star in Travis Strikes Again, he talks about how much he loved playing his games as a kid, blurring the lines between past and present, idol and villain, physical and virtual. It all ends with Travis wondering if he might star in Electric Thunder Tiger 3 himself someday. So how did we get to Electric Thunder Tiger 14 already? That's anyone's guess, but one can speculate that death and the passage of time don't work in videogames like they do in the real world.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THS60cC3768[/embed]

More No More Or No More More?

But one thing that definitely does work in the real world is copyright laws, and Grasshopper has confirmed with Destructoid that the majority rights to all No More Heroes characters, including Travis Touchdown and Electro Triple Star, are still held by Marvelous, their publishing partner on the series. So that either means that this trailer was essentially a fake-out, or that it's a real game being developed with Marvelous's blessing.

If it's the latter, then it would be a real waste of the license to not throw a Travis cameo or two in there, right? More No More Heroes or not, we know for sure that Grasshopper is working on several projects that will swing for the fences. I'm hoping that some of those swings come from a beam katana.

The post Shocking No More Heroes boss may get his own game appeared first on Destructoid.

Add copyright law to the list of things Travis has almost sh*t on

Travis Touchdown and the No More Heroes series both turned 15 this week and, to celebrate, franchise creator SUDA51 shared some unique information about his murderous mascot. Even longtime fans of the franchise such as myself were shocked.

My Japanese is lousy, but I can read the language well enough to recognize the characters "Ru-Ku" in the image above. That translates to English as "Luke", which alone would have been enough to make Lucasfilm's lawyers foam at the mouth. Reading through the blurb is a little tougher for me, but per a confirmed A.I, translation from NMH super fan Travis Dies Every Day, the full text reads:

"Modern Jedi Master 'Luke'. Danshiya 'Luke'. His real name is Travis Touchdown. A geek and a thug of the hitman business, I will take on any boring killing. There is no creed at all. I go to the mall four times a week. In other words, if you don't have work, you don't have time, and you don't have friends."

"He runs danshi [boy?] with homemade sabers. All [of] his weapons, Naomi is making. He is currently ranked 11th in the UAA rankings. Fanatical fan of Japanese anime, especially the witch system is a favorite. Now I love it. I love T-shirts."

Anyone who's played the series knows that this isn't too far from how the actual in-game dialogue might sound. Other than the gun in his left hand, and the overt announcement that Travis is, in-fact, a Jedi named after Luke Skywalker, all of this could, plausibly, have been official!

And wait a minute, wasn't SUDA51's company rumored to be working on an Aliens game? That franchise is just one degree of legal separation from Star Wars! Maybe gun-toting Travis with this Skywalking nickname still has a chance of making it.

The post Travis Touchdown’s original nickname was, it seems, pure Star Wars appeared first on Destructoid.

Blowing minds and blowing chunks

Suda51's new YouTube series gives you something you can't get from everybody, because not every game developer loves the public eye. Despite being as famous (and infamous) as most folks in the industry will ever get, you're not likely to see a new on-camera interview with Minecraft's Notch or FEZ's Phil Fish anytime soon. Putting your personal struggles on display isn't for everyone.

Suda51 has no such misgivings about showing the human side of the creative process. In fact, the very first game company he worked for was called HUMAN, and as he explains in this inaugural chapter of a tell-all interview series, it was Suda's soft and heartfelt love of games and pro wrestling that landed him the job. That combination of excitement and fear was key to his subsequent success. As he tells it, those feelings also led to a fair amount of vomit in his mouth.

https://youtu.be/FW0bOm_fYDw

This same mix of thrills, chills, and stomach-turning spills are part of most of his games, from early titles like soon to be rereleased action-and-horror titles like Lollipop Chainsaw, Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, and No More Heroes 3. What you make comes from who you are, even if that means tasting a little of your own puke now and again.

This new "Creator's File" interview series also marks a rebrand for Grasshopper and Suda51's new YouTube channel. It will feature other members of the company as well, as they talk about their history and experiences in the industry. It's a perfect holdover for fans of the studio as they wait for the announcement of new Grasshopper projects. I've gotten a little of the inside scoop on one of their unannounced titles and it's definitely going to be a big hit with fans of Suda's scriptwriting style.

Keep an eye peeled in the video and you may actually see a hint of what they're working on.

The post Suda51’s details his eye-opening career in this new YouTube series appeared first on Destructoid.

The Starlings are flying again

The tongue-in-cheek monster-mashing franchise Lollipop Chainsaw is apparently getting set to make its grand return, according to one former producer. The announcement was made on the campy title's 10th anniversary, as spotted by the eagle eyes of VGC.

"Lollipop Chainsaw is back by Dragami Games. Please look forward to it." The succinct statement popped up on Twitter late yesterday evening, penned by Yoshimi Yasuda, former CEO of developer Kadokawa Games. Yasuda did not offer any further explanation regarding this statement, not clarifying whether he was referring to a new sequel, a remaster, or a remake.

Regardless... it's... back!

https://twitter.com/yasudaD5/status/1536826749623095296?s=20&t=exrsr8Szb-M19kFX585--w

Originally released for PS3 and Xbox 360, Lollipop Chainsaw is a cheesecake hack 'n' slash adventure that follows a sultry cheerleader, Juliet Starling, who is forced to call upon her ancient zombie hunting bloodline to clear out an uprising of the dead within her Californian high-school. Accompanied by the sentient severed head of her boyfriend, Nick, Juliet gets a little saw crazy against an army of putrid monsters and demons, in overtly sexual, wantonly gory, splatteriffic action.

With eccentric game maker Suda51 on its directorial team, and a script penned by a pre-Guardians of the Galaxy James Gunn, Lollipop Chainsaw didn't win many awards for being a technical masterpiece, but became revered in the following years for its cathartic action and ridiculous and vulgar aesthetic. Juliet Starling will most certainly be welcomed back into the modern gaming era with open arms. As to when that will happen, where, and in what form. We'll have to wait on something a little more concrete.

Start revving, at any rate.

The post Lollipop Chainsaw is back!.. in some capacity! appeared first on Destructoid.

You see, he talks to the audience

I have to admit, I was shocked when Deadpool really blew up. As a comic fan he was always an oddity, and fun to play/see in any number of media appearances. But when Ryan Reynolds essentially became him and made him charming, he turned into a comic icon. I mean, the 2013 Deadpool game kind of faded into obscurity and licensing issues (twice!), but alas, he still holds a lot of water and continues to appear in things like Marvel vs. Capcom and Ultimate Alliance 3. If Suda had his way, he might get another shot at a starring role in a game.

Speaking to IGN Japan, memorable director/producer Suda 51 (who just launched No More Heroes 3!) mused on future projects he'd like to take on and mentioned the Merc with a Mouth in passing:

"The kind of things I'd love to do...I'd also love to work with Marvel on a Shatterstar or Deadpool game, something sort of Grasshopper like that. Maybe a Quicksilver title of some sort. So, Marvel (thumbs up)."

All great ideas! Quicksilver in an action game would be a dream, and I think it would kind of have to be a little wacky and in the Grasshopper personality-laden style to pull off a speedster-led title. Shatterstar's superhuman strength and movement abilities are also a natural fit, and we have proof that Deadpool works in games already.

As for the near future more grounded in the real world, Grasshopper is working on "three IP in the next 10 years," so they're still very much active following the release of No More Heroes 3. Maybe one of those can be an irreverent Marvel game.

The post No More Heroes boss Suda wants to make a Deadpool game and I’m all for it 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.

Travis Strikes Again...again

If Suda 51 touches a game, generally I'm going to be there. While he's been pumping out interesting games since the '90s, it was killer7 that really put him on my radar, and I've been following along closely ever since. But just a few years later with No More Heroes, he really showed us how weird he could get.

The gaming industry is a better place with Suda in it, and No More Heroes 3 continues that legacy, albeit with a lighter touch than the two previous entries.

No More Heroes 3 (Nintendo Switch)
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: Marvelous / Grasshopper Manufacture
Released: August 27, 2021
MSRP: $59.99

If you need a recap, check out this wonderfully detailed piece from our own Jonathan Holmes. Ready? No? Well, I'll fill you in a little bit: don't say I never did anything nice for you.

So Travis Touchdown is back, and once again up to his old shit-talking beam-katana-wielding antics. At this point he's assembled quite the crew of friends, which in turn allows him to get a little too comfortable and cocky: a concept that kind of spills over into the narrative.

This time all-around bad dude and alien prince Jess Baptiste VI (aka "FU") is trying to take over the world, and he's going to make you run through his retinue to get to him. The new alien invasion angle in No More Heroes 3 is interesting, as it gives Suda a chance to slot in the same "ranking up by killing assassins [bosses]" concept from prior games. As soon as the incredibly weird mix of retro sensibilities and an anime involving a young alien and his best friend flashed on-screen all as part of the intro, for the first time in years, I felt right at home.

No More Heroes 3 is content with constantly throwing you curveballs, some of which are wild pitches that land in the stands, but you can't help but respect them. By the time I got to a cutscene featuring a boss drinking boba tea with another boss, I was hooked. Uneven or not, No More Heroes 3 is constantly surprising, even if it falls into a comfortable rhythm about halfway in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUf1iLBtV2g

That comfort can manifest in a number of ways. Without spoiling anything, there are a few "cop-out" twists that are meant to be funny, but don't always land. Suda also dials up the meta-humor this time around, which suffers a bit from the long-running history of the series. When No More Heroes started, that style was relatively novel, as all of the references were literally history-making within the confines of NMH lore. Now, with two main entries and a spinoff in the mix, some of that humor doesn't stick the landing. Even with that in mind, Suda is masterfully able to inject so much personality that you can't help but come away smiling and impressed.

Like past games, you're going to be running around doing errands and fighting a lot, so we should probably talk about that. I found combat to be really engaging, mostly due to the simplicity of the beam katana mechanics still working after all these years. In this entry you have your typical spread of jump/normal attacks/heavy attacks/dodging/blocking; with a pinch of special attacks, QTE killing blows and wrestling throws, slot machine power-ups, and of course, shaking to recharge your katana (either the Joy-Con or the analog stick).

The slot machine is really key to differentiating No More Heroes 3 from the rest of the pack. While in many games you may want to go for a tougher more aggressive enemy initially, here you have the chance to pick off weaker chaff to build up slot machine pulls that might power you up to better take on those buffed-up foes. Once you start acquiring abilities like what is essentially a force push, you can isolate people (like flinging someone into a corner) and adjust your strategy on the fly.

There's always something interesting going on, even during some of the more menial fights. Whether Travis is yelling at the top of his lungs or you're sliding into your mecha suit to blow everyone to hell, combat is flashy while remaining functional. The main issue lies with the mecha-specific battles (typically in space), which are heavily simplified and can generally be bested by just constantly strafing. While I'm thankful that these sections aren't too frequent, there's a lot of potential there to ape games like Colony Wars and make a really fun space shooter that just wasn't realized.

That comes with the territory. No More Heroes 3, like past entries, requires a bit of patience in several areas.  The open-world bits are still incredibly janky, and collision detection is sketchy in the best of times when riding around in your motorcycle from place to place. For reference, it's not fully open world, but a handful of individual sandboxes that are connected through highway load points (or a fast-travel system).

It's here that the frequent load times can get annoying, which happen every time you enter/exit a building, load into a new area, or start a battle (of which there are many in-between the main-event boss fights). Speaking of battles, you'll need to finish "Designated Matches" — which are basically small arena skirmishes — before unlocking the more outlandish bosses. It can feel like busywork, but given my aforementioned love for the combat system, the juice was always worth the squeeze. Plus, if I felt winded, I could just drive around and take in the sights.

There's sidequests like finding scorpions, unclogging toilets to unlock icons on the map (like radio towers), planting trees, fighting bosses again through a time machine, doing odd jobs (there aren't many games that kick off a mission with the phrase "stop the alligator invasion" before outfitting you with a tank turret), and a lot more. Really, a lot of the charm of No More Heroes 3 is when you stop and smell the roses. I ended up finding out about a pretty challenging seek-and-find endgame quest way after the credits rolled and chuckled at some of the spam "email messages" that Travis gets, like "Notflix suggestions" for movies to watch.

One major random cutscene bit involves Travis gushing over his favorite Takashi Miike films between bosses. There's even a text adventure side story playing out that you can miss out on, on top of a New Game+ mode, a "Carolina Reaper" difficulty, and a retro minigame. I'm extremely confident that I haven't discovered everything No More Heroes 3 has to offer, and that's really refreshing.

Even in this resplendent era of weird, as indie developers self-publish their outlandish concepts with pride, outside of Swery, no one does strange like Suda 51. Although this is likely the safest No More Heroes game to date, it's still incredibly memorable and fun to play, whether you're rushing to the end or taking in Santa Destroy and beyond. Go into No More Heroes 3 with an open mind and enjoy the ride.

The post Review: No More Heroes 3 appeared first on Destructoid.

From zero to no more hero

"If you identify with this loser, you have problems."

That's what Game Informer said about Travis Touchdown, the star of the No More Heroes series, in a list of "Top Ten Dorks of 2008." Not the highest of praise, but in a way, they had a point. As it turns out, a lot of people who love games also happen to suffer from social anxiety, identity confusion, a history of trauma, and other problems. Like anyone, they want to see themselves represented in the media they enjoy, and when it comes to mass-market gaming, it can be tough to find honest representation. That's still true now, and it was even more true 13 years ago.

In an industry striving for AAA, 10/10 perfection, Travis busted in screaming "I'm a big, broken idiot!", and we loved him for it. Seeing him ridiculed by the establishment could be frustrating, but in the end, it only added to his time-tested, underdog charm. With three sequels, a Mii costume in Smash Bros., and even a jazz album (!) under his belt, Travis has proven that losers like him can win. Not bad for an old dork from 2008.

With its third, and maybe final numbered game on the horizon, No More Heroes curiosity is at an all-time high, and what better way to both satisfy that curiosity and, er, "stoke" it than with a video game blog! If you've always wanted to know more about the franchise, or if you're just looking to refresh your memory on Travis' history, here's a spoiler-free, sometimes cryptic, recap of the No More Heroes story so far.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDhGYN2-iQA[/embed]

No More Heroes

Travis kicks off his first story with a hyper-active monologue about how he bought a beam katana online and plans to use it to become a great assassin. From the start, the game rides the line between parody and tribute. Is it making fun of "cool nerds and the games they love," or is it glorifying them? Can it do both at the same time? The tension in that question buzzes below the surface for the entirety of No More Heroes' run-time.

Travis is a powerful warrior who takes on hordes of blood-thirsty rivals all at once. He's the textbook definition of a "cool, badass action hero." The way he's forced to do the "jerk off" motion with his sword in front of everyone in order to recharge it, leaving him vulnerable to both physical and emotional attacks at the same time? That's less "badass" and more "jackass," and that split down the middle between stud and dud doesn't end there. He gets two kinds of phone calls every day: invitations to an underground society of assassins, and voicemails from the local video store listing all the pornos he owes late fees on. He splits his time between menial work and murdering murderers.

For a lot of us, Travis is how we look in a funhouse mirror — ridiculously exaggerated, volatile, but still a reflection of reality. He's a guy we can both laugh at and laugh with, look down on him with one eye, look up to with the other.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_4-2q4AR1c[/embed]

Isolation is the unifying factor in Travis' fractured life. He has a cat, who he silently pets, and a minor acquaintance named Bishop, but other than that, he's going it alone. Over the course of the game, we come to find that there are reasons for that. Travis didn't enter the world of competitive killing just for shits and giggles. As his battles against the bosses become increasingly strange, it becomes clearer that No More Heroes isn't just another dumb action-comedy. It's about Travis' love/hate relationship with violence, and with himself. He's trapped by it, struggling to find the exit, and in the end, it seems never-ending. There's joy and pain in that, and more than anything, there's truth.

For many, No More Heroes was their gateway into this deeper world of symbolism-heavy "auteur gaming." It sold itself with novelty and brutality, but that was just to get you in the door. Once it gets its hooks in you, it takes you to places you may not have otherwise chosen to go. A cutscene near the end of the game tells a story so shocking, disturbing, and sad that parts of it actually play in fast motion so you don't have to hear it. That's how suppressing trauma works. You gloss over it, try to speed through your recollection of it so you don't have to fully re-experience it. But of course, players were curious and slowed down this part of the "tape" to hear what really happened.

After they did, they could never look at Travis the same way again. His story, and the story of his family, was a true tragedy. All this time, he'd been fighting to try to make peace with his shared familial trauma, to somehow make it right.

But you can't go back in time and kill the past. All you can do is move forward. That's something Travis finally starts to do in his next game.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7_qr-_V1NU[/embed]

No More Heroes 1.5

But before we get to the next chapter in Travis' life, let's talk a little about this largely unknown side story. The Japanese special edition of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle included a short animatic film called No More Heroes 1.5. It's unessential but interesting; a bit of optional fun that sets the stage for the next major chapter in Travis' life.

For the most part, he's still the same guy, alone in a dead-end town. The main difference is, he's become a famous assassin, and lower-level killers are gunning for his title. It's a bit of symbolism that some may say is a smidge too on the nose: he even battles a guy who looks exactly like him. His first game had become a cult hit, and it got there by being like nothing else gaming had ever seen. With this sequel, No More Heroes would have to continue to compete against all the other games on the market, and also start fighting with itself. Comparisons between the new game and the old were inevitable.

Travis' appeal hinged on his punk rock persona, his willingness to do what no other gaming mascot would. How could he preserve that unpredictable edge while also giving his fans the same fun they'd come to expect from him?

A hero is largely defined by their villains, and to move his story forward, Travis would need a new foe to juxtapose against. No More Heroes 1.5 offers some foreshadowing on this new threat — a pizza mogul who's looking to transform Travis' town into a sterile, corporate wasteland. If Travis is Johnny Knoxville, a homegrown, do-it-yourself anti-celebrity, then his opposite would be a privileged, brand-obsessed brat, living his life in an ivory tower. Travis' next full story would focus on the climb to topple this monster, and how the heights he'd reach to get there would give him plenty of room for a fall.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIVQ2Wunz3k[/embed]

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

The No More Heroes games can be pretty blunt, so it feels right to just come out and say that No More Heroes 2 failed as a product. I love the game, even more than the first — but the game just didn't bring in the new fans that most game sequels are designed to attract. In fact, it may have actually lost some people.

Suda51 wrote and directed the first game, but by the second, he was juggling multiple projects. He wasn't as involved with this one, and you can sense it. Everything here feels a little more self-conscious and catering. For fans who loved how the first game seemed too drunk to be tactful, too unhinged to be anything but fully authentic, No More Heroes 2 seemed like a step towards conventionality by comparison.

Some critics picked on the first game for its large, and largely empty, open-world. The second one cut that entirely. The sometimes tedious menial jobs were also ditched, except for the scorpion one, because Suda seems to love the idea of Travis catching scorpions. All the others were replaced with breezy and delightful retro-style mini-games.

The story was also less toothy. Nothing in No More Heroes 2 is so disturbing that it needs to be fast-forwarded over in order to keep it from getting an AO rating. Overall, it feels more like a crowd-pleaser; like a sophomore album by a hardcore band that's going ever-so-slightly pop.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqfL0Ret1o8[/embed]

But pop can also be deep. The story of No More Heroes 2 is no less substantive than the first. It's just told in a less overtly weird way. Things start with Travis being given a reason to seek revenge, and it's flimsy as hell. At first blush, it may seem like just another ham-fisted MacGuffin, but it's really a way to reframe Travis' real defining trait: his loneliness. If your best friend is someone who you barely know or care about, you must not have many friends at all. That's Travis at the start of No More Heroes 2 — a more genuinely confident killer, but still a clown who doesn't know how to connect.

Unlike the first game, which was mostly about unpeeling the layers of Travis' psyche, the second No More Heroes is about how he changes. Through the game, he becomes a different person. His hot pursuit for revenge begins to burn a hole in him. It hurts, and not much makes it feel better. The body count piles up, and he begins to hate it, and himself. This pain motivates him to try something new: giving a shit about other people, and letting them into his life.

In the first game, the only person to ever enter Travis' motel room is Travis. By the end of the second major chapter in his franchise, not one, not two, but three other people are invited in. Two of them are even playable characters! Travis, and the player, are learning to empathize, to see others outside themselves as just as real as them.

This increased capacity for intimacy comes to a head (literally) in the final fight. Though Travis seems a little too dumb to see it, the man who he came to hate so much is a lot like him. He's alone, motivated by the urge to make others suffer as he has suffered, and he desires to amass power for power's sake. But where do you have to go when you reach the top, when you finally cut off the head of a giant? The only place to go is down. Luckily for Travis, there's someone there to catch him. The bonds he formed with friends and family turn out to be stronger than he thought. Strong enough to save him.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch_2MBzfmXY[/embed]

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes

There was a nine-year span between No More Heroes 2 and this spin-off, and that decade is reflected in the narrative. Travis has aged in real-time, and when we catch up with him, he looks more isolated than ever. How did he lose everything he gained in his last story? How did he end up in a trailer in the woods, alone with his cat, fending off attacks from drunken middle-aged baseball players?

At first, it seems like video games are to blame, but like most things with Travis, there's a lot more to it than that.

Travis Strikes Again is actually split into three different stories: the one told through cutscenes and gameplay, the one told through text-based faxes that Travis receives through his home-office fax machine, and the one told in a supplemental visual novel called Travis Strikes Back. All of these stories feel autobiographical. Suda51 was back in the director's chair for this one, with at least nine years of pent-up ideas ready to go, and only a small "indie-style" side story with which to tell them.

At times it can all seem like too much, trying to follow the seemingly disconnected narrative threads, but they're all connected. Travis Strikes Again is about Travis moving to the next big conflict in his life: the psycho-social stage of emotional development called Generativity vs. Stagnation. He may look to be alone at first, but before long, he's fighting alongside one of the victims of his past crimes, trying to make it right. His pet is no longer just a silent companion, there to help him pass the time. They're now a partnership, and one of many. Travis also doesn't kill anymore, at least, not in the way he used to. Most of the enemies in the games are computer bugs, flaws in the system that Travis is working to fix. The bosses, like in past No More Heroes games, are an opportunity for Travis to reflect on himself, for better and for worse. Like Doppelganger, the last boss of the second level, is he nothing but a psychopathic killer who sees people as ants to be squashed? Or, like Eight-Hearts, a refugee of the damned, is he a gameplay tool that has evolved into a man; a full human being who is willing to die so something larger than himself can live?

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Es76As7cA[/embed]

Or would he rather just play video games and smoke drugs all day on another planet?

There are some yes or no answers to these questions, but it's never that cut and dried. The fact that Travis is even asking them shows that he exists in the shades of grey between them. He wants to be a good person, but only because he knows that parts of him are genuinely bad. He loves video games, but he also knows that in a way, they can be life killers. In the end, it's revealed that his real motivation is to take care of his family, even if that means never seeing them again. Is he making the right choices? It's never clear. But that's how he knows he's alive, that he's really challenging himself. That's what grownup Travis is all about. He's still media-obsessed, but he's not anti-social anymore, despite his new life of self-imposed isolation.

This kind of self-contradiction, and the tension it creates, is classic Suda. Some were disappointed that Travis Strikes Again wasn't a return to the classic No More Heroes gameplay, but diehard Suda fans saw it as a return to form for Grasshopper Manufacture, who had been growing more conventional over the years. This new, weird little game was Suda and Travis doing the things that only they would do, reflecting where Suda is as an artist at this point in his career, and inviting you to either come along or not.

Like every game in the series, it feels like it was made with no expectations of there ever being more. But there will be more very soon, and it's hard not to talk about.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4jyB9jNamo[/embed]

Looking ahead to No More Heroes 3

As of this writing, I've played through No More Heroes 3 in a pre-release build, and then spent another eight hours just wandering around its open world, relaxing and looking for Easter eggs. I can't say a lot due to the embargo, though I will tell you that Travis has struck again.... again. Will the game be Suda's biggest hit yet? Will it be in the right place at the right time, just like it was in its 2008 debut? If not, it won't be for a lack of consistency. They could have called it Super No More Heroes, or maybe... No More Super Heroes? Like the classic "Super" games of the SNES era, like Super Metroid and Super Castlevania IV, it can be fully enjoyed without knowing the whole backstory, and without analyzing every story beat and word choice for some deeper meaning.

But if you like digging deeper, knowing who Travis is — and was — will make all the difference. I really, really can't wait to see how the No More Heroes fan community reacts to this one. I think they just might lose it.

The post Catching up with Touchdown: A No More Heroes series recap 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.

Travis touches down on Steam in just a couple of days

Polish up the beam katana and dig out your fanciest shades, because asshole hero Travis Touchdown is getting set to crack some skulls once again. Suda51's 2007 classic No More Heroes,  and its 2010 sequel No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, will be hitting Steam on June 9, finally bringing their dynamic action to the PC platform. Better late than never.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpeCc-PIrZo

While the No More Heroes franchise doesn't really require introduction, a brief refresher course reveals a tale of a laconic, out-of-luck hero and his half-hearted efforts to become the figurehead of an organization known as the United Assassin's Association. Guided by femme-fatale Sylvia Christel, and armed with a powerful light sword and a lifetime of pro-wrestling knowledge, Travis cruises the hyper-kinetic world of Santa Destroy taking on the world's greatest killers. Does he really need to be the greatest assassin of all-time? Perhaps not, but what else are you gonna do with your Saturday?

The Steam ports of No More Heroes & No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle will support HD resolutions and will display the super-chaotic action at a silky-smooth 60 FPS. Published by XSeed Games, each title will retail on Steam for $19.99, which admittedly seems a tad pricey for two decades-old releases. Easing the blow somewhat, a 10% discount is available for anybody picking up either game within launch week. Besides, they're pretty dang radical games. A brand new sequel, No More Heroes 3, remains in development for Nintendo Switch, and is expected to release in August 2021.

The post No More Heroes & No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle will hit Steam this week 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.

Suda needs a new pair of shoes!

Limited Run Games has another test for us – a test to see who can stay on-budget this month.

If you skipped the digital Nintendo Switch versions of No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2 back in October 2020, or it's been long enough that you'd be okay with spending more on this series, Limited Run would like a word this month. Pre-orders are opening on March 12 at 10:00 am Eastern for physical Switch copies of both games, and there are fancy collector's editions, too. Pre-orders close on April 11.

The basic no-frills physical Switch copies of No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle are $35 each – you'll have to buy them separately – and they come with a booklet inside.

The real reason we're here, though, is the collector's editions. These are $70 each (or $140 together with a Santa Destroy flag), which is a lot, but they look fantastic. And they line up just so on a shelf.

I kinda just want those big boxes for that spine art, if I'm being honest.

The CE pack-ins for No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2 include an 18x24 poster, Steelbook, behind-the-scenes interview art book, the standard physical copy of the game, and the soundtrack.

Reminder for those who need it: the digital editions on the eShop are $20 a pop at full price.

The post Limited Run Games is going all out for No More Heroes 1 and 2 on Nintendo Switch appeared first on Destructoid.

The complete mystery

A few years ago, The Silver Case and its sequel, The 25th Ward: The Silver Case, were given the HD remaster treatment on PC and PS4. For Western fans of Suda51, it gave us a look at some of his earlier work, the games he made before he had really established himself outside of Japan with titles like killer7 and No More Heroes. With the Switch as popular as it is, it was only a matter of time before both titles jumped over to Nintendo hardware.

Last month, both games hit the Switch in Japan as a compilation called The Silver Case 2425. If you've been wondering when those of us out west will be able to get our hands on it, it turns out the wait won't be too long. NIS America confirmed during today's New Game+ Expo stream that it is localizing the game this summer.

The Silver Case 2425 will release in North America on July 6, 2021 and on July 9, 2021 in Europe.

The post Suda51’s The Silver Case 2425 heads west on Switch this summer 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.

Keyboard Warriors

The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) has listed ratings for PC editions of Suda51's 2007 hyper-kinetic action-adventure No More Heroes and its 2010 sequel No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle.

Both titles - previously available for Nintendo Wii and more recently the Nintendo Switch - received an "M for Mature" rating, due to the series' notorious lust for sex and violence. While there has been no official word from current rights holders Marvelous, the new ESRB listings all but confirm that the early adventures of Travis Touchdown will be hitting a PC store near you in the near future.

No More Heroes III is expected to launch on Nintendo Switch sometime in 2021.

ESRB rates No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle for PC [Gematsu]

The post No More Heroes & No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle PC ports rated by ESRB appeared first on Destructoid.

Return to the Garden of Madness

Despite some earlier attempts at the hobby, I've come to accept that I am not a game collector. I don't have it in me to buy a game with the intention of keeping it forever. I'd rather play it and trade it than keep it on a shelf. However, a few games have warranted return visits over the years, such as my annual trek through Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, for instance, or the occasional dip into the post-game of Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies. Thus, I keep a small binder on my shelve to house those old games.

No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle have their own page in that old game binder. Every few years, I find myself gravitating back toward them, usually when I need to let out a lot of anger by cutting some fools in half. But I think now is the time for me to give those old games up for good. Not because I'm over them, but because the Switch ports for both games are so much better than the originals.

Review: No More Heroes, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Switch)
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacturer, Engine Software
Publisher: Xseed Games
Released: October 29, 2020
MSRP: $19.99 each

No More Heroes is really goddamn fun.

That's how Anthony Burch started his review of the original game more than a decade ago, and I honestly can't think of a better combination of words to start a review of this Switch port. It is goddamn fun, even after all these years. Its sequel, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, is still so goddamn fun too. Most everything that was good and great back on the Wii is still good and great on Switch.

I say "most everything" because a lot has happened in the world since Suda51 first introduced us to Travis Touchdown. As a crass, otaku shut-in who spends his days watching porn and wrestling videos -- and his nights staining his anime body pillow -- he's never really been a class act. Jumping back into No More Heroes, I forgot just how poorly he treats the women of the game, either eyeing them purely as sexual fantasies, calling them bitches, or acting all chivalrous when tasked with killing them, even if an honorable death is what some of them want. 

But that's just the beginning of this hero's journey, and his personal growth through the countless killings over two games results in a well-rounded character. He becomes a man who recognizes his role in the world and the wrongs of his line of work while still occasionally perving out on Sylvia. Though she's able to dish out just as much as he can give. In its own weird way, No More Heroes and its sequel are not just stories of determination and revenge, but an epic tale of love between two seriously damaged people.

This world is full of damaged goods, and not just the ones you eviscerate with your beam katana. One of the key draws of this series is its collection of killers. Both games task Travis with climbing his way up the ranks with the United Assassin Association, first from the eleventh-ranked spot, then from the fifty-first spot in the sequel. The members of the UAA you're tasked with disposing of are an eclectic bunch of psychopaths. Desperate Struggle has a fun gallery of baddies like Margaret Moonlight and Matt Helms, though I think, on the whole, the assassins from the first game are the superior bunch. It's tough to top someone like Destroyman or Bad Girl or having to fight upside down against a wily magician. While the assassins from the first game edge out those from its successor, Desperate Struggle excels with its level design, which was one of the weakest points of the original.

That's probably because everything in the first game had to be tied to the big, empty, open-world map of Santa Destroy. I didn't care for open-world back when this originally released, and time hasn't exactly made its inclusion seem necessary. You still fight one too many bouts at the same damn parking garage and other equally uninspired locations like a subway train, bus, or just a long, straight corridor. Any chance at a properly paced game goes right out the window when you find yourself driving from one side of the map to the other to complete the menial jobs you have to do to buy your way into the next match of the UAA rankings. It quickly feels like unnecessary padding, and while both games are relatively short, Desperate Struggle makes far better use of its brief run time.

But even if I didn't like driving around the city, I will admit the streets of Santa Destroy have never looked so good. The art direction absolutely holds up. Grasshopper and Engine Software have done a fantastic job converting these games to high definition with pretty solid framerates. Unfortunately, those improvements don't seem to apply to anything not in the in-game engine, so pre-rendered cutscenes look fuzzy and unfocused compared to the rest of the visuals. It's particularly noticeable and jarring in Desperate Struggle. The fight against Charlie Macdonald and his cheer squad is not a pretty sight.

That's easy enough to get past when the rest of the game is so damn fun to play. Both titles present players with two control options: you can play using the same motion controls found in the first title or go with a standard control option like the one that was introduced in the sequel. I'm a bit of a purest, so any time I was playing in docked mode, I broke out the wrist straps for my Joy-Con controllers. The motion controls benefit from improved technology here, and I still get a kick out of flinging my arm left to slice some fool in half. I have noticed instances where the controls would be slightly unresponsive, such as when I'm asked to press Y to execute a guy on the ground, but these moments are fleeting.

What's not fleeting is the immense joy I have going through both these titles again. Sure, I think Desperate Struggle is the more well-put-together of the two, but they both have quirks, charms, and moments of frustration that are uniquely their own. I don't care for having to raise money just to progress through the story like you need to do in the first game, but I still get a kick out of seeing Travis mow a lawn or catch fire when I overfill a gas tank. The giant mech battle of the sequel is a massively wasted opportunity, but by unshackling the narrative from an open-world design, the developers were able to flesh out Santa Destroy and its inhabitants.

I've been playing No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle for more than a decade now as they never cease to amaze me with their untethered style, violent action, and satisfying combat. With these HD ports on Switch, you can be damn sure I'll be playing them for the next decade as well.

No More Heroes: 8.0/10

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle: 8.5/10

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: No More Heroes & No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle 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

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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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Cblogs Recap: Week 24

-Lord Spencer reviews Disruptor as part of his PS1 REVIEWS blogging series.

-Lord Spencer reviews Gex: Enter the Gecko as part of his PS1 REVIEWS blogging series.

-Black Red Gaming sheds a light on the release of Gunfire Reborn and the development of the System Shock remake.

-Blanchimont reviews Phantasy Star Online 2 on the PC.

-Rabite ranks a selection of portable systems.

-Kerrik52 reviews Tales of Xillia as part of his Traveler in Playtime blogging series.

-Sam van der Meer talks about Killer7 in its 15th anniversary.

-Boxman214 predicts what would have been revealed in this year's E3.

-Nior continues his retrospective on the Command & Conquer series by focusing on the unfortunate death of the franchise. Is this the end for the famous RTS series?

-Black Red Gaming predicts what would have been the big reveal in this year's E3.

-TheLimoMaker is early in listing his best games of 2019.

-Shouryuuken shares some news on the possible sale of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

-Deatheagle wonders if Earthbound had an accidental secret hard mode.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between some tracks in Chrono Trigger and many other pop culture tunes.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between some famous tracks in Super Smash Bros. and other music in pop culture.

Thanks to Lord Spencer for the Cblog Recap and to our community for another week of great content! If you'd like to see your gaming thoughts recapped on our front page, then head on over to the Community Blogs and tell us a tale.

The post Cblogs of 6/6 to 6/12/2020: Killer7 anniversary, PSO 2, and portable gaming appeared first on Destructoid.

If he can figure out the rights

In case you missed it, famed developer Goichi Suda ("Suda51" ) has been a staple at the annual MomoCon festival in Atlanta, Georgia; which was canceled this year due to issues relating to the current global pandemic. But that didn't stop him from holding an online event, where he discussed a very interesting topic: the future of his games on various platforms.

Fans poked and prodded about whether or not his stuff could end up on Switch, and the answer is a bit complicated. "Killer7 is up to Capcom," he says, having no control over whether or not that classic arrives on Nintendo's platform (where it would feel right at home given that it came out on GameCube, too). Killer is Dead is another game he mentions by name as something he wants to see on modern platforms, but Kadokawa Games has "split rights," so it isn't a given.

Suda says that Silver Case is probably the most likely candidate for a Switch port, and there have "even been discussions about it." He closes the topic by saying that he's trying to make it happen, while hinting at a possible Flower, Sun, and Rain remake. Yeah, I'd be okay with any of these.

Game preservation is important, especially when it's a creator that takes as many risks as Suda.

MomoCon [Twitch via Nintendo Everything]

The post Suda51 wants to see a lot more of his games come to Switch appeared first on Destructoid.

Suda returns to his old stomping ground

Fighting Road: Champion Road Beyond - the story mode expansion penned by the legendary Suda 51 - is now available to purchase for Spike Chunsoft's great ring-rocking sim Fire Pro Wrestling World.

Champion Road Beyond is a direct sequel to the story mode of 1994's Super Fire Pro Wrestling Special, in which a young Goichi Suda penned the tale of fictional wrestler Morio Sumisu, a tale notorious for its ultra-grim tone and tragic climax. The waves made in the Japanese game industry by this shocking release helped get Suda's name on the map as a daring developer, and the rest is history.

The new FPW DLC will see players take on the role of Morio Sumisu's son, who is just starting out in the business and hopes to find his own path of glory. But with the legacy of his father haunting his every move, will the younger Sumisu succeed in his quest for fame and super-stardom? Or is he destined to fall to similar misadventure?

Also included as part of the DLC download is a brand new interview with Suda 51 himself, in which the No More Heroes and Killer7 director talks about his history with the Fire Pro Wrestling series.

Fighting Road: Champion Road Beyond is available to purchase now for Fire Pro Wrestling World on both PS4 and PC.

Fire Pro Wrestling World DLC launch trailer [Gematsu]

The post Suda 51’s Fire Pro Wrestling World DLC is out now, and is hopefully non-traumatising appeared first on Destructoid.

You can check out any time you like...

Cheeky scamp Suda51, well known for his stylistic and esoteric video games, rang in the new year with a little tease for his somewhat improv-conceived horror title Hotel Barcelona.

Literally brainstormed during a livestream with IGN and fellow auteur Swery65, the developer duo put together a rough idea for a new horror title, one that is now, apparently, on the books and in development. According to Suda's New Year tweet, it will launch in 2021, with Devolver Digital reportedly set to publish.

Given the shaky, out-of-the-blue design and collaboration, it's still quite possible that nothing is fully set in stone for the mysterious new title. But no-one should be surprised if Hotel Barcelona has gone from an idle conversation to a fully-fledged, in-development title. After all, it fits Suda's off-the-wall "brand".

Hotel Barcelona is in development for a 2021 launch. I mean, I guess...

Suda51 takes to Twitter to tease Hotel Barcelona release date [DualShockers]

â”â”â”┓â”â”â”┓â”â”â”┓┠┓
â”—â”┓┃┃â”┓┃┗â”┓┃┃ ┃
â”â”┛┃┃┃┃┃â”â”┛┃┃ ┃
Hotel Barcelona
┃â”â”┛┃┃┃┃┃â”â”┛┃ ┃
┃┗â”┓┃┗┛┃┃┗â”┓┃ ┃
â”—â”â”┛┗â”â”┛┗â”â”┛┗ â”› https://t.co/Jm8gADpuIE

— SUDA51/須田剛一 (@suda_51) December 31, 2019

The post Suda51 teases 2021 release window for Hotel Barcelona appeared first on Destructoid.

Another year of five-star classics

Spike Chunsoft has laid out its new year plans for deep wrasslin' simulator Fire Pro Wrestling World, offering up details and dates for what could prove the game's final run of DLC. This includes the previously-announced Suda51 story campaign, along with new wrestlers, rings and customisation options.

January will see the release of a second DLC pack to benefit the physical rehabilitation of legendary Japanese wrestler Yoshihiro Takayama. Takayama, whose 25-year career included stints in AJPW, NJPW, Noah, DDT, and ZERO-1, suffered a devastating spine injury in 2017. Proceeds from this DLC set will go toward funding support and healthcare for Takayama and his family.

January will also see a new run of roster additions, although we'll have to wait a little longer for the identities of these new wrestlers to be revealed.

February will see the release of the long-awaited story scenario penned by Goichi "Suda51" Suda, who makes his return to Fire Pro some 25 years after the franchise gave the legendary developer his big break. The new chapter "The Vanishing" is expected to be a sequel of sorts to Suda's notoriously grim Super Fire Pro Wrestling Special story mode, which stunned players back in 1994 with its downbeat tone and tragic climax.

Spring will bring new crafting tools to allow for the creation of not only custom body parts and gear, but also allow for the creation of moves and animations. This update will also raise the cap limit of custom wrestler slots.

Spike Chunsoft notes that these "Build -it-Yourself" additions will mark "the end of an era" for Fire Pro, which seemingly suggests no further content will be coming to FPW after spring 2020. The developer does intend to continue working on game balances and bug fixes. Fire Pro has always been a community-driven franchise, and with the ability to build custom parts and moves, the sky's the limit.

Fire Pro Wrestling World is available now on PS4 and PC.

Fire Pro Wrestling World 2020 DLC and updates announced [Gematsu]

The post Fire Pro Wrestling reveals schedule for Suda51 DLC and more 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]

The post No More Heroes III is ’30-40 percent complete’ says Suda 51 appeared first on Destructoid.

How will they top this Howell?

There are basically two kinds of No More Heroes fans. There's the group who loves it all, and then the people who totally worship the first game, then just sort of tolerates everything else. Personally, I'm in the first camp. The original was a trendsetter that is yet to be replaced, but it feels cold and detached at times, making replays a bit icy. The sequel is a much hotter ride, emotionally and otherwise. Travis actually cares about a few other people by the end of No More Heroes 2, which was a first for him at the time. 

One of those people is Kimmy Howell, a British high schooler who dreams of loving Travis, and also of beheading him with her double-ended lightsaber. In some ways, she could be considered a prequel to Juliet Starling of Lollipop Chainsaw, Suda51's best-selling game, except instead of killing zombies, she tries to kill you. The formula of budding innocence with bad-girl bloodlust is often a crowd-pleaser, and at this point, no one knows that better than Grasshopper Manufacture. 

Platinum Games is no stranger to violent cheesecake either. Bayonetta, their unofficial mascot, follows similar trends as Kimmy and Juliet, though her murderous intent is more pointed at angels and demons than regular folks. That otherworldly feel comes across in this new look for Kimmy Howell from Bayonetta character designer Mari Shimazaki. From the looks of it, the seven years time jump since No More Heroes 2 has been kind to the would-be assassin. She's all grown up now, her glasses replaced with contacts, her frumpy school uniform swapped for a glamorous mirror-ball get up, and her legs long enough to make up 75% of her total body length. That's either inspiring or off-putting, depending on who you ask. 

This art was revealed in the same IGN Japan live stream where Suda and Swery (director of Deadly Premonition and The Missing) announced that they are working on a new game called Hotel Barcelona, and by "working" I of course mean "drunk dialing various friends and asking them if they will make the game with them." They make the game design look so fun, don't they?

Suda also revealed not one, not two, but three new designs for Destroyman, a boss from No More Heroes 1 and 2. I've always thought he was a metaphor for some of the more two-faced, ugly sides of the United States, so seeing him grow an actual monster face out of his torso makes sense in a Suda sort of way. 

The voice actors for Kimmy Howell and Destroyman are expected to return for No More Heroes 3, which is reportedly about 50% complete and planned for release in 2020. We've got a lot to look forward to next year!

The post Bayonetta artist gives a lightsaber wielding schoolgirl a new look for No More Heroes 3 appeared first on Destructoid.

'Hotel Barcelona' is inspired by Twin Peaks and Siren

[Update: The duo shared their ideas on an IGN Japan livestream, and the concept seems wild. Devolver Digital will publish the title, which is aiming for a million-dollar budget with inspirations from Twin Peaks and Siren. Keiichiro Toyama of Silent Hill fame was asked via text message if he wanted to work on the game, and Suda got a "yes" response. Right now the working title is "Hotel Barcelona."]

No More Heroes designer Suda51 and Deadly Premonition mastermind Swery65 teaming up together in any form, even if it's the most minimal of collaborations – you love to see it. According to IGN Japan, the creators have plans for a "Travis Monday Nightro 2" stream at 7:00pm JST / 3:00am PT on October 23.

What's on the agenda? Details about a "secret project," according to the outlet.

That's precisely vague enough for me to be interested but not so invested that I'm staying up late. For those of you who live in a more cooperative time zone, you can expect to see an English summary.

Suda and Swery have expressed their desire to work together before, and it felt like their paths were bound to cross. Hopefully this mystery project only marks the start of an enduring partnership.

The post Suda51 and Swery are teaming up for a horror game appeared first on Destructoid.

Whatever happened to the heroes?

Marvelous! and XSeed Games has launched the complete edition of 2018's eccentric action sequel Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes digitally on PS4 and PC. This newest edition of the nihilistic adventure includes the original Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes release, alongside all previously released DLC.

The complete edition includes the "Black Dandelion" and "Bubblegum Fatale" packs - which add new playable characters Shinobu Jacobs and Bad Girl respectively - in addition to a selection of exclusive T-Shirts. It should be noted that the main campaign needs to be completed before you can let loose with the extra content.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition is available digitally on PS4 and PC via Steam.

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Switch spin-off hits PS4 October 17

Fans of Travis Touchdown, particularly his earlier exploits, might soon have reason to dust off the old beam katana, that is if No More Heroes creator Suda51 gets his way. The esoteric game designer has teased that he is currently in talks with publisher Marvelous to potentially re-release the original No More Heroes titles on modern platforms.

Speaking in an interview with Dengeki PlayStation, Suda51 (real name Goichi Suda) was discussing the upcoming release of Travis Strikes Again for PS4 when the interviewer asked him if there were any plans for Travis' Wii adventure to see the light of day again. "Yes," replied Suda51 quite succinctly. "We’re currently in talks with Marvelous to make that happen. It’s in positive consideration, so I hope we’ll be able to make a good announcement."

No More Heroes first arrived on Nintendo Wii in the west in 2008, where it won over an army of fans with its wild style, over-the-top combat, sexy characters and bizarre narrative. This popular release was followed up in 2010 by sequel No More Heroes II: Desperate Struggle. Currently, work is being undertaken on a second sequel, expected to hit the Nintendo Switch in 2020. Hopefully Suda51 and Marvelous can come together on this idea, and we can see those earlier titles get a new lease of life for a whole new generation of fans.

In the meantime, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is available now on Nintendo Switch and will launch on PS4 worldwide October 17.

Grasshopper in talks with Marvelous for No More Heroes re-release [Gematsu / Dengeki]

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