I'm attempting something new here for the month of September to break up the gaps in both my sanity and lack of content on here as of late as I brainstorm my direction on where to go next with this blog's future. So, I figured the best way would be to devote the entire month to writing about and working on stuff I enjoy. Simple enough right? Some of these posts will be long, others will be quick bite-sized snacks.
Note: I originally published this on Friday, thinking that was the first of the month, then took it took that afternoon after realizing my mistake and completely forgot to republish this on Saturday.
I don't know how many times I can slice it, no pun intended, but No More Heroes is always going to have a special place in my heart as a gamer as one of my all-time favorite franchises/series. All of the bases are covered for me - a protagonist that you can easily get behind in Travis Touchdown, a simple yet engaging plot to keep things moving, and over-the-top gameplay that's easy to pick up and get into.
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| HD upgrade from No More Heroes: Paradise on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. |
No More Heroes is an action-adventure hack and slash video game for the Wii. It was developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Marvelous Entertainment, Ubisoft, and Rising Star Games. The game was directed, designed, and written by Goichi Suda, also known by his nickname Suda51, with the game's title coming from the album title No More Heroes, which was released by the British punk band The Stranglers. The game follows Travis Touchdown, a fan of video games and anime that wins a beam katana in an auction, from which he inadvertently becomes involved in the United Assassins Association and forced to kill assassins higher in rank to prevent other assassins from targeting him.
A port of the game, titled No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise, was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 with additional content in Japan. Unlike the original, the international version of the game was published by Konami, and only the PlayStation 3 version of the game was localized in English. A sequel, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, was released in 2010. A second sequel, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, was announced as a Nintendo Switch title for release in 2018.
To date, No More Heroes was hands-down one of my favorite streams to do for you guys. A bit mature on the content at times, but it's a fun run for me too. One of the few games where I can get animated and don't feel like sob when I'm sitting in my room gaming.
The original No More Heroes on the Wii is easily the best of the series to date with an unforgettable cast of characters, excellent boss fights, and one of the few games that made the Wii's motion controls feel natural instead of being slapped on as an afterthought. You ever wanted to wield a lightsaber? Well, you get that here and then some with the motion controls and you don't even have to be a Star Wars fan to enjoy that aspect of the gameplay.
Why do I like the No More Heroes series so much though? It's a story of nerd/otaku (of every sense of those words) who does a lot of stupid stuff because he's trying to impress someone special in his life. We've all been there at one point of another whether it be for someone's affection or just trying to fit in/be accepted. I see a lot of myself in Travis Touchdown - save for the whole "assassin for hire" bit, but you get what I mean. He loves anime, comics, and even professional wrestling for crying out loud. I'd be pegged to believe that he's my Earth-57 counterpart in some parallel reality (laughs).
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle continues the story that the first game end on (kinda but not really), but I felt that game fell short with a lot of the new characters introduced were easily forgettable and while the returning characters, especially the villains, felt more like afterthoughts and filler in certain sections of the game. This is the only title where both Shinobu Jacobs and Henry are playable characters for a portion of the game, so there's at least that much to enjoy. Gameplay changes allows Travis to wield different types of beam katanas, including a longsword variation and twin blade version. Ultimately, most players are going to stick with Travis' tried and true beam katana anyway. Whereas the first game is a story just for Travis to become the #1 ranked assassin in the UAA, the second game is more a story about revenge as Travis is working to regain his #1 status and get payback on the guy who killed his friend at the video game store.
I can't trash No More Heroes 2 too much when the game starts off with a fight where you kill a Cloud Strife parody. I might get around to streaming that game in it's entirety down the road someday, but it's not high on my priorities list as I can't say I enjoyed playing that one as much as I did playing the original.
Last but not least, we have the upcoming No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again for the Nintendo Switch. This is being marketed as a co-op title with tons of mini-games, like the training and/or odd jobs in the previous titles. I honestly haven't seen much gameplay myself, but I hope this does well to warrant a full blown sequel. Suda51 (the series creator) already stated that this is NOT No More Heroes 3 and he reportedly wants to work on that after this title releases.
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