Get a first look at some No More Heroes III gameplay before the game launches in 2021. And wait…for real? The first two No More Heroes games are AVAILABLE NOW on Nintendo Switch!
While I'm glad to see both original No More Heroes games are available for the Nintendo Switch for newcomers won't have to find a Wii to experience those games for the first time, I'm disgusted at the pricing for them. Well, $19.99 each for them is fine if you have never experienced these games before, but I thought they would be going for at least $10 each until I saw how much they are going for online from scalpers. Seriously, it's asinine to see both NMH titles going for over $100 now individually. Makes me glad I hung onto my copy of the original No More Heroes but mad that I never got my copy of NMH2 that I loaned to a friend back.
As for the gameplay shown for this so far, this is EXACTLY what I wanted to see. This game is still over-the-top, bloody awesome as I remember, but with a visual upgrade for the occasion on current generation hardware. I'm glad to see the change against intergalactic "superheroes" instead of the laundry list of assassins like the previous two games. Because c'mon... the UAA should be out of capable top tier assassins after Travis' past two outings.
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.
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.
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 NOTNo More Heroes 3 and he reportedly wants to work on that after this title releases.
Over the past year, I've gotten into the habit of trying to stream something at least once at week or have an ongoing series of a game that I'm currently plowing through at my leisure. For the first article of 2018, I wanted to share my top 5 favorite games to stream over the past year on my personal Twitch TV channel. For any of my other archived gaming streams, go visit my YouTube channel here.
#5 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
Why? I haven't played a Zelda title (at least none of the "newer" ones) for a VERY long time... at least not since Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64, then dabbling with the portable entries and A Link to the Past via emulation (still need to finish that last dungeon at some point). I loved Midna as a sidekick - much more entertaining than Navi was and I appreciated this much "darker" Zelda narrative. I was a little disappointed at the ending, but I enjoyed the game from start to finish. I did roughly everything outside of the Great Fairy Challenge in those 40-50 floors of enemies and get some of the "rare" items (hunting down all of the Poe Souls for one...), so I guess there's that to do if I ever wanted to revisit this game.
#4 - Borderlands (Xbox 360 - Xbox Live Co-Op) - Defeating Crawmerax
Right after the New Year rolled in at the start of 2017, I pulled off this feat.
It's just a clip but damn we were fucking proud of this moment. I finished him off while bleeding out and we got the kill there.
I haven't been able to get much Borderlands gameplay recorded as I like playing that mostly with my best friend, but I don't like to bug him while he's enjoying the married life when he's not busy preoccupied with his scholarly studies. (Shrugs) I dunno, maybe we can get that run of True Vault Hunter Mode run of Borderlands 2 finished at some point. If not, I plan on getting back to my solo Siren run eventually too.
#3 - Asura's Wrath (Xbox 360)
I mainly streamed this game to expose my readers and viewers to this collaboration between Capcom and CyberConnect2 (who normally handles Bandai Namco's anime-based titles, such as the Naruto games as the influences are bloody obvious here...) that created a game that literally is like watching and playing an anime series play out from start to finish. There's a few sections that I hate in this game with a passion from the redundancy, but it's narrative and presentation is one worth experiencing.
It's one thing that frustrates me with Capcom currently. They put so much stock into Street Fighter and their fighting game properties that they fail to realize that they have single player properties that are pretty much easy money on the table if they would give those series just enough love and care that they do to their beloved Street Fighter. This game, along with Remember Me, I felt were criminally slept on and skipped over by gamers at the time of their release. They aren't perfect games, but they bring ideas to the table that sequels could polish and truly be great.
#2 - No More Heroes (Wii)
I'm shocked at myself that there's not one but TWO Wii games on this list. What can I say? No More Heroes is the game that introduced me to the awesomeness that is Suda51's brilliant (yet crazy and bizarre mind for gaming narratives). I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this game and exposing people to it that never seen this game before. Even though I didn't much care for the sequel, I think I might stream that at some point too down the road. It's either that or a New Game+ run of this on Hard difficulty.
I will note that Suda51 gear his games towards mostly a more "mature" audience, so I'll put that precaution out there before anyone tries to dwell too deep into his games. He doesn't pull any punches in that regard and was a rather pleasant shock to say that this was a Nintendo Wii exclusive for a VERY long time until the HD remaster No More Heroes: Paradise popped up on the PlayStation 3 (and import Xbox 360).
#1 - Horizon Zero Dawn (PlayStation 4)
Well duh... You KNEW this was going to be the number one pick. With 100+ hours of gameplay in-game, I hate to calculate up how much real life time that I've sinked into that game over the past year. That being said, I don't regret a moment of it. That was my personal Game of the Year pick since launch and it just seems to get better the more time I sink into it, especially with the recent Frozen Wilds downloadable content add-on. The only things I haven't done in this game was find all of the collectibles, the hunting club activities, and I'm possibly missing a few of the fetch sidequests that I somehow overlooked on the map. Most of that is all grind work and I doubt I would stream it unless I get really bored one day.
After the playing the DLC, I am interested in doing an Ultra-Hard New Game+ run at some point though. That's definitely in the pipeline.
