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.
This is a game that I have had a review done for a while now, but I don't know why I haven't published this article already. I suppose it's because this isn't the run of the mill type of game, so I had to approach this topic a tad differently.
First of all, let's look back at the awesome reveal teaser for this game from a few years back.
The Plot: (FULL Spoilers)
Killer Is Dead includes such technology as lunar tourism and cybernetic enhancements. The main character is an executioner named Mondo Zappa (voiced by Ryotaro Okiayu in the Japanese version and Patrick Seitz in the Western version) who receives jobs from the Bryan Execution Firm. This firm, run by a cyborg named Bryan Roses, tasks Mondo with killing dangerous criminals and assassins from around the world. Mondo wields a sword with his right hand but his cybernetic left arm can be converted into many different weapons, including guns, drills, and other objects.Although Mondo travels the world as part of the game, Suda calls it a "personal story" of "a man who doesn't show himself much in the public world but still worms his way into society and mercilessly eliminates the evil dispersed in it"."Love and execution" and "how far can you protect someone" are also central themes of the story.
The game begins following a deranged former executioner named Tokio who has kidnapped a girl and is being hunted by a katana-wielding man who looks like Mondo. Tokio calls him "the darkness" right before he is killed. It then flashes forward two years to the modern day where Mondo is accepted into Bryan's execution agency following his assassination of the former executioner in his place, who had also been taken over by a dark force and was deemed unfit for his job. This man, Damon, warns Mondo about the perils of the job and that he may also fall to the dark side.
Mondo then kills many strange, monstrous beings known as Wires, eventually killing a woman named Alice who was transformed into a grotesque crustacean-like monster following her trip to the Moon. She blames a strange man named David for causing her to become a monster. Subsequently, they are visited by a woman named Moon River, who asks them to assassinate David. Mondo agrees and travels to David's moon palace on the dark side of the moon, though he is unable to kill the ostentatious and eccentric David despite a pitched battle.
While a strange dark force from the moon starts turning people and even inanimate objects into monsters, Mondo learns that Moon River was once the ruler of the Moon, until she was overthrown by David and her race transformed into Wires by the Dark Matter. David has gained control of the moon's Dark Matter and is using it to take over the world, creating Wires as his minions. Meanwhile, Mondo exhibits intense pain from his artificial arm every time he kills a monster.
Eventually, Dolly, a psychic who serves David, attempts to enter the mind of Mondo's assistant Mika to kill him. Mondo uses a sleeping drug to fight her, but in the process dredges up all his memories. He realizes that David is his brother and he lost his arm due to David's attempt to kill him. David was also a former assassin working for Bryan, and after rescuing Mika, the kidnapped girl in the first mission, he brainwashed her and used her to spy on Mondo before going rogue. Bryan gave Mondo his artificial arm in order for him to fight David, though its capability to absorb Dark Matter means that Mondo is vulnerable to becoming corrupted like Tokio and Damon. He decides to head to the Moon yet again to settle the score and stop David's evil rampage.
Mondo fights David in his castle yet again, but during the battle both of them are changed by the Dark Matter into super-powered Wires, after which they fight as equals in their assassin's garb. In the end, Mondo is able to defeat David and stop him from harnessing the full power of Dark Matter. However, Mondo himself is then possessed by the darkness and rebuilds David's castle. Moon River requests that he be assassinated as well, much to the surprise of the Bryan Execution Firm. The game's ending is open-ended, but suggests that Mondo has become the ruler of the moon in David's place.
Mondo and David's names are likely based on David and Goliath. Mondo, in English slang, is another word for large.
The Verdict:
The game's narrative is without a shadow of a doubt a confusing mess of events that won't make sense even after the revelation near the end of the game - it's a tale that is still up to speculation and debate by fans.
My take? It's a Suda51 game. It's supposed to be weird, otherwise his games would be boring. You're an assassin for hire - simple as that. Don't dwell on the messier details and enjoy the gameplay.
I personally feel like this is the spiritual successor to No More Heroes in terms of gameplay. Any fan of No More Heroes will feel right back at home the second you see Mondo use Travis Touchdown's Shadow Step style evasion (Guard Burst) and katana skills to boot. The difference here in Killer is Dead compared to No More Heroes is that you have ranged attacks, along with multiple subweapons, to keep things interesting. Also, you can actually block and parry with precise timing. Guard breaks and Guard Bursts are satisfying to pull off each and every time that you execute them. Juggle combos are possible but the enemy AI will quickly try to interrupt you doing these combos as they will kill most normal foes in the game.
Keep in mind that you are NOT going to buy all of the upgrades and costumes on your first playthrough unless you do some hardcore and unnecessary grinding for in-game cash and points for upgrades. That's what New Game+ and post-game are for. You should have all of the cash that you need for items and upgrades as long as you play through the side-missions between main missions and keep Mondo's girlfriends happy.
Sidemissions spice things up from themes in main missions and often reward you well for the trouble. The Gigolo/Dating side-missions offer Mondo a break from work, but don't dismiss this mini-game. If you complete the mission and get the girl to take Mondo home with her, you will be rewarded with a new subweapon. Each one of the girls off a new subweapon, but continue to play these missions to acquire more in-game cash and upgrade points. Do these missions frequently to reap the rewards or the girls will annoy you for no end during main missions. The date is over when you either run out of gifts before the end of the date, run out time, or you get caught for oogling her too long to the point that your date slaps Mondo senseless. I personally thought it was a perverted mechanic for no real payoff other than eye candy, but I thought it was pretty cool that the game actually rewards you for guiding Mondo successfully through these dates.
Scarlett (look for her hidden throughout missions in numerous locations) is unique as she won't date Mondo until you complete a number of her special mission challenges to fill her heart guage up to maximum. She rewards you with her glasses that fills up the blood guage on Gigolo Missions faster during dates and it allows Mondo to see through his dates' clothing with X-Ray vision. Keep in mind that if you fail one of these missions while wearing those glasses, they will break.
Overall, the game isn't as bad as early reviews criticized it for at launch for being - combat doesn't really pick up until you purchase a few upgrades to improve Mondo's skills by roughly Episode 4 to 6.
Buy it, Rent it, or Don't Bother?
I suggest buying it for that mature gamer in your life, since this is definitely not a game I wouldn't let my kids play. Even the Collector's Edition with the extra mission and costume DLC, artbook, and official soundtrack goes for less than $10 brand new in most retailers. At launch, I can understand the skepticism paying for a game like this for $59.99 but now, when it's cheaper - not so much.
Suda51 fans will find a lot to enjoy here - especially fans of No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw (Juliet Starling has a cameo in the bonus DLC mission), and Shadows of the Damned, while most other gamers will find something to enjoy here too. Don't allow the dating sidemissions/mini-game deter you from giving this game a fair chance. The combat more than makes up for the little bit of time you have to sacrifice your dignity earning the bonus subweapons from those missions.
