No More Heroes: the story of the crazy series created by Suda51

No More Heroes

No More Heroes is preparing to return with a new chapter exclusively (temporal?) For the Nintendo Switch, and although the narrative assumptions of the franchise undoubtedly boast the constant of being completely crazy, the work created by Goichi Suda has a story to tell.

A story made up of unlikely characters, starting with the protagonist, and of events that often seem thrown there for the sole purpose of creating the conditions to give life to some spectacular action. In an intertwining of influences and contaminations ranging from pop culture to the world of wrestling, we retrace the events that led us so far. Here, so far, is the story of No More Heroes.

No More Heroes, the origins

No More Heroes, Travis Touchdown and his inseparable sword Set in the same universe as Killer 7, l '2005 action in which we played the role of an assassin with seven different personalities, the original No More Heroes made its debut on Wii at the end of 2007, immediately placing itself as an experience designed to make the most of the motion-sensing controls of the Nintendo console.

The game's protagonist, by the unlikely name of Travis Touchdown, is an anime and wrestling killer who makes ends meet by eliminating targets on their heads with a bounty. His weapon is the Blood Berry, an energy sword that must be reloaded from time to time with a widely equivocal movement, but which makes him capable of virtually defeating any opponent.

No More Heroes, the bizarre sword charging system So Travis leaves his hotel room in the No More Heroes hotel, gets on his motorbike and freely explores the streets of Santa Destroy (this the name of the city that is the background of the game) in search of possible contracts. His fixation soon becomes that of climbing the ranking of the ten best assassins in the world, but to do so of course he will have to kill the other nine ...

Even with its technical simplicity (Wii did not allow who knows what sophistication, after all) and spoiled by a rather repetitive structure in its open world component, No More Heroes gives absolutely the best when the fights enter the scene, thanks to a gameplay that manages to exploit the peculiarities of the controls well and gives us a repertoire of spectacular moves, emphasized by a good impact performance.

No More Heroes 2 and its desperate fights

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, a furious fight Despite not having sold a lot , nor fully convinced by the critics, the first No More Heroes triggers the proverbial spark in the mind of Goichi Suda, who for the first time in his career strongly desires the creation of a sequ el. In fact, there were many things to demonstrate, in particular the setting and the technical sector could be substantially improved.

And that's exactly how things go: the go-ahead for production for the sequel, Suda51 brings No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle in stores exactly three years after the first chapter, again on Wii, making even better use of the motion detection controls and going to smooth the edges that characterized the original mechanics, so as to obtain a finally solid and impeccable system.

But how to carry on the story of Travis Touchdown? The now legendary killer, who retired from the scene after climbing the ranking of the best assassins in America, is challenged by Skelter Helter, brother of the first hitman defeated by the protagonist in No More Heroes, who, before exhaling his last breath, warns him that this time he will not get away with it and that a plan has been put in place to eliminate him.

Finished in fifty-first place in the famous ranking, Travis sees his friend Bishop's head delivered in an envelope and vows to avenge his death at any cost, discovering that behind the brutal execution is Jasper Batt Jr., who not only appears to be the most skilled killer in the USA at the moment, but is also the president of a famous chain of pizzerias that has literally invaded the territory of Santa Destroy.

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, a bloody finisher The mission to defeat Jasper proves to be challenging and complex, with a large number of opponents to defeat and unsuspected to Illies that allow the protagonist to reach his goal more quickly. Sylvia Christel herself, the charming woman who has so far played the role of contractor in assigning us the various missions, decides to lend a hand and proves fundamental in the end of the campaign.

It is the strange emotional relationship between she and Travis to strongly characterize the final sequences of the story, when by now all the enemies have been defeated and the ranking sees once again the killer with the energy sword in first position. Years later, the girl starts working as a stripper in a strip club and Travis pays every day for a private performance, but never reveals his identity ... until one day he shows his face and takes her away from there, telling her that Santa Destroy needs them.

Intermezzo: Travis Strikes Again

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, Travis in front of the fire with his camper The ending of the second chapter implies a return of the series, but things do not go as expected and nine years pass before the character created by Goichi Suda is made alive again, once again on a Nintendo console, with Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes. The game is conceived as a sort of reboot, as well as a project necessary to lay the foundations for No More Heroes 3, but in reality it is closely linked to the events of the first two episodes.

Without a setting open world and featuring a drop-in / drop-off cooperative mode, the title tells a story of revenge ... but on the contrary. In this case it is Travis who suddenly finds himself attacked by Badman, a hitman former baseball player determined to avenge the death of his daughter, Badgirl, which occurred in the first episode of No More Heroes at the hands of the protagonist.

The Badman's assault on the camper where Travis has been living for a few years now, spending time playing old video games while being isolated from the rest of the world, however, has an unexpected twist: the mysterious Death Drive MK-II console wakes up and projects the two characters in a series of absurd videogame worlds, each inspired by a different trend or a specific game.

Between one fight and another, solo or cooperative, we come into contact with completely crazy characters and scenarios bizarre, which often and willingly make the verse to some great videogame classics, and then attend visual novel-style sequences in which the narrative background of this new adventure is revealed, sfon often and willingly giving the fourth wall.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, one of the various action sequences of the game We discover that Travis married Sylvia a few years earlier and from their union two children were born, but her continuous threat of assassins determined to eliminate the famous hitman with the energy sword forced him to leave his family and to live completely isolated, in a Texan forest, in order to guarantee the safety of his loved ones.

His sorties in the videogame worlds together with Badman make the protagonist meet other characters created by Suda51, such as Mondo Zappa from Killer is Dead and Kamui Uehara from The Silver Case, in a mix of different experiments and mechanics but with the constant of a combat system very fun action, as well as inevitable references to what will be the experience of No More Heroes 3. Well, it is close and we will discover the truth ...

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