No More Heroes (video game)

Throughout the game, the player controls the character Travis Touchdown. The game has a free roaming world,[7] allowing Travis to move around on foot or on his modified scooter, the "Schpeltiger".[8] Gameplay is open-ended, with the condition that the player must kill the top ten assassins to make the storyline progress. There are numerous part-time job side quests to earn money which can be spent on weapons, training sessions, clothes and video tapes. Money is also required to compete in a Ranking fight.

Control is handled through the Wii Remote and Nunchuk attachment, with the Remote controlling his weapon, the beam katana, and the Nunchuk moving Travis. Most attacks are performed using the "A" button, with certain other moves, including the "death blow" and sword lock struggles, executed by following on-screen instructions. Further, since the beam katanas run on batteries, they must be charged from time to time by pressing the "1" button on the remote and shaking it.[9] Travis's beam katana can also be upgraded and replaced throughout the game by visiting Dr. Naomi. While the katana does not follow the exact position of the remote, it is able to distinguish between a "high" and "low" position which varies the character stance and the attacks done. In addition to attacks with the beam katana Travis can kick and punch, and when enemies are stunned he can throw them with a number of professional wrestling maneuvers, done by manipulating both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.

Travis has a secondary mode, "Dark Side", that is accessed when three icons line up in a slot machine after a successful death blow. In this mode, Travis gains a super powerful move depending on what symbols are lined up ranging from a speed increase to outright killing every enemy on screen instantly.

The story follows Travis Touchdown, who is a stereotypical otaku – his motel room decorated with professional wrestling and anime collectibles – living in near poverty in the No More Heroes motel of the fictional town of Santa Destroy, California.[10] After winning a beam katana in an internet auction, he runs out of money to buy video games and wrestling videos. After meeting with Sylvia Christel, he accepts a job to kill Helter Skelter, also known as "the Drifter," which earns him rank 11 by the United Assassins Association, a governing body of assassins. Realizing that he has the opportunity to make it to the top, he sets out to secure himself the coveted position of number one assassin in the UAA.[11]

After killing the tenth ranked assassin, Sylvia reveals that if Travis stops killing, he'll eventually be targeted by other aspiring assassins. Travis, now convinced there's no way out, goes on to kill every other assassin except for number eight, Shinobu, whom he spares because he wants her to get stronger. During the 5th ranked battle he meets Henry, a mysterious Irish man who wields a beam katana similar to Travis' own.

Before meeting the top-ranked assassin, Travis is told that the UAA was just an elaborate con set up by Sylvia, who overheard his drunken ramblings and organized his entry so that he could finally have revenge on his half-sister, Jeane, who murdered his parents. Jeane reveals in a fast-forwarded cutscene that their father had sexually abused her all her life, thus forcing her to become a prostitute to survive and become a killer. Travis is eventually saved by Shinobu and kills Jeane.

The game really ends with Travis being attacked by another assassin before Henry saves him, and challenges him to one last fight. It is during this fight that Henry reveals two twists: first, that he is Travis's twin brother, and second, that Sylvia is his wife (which would make her Travis' sister-in-law), and has a habit of disappearing before returning with lots of money (presumably due to conning people). Travis insinuates to Henry that he slept with Sylvia after becoming the #1 ranked assassin. Still locked in combat, the brothers discuss the nature of these revelations and their situation while they run down a long street. Finally, as the two leap towards each other for the final clash, the screen flashes and is revealed to be a painting hanging in an art gallery, where a little girl, Jeane, and her mother, Sylvia, are observing it.

The Japanese version's instruction booklet, entitled the United Assassins Association Official Manual, contains a small manga which contained much of the backstory about the UAA and Travis' first kill. This manga was not included in the North American release of the game, but is available on the official website.[12]

No More Heroes, under its working title Project Heroes,[15] was initially planned as an Xbox 360 game, until Yasuhiro Wada suggested the Wii and its unique control structure to director Goichi Suda ("Suda51").[16] Previously titled Heroes.,[11] Suda51 has said that No More Heroes focuses on social issues.[17]

A number of films, actors and music have inspired Suda51's design for No More Heroes. Besides the title coming from UK Punk band The Stranglers 1977 album No More Heroes, the structure of the United Assassins' Association is based on the film El Topo which features a similar, albeit smaller, ranking system.[8][18] Travis Touchdown and his antics are based on Johnny Knoxville of Jackass and wrestler Josh Barnett, who also served as the persona from which the Destroyman character was created.[18] Contrary to popular belief, Travis' weapon, the beam katana, is not based on the lightsaber from Star Wars but from the 1980s Japanese TV series Space Sheriff Gavan and 1987 film Spaceballs.[18][19] Other character influences included Scarlett Johansson as the UAA's Sylvia, Ian Curtis as Travis' twin-brother Henry, Charles Bronson as assassin Dr. Peace, and Genichiro Tenryu as Travis' mentor Thunder Ryu.[18]

The city of Santa Destroy is based on San Diego, California (though, possibly mistaken, Suda implied that he used the version of San Diego shown in Dirty Harry, which takes place entirely in San Francisco, California), with the "No More Heroes" motel inspired by a similar one from the movie Memento. The Japanese cult movie Gozu provided the basis for the in-game video store "Beef Head".[18] Two fictional anime series, "Glastonbury" and "Bizarre Jelly", that are shown within the game were influenced by Space Runaway Ideon and Pretty Cure, respectively. Suda also noted that Grasshopper Studios also worked on the anime-based video games Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked and BLOOD+: One Night Kiss, both which inspired the development of No More Heroes, considering the three together as a "sword action trilogy".[18]

In one interview Suda wanted to make No More Heroes "as violent, or even more violent than Manhunt 2,"[7] a game that received an AO rating from the ESRB in its original form. A trailer shown at the March 2007 Game Developers Conference featured Travis Touchdown using the beam katana to decapitate or cut enemies in half, with copious amounts of blood being spilled.[20] Later videos featured clouds of black pixels and objects resembling coins spurting from enemies instead of blood.[21] It was later explained that the "black clouds" version would be released in Japan, while North America would receive the game with the previously seen blood.[22] Later, however, Suda51 decided to release the bloodless version in Europe as well.[23] The two versions both feature common enemies eventually burning away and a fountain of coins, with or without the inclusion of blood.

Yūsuke Kozaki, who has previously designed characters for Speed Grapher, designed the characters for No More Heroes.[24] Others on the team include costume designer Okama, who designed the OP for Densha Otoko, and weapons and mechanics designer Shigeto Koyama, who worked on Eureka Seven as an illustrator.

On November 17, 2009, Famitsu magazine revealed that No More Heroes would receive a port to both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 from the company feelplus titled No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise. The game features new modes, revamped high-definition graphics, though it lacks motion control on the Xbox 360.[25][26] Only the Xbox 360 version is uncensored, causing Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) to label the game with its adult "Z" rating.[27] The ports were released in Japan on April 15, 2010.[4] The PlayStation 3 version of the game was released in North America by Konami with added PlayStation Move support,[5] instead of Ubisoft, the game's original publisher, which had stated that they would not be publishing this version in North America.[28] The Switch port was released on October 28, 2020, in the eShop, with the help of Engine Software, who previously helped Suda with the port of Killer7 to PC a couple of years ago. Rather than retaining the black clouds in the PAL/JP versions like previous ports, it was uncensored. The port was published by XSEED Games.[29] XSEED also published the port of No More Heroes and its sequel for Windows, released on June 9, 2021.[30]