A Death Blow is a technique in both installments of the No More Heroes video game series. It is the most common method of dealing a killing blow to thugs, although it is not necessarily fatal after a Weapon Clash; additionally, ranked assassins are capable of dodging Death Blows. When dealing the killing blow to an enemy, an arrow, or "Death Blow Icon," is displayed onscreen. The enemy can be finished off by swinging the Wii Remote in the direction of the Death Blow Icon; failure to swing the remote in time results in Death Blow mode ending and gameplay resuming as normal.
Successful Death Blows cause slots at the bottom of the screen to start to spin. Matching three of these slot icons activates one of five different trances, or Dark Side modes, depending on which three slot icons have been matched. Each executed Death Blow has a unique animation which varies between beam katana models and the direction of the arrow displayed onscreen.
A successful Death Blow has a chance of instantly killing surrounding enemies if they are caught in the attack. Certain beam katanas have wider Death Blow ranges than others (For example, the Tsubaki Mk-III has an extremely long range and can tear through multiple foes with a single Death Blow).
Animations[]
Using the Blood Berry[]
- Upward – Travis Touchdown slashes upward into the thug's pelvis.
- Downward – Touchdown leaps up and tears the thug downward.
- Left – Touchdown swings left, decapitating the thug.
- Right – Touchdown backspins and slashes right, decapitating the thug.
Using the Tsubaki[]
- Upward – Touchdown slashes upward with one hand into the thug's pelvis.
- Downward – Touchdown brandishes the beam katana upward with one hand and slices the thug downward.
- Left – Touchdown swings left with one hand, decapitating the thug while stylishly posing.
- Right – Touchdown backspins and slashes right with one hand, decapitating the thug.
Using the Tsubaki Mk-II[]
- Upward – Touchdown slashes with one hand, diagonally upward through the thug's torso.
- Downward – Touchdown jumps up and tears the thug downward.
- Left – Touchdown swings left, decapitating the thug.
- Right – Touchdown batters up, and tears off a thug's head and the right of their torso.
Using the Tsubaki Mk-III[]
- Upward – Touchdown backspins, grabs his tossed beam katana and slashes upward into the thug's pelvis.
- Downward – Touchdown jumps up and tears downward, the beam katana projecting its beams through the thug's sides.
- Left – Touchdown performs a spinning sword trick, before diagonally tearing left into the thug, splitting him apart.
- Right – Touchdown quickly draws his beam katana, cutting the thug in the torso.
Using the Peony[]
- Upward – Touchdown readies a magnificent leap, diagonally ripping into the thug's chest.
- Downward – Touchdown leaps forward and heavily brandishes the Peony downwards, spliting them into two.
- Left – Touchdown spins and swings his beam katana horizontally one handedly, decapitating the thug.
- Right – Touchdown brandishes his beam katana over his head before cutting downwards right, into the left shoulder.
Using the ROSE NASTY[]
- Upward – Touchdown readies a backflip, ripping the thug into two.
- Downward – Touchdown scissors the ROSE NASTY and decapitates the thug's head.
- Left – Touchdown spins and swings the ROSE NASTY, lobbing off the thug's head.
- Right – Touchdown mightily swings downwards right into the thug's left shoulder.
- Intersect Wii Remote and Nunchuk Touchdown – Touchdown whips back the ROSE NASTY before dicing the thug into four pieces.