No More Heroes (series)

No More Heroes is a video game franchise comprised of four main titles, No More Heroes and its sequels, Desperate Struggle, Travis Strikes Again and No More Heroes III. While series creator SUDA51 has expressed his belief that the series' home is with Nintendo consoles, the first installment was ported to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by outside parties, under the title No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise.

Inspiration

SUDA51 has compared each installment of the series to bowel movements. SUDA51 explained, "the idea [for No More Heroes] came when I was literally sitting on the toilet. It was the result of trying to empty my bowels, if you like." The second game, Desperate Struggle, was likened to having "tried to get rid of whatever was left over in my bowels, and luckily it all happened." While Grasshopper is not currently developing a third game, SUDA51's intentions for this future project will be "probably to digest everything we eat and then purge absolutely everything in our guts, just like diarrhea!"

Principle characters

• Travis Touchdown – An American otaku and the lead character. Touchdown originally enters the ranks of the United Assassins Association after purchasing a beam katana online. Over time, his reasons for enduring the ranks become more realistic and personal than a pursuit for money and sex.
• Sylvia Christel – An agent working for the UAA. In No More Heroes, Christel is found to be exploiting Touchdown, however some examples of her deceit are later debunked in Desperate Struggle.
• Henry Cooldown – An American-Irish assassin and twin brother of Touchdown. Cooldown's early appearances are treated almost specter-like, and his background remains a mystery until a showdown with Touchdown reveals the brothers' relation, as well as Cooldown's marriage to Christel. By the plot of Desperate Struggle, he his divorced, however.
• Shinobu – The eighth-ranked UAA contender until her defeat by Touchdown. Shinobu spends three years training in Asia to better serve Travis, who she becomes the disciple of.
• Georgy Bishop – Touchdown's best friend. Bishop is the owner of the video rental outlet Beef Head, where he is murdered as part of an elaborate revenge plot against Touchdown.
• Dr. Naomi – A scientist based out of Santa Destroy. Naomi is the founder of the Tsubaki series of beam katanas, in addition to other models. She also developed Touchdown's Schpeltiger Mk-II.
• Randall Lovikov – A Russian man who devotes his life to drinking at Santa Destroy's bar plastic model. He imparts a series of abilities onto Touchdown, however he is killed by the group of assassins who later murder Bishop.

Releases

• No More Heroes – The first installment, released for Wii in 2007.
• No More Heroes Flash Games: Chapter Shuperutaiga – An i-mode minigame developed by Marvelous Mobile Games in 2008.
• No More Heroes Flash Games: Glastonbury Chapter – An i-mode minigame developed by Marvelous Mobile Games in 2008.
• No More Heroes Flash Games: Travis Edition – An i-mode minigame developed by Marvelous Mobile Games in 2008.
• No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle – The second official installment, released for Wii in 2010.
• No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise – Developed without the assistance of Grasshopper Manufacture, 2007's No More Heroes was enhanced and expanded by feelplus for release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2010.
• No More Heroes: Red Zone – An extended edition of Heroes' Paradise published exclusively for PlayStation 3 in 2011. This version of the port was released overseas entitled Heroes' Paradise instead of Red Zone, which is something of a misnomer in that this English version named Heroes' Paradise is not strictly the same Heroes' Paradise released in Japan in 2010.
• No More Heroes: World Ranker – A social video game for Android and iOS devices released only in Japan in 2011.
• Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes – A side-story released for Nintendo Switch in 2019. Chronologically this is the latest chapter in the series' narrative.
• No More Heroes ||| – The third official installment, will be released 27th August 2021.

External Links

• Wikipedia article

• No More Heroes wiki