No More Heroes is a video game franchise comprised of two main titles, No More Heroes and its sequel, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. While series creator Goichi Suda 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.

InspirationEdit

Suda has compared each installment of the series to bowel movements. Suda 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, Suda'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!"^[1]

Principle charactersEdit

• 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.
• Bishop Shidux – Touchdown's best friend. Shidux 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 Shidux.

ReleasesEdit

• 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. This is the latest chapter in the franchise.
• 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 2: Desperate Struggle: Hopper's Edition – For the game's late release in Japan, Desperate Struggle was for a limited time packaged with a bonus DVD, soundtrack EP, art book and erotica manga.
• No More Heroes: Red Zone – A Japanese port of the English version of Heroes' Paradise, which includes more features than the version of Heroes' Paradise released in Japan in 2010.

Future installmentsEdit

Wii UEdit

Suda has expressed that if the No More Heroes franchise continues to grow, Desperate Struggle will be the last installment published for Wii. "To expand NMH to new possibilities, we need a new platform. Wii is a great platform, but we've done everything we can with it now," explained Suda. This statement triggered confusion among fans, who were unclear whether Suda intended to take the franchise to consoles by other parties, or Grasshopper was simply holding off on producing another installment until Nintendo launched their next console, to which the third game would again be exclusive. In an interview with 1UP.com during the website's five-day Desperate Struggle cover story, Suda confirmed his statement was likely misinterpreted, clarifying that, "What I wanted to say was, looking at the Wii, I think No More Heroes 2 will probably be the last iteration for this current platform. But there's probably going to be a "Wii 2" or other next-gen system from Nintendo at some point, so I was saying that I would want to do another game in the series on the next Nintendo platform."^[2]

At a charity event for the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, Suda reconfirmed his interest in producing a second No More Heroes sequel, though he added, "it won't happen soon."^[3] In an interview with Destructoid's Jonathan Holmes at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Suda mentioned he had played a Wii U and was now evaluating how to proceed with a third No More Heroes game on that console.^[4]

MobageEdit

Eurogamer has reported that Grasshopper is working on a mobile No More Heroes title with Japanese social game developer DeNA, due for release before the end of 2011.^[5] The title will premier exclusively in Japan on DeNA's Mobage phone platform, however Suda is hopeful that the game will make enough impact to secure to Western release later. "We're aiming to make it the social game with the most blood," Suda added.^[5]

WiiWareEdit

In anticipation of Desperate Struggle, one critic questioned Suda on the possibility of an installment developed for Nintendo DS. While the director declined this, he did express interest in a No More Heroes WiiWare project, although there is no evidence suggesting Grasshopper ever took to developing such a title.

ReferencesEdit