NO MORE HEROES IN ITS ENTIERITY.

[BEAT]

So Nintendo just surprised us all by casually dropping NO MORE HEROES and NO MORE HEROES 2: DESPERATE STRUGGLE on the switch with literally no warning. Just showed a trailer for NMH 3 in one of their mini direct and ended it with "Oh by the way the first two games are available RIGHT FUCKING NOW so, you know, play them if you want I guess whatever it's cool."

And I'm like WELL YOU DON'T HAVE TO ASK ME TWICE!

So I'm gonna post in here about my replay of the first two games (and and then probably my replay of Travis Strikes Again now that all the DLC is out). And I guess we can also use the thread to just talk about the series in general and freak out in here when NMH 3 gets an official release date and stuff. You know, nerd forum type shit.

 

[Olli]

Awww yeah!

 

[BEAT]

NOT-A-LET'S-PLAY POST 01
NO MORE HEROES - THE BASICS I GUESS?​

Spoilers, obviously.

THE PORT.

It looks like how you remember it looking on the Wii. That means it probably looks SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER than the original Wii game did, but in ways that you wouldn't notice unless you put them side by side. I noticed a few momentary frame drops at moments where like 5 enemies explode into clouds of blood at once but it's NO MORE HEROES, so honestly that just means it feels authentic.

The game automatically changes the control scheme depending on whether you're playing your switch on a TV or as a handheld. The handheld controls replace all the motion prompts with control stick prompts, which all work just fine no complaints. In TV mode all the parts where you'd swing the wiimote are preserved by swinging the joycons, which is rad, but they REALLY expect you to be playing with one joycon in each hand instead of one of those things you stick the joycons in to make it like a normal controller. You CAN still play it like that, of course, but swinging around a two-handed controller is not awesome, especially when you reach grabs where your left and right have to go different directions. I'm sure there's an option in the menus to switch between the various control schemes, but I'm fine with the two defaults, so I haven't checked.

THE PARTS WHERE YOU'RE RUNNING AROUND MURDERING PEOPLE.

In pure ACTION GAME terms, NMH is kinda weird and jank especially when you compared to other games of the mid-to-late 00s such as Devil May Cry 3 or Bayonetta. There's no jump button, the combos are basically Hammer X & Y or maybe A & B I guess, it's hard to know what your guard stance will and won't block, and I feel like I never REALLY know when I should be dodging meaning every cool bullet time dodges/super combo I get is accidental

THAT SAID, despite the mountain of WEIRD JANK, it always feels visceral and exciting to play. Maybe it's just the incredible and rare ACTUAL GOOD USE OF QTES(!!!), but something about the way time stands still so Travis can scream "DIE!!!" as he cleaves a goon's head clean off is SO FUCKING SATISFYING. I don't know why it works, but man does it ever work.

THE PARTS WHERE YOU'RE NOT DOING THAT.

NMH is a "Sandbox" game in a very lose sense. You can walk around Santa Destroy, but there's not really a whole lot to do in it. Many reviewers back in the day HATED that aspect of the game, and I can't really say they were wrong to do so, as the whole "Do mundane job to unlock murder job to make enough money to start the next ACTUAL REAL MISSION" is pretty obviously padding, especially when you add in the fact that you have to drive/walk to each of those points individually.

That said, on this replay I've actually really been appreciating just how UNIQUE Santa Destroy is from other video game sandboxes like San Andreas in GTA or Fake New York in Spiderman II: The movie: The game. It really nails the feeling of a burned-out southwestern town that's slowly dying in the middle of nowhere. It acts as a contrast to the batshit insanity of missions, It feels like a deliberate artistic touch to highlight just how fucked up the whole situation is, which is something I genuinely appreciate!

It's still a pretty bad video game sandbox though.

 

[Pajaro Pete]

i'm a little sad they apparently removed the genki rockets mv and replaced it with blackpink's ice cream featuring selena gomez mv

 

[BEAT]

NOT-A-LET'S-PLAY POST 02
NO MORE HEROES - RANKS 10-05​

#10 - DEATH METAL

The boss that teaches you how to fight bosses.

NMH starts by playing a short intro video where Travis does some quick exposition that doesn't really tell us anything other than "Travis has a laser sword, is an asshole" then dumps us into Death Metal's mansion so we can get straight to being an asshole who does murders. As such, Death Metal really exists as a way for us to learn about Travis than a character in his own right. The game accomplishes this by having Travis totally ignore this grumpy retiree's warnings, and spend about half the fight INTERNALLY MONOLOUGING TO HIMSELF about how he's gonna be a king shit badass who'll live in an even bigger house with way more drinks and loads of hot girls. That was the moment when I went "oh, this game is going to be FUCKING AMAZING."

#09 - DR. PEACE

The boss that teaches you about projectiles.

This Charles Bronson looking motherfucker hangs out in the middle of the local stadium's baseball field. When you find him, he's showing off his AMAZING singing voice. Then monologues about his divorce for a bit, then cordially invites Travis to fight him to the death. Travis is a dick about it, of course.

#08 - SHINOBU JACOBS

The boss that lets you know this game is not fucking around

"Ninja Schoolgirl" is usually on the list of things I hate automatically, but Shinobu manages to escape my ire due to her strict zero-tolerance policy for Travis's bullshit. She treats Travis like stupid irritation until something sets her off, causing her to jump straight to FUCK YOU AND DIE which is reflected in the gameplay with a sharp increase in difficulty, resulting in the first boss that absolutely will kill you multiple times.

She's also the first character to actually survive her ranked battle with Travis, losing only her right hand instead of her life. Travis claims that he spared her so they can kill eachother even harder once she's had a chance to grow up. I love how the game leaves it up in the air if that's the real reason, or if he just feels weird about killing someone who hasn't graduated high school yet.

#07 - DESTROYMAN

The boss that shoots lasers from his dick.

Destroyman is the first assassin who might actually be a WORSE PERSON than Travis. He constantly switches back between a Nice Guy façade, and being a total douchebag who cheats at every opportunity. He doesn't quite survive his fight with Travis, but he still manages to re-appear in the sequel, where they made his whole niceguy thing even more literal. He sucks in all the best possible ways, and killing him is an absolute joy, which makes what happens next hit even harder.

#06 - HOLLY SUMMERS

The boss that makes you feel bad.

Holly summers is a super hot girl who fights you by digging holes in the sand and also hundreds of rockets and grenades, watching her leap around the boss arena gleefully striking glamor shot poses to shoot a salvo of homing missiles, and gleefully trapping you in giant holes in the sand which she then fills with live grenades. It's almost as goofy as the fight against Destroyman!

AND THEN SUDDENLY IT'S NOT.

The sheer mood whiplash at the end of this fight is the first big HOLY SHIT THAT WAS NOT OKAY moment in the game. Its definitely not the last though!

#05 - LETZ SHAKE

The boss that wasn't.

Can I just say, it's a galaxy brain move to spend that kind of effort setting up a genuinely epic introduction, to establish this weirdo and his giant brain piston machine, and then KILL HIM RIGHT BEFORE THE FIGHT STARTS. The sudden anticlimax, and Travis's reaction to having his kill stolen by "Mr. Sir Henry Motherfucker" is genuinely incredible. I've never seen a video game, or honestly any media at all pull off not giving you what you want to that kind of effect. Fucking amazing.

 

[sfried]

#05 - LETZ SHAKE

The boss that wasn't.
...
I've never seen a video game, or honestly any media at all pull off not giving you what you want to that kind of effect. Fucking amazing.

I wanted to say that a certain episode in Katanagatari had that certain effect too. For those who have seen it, you'll probably know which episode I'm talking about...

But yeah, I really like the Letz Shake "fight" because of the dialogue. ("I think I'm about to lose the bowel control!") He is also the punkiest of all the bosses.

 

[Kishi]

Something about the giant brain piston machine really makes him feel like a Yasuhiro Nightow design. Also, his scope is a Virtual Boy.

 

[Kalir]

Death Metal: Well done. The title of "Holy Sword" is now yours.
Travis Touchdown: I don't care about titles or glory! I just want to be number one.
Death Metal's Internal Dialogue: Those are literally the same thing you dense asshole. I lived my life as a killer and somehow this guy is going to be worse.

 

[Ludendorkk]

The best part of the first game is like 90% of the games characters trying to impart wisdom on him and it just bouncing off Travis's thick skull

 

[pudik]

in terms of the actual action, i think nmh is maybe the perfect game for me (other than god hand), simply because it's tense and fast action but doesn't require really any sort of practiced knowledge about strategies. There are some techs, but it's rarely to the point of practiced patterns, and getting good is simply developing a better muscle memory and reading enemy patterns

 

[Ludendorkk]