“People like us, we’re sharks attracted to blood. You smelled blood too, didn’t you? Isn’t that why you’re here?”
I’ve been thinking a lot about No More Heroes lately as compared to Suda51‘s other, more recent works. Shadows of the Damned was great, but left a bit to be desired, and while Lollipop Chainsaw looks fantastic, it’s just…I don’t know if it could top No More Heroes.
No More Heroes, for the uninitiated, is…well, I’m having a hard time putting it into words. It’s an action game, but with a lot of mundane side jobs like picking up litter and mowing lawns. It’s crude, violent, the graphics aren’t pretty, you save your game by going to the toilet, the open world is largely empty with very little to interact with, the simple barely-there plot turns grossly convoluted and confusing in the final act, and the whole thing has this gleeful punk rock attitude in just how manic and sloppy it is. And for being a game where you recharge your weapon by shaking the Wii remote like you’re jerking off, there’s a weird degree of subtlety to it. It’s my favorite videogame ever, and its protagonist, Travis Touchdown, may be my favorite videogame character as well.
"You got it old man! And for some reason I feel this sense of euphoria..."
So we’ll start there. Travis Touchdown is a nerd and a loser, despite having a sweet motorcycle and wicked jacket. He lives in a motel alone with his cat and collects action figures, watches anime about pubescent girls with magic powers, and that’s about it. But he’s also the ultimate badass killer too. Travis is like a stereotypical gamer nerd, and No More Heroes is his videogame fantasy. Make no mistake, this game is the ultimate adolescent wish-fulfillment scenario: the sad nerdy guy who picks up an awesome weapon and sets out on an epic journey to save the day and get the girl. Quick, name a science fiction weapon that anyone, geek or not, would recognize and would totally love to have, if they don’t already own a fake one. If you guessed a lightsaber, you’re correct! Except George Lucas has a copyright on that and so what Travis purchases in an online auction to become a badass money-making assassin is a beam katana, but make no mistake, that’s what Suda51 was thinking about when he decided on what weapon to give this nerdy character. By day, Travis watches wrestling tapes (tapes, not DVDs, yes), plays with his cat, and takes small jobs like pumping gas and cleaning graffiti off buildings in the city of Santa Destroy. Then he uses the money he makes from those jobs to take on assassination gigs, climbing the ranks of the UAA to become the top assassin and hopefully get laid. The dichotomy there is a clear statement on what being a gamer (or an artist, or, I don’t know, porcelain doll enthusiast) is like, taking up crappy part-time jobs in order to pay for your real passion. It’s really quite genius. The side jobs are not much fun, but they’re not MEANT to be, and doing them just means that when you do get to the killing, it makes slicing folks in half and hearing them scream “MY SPLEEN!!” that much sweeter.
"Don't die on me too quickly. I want to gorge myself on this sense of fulfillment till I vomit."
That split in gameplay content aside, the game would still otherwise be a simple, shallow affair were it not for the game’s boss battles, the icing on the cake. Watch that cutscene again up there. Every boss battle starts and ends with a scene like that. The boss assassins are all colorful characters to be sure, but those scenes really develop them as flesh and blood people, and that in dealing with these guys, Travis is most definitely in his element. Here the anime-loving dweeb waxes philosophical as each boss details his or her motivations for killing, and what their life is like. The first boss, Heavy Metal, lives a pampered life in a gorgeous mansion, Dr. Peace is a grim, Dirty Harry-style killer, Shinobu is out to avenge her father’s death, et cetera. All of them have a greater motivation than the scrappy punk Travis, who just wants to be number 1 and get some tail, not caring about much of anything else, but as he goes on to face each one, you can detect a change taking place in him. This is illustrated in other ways too, like how the open world of Santa Destroy is just…empty, with only a few shops to go into and no real interaction, because none of it is important to Travis. It’s like how I could tell you where all the local comic shops are in the tri cities, but when it comes to the places they’re around, I’m not sure because I don’t really pay much attention to them. I identify with that.
So yes, this a game that’s very socially aware in a strange way, but the mere fact that it’s socially aware separates it from nearly every other single game out there. Like many of my favorite works of pure genius, all the intelligence is hiding under the dick jokes and gore.
And then there are all sorts of little touches that make me smile: Enemies spewing fountains of blood and coins as they die. The cartoony scream Travis lets out if you accidentally drive his motorcycle off a ledge. The top-down shmup stage that’s a dream. Collecting luchador trading cards. The awesome t shirts you can get. Having new techniques literally beaten into Travis. The music for the gym being a slight reference to Eye of the Tiger. Having to hold the Wii remote like a phone to listen to Sylvia before each boss fight. The distorted voice announcing the boss’s name, followed by a quip from the boss, followed by a wailing guitar. The posterization effect and the guitar chord on the loading screens. And so much more.
The game is a huge influence on me. It’s probably the most popular of Suda51’s, especially since it’s the only one to spawn a sequel. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is quite different from it’s predecessor while delivering more of the same action and wackiness that made the first so great. I don’t think I enjoy it QUITE as much, but…well, it warrants its own write-up in the future, yes…
"See you on the other side."
[Brett]