Game #1083: No More Heroes(Switch)

  It's called fashionably late.

 You could say that No More Heroes holds a special place in my heart, as it's the game that introduced me to the one and only, Suda51, and, by proxy, it'd end up introducing me to David Lynch and his wondrous movies. I've since played the game a few more times, for example, during a Suda51 marathon I pulled off one day or the PS3 port. To prepare us for NMHIII, NMH 1 re-released on the Switch, so I took the opportunity to play the game after going through III, giving me an interesting new context to compare this game with.

 Sooo, No More Heroes is a rather simple hack-and-slash game, at least if you look at it from the surface. Grasshopper has never had the biggest budgets, so they compensate with style what it lacks in substance. You get a very interesting narrative told in a very unique way, with a super interesting cast of characters and bosses, even bosses that barely get any scenes are memorable, as well as very stylish and satisfying combat. Few games have ever matched the utter gratification you get after swinging a Wiimote/Joycon when executing enemy.

 Well, first the good news... it's a port of the Wii original and not the PS3 remake. Unlike those other versions, this port targets 60 FPS and runs very smoothly, even the overworld. There are dips here and there, yes, but for the most part, it's buttery smooth. It's also got super short loading times, you can barely play with the Star icon during the loading screens.

 The bad news... there are some graphical bugs here and there, sometimes building textures just glitch out, and Travis' glasses disappear when trying out clothes. Not a bad tradeoff, is it? I feel like some voice lines don't play as often as they should(Like the 'MY SPLEEEEN" line), but I can't say for sure. All in all, not a bad trade off, eh? The performance is so good that these small issues aren't that big of a deal, that said... due to licensing issues, the track 'Heavenly Star' is not here, which sucks, it sucks a lot as it was one of the most memorable songs in the original release... but, if we are being honest, it's not such a big deal considering it only played inside buildings. But still, I miss that song.

 Combat was as fun as I remembered it. High and Low slashes are your bread and butter, and this time around I find myself relying on grappling very little, but they are there to shake thinks up by punching and kicking your enemies until you stun them. Darkside Step is a vital part of the combat, if you press left or right before getting hit, time will slow down allowing you to land some free hits. It feels really good to land these, particularly because if you don't you'll take damage! And of course, executions, when you land the final attack on an enemy, the screen will freeze and you'll get to either use the right analog stick or use motion controls to perform a final slash, that ends with the enemy shooting out blood and money everywhere. It feels SO good.

 That said, there's a bit that hasn't aged well, and that's paying fees before each stage. In order to challenge a boss and his or her stage, you must first pony up some money. The money you get after fighting a boss simply isn't enough, so you'll have to partake on side activities. First you have to complete a silly, simple minigame such as collecting coconuts, catching scorpions, filling cars with fuel... yeah, they are silly, but you only have to do them once, as every boss unlocks a new activity, and every activity unlocks new assassination side missions which are much more fun as they involve actual combat. The thing is... if you're regularly purchasing new clothes, upgrading Travis' stats or buying new beam katanas... you'll have to stop at some point and replay assassination missions in order to grind for money. Even if you don't spend money on anything, at some point you will have to grind for money.

 Look, the combat is really fun, and by the end of the game, mission 18 is rather fun because you get 3 minutes to chop down a ton of enemies... but if you play this mission about 10 times(The final Beam Katana upgrade is super expensive) it will eventually get old. Plus, the game has an open world, and you have to drive from the agency to the mission to the agency again, so it does take some time. Thankfully, mission 18 lies next to the Agency, so it even saves you time that way.

 No More Heroes is still a fantastic game, however, it's not a game for everyone. The dialogue and characters will simply be a bit too weird for some people, the gameplay won't be polished enough for others... but if you like your games weird you'll find something truly special here.

 9.0