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The power of Lovikov is a curious thing
Some new gameplay info came out about our favorite upcoming Wii game (Super What-io What-axy?), No More Heroes, in the form of a seeming underworld connection to get Travis Touchdown some special moves. Apparently he can collect "Lovikov Balls" around Santa Destroy. Returning these items to the man for whom the balls are named, some drunk dude called Lovikov, nets you special moves.Two of the seven moves are shown off in screenshots at the No More Heroes site, and in larger screenshots at Famitsu. "Memory of Demon" is a super-powerful sword move that can pull off one-hit kills. "Memory of Child" enables you to run at super-speed.
No More Genki Rockets
You'll be able to acquire VHS cassettes featuring music videos in No More Heroes, for viewing back at Travis's nerdtacular home (on an apparently tiny TV, judging from our hero's posture.) The first such video to be revealed is Genki Rockets' "Heavenly Star," which is appropriately nerdy for inclusion in the otaku-fronted game.How nerdy is "Heavenly Star?" Well, the song's not about Doctor Who or anything, but it is performed by a group of fictional musicians who are from the future. Like the Gorillaz, the Genki Rockets manifest as holograms in live performances. And this (gorgeous) video was produced by Q? Entertainment's Tetsuya Mizuguchi for inclusion in Lumines II. Of course, you don't need to wait for No More Heroes or go buy Lumines II to see the video; we've embedded it after the break.
Japanese No More Heroes fans get their own beam katanas
The events of No More Heroes are catalyzed by Travis Touchdown's purchase of a beam katana in an online auction. Now preordering the game will enable Japanese gamers to reenact that part of the story, in miniature, and probably without the subsequent murders. The "beam katana accessory" will be given out in limited numbers to people who reserve a copy of No More Heroes. It's made of metal (probably aluminum) and is 70 mm (2.5 inches) long. Dengeki considers it potentially suitable as a phone charm or as something to attach to a bag, although it may crunch your phone in your pocket, we think. Chances are most people will keep it in its packaging forever as a keepsake, a reminder of the time they went to a store.
No More Coconut Collectors
The No More Heroes website has provided us with more brief video updates today, as well as some new information about what Travis does when he's not killing murderers. Specifically, some hilariously charming part time jobs, including grass-cutting and coconut collecting. According to the caption on this photo, Travis has decided to use a Rolling Sobat to knock down a coconut, but ended up losing time because it fell on his head. On the one hand, oh no minigames, but on the other hand, the jobs sort of remind us of Shenmue, and will probably be great anyway. We're happy to report that this week's video update (embedded after the break) contains a lot more action in each teensy clip than last week's. Check them out for some awesome sword work from Travis!
No More Nudity: Grasshopper Manufactures some t-shirts
To commemorate No More Heroes, developer Grasshopper Manufacture had some shirts printed up. There are seven different designs, most of which have color variants as well. As would be expected from the guys responsible for the rocking look of No More Heroes, they look awesome. They run from the somewhat normal (the No More Heroes logo on the front, "KILL ONLY" on the back) to the weird (a big Tengu mask with the word "TENGU" printed above and below in Japanese and English) to the obscure (the Santa Destroy shirt above).There are a few problems. The shirts seem to run very small-- some are available in sizes up to a US small. They're also a little pricey at 3500 yen ($29). That's not quite King of Games territory, but it still seems a little high. Most problematic of all, however, is the fact that we haven't figured out how to get one out of Japan yet. They seem to only ship to Japanese addresses. Maybe NCSX or Play Asia will pick them up-- or maybe we can bug Ubisoft to sell some to US fans.[Via Dengeki]
No More Heroes: Destroyman and disco
The No More Heroes web page was updated today, as tends to happen on Fridays, but this time we've got more than just the awesome videos. The "Topics" page was updated with some character descriptions, which a GameFAQs user helpfully translated (and a NeoGAFfer kindly posted so we wouldn't have to brave the GameFAQs forums). Along with info about how much Sylvia enjoys sunning, the page gives a little bit of (akwardly translated) biographical data about Destroyman: "All-American hit-man association ranked number 7. Usually, he works a difficult job to get him where he is, but there is another side to him, and this is his face! It exceeds the framework of mere cosplay, the American becomes a super hero and strives to kill and drill (?)." Also introduced is a new character named Dr. Peace, who looks a lot like Charles Bronson and carries a golden pistol. He's a corrupt detective who is also the ninth-ranked assassin.We've embedded one of the three new videos above; check after the break for the other two, which are maybe the most banal game-preview videos we've ever seen. One, at least, demonstrates the free-roaming nature of No More Heroes, a bit.
You can see his stripes, but you know he's clean
Oh, don't you see what I mean? The latest update on No More Heroes is the very best kind of update, in our eyes. It's a tiger-icon-related update. We've been dying of curiosity about the unconventional HUD elements in Suda 51's super-stylish, otaku-themed action game. TGS brought us tentative word that it was related to a "super mode" of some kind, and now we can see it for ourselves.Each successful combo activates a slot machine; when you get three Grasshopper Manufacture grasshopper-guy heads, Travis transforms into a "Dark Side" mode; his skin darkens, his hair lightens and he can fight with enhanced speed and strength-- until the tiger walks across the screen to a "goal" area. Having a tiger walk a short distance is a perfectly logical way to express a limited strength increase, right?
TGS hands-on: No More Heroes
Given the over-the-top action and exuberant style found in Grasshopper Manufacture's No More Heroes, it came as a great relief to learn that the game's control scheme wasn't similarly vigorous. There's nothing worse than an action game that translates fairly familiar tasks into manic swatting for the simple sake of justifying its existence on the Wii. That isn't to say the motion controls are so reserved as to become worthless, but No More Heroes does seem to share our support of No More Flailing -- sometimes it makes more sense to smack someone with a sword simply by pressing a button.Here, the button in question is the one obviously marked "A" and the sword is a lightsaber. It's really more like a battery-powered katana, but we're confident that the Star Wars weapon is culturally ingrained enough to make the explanation that much simpler. Rather than get into electric sword specifics, know that protagonist and assassin Travis Touchdown uses one to hit and slice things repeatedly. Said things are targeted by holding the Z-button on the nunchuk, evaded by pressing on the directional pad and ultimately sent into a stunned state with enough battery. (A cheeky double reference there, as you also have to recharge your sword occasionally by giving it -- and the Wii remote -- a few jolts, just like you would an uncooperative flashlight.)
Friday Video: Destroyer of oil
The No More Heroes site just keeps churning out the (very short) videos, and we gobble 'em up with the same zeal every time. In fact, it's probably safe to say that this is one of the games we're anticipating most -- right up there with Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Mario Galaxy. That's tough company to roll with, but we think Travis can handle it ... and so we've once again got him in our video spotlight. Hit the jump to see why.
TGS07: Finally, someone explains the tiger
As happy as we are to hear gameplay impressions of No More Heroes, all of which cast the game as a straightforward combo-based action game in the vein of God Hand (YES) with limited, and sensible, waggle, none of the hands-on posts have satisfied our curiosity regarding the game's most mysterious feature: the tiger.We've stared at screenshots and video, hoping to glean from context what is going on with the little tiger icon in the upper right corner, to no avail. We cheered as, during one TGS demo video, the booth attendant seemed to point in that direction, but nothing ever came of that, either. That's why Spencer Yip is awesome. He asked point-blank what the deal with the freaking tiger was, and brought back the answer to the expectant masses like Moses coming down with a very specific set of commandments that don't actually tell anyone to do anything. It turns out that it's a meter for a "super mode" transformation that has yet to be implemented.We can relax now.
TGS07: No More Heroes says yes to more videos
Now that we know that one of our favorite games has a publisher outside of Japan, we undertook the watching of the latest footage from TGS with a particular zeal. While neither offers sound, we do get a glimpse of the controls and a long, lovely look at the game in motion, which puts all the short clips offered by the official site to shame. Before, we were excited; now a new word will have to be created to communicate the passion with which we approach tSuda 51's offbeat No More Heroes. If anyone has any linguistic suggestions, please let us know. In the meantime, hit up the videos after the break.
Ubisoft publishing No More Heroes in the U.S.
Whether or not you enjoyed Killer 7, you can probably agree that it's a good thing that oddball titles like that are not only available, but localized for English-speaking markets. If so, you have another reason to celebrate today as Ubisoft has announced that they'll be publishing Suda 51's follow up No More Heroes in America in February.For the uninitiated, No More Heroes is a super-violent action/adventure featuring the awesomely-named Travis Touchdown (so much cooler than Randy R.B.I.) tracking down assassins and killing them with his beam katana. If you crave more information, check out the above Joystiq Award Winner for Best Trailer Evar.
Ubisoft: our new Heroes
Perhaps as an act of contrition for the DS Imagine games, Ubisoft has signed on as the U.S. publisher of a game people want to play: No More Heroes. Suda 51's cel-shaded, free-roaming wrestling/swordfighting/havin'-the-name-Travis-Touchdown game will be released in February, just two months after the Japanese release.Ubisoft's Tony Key cited a need for mature games in the Wii lineup-- a need insufficiently filled by their own Red Steel, right?-- as a major motivator for the decision to pick up No More Heroes. He also said that No More Heroes won't be cut to pieces for American audiences: "The game Ubisoft publishes in North America will have all of the content that its Japanese counterpart does. We wanted to make sure that gamers here would not miss out on any of the action or storyline details created by the talented development team in Japan."Keep doing stuff like this and Jam Sessions, Ubisoft, and we're going to stop making fun of Prince of Persia: Warrior Within.
No More Uncertainty about No More Heroes' Japanese release date
Grasshopper Manufacture's violent, stylish, nerdy free-roaming action game No More Heroes finally has at least one release date. It'll come out in Japan on December 6. That doesn't help the rest of us directly, but any forward progress in getting this game out the door is a good thing. Since the voice work for the game is already in English, localization shouldn't take a terribly long time, leaving only one major obstacle to a U.S. release. Unfortunately, that obstacle is finding a publisher. Check after the break for another bite-size No More Heroes video-- they usually go up on Friday, but we suppose Grasshopper wanted to get one online before TGS.
No More Heroes videos are short, but oh so sweet
Just as we previously reported, the act of saving in No More Heroes is a bit on the relaxing side. Now, we have video of Travis "marking down" his save. If that isn't your kind of thing, there are also lots of other videos, but for the sake of keeping things nice and organized, we tucked them past the break.
More teaser videos of No More Heroes
And by "teaser," we mean "teaser"-- like the last set of videos found on the official No More Heroes site, these clips are, at best, travel size. They may even be fun size. But they're the coolest extremely brief videos you're likely to see today.Today's clips show snippets of a battle between Travis Touchdown (whose name makes us smile) and Shinobu-- a battle that looks like it'll take us a good few tries. We don't exactly know how the game controls yet, but we assume that it's as difficult as it looks.We've embedded the videos after the break. Blink a few times right now so you won't have to while watching.
Trio of brief clips from No More Heroes
When we say "brief" here, we really mean it -- these video updates from the official No More Heroes site offer no more than glimpses of the game. There's also a Grindhouse-esque grain to the footage, and we're not sure if it's simply the video quality, or the intentional look of the title -- either way, it doesn't spoil the effect. We've tucked the clips away after the break, and re-ordered them to save our pick of the best for last, since on the NMH site, it was first.
Travis Touchdown has a comfortable home life
Suda 51 is really driving home the message that No More Heroes' Travis Touchdown is, well, not a hero. Famitsu has some screenshots of the home of Santa Destroy's newest hitman, a room in the austere No More Heroes Motel. And, as if the beam katana purchased at auction, and the numerous references to pro wrestling and anime fandom we've already heard, weren't enough, Travis's room gets the point across: our protagonist is an otaku. A nerd.Travis is the kind of guy who lives in a cheap apartment (actually a motel room) filled with anime figurines and electronics. Dude's got some kind of big robot model. A Nintendo 64 is clearly visible on one of his shelves. He's also irresponsible enough to go put himself in danger when he's got a kitten at home to take care of. We can't condone that kind of behavior. Well, we can in a video game, but none of you should go join a hitman circuit unless you've got someone willing to watch your cat.
TGS exhibition list light on Wii
This year's Tokyo Game Show doesn't look like it'll be as Wii-oriented as we would like. CESA, the organization that holds the show, has published a list of games to be exhibited at TGS, only eight of which are waggly. We're fairly sure that publishers wouldn't put previously unannounced games on a list before the show like this, so we assume that they're all holding back the new stuff. This looks like a list of show-floor playable games anyway, which usually doesn't include brand new games.We're happy despite the relatively small list, because it contains stuff like No More Heroes that we're dying to hear gameplay impressions of. Here are all the Wii games on the list: Nights: Journey of Dreams Ghost Squad Doraemon: Himitsu Doguo Kettei Sen Simple Wii Vol. 1 THE Everybody's Kart Race Simple Wii Vol. 2 THE Everybody's Bass Fishing Tournament Dragon Ball Z Sparking! METEOR No More Heroes Project O [Link goes to a Japanese .PDF file containing the full exhibition list for all systems.]
No More Heroes: more beam katanas and Raidenesque Irishmen
The latest No More Heroes site update reveals some of the different beam katana weapons that Travis Touchdown will be using in his quest to become the highest-ranked assassin in Santa Destroy for some reason. The "system" page has images of the pistol-gripped "Blood Berry," which is the katana that Travis wins from an auction, and the elegant Tsubaki, which is made for him by Naomi.We think we're going to scour eBay for a couple of hours now. We're definitely pro-beam katana, even if we feel pretty strongly anti-assassinating-folks.In other No More Heroes news, on the Kojima Productions Report podcast, voice actor Quinton Flynn revealed that he was a member of the No More Heroes voice cast, playing an Irish character named Henry. Flynn, best known for playing Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2, was on the podcast to discuss his upcoming reprisal of that role. But you guys knew all of that, because you already listen to the Kojima Productions Report every week, right?
