No More Heroes
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No More Heroes 2 finally coming to Japan with deluxe edition
Marvelous has finally gotten around to announcing a Japanese release date for No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle. Suda 51's revenge-themed action sequel will be released in Japan on October 21 -- nine months after the game's North American release. Marvelous is compensating for the delay somewhat by offering a lovely "HOPPER's Edition" that contains the game, a soundtrack CD, a DVD recapping the events of the first game, and a new "No More Heroes 1.5" movie written by Suda 51, detailing what happened between the two games -- which means, we guess, that Travis didn't spend the whole time watching wrestling in his motel room. We hope. Those interested in this version will have to provide some compensation of their own, to the tune of ¥8,980 ($102). A regular edition will also be released for ¥7,140 ($81). Early purchases of either version will come with an "erotica comic" featuring character artwork and a recap of the previous game.
Suda 51: 'no plan' for No More Heroes 3
Suda 51 has said in the past (using typically scatological terms) that Grasshopper Manufacture has thought about making a No More Heroes 3. However, according to a Cubed3 interview with the designer, the studio has yet to start any kind of work on a new sequel. "Unfortunately, the story for Travis alone is completed in No More Heroes 2. I am very curious about his life after this," Suda told Cubed3, "however, we have no plan for No More Heroes 3." Later in the interview, Suda expressed his enthusiasm for the Killer 7 franchise, saying that it was "a very very important game for me" and "part of my soul." As for the long lost DS port The Silver Case, Suda revealed that development on the port of Grasshopper's first game was finished, and now Suda is considering "what would be the best way to debut this game on a worldwide basis. "
No More Heroes remakes outsold the original by a little
We're not going to say that No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise is a hit, but those of us in constant fear of Marvelous running out of money can breathe a sigh of relief, as the remake has brought a little cash in (more considering that the game is a port and therefore probably less expensive to produce). In fact, both versions managed to make it into the Media Create top ten, with the PS3 version's 16,000 copies securing a #7 position and the Xbox 360 version's 15,000 copies at #8. Both of these actually outperformed the Wii original, which sold 11,700 copies in its debut week back in 2007. Now that we think about it, however, the real story might be that 15,000 people in Japan bought an Xbox 360 game in a single week. %Gallery-78530%
No More Heroes: Wii vs. Xbox 360
No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise was released in Japan last week, allowing the site PS360 to set to work comparing the new HD version (in this case the Xbox 360 release), ported by Feelplus, to the Wii original. After the break, you can see the intro to both versions, presented in split-screen. We suggest watching them in full-screen, because you can't really compare resolutions or detail inside a tiny window. You can, however, see noticeable differences in texture detail, and especially shading -- the Xbox version has crazy high-contrast shadows on everything. You can also hear the new Japanese voice acting, which sounds totally silly. The second video compares load times between the Xbox 360 version installed to the hard drive and the Wii's disc-based version. Surprisingly, in some cases, the Xbox game takes much longer to load! While that's not a huge deal-breaker, Siliconera reports that users are complaining on Amazon about freezing as well. It's hard to determine how widespread the issue is, because it's an Xbox 360 game released in Japan, and thus probably not in that many hands.
Beam saber savings: No More Heroes 2 for $35
If you couldn't find room in your budget for No More Heroes 2 amid the first quarter's overloaded lineup, perhaps Amazon's latest deal will encourage you to spend a little of that tax refund on the temporarily discounted sequel. Earth's Biggest Bookstore (remember when Amazon called itself a bookstore?) has marked down Travis Touchdown's revenge story to $35. It's the Deal of the Day, so when supplies run out or the clock strikes midnight Pacific Time, there will be no more cheap No More Heroes 2. If you have yet to experience the delightfully bizarre original, the Xbox 360 and PS3 ports were released in Japan this week.
Suda 51 hoping for a 'diarrhea'-like No More Heroes 3
[Famitsu] Not only has Suda 51 been thinking about a third No More Heroes game, he's been working on his scatological simile for its development -- so you know he's serious. To recap: No More Heroes was like taking a dump, and No More Heroes 2 was the result of lingering on the toilet afterwards. Yes, this is how the man sells his games. "What we are hoping to do now with No More Heroes 3," the Grasshopper Manufacture leader told The Guardian in a video interview, "is probably to digest everything we eat and then purge absolutely everything in our guts, just like diarrhea!" In no way is this ... vivid ... description a confirmation that the game is definitely being released, but it is further indication that Suda wants to make such a game. Speaking about the troubled state of the Japanese game market (without the use of poop metaphors), Suda said, "I am aware of the importance of the Japanese game industry, but we need to try not to think about how the market is behaving. Instead, we should concentrate on polishing our creativity, and taking our creativity to a higher level." [Via Siliconera]
No More Heroes 2 set for May 28 in Europe
Okay, now we have an official European release date for No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Rising Star Games has finally announced what we hope is the final date: May 28. Rising Star didn't mention a reason for the delay, though at least you can take heart in the fact that none of the extra time was spent removing blood from the game. If you're feeling put off by the four-month wait -- or if you're having a flashback to the past of European game publishing, when everything came out half a year or more after the North American release -- at least you don't have it as bad as Japan. There, No More Heroes 2 still has no release date at all.
Rumor: No More Heroes 2 delayed in Europe
Remember when we triumphantly announced that No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle would finally arrive in Europe this April? Yeah, about that. GoNintendo reports that the game has been delayed until May 21 in Europe. The Amazon listing corroborates this new date, but we have yet to see an official announcement from Rising Star (so we're checking with the publisher). We'd say the game is well worth waiting for, but we doubt our endorsement would actually help anyone wait. In fact, it would probably make the wait even harder. Good thing we decided not to say that.
Suda 51 wants to make new IP for Natal and PlayStation Motion Controller
Grasshopper Manufacture studio head Suda 51 is "very interested" in working on games for both Microsoft's Project Natal and the PlayStation Motion Controller, he told GameSpot UK. However, his interest doesn't lie in adapting No More Heroes or other Grasshopper games to the new control scheme. "I will make some original IP to fit that control system," he said. No More Heroes was the result of experimentation with the Wii Remote, and the same will be required for the other systems. Suda said that the new IP would be designed in response to the control scheme. Suda also spoke about Heavy Rain, saying that he approved of "designs and anything that gives new experiences to the players." Given his history with mindbending adventure games, his interest in the title comes as little surprise.
New trailer for No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise adds to our frustration
Other than providing a more specific April release date of the 15th (in Japan at least), the latest trailer for No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise which we've dropped after the break does little but fill us with frustration. First and foremost, we don't have any idea what it says because the whole thing's in Japanese. Second, the quick cuts don't give us enough of a chance to ogle the newly HDified graphics in the Xbox 360 and PS3 port. Third, we wanna see pure madness produced by that light ... sword (not a saber, that's for sure) if the game's gonna be in HD. We might normally say something at this point about hoping for the best when the game arrives at retail, but this one's a Japan-only release, folks. Time to bust out that extra milk money (and Japanese dictionary) for the import copy, eh? %Gallery-78530%
EEDAR: No More Heroes 2 sold less than 30k in January
It's sad to admit it, but we never expect any third-party "core" Wii game to sell well -- regardless of its quality or the hype behind it. Lowered expectations mean that when such a title doesn't absolutely tank, it's great news! And the sales of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, as reported by EEDAR in its "Retail Sales Review for January," fall somewhere in that "didn't absolutely tank" area, especially since the game was on sale for less than a week in January. (There's certainly room for a few more people to go out and pick it up, though.) "No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle has scored top reviews averaging a 90 (out of 100) since its release," EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich said in the EEDAR report. "However, sales came less than 30,000 units for its first week (January 26, 2010 release)." Divinich compared the lowish sales to Dead Space Extraction and MadWorld, both of which also had "low marketing budgets, which is likely the wrong strategy to use when attempting to target the Wii consumer, even if you are targeting the 'core' market." When is that ever the right strategy?
Suda 51 interested in continuing No More Heroes on next Nintendo console
First look at the next Wii's controller In an interview in July, Suda 51 told Edge that the next No More Heroes game wouldn't be on Wii. Speaking to Game Informer, the Grasshopper Manufacture head clarified the statement. It won't be on Wii, but it could end up on the Nintendo system that comes after the Wii. "If there is a chance to continue No More Heroes, I am interested in making NMH3," Suda said. "I personally think that NMH is a game for Wii, so I would be very happy if I could make a game for the Wii's successor, whenever that might be." We're already delighted about using futuristic space waggle for the next generation of beheadings.
No More Heroes 2 touches down in Europe in April
Europe has been waiting patiently for No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle -- except, of course, for those within Europe who imported it and had to wait only for shipping from the US. Rising Star Games has finally announced a release window for Grasshopper Manufacture's mass-assassination adventure: the end of April. No coin fountains this time for the European market, either. Unlike the first game, the European release of No More Heroes 2 will be completely uncensored. In fact, Rising Star was careful to point out in the press release that the game contains "red blood. Lots and lots of red blood."
Silent Hill composer Yamaoka joins Suda 51's 'video game band'
Akira Yamaoka, composer of every Silent Hill score except one, and producer on every title in the series since 3, has joined Suda 51's studio, Grasshopper Manufacture, following his departure from Konami last month. Yamaoka has already contributed tracks to this month's No More Heroes 2 and is working on music for EA's mysterious Suda/Shinji Mikami action horror game. Though we were once concerned about the long wait time for the collaborative project (or any information about it), now that the wait has resulted in the addition of Yamaoka to its development team, we don't mind. At all. "Ever since I saw a video of Silent Hill 2 at the Tokyo Game Show nine years ago, I've always dreamed of working alongside him," Suda told Famitsu, as translated by 1UP. "That's why I thought I'd invite him over when I started hearing rumors that he left [Konami]." "It was a case of really good timing," Yamaoka said. "I knew about Suda long before I met him; I saw Grasshopper as one of those few Japanese outfits whose games can appeal to an overseas audience. I had a chance to meet him in Los Angeles and we talked about this and that, and once we started discussing how we wanted to do something creative for a world audience, I was hooked on the company." Also new to Grasshopper: Kazutoshi Iida, creator of Aquanaut's Holiday, Tail of the Sun, Doshin the Giant, and Discipline, who will certainly make the already idiosyncratic works of Grasshopper Manufacture even stranger. [Via GameSetWatch]
No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise delayed in Japan
Japan is currently in the midst of a No More Heroes drought. Not only has Marvelous yet to give a release date to No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (which is out this week in North America!), the publisher has also announced a delay for the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 port of the original game, called No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise. Originally set for release on February 25, Heroes' Paradise won't be delivering upgraded graphics and inappropriate new costumes for the female characters until April. Siliconera postulated that Marvelous is moving things into its next quarter in an attempt to boost profits in that period. %Gallery-78530% [Via Siliconera]
Metareview: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
The sequel to one of the Wii's best (and best-known) games dropped this week with approximately zero fanfare. Yes, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is in stores now. Reviews are starting to come in for Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture's latest -- let's find out if the new story and new bosses hold up to the first extraordinarily bizarre game, and if the removal of the navigable Santa Destroy is truly a good thing. GameSpy (5/5): " If Metroid Prime can be imprudently named "the 'Citizen Kane' of gaming," this is gaming's "Wu-Tang Forever" -- an intensely focused return to gritty braggadocio form, backed by high production values and a gang of inimitable emcees." 1UP (A-): "By being the high-quality, consistently enjoyable action game it wanted to be the first time around, Desperate Struggle is now a must-buy, and at the very least, finally makes the series deserving of the evangelism surrounding it." Gamepro (4.5/5): " It's evident from the game's tutorial battle that Suda has paid close attention to what his fans wanted out of a No More Heroes sequel, and Desperate Struggle delivers from start to finish Game Informer (8.5): "In interviews about the game, Suda51 implied that he was reluctant to do a sequel -- usually a bad sign -- but perhaps forcing his team to focus on refining a single idea was the best thing that could have happened. In No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, they have crafted everything fans could want out of a sequel. All the bad stuff from the original is gone or fixed in some way, and all of the good elements are magnified and improved."
This Week on the Nintendo Channel: Slim pickings
This week's Nintendo Channel update is light on the content. There's the obligatory fresh episode of Nintendo Week (this week's episode is about marshmallows and marketing games on Nintendo platforms), but, outside of that, it's just a bunch of info videos for this week's NintendoWare Weekly offerings and some new, brief teasers for No More Heroes 2. Head past the break for a breakdown of this week's content.
No More Heroes 2 dev diary is the swirling eye of madness
All things considered, you probably shouldn't watch the No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle dev diary we've posted above. It's pretty NSFW, it's chock-full of spoilers for the original Heroes (and even some for the sequel!), and it features more shots of Suda 51 sitting on the toilet than we're really comfortable with seeing. On the other hand, it also sets a new precedent for how enjoyable these developer diaries can be. Instead of a bunch of dudes sitting in a dimly lit room talking about how awesome their game is, it's just Suda, sitting in a bathroom stall, talking about how awesome his game is, and then his head explodes. We take back the entire first paragraph of this post. If you don't watch the video posted above, then we simply can't be friends anymore.
Just Dance with Suda51
Okay, so it's a bit odd for Ubisoft to release a promo in January for a casual game that came out in November, starring a game industry figure who nobody in the target audience would be familiar with. But you know what else is a bit odd? Goichi Suda. In the video after the break, see the No More Heroes creator dance to MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" with Frag Doll "Psyche" in Ubisoft's Just Dance. It's likely to be the best video of a Japanese game designer dancing to a vintage hip-hop crossover hit you'll see today! But do let us know if you see a better one. [Via GSW]
This Week on the Nintendo Channel: No More Heroes 2 teasers
To say that No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is an odd game is a gross understatement. The first game was certifiably insane (in a very good way), and the pair of new trailers for the game (one above, one past the break) on the Nintendo Channel keep that theme alive. They're both just downright odd, mixing together -- you know what? Just watch them. We're not even going to attempt to define what's here. Head past the break for the full list of this week's Nintendo Channel content.
