No More Heroes III Review (Switch): Otaku-Assassin-a-Go-Go

Last Updated on: 16th September 2021, 04:04 pm

Goichi Suda (known as SUDA51) is the only person crazy enough to conceive of a series like No More Heroes, let alone something like No More Heroes III. After waiting for so long, finally seeing another sequel to such a beloved and niche series feels like a strange fever dream. But “fever dream” is far too reductive of a term to describe this game, so we’re gonna try a bit harder.

Really, playing No More Heroes III is like listening to a new album made by that one band you’ve listened to all of your life. They’ve been around for a very long time and have kept all of their original members, but they’re still up to their old tricks even in 2021. However, some of those tricks make for incredible sounds, that even make you question how good the old stuff was. But you’ll get the occasional dud once in a while, as not everything old is completely gold.

Okaeri, Travis Touchdown!

The aesthetic that SUDA51 fostered with the original No More Heroes stands strong even now in 2021; the distinct feel of Santa Destroy still elicits the sensation of visiting Venice Beach during summer (don’t visit Venice Beach, it sucks). The streets are barren, lined up with the occasional NPC but also with the occasional landmark that reminds you a lot of the series’ Wii roots, sometimes a little too well.

It’s only Santa Destroy and some of the combat arenas that are the nicer environments that the game has to offer, as all of the new additions to the world of No More Heroes aren’t all that impressive, and actually come off as downright ugly sometimes. The biggest issue is that they have none of the memorable landmarks that Santa Destroy has, as they all feel similarly barren and lifeless but without any of the identifiers that make Santa Destroy simply memorable.

Perfect World, Thunder Dome, Call of Battle, and Neo Brazil all blend together sometimes, despite having different music to somewhat differentiate them. They all have the same NPCs and have you interact with all of them in the exact same way; nothing is really all that unique about any of them. This was the strength of the original No More Heroes, as while it mostly took place in Santa Destroy, it made sure to make every environment you visit at least distinguishable from one another.

There’s not all that much flair or pizazz to any of these locations and that hurts exploration in this game. When everything blends together, you don’t really feel compelled to look around for every collectible in the game. Really, the one thing that Suda and team got spot-on was the character design, as they’re all absolutely perfect.

Travis and friends’ designs are all wonderful evolutions from what we’ve gotten before. The fact that different artists (such as Inio Asano, creator of Goodnight Punpun) contributed some character designs really makes those particular encounters that much more memorable.

Every main character in this game is distinct and well designed with particular attention given to Travis himself, who is once again sporting the red jacket with punk rock jeans. Much like the previous games, he has a plethora of custom-made shirts and outfits that allow the player to express what kind of Travis they want slicing and dicing the various aliens in the game. You get these so frequently that you’re bound to find some kind of style that you’ll want to stick with for the entire game.

Here’s my personal favorite. I like the contrasting colors a lot, it really gets the message out there.

Definite praise has to be given to the anime opening and ending themes that are in every “episode” you play through. Without fail, you can watch an opening theme and ending theme before you get into the game proper and it is honestly a nice touch. Sure, some won’t be too keen on the Netflix next episode button show up after finishing an episode, but I personally couldn’t help but watch every single opening and ending theme, even if they were all basically the same.

Really all of the music in this is pretty great, whether you’re watching the anime portions of the game or are in the middle of combat, there’s always an appropriate track playing. When fighting enemies, the pulse-pounding music gives a sense of urgency to the proceedings, while the epic flourish that plays once you kill the final enemy is satisfying to hear every time.

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Shaking is the soul of Switch controls

This is a game about killing right? So, how’s the killing this time around? Pretty damn satisfying honestly. Travis has not played this smoothly in so long, and he now has plenty of tricks up his sleeve to keep up with the new alien enemies. Dodging is now relegated to the A button instead of the right stick like it was in previous entries, which can definitely take some time to get used to if you’re coming off of Desperate Struggle in particular.

In addition to hacking and slashing with his beam katana, Travis now has a plethora of extra abilities to throw out courtesy of his Death Glove. You can slow enemies down, summon a turret for passive damage, telekinetic throw fools at your leisure, and of course, my personal favorite, throw out a real meaty dropkick.

Seeing that camera pull in tight and shake as you knock an enemy on its ass never gets old. When you couple this with the rest of the Death Glove abilities, you get the most kinetic and fast-paced No More Heroes entry to date.

In addition to the usual roulette mechanic from previous games that would randomly grant you some sort of powerup upon activating the roulette, we also get a mech suit to occasionally play with. Yes, once in a while, Travis will utter in the language of the weebs, “Henshin!” and immediately suit up in an admittedly sick suit of space armor. You can fly and shoot all sorts of projectiles while in this mode, all the while staving off the need to giggle with glee whenever you get to do this.

These sections are relegated to boss fights and the occasional roulette powerup, unfortunately, so you don’t get to use the suit too often. But when you do, damn, is it quite the rush! It’s a definite nice change of pace from just hacking away at enemies with the beam katana and makes for a good proof of concept for any SHMUPs Suda may want to make in the future.

Travis isn’t the only one to get upgrades, however, as your alien opponents have ways of taking you out right away if you’re not quick on dispatching them. They’re a hell of a lot quicker and aggressive than enemies in the older games, as they have more abilities that aren’t just adding a gun or a particularly beefy enemy to the mix. They launch orbs, sometimes teleport around, sometimes stun you and even match your blade skills whenever possible; these capabilities are spread throughout a nicely sized enemy roster.

Without a doubt, this game is fairly challenging early on if you’re very reckless and run in without any situational awareness. It is totally possible to enter the first boss fight and immediately lose because you were so damn sure of yourself. Don’t stop being confident, however, as an aggressive playstyle is viable, but you definitely need to have a handle on Travis’ new movement and abilities so you don’t get creamed.

Before you can do any fights, however, you need to pony up the cash to challenge the next major boss; this in of itself is in line with the other main games in the series, but there have been some changes this time around. For one, you need to do “designated fights” before you can even deposit the specific amount of money for that ranking’s fight. This new addition replaces the level that you’d complete before challenging the boss in other games. This time, you fight a set amount curated battles with random mobs and acquire three gems that allow you to access the ATM to deposit the money.

While this revamped structure to the game is interesting, it definitely has some drawbacks in regards to theming around the boss fights. Personally, I liked the little lead-up to the big bad in each ranking fight in the previous games; you got to take on dozens of enemies and flex your skills before engaging the boss in a one-on-one duel. It was a nice bit of drama that had you feel excited for whatever was to come at the end.

The absence of levels in No More Heroes III isn’t a dealbreaker, but it does make for some tedious structure especially towards the end. The enemies are fun, but as soon as you get to the later bosses, the designated fights start throwing out tankier enemies in abundance. Given that enemies can dish out damage painfully and quickly, it makes the last couple of designated matches feel particularly brutal at times.

Thankfully, you get plenty of currency and upgrade material from these matches, but that also has the effect of rendering the side job mini-games that the series is known for as completely pointless. If you do every designated match during a specific episode, you’ll have more than enough to pay the entry fee for the next match, which means you don’t really have to do many side jobs at all. To be blunt, however, these side jobs aren’t as fun as the ones from the previous games.

Hunting for trash in alligator-infested waters is good fun, but digging for WESN (the aforementioned upgrade material) in lava-filled caves and mowing grass isn’t all that satisfying. Other activities like using a giant turret to protect the shore from giant alligators and using your motorbike to take down speeding street punks are also nice additions, but are again, not all that worth doing. It’s worth it to try each one at least once, but the novelty wears off right away.

One rather confusing minigame is one where you occasionally have to unclog a toilet in a new location; this makes the toilet available as a new savepoint but feels pointless as there’s usually one not too far away. It’s worth doing for a laugh though, so it’s not completely pointless.

Tying all of this together is an open-world space that is filled with icons and collectibles, but is unfortunately hampered by performance issues at every turn. Get ready to see some rough-looking models and plenty of slowdowns whenever you accelerate in particular areas of the overworld. This makes getting around just a bit more annoying than it needs to be, as it wears on your eyes the more you look at how janky the overworld is. Thankfully, the boss fights themselves run perfectly smooth, but it would’ve been nice if everything ran smooth.

If you happen to like any of those boss fights, there’s a neat feature that allows you to challenge any boss you’ve beaten so far on any difficulty that is available at the time. This not only lets you farm upgrade materials for Travis’ stats but also crafting materials that allow you to create Death Glove chips, add-ons to the Death Glove that do things like boost strength, defense, the effectiveness of Death Glove abilities, and even increase the slowdown that activates when performing a perfect dodge.

The Death Glove chips are pretty nice but not too necessary once you get the ones you want. I only found myself switching two the entire game and I did just fine by pumping in WESN into Travis’ health and damage capabilities. You could spend time crafting every chip and see which ones tickle your fancy but they aren’t absolutely essential to finish the game. The extra slowdown on perfect dodges is very nice though.

Part man, part assassin, all Otaku

Did you ever think that a series about a horny otaku turned legendary assassin would have any kind of cohesive story? Of course, you didn’t. But you’re only partly right. The story of No More Heroes III is bombastic, fun, confusing, and absolutely never ceases to amaze with its emphasis on spectacle. The story this time around takes place right after the events of the side game, Travis Strikes Again, where Travis Touchdown is drawn into a fight for the fate of the world.

A megalomaniacal alien named Jess-Baptiste VI, or FU for short, returns to Earth after befriending one Damon Ricotello as a child twenty years ago. Alongside his “friend,” he creates the Galactic Superhero Rankings and challenges Earth’s finest to reach and challenge him for his top spot. It’s a pretty straightforward premise but is injected with plenty of SUDA51 charm and insanity throughout, as it keeps you on your toes with absurd twists and story beats.

Throughout the game, we get probably the most down-to-earth version of our favorite otaku assassin. Travis this time around is much more compassionate, daresay, heroic, at times; he’s much more interested in having a quieter life as evidenced by the opening scene of the game. But he’s absolutely willing to throw down if it means protecting his loved ones; Travis in the previous games was much more chaotic but still showed a lot of that compassionate side we see here.

By this point in the series, Travis has grown up a fair bit; he’s forty years old and has two kids he admittedly doesn’t see too often. He’s since accepted fan-favorite character, Shinobu Jacobs, as his student when the Travis of old adamantly refused to take her on as such. He worries about others often, tries to ask his eccentric wife Sylvia about their kids, and generally comes off as a more centered and responsible individual this time around.

For the most part anyway. He’s still quick-witted and excited for the violence alongside us, so don’t think he’s gotten soft here.

No More Heroes III does a good job of playing the entire cast off of Travis quite well, as he’s the one that gets the most attention here while everyone else does their own thing. The few appearances of Travis’ entourage work well when they happen, and make for moments that are genuinely entertaining to see play out. If you’re not even remotely interested in checking out Takashi Miike after finishing this game, then maybe you just played it wrong.

What would a good hero story be without some sick villains to do battle with the hero? Luckily, the cast of antagonists in No More Heroes III are all varied and fun to watch. They aren’t too complex by themselves, but when they’re paired alongside the main antagonist, FU, there’s more to them than meets the eye. And that small bit of depth is dealt with in the usual SUDA51 way. If you don’t know what that means, then just play the game to find out.

FU himself is a pretty impressive antagonist in my opinion and makes for a real match of Travis’ abilities throughout the story. He’s arrogant, psychotic, playful, and strangely attached to many of his crew that you’re expected to cut down at some point. Some of his cutscenes come off as insightful towards his character and are then juxtaposed with some absurdity soon after.

Absurd really is the best way to describe the plot of No More Heroes III, as not one single boss fight will feel like the last. Every single major antagonist you square off with has their own schtick and is quick to ratchet up the crazy dial that Travis just rolls with. Nothing fazes anyone in this game or any of the previous ones, and that really makes up the bulk of where the comedy in the games comes from. No More Heroes III doesn’t miss a beat in this regard and is fully in line with the other games in regards to the level of batshit crazy events that go on in every scene.

The main difference this time around is that Travis has more opportunities to slow things down and actually relax. It’s in these moments where that aforementioned shift in character comes into play, as the conversations with Bishop are some of the most chill we’ve ever seen Travis be. When other characters eventually join in later scenes, the laid-back nature of the scenes never falters.

It makes for a story where the churlish attitude of the antagonist is contrasted nicely against the crude but likable personality of the protagonist. Both of these characters are messed up in their own way but only one of them is actually fun to be around. The other one is just an asshole that is still fun to watch but is definitely someone you don’t want to follow.

The one thing about the story that I will warn about is that it definitely requires you to play the previous games to really get a good appreciation for where the characters have ended up as of No More Heroes III. I could maybe see someone picking this up as their introduction to the series, but they would not appreciate where Travis has ended up in this newest entry as much as they could if they played the other games.

There’s not too much worry about continuity in this series as it plays with its concepts fast and loose but just be warned that certain relationships and story beats do require some familiarity of the characters as they were in previous games.

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No More Heroes? For real?

Prior to its release, SUDA51 has made a public statement regarding what comes after No More Heroes III, essentially confirming that this entry is the last one in the series. To quote part of the statement, he says:

“…Travis Touchdown will finally be coming to the end of his final battle, and will be embarking on a much-deserved, long journey…Goodbye, Travis. Goodbye, No More Heroes. Goodbye, fleeting moments and days. Farewell, to all Travis Touchdowns everywhere.”

Goichi Suda

If No More Heroes III really is the end of Travis Touchdown’s adventures, then it’s a hell of a way to go out. No More Heroes III is the bombastic and absurd send off the series deserved, and while it could’ve used some more polish in places, the passion underneath the rough spots is very notable. SUDA51’s send off to Travis Touchdown is equal parts insane and endearing all at once. There is no doubt in my mind that he loves the world of No More Heroes and will definitely miss the main cast as time goes on.

Will this absolutely be the last we see of Travis and friends? More than likely. But maybe there’s a chance Suda will fit them somewhere else alongside that guy from Shadows of the Damned in a visual novel, or maybe in cart racing form. Anything is possible with the boundless creativity of SUDA51 and his team at Grasshopper Manufacture.

If you’re even remotely curious about the series, then consider playing the first game. Then the second. Then Travis Strikes Again. Then come back to this review and decide if No More Heroes III is worth dropping $60 right now. Let’s be honest though, if you’ve played the other games, you’ve probably already bought this one.

For the uninitiated, consider visiting the Garden of Insanity sometime. There’s plenty of anime and Takashi Miike here to enjoy.