Why "No More Heroes 3" is Hot Garbage. (1/4)

(A blog rant)

Most likely nobody is gonna read this, but as you can tell, I'm a huge fan of Suda51. I am a sucker for weird and obscure games and Suda51 is like the godfather of that. I love his "Kill the Past" series, titles such as "Killer7 (2005)," "Flower, Sun and Rain (2001)," and of course "The Silver Case (1999)" also other things he's worked on such as "Lollipop Chainsaw" and "Killer is Dead" (which Lollipop Chainsaw is getting  remake this year in 2024) This guy even worked on "Deadly Premonition" if you know you know. 

No More Heroes was part of the "Kill The Past" series, it was also his prize possession. Having its first debut on the Wii in 2007, being one of the not-so-family-friendly games on the system (right next to MadWorld). I first played NMH when I was about 13 or 14 years old and fell in love with the game and got the sequels. After completing "No More Heroes", I got "No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle", then "Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes", then finally "No More Heroes 3". I was upset about how I heard NMH 3 was the last entry in the series, but I was hopeful it was going to go out with a good bang. 

I was wrong 

No More Heroes 3 has to be the sorriest excuse for a finale series right next to Bayonetta 3. It's hot garbage, the unique style of the game isn't there anymore, it feels almost soulless and the game feels unfinished.

The first thing that got people confused with the game's insane plot is that you NEED to play Travis Strikes Again to understand the story. And a side note: Travis Strikes Again has to be the most underrated games in the Kill the Past series, it has great music, a good aesthetic, and a good art direction. The problems start when you play the game. Getting EXP is fken exhausting, and (if you get the DLC) you need to level up 2 other characters as well. Shocker, I didn't manage to level up any of the other characters (Badman, Badgirl, and Shinobu) and just stuck with Travis because I played him a lot. If you're wondering why Travis Strikes Again doesn't look like...well... a No More Heroes Game, that's because it wasn't supposed to be. Originally it was another game that had no indirect tie with the NMH Story at all. The gameplay was supposed to be inspired by "Hotline Miami" (which is a GREAT game with an AMAZING story but just crappy and annoying gameplay) but they switched it to a NMH game last second.

Sadly that's another problem with TSA, people didn't want to play it. After all, it didn't function as an NMH game, more like a top-down perspective beat em' up. it's a No More Heroes game for the fans, but not.

Anywho. The story of Travis Strikes Again is after the events of No More Heroes 2, Travis actually leaves Santa Destroy to live in the middle of nowhere in Texas, trying to get away from the assassin lifestyle to make his family safe. It turns out he's now married to Sylvia Crystal and has two kids (Hunter and Jeanne, but they're not important...yet) During the intro of the game, Dan Smith (the man!)  from Killer7 gives Shigeki Birkin (Badman) a Death Ball. 

You may be asking "What are Death Balls? And why does Badman need them?" Well, Death Balls are like Dragon Balls from DBZ, If you collect enough you get a wish blah blah blah, but to collect the Death Balls you have to play games on the unreleased game console called the "Death Drive Mk II" also known as "The Phantom Game Console" made by Dr. Juneville which is Dr. Naomi's sister.

It turns out that Badman's daughter, Charlotte, was killed by Travis. You can put two and two together and figure out Charlotte Birkin is Badgirl from NMH1. Travis doesn't want to make any wishes but Badman's wish is to have his little girl back, they both team up while Badman fights to get Badgirl back and Travis achieves a dream of finishing and beating the Death Drive console.

After defeating the last boss of Travis Strikes Again, they now have the 7 Dragon Balls 6 Death Balls to make a wish, but it turns out one of them is fake so the closest thing that Badgirl reincarnated as is... a dog.
In the end, Shinobu comes back, saying she was searching around for Travis for years and now she runs a dojo for kids. Also, Henry is possibly in a CIA-type cult somehow, but that totally won't be a confusing plotline in No More Heroes 3! Also, 2 Luche libre aliens come by to deliver some dialogue about how they're gonna take over Earth or something.

If you play the DLC, Badgirl finally gets reincarnated as a human and you get to play as Shinobu and Badgirl. 

You got that?

Good. 

Since you understood that plot, you're gonna need it for NMH3. 

Now listen, I have no problem with TSA, I feel like it's an alright game at best, but I can understand how some people got turned off because No More Heroes 3 is a DIRECT SEQUEL to Travis Strikes Again, not NMH2. So if you played NMH2 and went onto NMH3 (like how I was going to do, but stopped myself and bought TSA) you wouldn't understand what is going on. So playing TSA is important but people didn't want to play it since it's not a regular old-fashioned NMH game, which is totally understandable because even I didn't want to play it at first. 

OK SO NOW NO MORE HEROES 3. IF YOU HAVE ALL THAT NOW YOU CAN PLAY THE THIRD ONE! (Or let me explain it from memory!)

Blog 1/4