No more continuity (sort of)

Despite the brevity of No More Heroes' alternating sections, it continues to innovate within its own universe. Instead of the third title bout being preceded by a standard slash and run section, you're put on a bus and locked into a mid-zoomed side-scrolling view as you fight minions on the way to the next title fight.

Then, continuing with an alternative execution, the third bout isn't a straight up fight but rather a match that requires you to interact with the environment and to be aware of your surroundings. The third ranked assassin, Speed Buster, is an old bag lady with a giant cannon. Travis can withstand the cannon's blast, but it knocks him down the deserted ruins of the street on which the fight takes place.

So, what you need to do is find alleys and breakable doors to enter to escape the cannon's blast and to preserve your progress up the street and toward her. Once you're close enough, however, the match doesn't turn into just another fight, but you find a way to destroy the cannon, and thus demoralize Speed Buster to the point where she admits defeat and is, as stipulated in the assassin ranking rules, killed.

Curiously, though the game keeps the death of Thunder Ryu constant after he's killed by Speed Buster, it seems that Travis' difficulty killing women, as seen in the fight with Holly Summers, has been completely forgotten.

The game also missed a great opportunity to be entirely insane in this fight.

When it was revealed that the third ranked assassin was a witch, and I saw the motel exit screen linger as Travis' cat Jeane walked out after him, I was sure that Jeane was that witch. Perhaps, though, that idea never occurred to Suda51, or it was deemed too predictable. Still, it would have been incredibly interesting to see the fallout from it. Plus, it would have added a weird dimension to the seemingly pointless play/pet sessions with Jeane that you can access at any time at the motel.

Not to mention, the requirement to kill a defeated opponent could have been an incredibly psychological moment for Travis had the witch been Jeane. But I suppose No More Heroes just isn't that kind of game.