No more game

It seems that my sense of timing is off. Starting at around 11, I figured that I could get through the final stretch of No More Heroes in under three hours. What I didn't factor in was the extra time I'd need to fully upgrade the final beam sword. Oh well, doing so made the end of the game ridiculously easy (even if it's already on the lowest difficulty setting).

At full power, the Tsubaki Mk-III is practically unstoppable. It's fast enough to get through most defenses, powerful enough to take out multiple enemies at once, and the easiest to get unbroken attack chains/combos with. Though, even more to its credit, it punishes button mashing by having Travis swing it around in huge arcs, leaving him wide open in between each swing. However, if you're a good judge of distance and combat timing, then that's no problem.

That sword definitely made easy work of the final three bosses.

Of Bad Girl, Jeane, and Henry (the "secret" real final fight), the most difficult was definitely Bad Girl. Not because she was the most powerful, but because the bout with her puts you into a small space with a fighter that uses a variety of unblockable and blockable attacks. So it becomes a matter of waiting for the right time to step in and strike, or to block and dark step so that you can get a slash in edgewise. Not to mention, of all of the game's bosses Bad Girl has the most vigour - even the usually super effective wrestling moves only take out slivers of her health bar. Jeane and Henry on the other hand were practically pushovers.

The challenge to Jeane comes from her speed, but any landed hit, it seemed, was a hit felt. The same went for Henry. In fact, dark stepping around Henry's attacks was far more effective than it was against Jeane. They actually landed and had some effect.

After watching both of the game's endings, all I can say is that the bad one is bad and the good one is all right.

For a game that's relatively short (by no means did I get everything, but I finished all that counts and did so in 17 hours), it's fairly story-heavy in its start and its ending, but leaves the story to the player in the middle. It also gets very meta, with fast forwarding cutscenes, references to other games that at the time of No More Heroes' initial release had been long delayed, and open references to "the player." Having these patches of story and development at opposite ends of the game makes it pretty unbalanced though.

I mean, having been away from the game for at least a year, I can't say whether or not the game's opening would still be fresh in your mind after 16 hours. Even then I can't see too many people binging and beating this thing in one long session. Though, curiously, it is just long enough to fill an entire day, even with quick meal and bathroom breaks factored in. Along with a six hour sleep beforehand.

Nonetheless, for all of its imperfections, No More Heroes really grew on me as I played through it. The first five or so hours (before all the shops were unlocked, and grinding for cash between title bouts became easier/faster) were fairly dull, but after that it really picked up. So long as the game's sequel carries on with the original's late-game playability right away, I'm definitely interested in it. Even if it doesn't, I'd still be willing to give it a go. Wielding the Mk-III is kind of intoxicating, after all.

No more Mk-II

I had enough for the next title bout and could have entered it. Instead, I went and bought the latest model of the beam sword from Dr. Naomi. This is the Tsubaki Mk-III.

This one's the truest beam "katana" yet. Based on Thunder Ryu's katana (surprise!), it features a classic square cross guard and long hilt. Based on the way Travis swings it around in extra big arcs, it's quite a bit lighter than the Mk-II, as well. However, because of those big arcs and its light weight, it's pretty lousy for defense. Thankfully, the Mk-III's speed really makes up for that. Without the attachments to reduce the power it uses and to increase its reach, though, it's not yet perfect. 

Anyway, the thing that allowed me to afford this £50,000 sword and then recoup that amount (with a little extra to boot) is assassination mission no. 18. This is a timed free fight against a random group of respawning minions. It's in fairly close quarters so simultaneous kills are easy to pull off. You get £1,500/kill, but in three minutes it's downright shocking how close you can get to 100 of them. Add in the pocket change you pick up from each one, and you've got a very lucrative, short mission indeed. Much shorter than the 100 kill mission that gives you 5 minutes to get there, and in a tighter space too. At times what shows on the screen is veritably Quentin Tarantino's grindhouse wet dream - just absolutely absurd fountains of spraying, misting red blood that fill your view.

It sounds like it's way over the top. And it is. But somehow this hyper violence is removed enough from reality to keep it from being absolutely abhorrent. I've got Trauma Center: Second Opinion on my list of games to play, and am more worried about that one being too gory to take in my usual half hour doses. No More Heroes is just far too excessive in its violence to be anything other than an absurdist indulgence.

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.

No more story

For a game that oscillates between hardcore violence and low level/wacky minigames, No More Heroes is short. Maybe even as is to be expected from such a game.

I mean, really, there's no story to it. A guy who's into Japanese pop culture and Mexican wrestling wants to be the top assassin in America. It almost sounds like something from Infinite Jest. But it never could be found in that tome, because that's where the story ends.

This guy wants to get into the panties of this woman who offers him the chance to fulfil his dream, and she promises she'll let him once he succeeds. You can add that to his motivation, actually.

If his psychology were delved into, his reasons for wanting what he does, then he could be compared to Orin Incandenza in some ways. In a way, the name Travis Touchdown almost grasps at the comparison, but never reaches it.

Cat finding and gas pumping are nevertheless (strangely) entertaining distractions between the game's bouts of violence. A mix that also sort of mirrors Infinite Jest's switching between acts of horrific violence/behaviour and slightly off and awkward plot meanderings. Well, kind of like how the biggest beetle in the field mirrors a lion in the Serengeti.

No more dreamless sleep

Even though the map of Santa Destroy is rather small, you'd think that a city would have enough to it to keep locations from repeating. Yet, the fourth title bout brings you right back to the subway station. It's a fairly short visit, though.

In fact, just one section of the subway station involved fighting minions. After that Travis gets on the train, falls asleep, and then the way to the title bout lays before you. So why did it take me some 20 minutes to get through this short lead up? Because of Travis' dream.

While he sleeps a screen shows up, out of the blink to black. This screen prompts you to take the nunchuk out of the Wiimote. Once you do so, you're shown the title screen for a minigame: Pure White Giant Glastonbury. It's a bullet hell style game with a mecha anime art style that's thankfully forgiving enough to give you infinite continues. You probably don't need to beat the game, but I did, and so I can only guess that it helped out in some way.

The boss fight for fourth lent itself much more readily to my "wait-and-see" strategy than the last actual bout and so I was never thrown for much of a loop. The boss' d-pad/direction reversal gimmick forced me to think as I whittled his health down, but otherwise, it was basically a difficult minion fight.

No more baseball

The Tsubaki Mk II would make a great baseball bat. It's got a circumference about three times that of the Mk I, and is definitely heavier. So the assassination missions wherein you replay the pitch and hit minigame from the Destroy Stadium pre-title fight hall run should be easier with it.

But my timing in the game world when it comes to baseball is as bad as it is in the real one.

I lucked out with the first challenge, hitting the third (and final pitch) square enough and with enough force to knock out all of the targets in one go. The second challenge, however, saw me completely strikeout. At least the 100 kill spree mission gets you a guaranteed £90,000. Any job or mission will fill out the required £400,000 for the next title bout.

One other observation I've to make, is that Santa Destroy is weirdly desolate. I mean, I just started to play Pandora's Tower (watch for the entry, coming out first tomorrow), and the only people you interact with in it are your cursed girlfriend and a travelling merchant/witch. Nonetheless, Pandora's Tower (which, geographically, takes place in as much a wasteland as No More Heroes) still has a more personal feeling to it.

Maybe it's all a matter of numbers.

Two (as of the first 30 minutes of play) drawn out characters will always be more engaging than an apparently infinite population of maybe 7 different character designs moving wordlessly and unceasingly along predetermined tracks. At least No More Heroes' combat is clearer.

No more straightforward story

Suda51 has a reputation for weird and over the top stories and plot twists in his games. But never before have I encountered such a deeply atmospheric feel in a game.

Once you've paid your way into the fifth ranking battle and head out towards it you'll find a pool of blood in the parking lot. This turns out to be the first of many, as there's a dotted line of blood puddles all the way to the next battle's locale.

Then, once you head into the tunnel at the grisly trail's end, you run down a hallway with breaks for beating minions along the way. But you also follow a shadowy, trenchcoated person the whole way down.

The stark white area at the tunnel's end is shocking, but hardly prepares you for what's beyond.
At first, the fifth ranked assassin Letz Shake seems like the standard No More Heroes boss. He powers up his gimmick and Travis dashes toward him, looking like he's going to strike before Shake's super attack launches. All of that gets interrupted, however.

The trenchcoated guy breaks into the fight, disposes of Shake, and challenges Travis before disappearing. So the fifth rank bout is a non event, completely dashing expectations.

Yet, nothing better could have happened for the game. By the nature of its design, No More Heroes should be boring and dreary to play through. It's things like the appearance of the trenchcoated Henry and the gruesome path to fifth that keep the game unexpectedly fresh.

No more dull combat

Despite what I've written here before, No More Heroes' combat isn't just about mashing buttons. You can be successful doing so, sure, but there can also be some strategy in the game's combat as well.

After all, strategy is essential for the free fight, one hit K.O. missions that open up between title bouts, though it's not really all that important to the necessary fights in the game. Still, it's helpful to remember that you can move the Wiimote up or down to shift between mashing "A" to hit high or low when going up against minions with some form of mêlée weapon.

The different beam swords you can buy over the course of the game change things up, too. The latest one, the Tsubaki Mk II is like a greatsword. Travis holds it two handed, and wields it like a tree trunk. It's not the slowest (at least not yet), but it's definitely the most powerful weapon (as of yet). Because it's slow but powerful, it makes swatting through swathes of enemies much easier. No doubt it'll make reflecting projectiles a lot easier, too.

No more pretense

No More Heroes' latest title bout wasn't any more strategic or precise than the previous one. Actually, it takes a step back from requiring precise timing. Instead, the battle with Holly Summers, a woman with bandoleers full of grenades, is all about being frantic.

You've got to dash about the beach where the fight takes place, avoid the pitfalls she's dug before the fight, and get to her early enough to stop her from launching her indefensible (but escapable) rocket assault. Maybe I was missing something, but doing all of that nonetheless yielded a victory. This is also a fight that rewards bullheadedness, since the "Max Health" boxed up in a corner makes it possible to just barrel into her, mash "A" through her attacks, replenish your health once you're critical, and hope for the best.

Being on a beach, we're all reminded of one of Travis' motivations to get to the number one assassin spot. During the intro cutscene, he's oiling up a sunbathing Sylvia, and goes a little too far up her leg. The scene almost plays like what you'd expect from an anime's obligatory hot spring episode, but doesn't quite sell it since Travis doesn't get a nosebleed or turn way with a fully flushed face. Perhaps my having forgotten just what he does do in reply to Sylvia's "Go any higher, and I'll kill you myself," says something about this lack.

The scene after the fight is just as strange, as Travis buries the corpse of Holly Summers by tossing it into the final hole to be filled, grenades and all. I half expect that when I pass by the beach during the upcoming cash gathering session, a giant column of sand will shoot up out of the blue.

No more grinding

The assassination missions that open up after beating Destroyman make No More Heroes' grinding laughably. Purely and simply laughable. In particular, Assassination Gig 07 makes grinding no problem whatsoever. Finishing it yields about £100,000 and so far the missions have required £300,000 or less.

So now there's not much to complain about after sessions. Except for the fact that my Zelda combat training has made me far too used to taking enemies on one by one while they more or less queue up. This is problematic only in the Free Fight missions, but they're a sizeable part of the sections of the game between title fights. So it seems like skipping them cuts out major parts of the game. Though, really, it's not a game with a lot of content - most of it's repeated over and over and that's that.

Actually, watching the original trailer for the game makes me wonder if maybe there was more game planned at first. At the very least, a major style change took place between that trailer and the actual game. Most noticeably, everyone's much more gaunt. It looks like there's a healthy flush in everyone's cheeks in the trailer.

See for yourself. Below are the original trailer, and a video preview of the game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCr3zvDh7K0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ1SIAWWw1s

No more boredom

I think I've found my rhythm in No More Heroes. So long as there's not much to buy between title bouts, saving up for the next one can be relatively quick. Relatively.

The game definitely becomes much more interesting and much more fun once you've unlocked Lovikov's combat techniques. Being able to dash, and seeing enemies on your minimap are fine, but the jump strike and the jumping downward strike are two things that make combat much more than Wiimote flailing and button mashing. There's almost strategy to it now, since the jump strike knocks opponents back, allowing for an instant finishing move, and Travis' increased strength makes it easier to daze enemies, leaving them vulnerable to wrestling techniques.

Plus, completely unexpectedly, the lead-up to the seventh title fight continues to innovate the "hallway-of-enemies-before-the-boss" formula. Not by too much, perhaps, but still. It's the atmosphere of the lead up that sets it apart.

You go into a subway, that's completely deserted, make your way to the train, fight your way through it, and then go through another apparently abandoned subway station. After returning to the surface you find yourself at a warehouse/studio space and fight your way through to the boss. None of the enemies are particularly difficult, but the intro video for the title fight is entertaining, and the boss battle that follows is excellent.

In the style of so many 3D fights with the Legend of Zelda's Ganondorf, part of the battle involves hitting Destroyman's projectiles back at him. The rest of the fight breaks with this classic pattern and requires you to wait for openings in Destroyman's offense/defense to attack. Executing wrestling moves on him does major damage and is incredibly satisfying. The challenge of this boss fight, and the degree to which they seem to be actually steadily increasing in difficulty, makes it likely that this could still turn out to be a decent game.

Just so long as the grinding doesn't get ridiculous, though it looks likely that the entry fee for the last fight will be £1,000,000.

Rosy rupees, vague grind goals

For all of my slagging on No More Heroes for being a true grind, at least you know what you're grinding to in it. The fountain that Tingle lobs lobs rupees into with wild abandon just gives vague hints if you've not hit the magic number with your latest contribution.

This indefinite quality of the rupee-guzzling spring on top of the slowly ascending tower is a neat reference to the fairy fountain in Link to the Past that told your fortune. That, too, was a fountain that gave out vague answers. Though the number of its required rupees values could be pretty easily figured out.

There is some sort of a pattern to the values required to let Tingle move onto new areas. But after a significant break in playing the game, the earlier part of said pattern has been lost to me. Strategy Wiki has a handy guide to the game's prices, though. And really, without that guide it would be an even greater slog than the most punishing of JRPGs or the most fetch quest-ridden of adventure games.

Farming in Rupeeland, grinding in Santa Destroy

Despite their thematic differences, Freshly Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland and No More Heroes have something in common. Between these games' dungeons and boss fights are grind sections. After you complete a boss lead-up and boss, you need to get enough rupees or cash for the next.

However, the places where Freshly Picked's grinding (or rather, farming) takes place are much more colourful than No More Heroes' Santa Destroy. The areas that Tingle goes through are dotted with all of the charactrs you'd expect to find in any other Zelda game. Plus, because of the tone of the game, they're much more memorable than the unreactive zombies that populate No More Heroes' desert city.

Ultimately, though, where Rosy Rupeeland shines is in how little farming is necessary. After Tingle takes down a boss he finds almost 3/4 of what he needs to extend his reach to the next area, if not more. And that's regardless of how well you perform in a dungeon.

True, the same thing can be acheived in No More Heroes, but only if you ace the fights with the minions and their boss. Tying the reward so closely to your performance is fine, but given how dull the grinding in No More Heroes is (making "grinding" the more apt term), doing so punishes slip-ups rather than tolerating them. Such a system does nothing to encourage experimentation, unlike Rosy Rupeeland wherein experimentation is practically expected of players. Being in an interactive medium, it's that push for experimentation that makes Rosy Rupeeland more entertaining.

Getting all the balls

I now know all that I can know in No More Heroes. Technique-wise that is. All of the Lovikov Balls have been found, and all seven of the hidden techniques have been learned. It was a good way to distract myself from grinding up to £250,000. I'm now about 25,000 away from the next title bout. Hopefully the hidden technique that grants a bonus based on rank speeds up the whole cash gathering process.

Actually, the techniques learned in exchange for the Lovikov Balls are pretty useful. Particularly the one that lets you dash if you hold down "B." The ability to move faster than the jog, but more slowly than the motorbike was really handy in homing in on the Lovikov Balls. They're interesting things, those balls, from a technical standpoint.

When you approach a spot on the map that marks one of the balls you won't be able to see the ball. But, as a clue that you're in the right place, a tune that sounds a lot like the Wii menu music will play. The ball doesn't actually show up until you get quite close to the exact spot that's marked on your map.

On the one hand, I wonder if this is just to make the balls harder to find (which can't be the case, because it only delays rather than deters their discovery), or because drawing them once you approach them was easier on the game's processing speed.

Whatever the reason for the balls' appearing only when you're near to them, having collected all of them makes me feel like the game is one step closer to being finished. Also, you can ride your motorbike off of a ramp and into the ocean, but as of right now doing so appears to do nothing except drop Travis and his bike back at the No More Heroes motel.

No more escape

What is it about the parts in between No More Heroes' title bouts that make the game feel like so much work?

The new minigame has Travis picking trash, and Lovikov Balls are now on the minimap. There's nothing but grind here. A grind that greatly contrasts with the rush of running through a few enemy-filled rooms before taking on a boss. Putting these two things side by side, weirdly, makes No More Heroes one of the few games that mimics life.

Not because it's an everyday occurrence to run down a hall lopping people in half before fighting a strong opponent to the death - definitely not. But because in the game that experience offers such a thrill, such an adrenaline rush. The sort of thing you might feel on weekends when you do whatever it is you do for fun.

Then, almost immediately afterwards (it's cushioned only by a few status screens), you're back out in the world, in the week, and you've got to work toward your next weekend. The grind always takes a lot longer than the title bout and its lead-up, too, just as weekends are only two out of every seven days, while the rest remain for work.

This blog post argues that No More Heroes has no big lesson or moral that it's trying to teach, no theme that permeates its every pixel. In short, no artistic statement. But I disagree.

No More Heroes is a translation of the binary of work/fun that most people experience in their workaday lives from real world situations to over the top video game situations. But does that mean that this game is a joke Suda51 plays on everyone who plays it? Or is it supposed to be somehow ironic?

No more high school rumbles

Fighting your way to the eighth ranking's fight is pretty cool. Not because it's such a Tarantino-esque experience, but because the formulaic fight-through-the-hallway-'til-you-reach-the-boss process has already been toyed with. It's altered simply enough, too.

The fight for eighth takes place in Santa Destroy High School, and for whatever reason the boss' minions are all flannel-wearing, axe- and sledgehammer-wielding gents. There are also a few with torches. None of these weapons can stand against a beam sword, of course, but halfway through the halls, things change up. One of the minions with a torch raises it to the school's sprinkler, causing the whole system to go off. Travis' beam sword runs on electricity and so he winds up getting electrocuted.

Instead of being an instant death however (and in keeping with Suda51/Grasshopper Manufacture's sense of humour), your controls lock up except for the analog stick, with which you have to guide Travis past the myriad minions scattered throughout the hall. Since the sprinkler's main control box is at this particular hall's end, you have to turn around and make your way back after having disabled it. It might not sound like much of a play on the formula, but it's simple stuff like that that can really change how a game like this plays.

The rumble with the boss herself, Shinobu, is decent, but I must've chosen the "Sweet" difficulty setting in the file I'm finishing off. Though at first I was sure that I'd need a second shot at it, pulling off the newest wrestling move left her vulnerable for the coup de grâce, and the battle was won.

Now that it's back to the game's duller cash collecting mode, I do have one thing to say aside from gushing about how interesting the title fights can be. The game should allow you to replay missions.

Not necessarily to re-fight previous assassins, but because trading cards can be missed, and missions can be somewhat lucrative depending on how effective you are in a fight. Mowing lawns, collecting coconuts, and various assassination gigs get boring fast, especially when you're forced to repeat them a few times over to get from title bout to title bout.

The assassin and the ghost city

Alas, the garbage in Santa Destroy isn't taken out to bins on a regular basis. At least, within the fiction of No More Heroes, that seems to be the case.

I had hoped that the dumpsters you can kick open to find cash or clothing would refill themselves after the game had been turned off and turned back on. Mostly so that the fee gathering process between each title fight could be more efficient.

Right now, the game definitely offers quite a bit to explore, and it's apparently going to open up further at some point in the future. That's what all the dim entryways that say "Preparing..." when I walk over them suggest, anyway. But it still feels like an empty world.

There're people walking the streets, and tons of cars on the road, but none of these can be meaningfully interacted with. You can zoom past pedestrians or push them around, and you can practice good driving or cut cars off like a maniac - but there aren't any consequences for such actions. I've even cut off cop cars and sped past them and nothing's done. It's almost as if the world is populated, but only by blank, non-aggressive zombies and robot cars.

This emptiness is particularly troubling because a good portion of the game forces you to go through the city itself, looking for cash. That means that between title bouts and their lead-ups, parts of the game that are intense and challenging, you're demoted to wandering around a wasteland that has the illusion of being populated.

What I wonder, though, is this: If, say, there were a Legend of Zelda mod for No More Heroes that re-skinned the city, its people and vehicles, to look like Twilight Princess, would the game feel as empty?

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. And, subscribe to my feed to be notified of Going Box By Box updates.

No more linearity

Getting off the Schpeltiger and walking around San Destroy has made No More Heroes feel much more complete. Maybe it's because it makes the game feel less linear. After all, once I was out walking I found myself exploring - and taking in quite a haul.

Throughout the city there are tons of spots to dig for treasure. With an upgrade for your beamsword these show up on the map. Each buried find yields £1000.

On top of that, dumpsters can be kicked open to find even more loot.

If there's gold in the bin Travis walks away with £2000, bringing me that much closer to the next title match. But, sometimes you'll find a shirt in the trash, apparently making it perfect for immediate wear. Customizing Travis' outfit doesn't seem to have any benefits, but some of the shirts have really cool designs.

Along with cash and clothing, I've also been finding a lot of Lovikov Balls. Later in the game these are traded for hidden skills, and already I'm well on my way to finding all 49.

Though, knowing that, and that each skill requires seven balls, really makes me want to play Grasshopper Manufacture's Gamecube entry, Killer7.

Shaky on the controls

No More Heroes isn't a fighting game by any means. But, were it not for the odd mission that requires you to only use wrestling moves, I would have never remembered that they were in the game to begin with. I'd found a manual that reminded Travis of an old move he used to know, but figured that it probably just unlocked some cutscene or other down the line. After all when combat starts, Travis doesn't prime his chair-handling fists or stretch his rope-jumping muscles - he fires up the beam sword!

Curiously, though, hitting "B" during fights causes Travis to kick high or low. Stunning an enemy with either kick, or indeed the beam katana, allows him to then grab the enemy (another "B" button press) and perform a wrestling move (with the help of moving the wiimote and nunchuck as instructed). These are usually one-hit KOs.

Getting back to the point, when an assassination mission had opened up that required that only wrestling moves be used I was a bit mystified. Surely, before I went on my year or more hiatus from the game, there was a tutorial showing these moves. But I had since completely forgotten them - completely.

In fact, No More Heroes' controls are so different from those in games I often play (RPGs, platformers, adventures), that I don't have them carved into my muscle memory. I hadn't played for a week, and the controls for the Schpeltiger (Travis' motorbike) had pretty much vanished from my memory. "A" for accelerate and "B" brake took me a while to recall.

Because the game's controls aren't necessarily the most intuitive (and my used copy didn't come with an instruction manual) the game would be much more quick to pick up if the menu screen included a control configuration option. Not only would this make it possible to customize the controls to some extent, it would also give players an in-game chance to refresh their memories. Fighting games have such menus, and what's a beat 'em up if not a free-roaming fighting game?

Strength of characters

So the open world of No More Heroes becomes more open once you reach the ninth rank. I can now get more beam swords and upgrades, train to boost stats and get new duds. It feels like the game is slowly opening up, which is a bit weird, but I'll trust that by the time I get to the fifth or fourth rank everything unlockable by simply progressing will have been unlocked. 

For those who missed this game when it was freshly released for the Wii in 2008 (2007 in Japan), it's safe to say that it's a GTA-style game that puts lawn mowing and coconut collecting beside assassination and beam sword fighting. So it definitely does not take itself seriously. The voice acting is a curious show of this, since there's not much consistency to the game's accents. Santa Destroy must be a center that draws Aussie and Brit and Russian alike. 

Not that the game suffers for that variety in voices. For the most part, games like this tend to bore me since it's usually just the same thing repeated over and over: Find contact, take mission, kill target. Recent GTA games and others in the genre supposedly deviate from this, and do it through the same means as No More Heroes. That is, they include a broad array of characters (or at least a few that you can really get into - some that literati might call "three-dimensional"). 

Dr. Peace, assassin number 9, was more or less a country song stereotype, so he doesn't quite qualify as truly three-dimensional, but if each assassin gets successively more interesting (along with more difficult), then No More Heroes could become a game to remember.