No More Heroes - Wii game featuring "lightsabers"

[roguefrog]

And what looks to be some kind of prequel to Killer7. You play the role of Travis; the ghost with a giant collection of shirts with mostly incoherent phrases on them, when he was alive. Apparently the game is sporting a GTA style hub. And looks like Killer7, stylized to all hell.

The Trailer (http://youtube.com/watch?v=HGtgqw3IsVI) has horribly bad VO, which doesn't correlate with Killer7, which had pretty good VO.

[Chris Nahr]

I still want a Wii game with real Jedi...

[Hans Lauring]

A jedi wearing trenchcoat, cool Tarantinoesque soundtrack, a typically stupid anime setting and story complete with cheesy oneliners and shitty voice acting and a female character named after a seventies softcore porn icon... where do I preorder?

(If the Wii-swordplay is well done and not like Zelda or Red Steel, I'll preorder even though I know I'll hate both charcters, setting and story)

[shang]

You weren't kidding about the VO.. If the final game sounds anything like that, it's reason enough to skip it altogether.

[Juan Rayo]

You weren't kidding about the VO.. If the final game sounds anything like that, it's reason enough to skip it altogether.

Agreed, I can't see myself standing suck terrible VO for more than a couple of seconds.

[Erlend Grefsrud]

The earlier trailer, leaked sometime in August, had even worse voiceover. But back then it sounded kind of intentional ... as if it was terrible because the Japanese thinks that's how Americans speak. I suppose this VO is placeholder as well.

More details: The game takes place in a city called Santa Destroy, where our hero Travis Touchdown has decided to become the world's greatest assassin. Assisted by the lightsaber he won on eBay, he participates in a sort of contract killer tournament ladder which evidently takes place in his hometown. Apart from that, Travis has a bike called the Schpeltiger, pictured below ...

http://folk.ntnu.no/olekriri/ubercool.jpg

Let's see ... there's in no way confirmed that he's the Travis of Killer 7, but seeing as the game was protyped internally as "Number 11" -- which will make sense to anyone who finished Killer 7 -- it seems pretty likely.

I'm looking forward to it. The good SUDA51 has a lot of my faith for the time being after doing pretty exceptional work on Killer 7 and Contact. The lightsaber fighting is supposed to be gesture-based rather than freeform, but instead of simply having canned attacks corresponding to certain gestures, Travis will attack parts of the opponents body depending on how you handle the Wiimote. At least that's what Goichi Suda said in a recent Edge feature ... I don't know what to make of that. Sounds pretty vague so far.

The central hub area is supposed to be about 3 square kilometers, with instanced "dungeons" for the various missions. I don't know what kind of structure the game will have, but Suda mentioned side-quests, so I suppose it will be a traditional Zelda/GTA-inspired affair. Apparently, the biggest inspiration for the game is GTA3 ... not necessarily in terms of content, but in terms of design philosophy and style. If GTA3 offers a murky reflection (or parody) on Americana, then I suppose No More Heroes will offer a Japanese interpretation of a parody of Americana.

Which sounds like a great USP to me.

[Saxman_72]

The lightsabre dude's VO takes suck to a new level.

[hong]

Assisted by the lightsaber he won on eBay,

Brilliant!

[Ben Sones]

More details: The game takes place in a city called Santa Destroy, where our hero Travis Touchdown has decided to become the world's greatest assassin. Assisted by the lightsaber he won on eBay, he participates in a sort of contract killer tournament ladder which evidently takes place in his hometown. Apart from that, Travis has a bike called the Schpeltiger, pictured below ...

I think that I might have invented almost the exact same story once while trying to kill time in a particularly boring math class in the seventh grade. Only my long-lost math notebook knows for sure, though.

[Erlend Grefsrud]

And I'm sure it was executed with all the style and flair usually associated with Goichi Suda, as well!

Not saying that this premise is particularly brilliant. I think it sounds fun! And, for what it's worth, it's much more playful than what usually passes for storylines in videogames. There's not a single po-faced spacemarine in opposition to his superior officers, no super cyborg wiping out alien species, no spiky-haired fop with amnesia.

Okay, so it's got a slutty-looking Japanese schoolgirl wielding a katana with cell phone accessories hanging from the hilt, but I find that strangely quaint.

[Jab]

There was a short preview of it in the newest GameInformer. The sword fighting attacks are determine by what angle your holding the wii mote to the tv. Up neutral and down. There's something about collecting T-Shirts as well, I'm still looking forward to it since I enjoyed Killer 7.

[roguefrog]

no way confirmed that he's the Travis of Killer 7, but seeing as the game was protyped internally as "Number 11" -- which will make sense to anyone who finished Killer 7 -- it seems pretty likely.

Lets see...

Travis in Killer7 was an Assassin
Travis in No More Heroes is an Assassin

Travis in Killer7 wears a lot of shirts
Travis in No More Heroes collects different shirts

Grasshopper made Killer7
Grasshopper is making No More Heroes

It's a no brainer really.

[Soldats]

Oh my goodness, I'm glad I clicked on this thread. The trailer was pretty rad looking, and I absolutely love the killer7 graphics-style; really glad to see it being used again (the shitty Blood -One Night Kiss- game doesn't count). Travis' voice is so bad it's good. Does anyone else think it sounds just like Jacky Bryant's voice (from Virtua Fighter)? Makes the whole thing even more hilarious for me.

Anyways, this is the only game I'm interested in on the Wii, but I'll gladly purchase one when NMH comes out.

[Robert Sharp]

Does this mean we will get new sub-names for the forum?

[pj-]

This game better be good.. I made my xbl gamertag TravisTouchdown because of how much I like suda 51 and killer 7

[JD]

There's a new GDC trailer (http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=17687&type=wmv&pl=game) available now. Only contains a few pieces of spoken text though. Looks like you can slash people into two halves just like Conan the Librarian.

-Julian

[Dave Long]

FUCK YEAH!

[Old Man Gravy]

I'm really looking forward to this one, being a big fan of Killer7.

The Travis in K7 was Travis Bell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harman_Smith#Travis_Bell), though, not "Travis Touchdown."

[John Sansker]

Isn't that one of the "motorcycles" from BSG 1980?