History VideoGame / NoMoreHeroes

* TheLostWoods: The Forest of Bewilderment

** Holly Summers, made worse because Travis was willing to let her live but she committed suicide instead because as she states, "Assassins must die when they lose". Her last request is that Travis never forget her and Travis states that he had loved her soul before burying her. The last seconds of her life has her smiling while she ''puts a grenade in her mouth'', while Travis is screaming for her not to go through with this.

* TrueFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Henry, fightable after killing Jeane and buying every beam katana.]]

* YouWatchTooMuchX: Travis' line to Shinobu in a cutscene where she starts attacking him: "Something tells me you watch too many samurai movies."

* BraggartBoss: Destroyman. As a regular person, he's not too remarkable, but as soon as he puts the "superhero" clothes, he prepares a triumphant presentation of himself for the battle. He calls his attacks by name, and overall pretends to be more than he actually is (note that he's only ranked 7th in the UAA).

--> "I love you babe\\
That's what you said yes? no?\\
That's the cue for me\\
So let's go"

* PinkIsErotic: Bad Girl is introduced bludgoning clones in S&M gear with a bat and is a representation of the dominance and submission fetish. Bad Girl is given a lot of sexual references and she's completely shameless and honest about her enjoyment of killing, unlike Travis who justifies his killings as desiring to be the best. The fact that the clones are wearing S&M gear implies that she takes sexual gratification from killing and the fight against her includes a raunchy theme called "Pleather for Breakfast". After the fight, Travis stabs her with his katana while saying "Naughty girls need spankings." but she refuses to submit and continues to beat Travis until he surrenders out of pity. Accepting his surrender, Bad Girl lays on top of Travis, recreating a sexual position and her final words almost sounds like she's climaxed from Travis's surrender.

* PinkIsErotic: A [[SexIsViolence sexual sadist variant]], Bad Girl is introduced bludgoning clones in S&M gear with a bat and is a representation of the dominance and submission fetish. Bad Girl is given a lot of sexual references and she's completely shameless and honest about her enjoyment of killing, unlike Travis who justifies his killings as desiring to be the best. The fact that the clones are wearing S&M gear implies that she takes sexual gratification from killing and the fight against her includes a raunchy theme called "Pleather for Breakfast". After the fight, Travis stabs her with his katana while saying "Naughty girls need spankings." but she refuses to submit and continues to beat Travis until he surrenders out of pity. Accepting his surrender, Bad Girl lays on top of Travis, recreating a sexual position and her final words almost sounds like she's climaxed from Travis's surrender.

* PinkIsErotic: Bad Girl is one of the assassins from the United Assassins Association, she wears a pink frilly dress and white stockings. Bad Girl is introduced as she is bludgeoning clones, who wear S&M gear, and Travis is so disgusted by her psychopathy that he calls her a "Perverted killing maniac". The lyrics to her theme, ''Pleather for Breakfast'', are also very raunchy. After stabbing her, she forces Travis to forfeit the fight out of pity before finally dying (her body recreating a sex scene as she lays on top of Travis). Bad Girl's entire character reflects Travis's naked and shameless lust for violence, which is something that he vehemently denies under the excuse of honor and nobility.

** Also subverted, as the instruction manual states that Naomi has a mysterious secret about her. All she does in the game is upgrade Travis' beam katana. Either this idea was dropped or [=Suda51=] loves messing with ya. This could also be a possible Franchise/MetalGear shout out. Rumors have it that Naomi is [[OlderThanTheyLook in her 60's]], which would probably be the secret.

* DavidVersusGoliath: Usually, you're fighting someone with far more experience and better weapons than you, on their own turf, on their own terms. Especially true with Letz Shake [[spoiler:or it would have been if you actually got to fight him]], and Speed Buster. Inverted rather unsettlingly with [[spoiler:the FinalBoss, where Travis faces off with a completely [[FragileSpeedster unarmored]] and [[GoodOldFisticuffs unarmed]] opponent]].

* DesignStudentsOrgasm: Travis' shirts.

-->'''[[spoiler: Henry]]''': Lemme ask ya... how do you plan to put an end to all of this?
-->'''Travis''': Wait a sec... you want ''me'' to tie up all these loose ends? I don't think so!
-->'''[[spoiler: Henry]]''': ''You're'' the protagonist! I'm just [[RedOniBlueOni the cool, handsome foil]], [[spoiler:who happens to be your twin brother]]. Hate to say it, but it's your job!

-->'''Travis''': Answer me!
-->'''[[spoiler:Jeane]]''': It's impossible.
-->'''Travis''': Impossible? What do you mean?!
-->'''[[spoiler:Jeane]]''': It's too terrible. It alone would jack up the age rating of this game even further.
-->'''Travis''': So what? Who cares?!
-->'''[[spoiler:Jeane]]''': What if the game gets delayed? You wouldn't want this to become [[VideoGame/DukeNukemForever No More Heroes Forever,]] do you?
-->'''Travis''': Alright, I'll [[InterfaceScrew fast forward]] this so you can tell me.

* LukeIAmYourFather: Subverted at first, when [[spoiler:Dark Star uses this line on Travis, but is quickly shown to be lying through his teeth]]. But then played straight when [[spoiler:Travis' ex-girlfriend Jeane turns out to be his half sister... and rival Henry his twin brother]]. [[spoiler: For the latter, Travis asks him why the hell he waited [[NoFourthWall until the end of the game]] to reveal that]]. Although [[spoiler: Henry ''tried'' to tell him that after killstealing Letz Shake, and Travis cut him off.]]

** Travis can survive things that would otherwise be fatal, [[CutscenePowerToTheMax especially in cutscenes]]. These particularly daring feats include [[spoiler: being tossed around with lasers, being blown up, beaten savagely, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment being blown up]], his sister thrusting her hand into his rib cage, and [[RuleOfThree being blown up]]. This is arguably the only thing Travis has on his opponents. Several characters use beam katanas, which often are better looking and/or stronger than Travis'. In fact, after some of the more brutal beatings, some of his opponents automatically assume he's already dead. And then this is subverted with Bad Girl beating Travis to death with a baseball bat if you fall for her trap]].

* NobodyPoops: Averted. Toilets are save points, and they are everywhere.

* OneSteveLimit: Averted with three characters named Jeane.
* OverlyLongFightingAnimation: Subverted: Letz Shake's "Disaster Blaster" Earthquake Generator has this massively long cutscene where it charges up and prepares to flatten the battlefield, but then [[spoiler:Henry shows up out of nowhere and proceeds to cut the machine (and Letz Shake) to pieces]].

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Averted; several of the assassins make reference to "outside work". Travis himself seems like an example, although he takes assassination missions from K Entertainment. Additionally, his ranked fights could be considered an assassination (he is, after all, being paid to kill a certain person).

* RuleOfFun: Where to begin?

** A more downplayed example is with [[spoiler:Harvey, where the camera shows his point of view as Travis throws his beam katana at him, it cuts a red line across his vision, and then that line turns black and expands over the entire screen. The next several seconds are entirely black as Harvey complains that he's been blinded.]]

* ViceCity: Santa Destroy.
* WideOpenSandbox: Subverted; you are given an overworld to explore, but you can't actually interact with much of anything beyond searching for collectibles in the alleys.

At 2019's E3, it was announced during Nintendo's conference that Travis would be starring in a full-fledged ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesIII'' (as opposed to the smaller game that ''Travis Strikes Again'' was) to be released on August 27, 2021. As a leadup to ''III'', the first two games were made available on the Nintendo Switch on October 28, 2020. Furthermore, a UsefulNotes/{{Mii}} Swordfighter costume of Travis was released for ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' on October 13, 2020.

* RivalFinalBoss: After Travis defeats the #1 ranked assassin during the NewGamePlus, his final opponent is his rival and half-brother Henry.

** Jeanne says it during their [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth wall demolition]].

* PinkIsErotic: Bad Girl is one of the assassins from the United Assassins Association, she wears a pink frilly dress and white stockings. Bad Girl is introduced as she is bludgeoning clones, who wear S&M gear, and Travis is so disgusted by her psychopathy that he calls her a "Perverted killing maniac". After stabbing her, she forces Travis to forfeit the fight out of pity before finally dying (her body recreating a sex scene as she lays on top of Travis). The lyrics to her theme, ''Pleather for Breakfast'', are also very raunchy and her entire character reflects Travis's naked and shameless lust for violence which is something that he vehemently denies under the excuse of wanting to be the best.

* PinkIsErotic: Bad Girl is one of the assassins from the United Assassins Association, she wears a pink frilly dress and there's a lot of commentary on the sex industry. Bad Girl is introduced bludgeoning clones who wear S&M gear and Travis is so disgusted by her psychopathy that he calls her a "Perverted killing maniac". After stabbing her, she forces Travis to forfeit the fight out of pity before finally dying (her body recreating a sex scene as she lays on top of Travis). The lyrics to her theme, Pleather for Breakfast, are also very raunchy.

* BadassBiker: Travis' bicycle is impressively tricked out, and [[ShoutOut intentionally designed to look like]] an [[Franchise/StarWars X-Wing starfighter]].

** The European Spanish translation from Virgin Play removes a lot of the swear words, even though the game is rated 16+ and Spain makes no fuss over swearing, plus since [[NoDubForYou only the subtitles were only translated]], [[BleepDamnit anyone can hear and clearly tell all the times a character says "fucking" or something, yet the subtitles omit them]].

->''"I wanna be number one. How's that? Short and simple enough for ya? It's gonna be a long, hard road. But who knows? Could kick ass. Could be dangerous. Could totally suck. Whaddaya say bro, join me: let's see how far we can take this. And for you out there holding the Wii Remote right now? Just press the A button... Let the bloodshed begin!"''

** Speed Buster's weapon, the Buster Launcher, has a barrel extending from its shopping cart base that's maybe fifty feet long--a barrel she shoots particle beams from. As in, a giant phallic objected aimed at the player. Doubles as a [[StealthPun stealth pun]], as in the Design Materials you can see art of the various phases of her weapon's transformation, from [[http://images.wikia.com/suda51/images/e/eb/TradingCardNo77.png an Egg Mart shopping cart]], to [[http://images.wikia.com/suda51/images/6/6a/TradingCardNo78.png the shape of a baby chick's head]], to a [[http://images.wikia.com/suda51/images/c/c5/TradingCardNo79.png completed form]] resembling a mechanical rooster's head with the barrel extending from the beak.

->''"I wanna be number one. How's that? Short and simple enough for ya? It's gonna to be a long, hard road. But who knows? Could kick ass. Could be dangerous. Could totally suck. Whaddaya say bro, join me: let's see how far we can take this. And for you out there holding the Wii Remote right now? Just press the A button... Let the bloodshed begin!"''

* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: Sweet, Mild, and Bitter.

'''Bad Girl:''' [[NotSoDifferent In essence, they're the same.]] Don't go on thinking you're better than me. You think you're hot shit! Who the fuck do you think you are?!

** The original intent for the game had tons of gore and left the bodies of ranked fight opponents after they die. This was how the American version of the game was released. The Japanese version removed all the blood, replacing it with smoke, and turned the bodies to immediate piles of ashes when they die. This was apparently intentional, as excessive violence is less acceptable in modern-day mainstream Japanese games. To the consternation of many European fans, the PAL version is taken from the Japanese cut, as Rising Star Games decided this version would appeal to a wider audience and improve sales. It had also just released after the classification controversy over ''VideoGame/{{Manhunt}} 2'', and Red Star may have been attempting to avoid a similar problem. They promised the sequel will not be censored, and it wasn't. The Japanese sequel is still censored. The [=PS3=] and Xbox 360 remake ''No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise'' is uncensored.

** The Spanish translation from Virgin Play removes a lot of the swear words, even though the game is rated 16+ and Spain makes no fuss over swearing, plus since [[NoDubForYou only the subtitles were only translated]], [[DownplayedTrope anyone can hear and clearly tell all the times a character says "fucking" or something, yet the subtitles omit them]].

** The original intent for the game had tons of gore and left the bodies of ranked fight opponents after they die. This was how the American version of the game was released. The Japanese version removed all the blood, replacing it with smoke, and removed the bodies. This was apparently intentional, as excessive violence is less acceptable in modern-day mainstream Japanese games. To the consternation of many European fans, the PAL version is taken from the Japanese cut, as Rising Star Games decided this version would appeal to a wider audience and improve sales. It had also just released after the classification controversy over ''VideoGame/{{Manhunt}} 2'', and Red Star may have been attempting to avoid a similar problem. They promised the sequel will not be censored, and it wasn't. The Japanese sequel is still censored. The [=PS3=] and Xbox 360 remake ''No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise'' is uncensored.

* CuteKitten: Playing with Travis' kitten Jeane doesn't actually ''do'' anything for the player... but who could resist playing with such a cute little kitty? Also one of the part-time jobs. [[spoiler:Jeane also follows Travis on his way to fight Speed Buster, where the cat distracts Thunder Ryu and inadvertently gets him killed, and walks off while Travis [[BigNo screams]].]]

''No More Heroes'' is the story of Travis Touchdown, a [[PerpetualPoverty perennially-broke]] OccidentalOtaku who wins a [[LaserBlade beam katana]] off of "[[BrandX an Internet auction site]]" and becomes a [[PunchClockVillain part-time assassin]] to pay for his {{otaku}} lifestyle. After taking a job from the mysterious [[FemmeFatale Sylvia Christel]], Travis unwittingly becomes the 11th-best assassin in the United States and [[TournamentArc decides to climb the ranks of the United Assassin's Association]] the hard way: challenging the ten assassins ranked higher than him, and [[KlingonPromotion taking them out one-by-one]].

* NoPeekingRequest: When Travis arrives in Destroyman's arena to face him for his spot in the assassin rankings, he finds him wearing his civilian outfit, a normal postman uniform. Destroyman asks Travis to turn around just for a moment so he can change, and Travis complies. The moment Travis turns his back to him, Destroyman [[InTheBack fires]] his WaveMotionGun, and Travis just barely manages to dodge it in time. When Travis turns, he sees Destroyman has already [[InstantCostumeChange changed into his outfit in an instant]], making it clear the whole thing was a charade to get a cheap shot.

* NoEnding: A very deliberate and meta example. Travis has taken down every assassin and [[spoiler:killed his half sister.]] Then he gets saved from a surprise assassin attack by [[spoiler:his twin brother that he never knew about, who has also been married to Sylvia for a decade, and they have a fight to the death while discussing how ridiculous it all is with the final shot being a freeze frame of them attacking each other. After the credits, Sylvia notes how ridiculous it is and notes that it's a shame there won't be a sequel. Luckily, there was.]]

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-->'''Travis:''' You're no assassin. You're just a perverted killing maniac.
-->'''Bad Girl:''' [[NotSoDifferent In essence, they're the same.]] Don't go on thinking you're better than me. You think you're hot shit! Who the fuck do you think you are?!

** The original intent for the game had tons of gore and left the bodies of ranked fight opponents after they die. This was how the American version of the game was released. The Japanese version removed all the blood, replacing it with smoke, and removed the bodies. This was apparently intentional, as excessive violence is less acceptable in modern-day mainstream Japanese games. To the consternation of many European fans, the PAL version is taken from the Japanese cut, as Rising Star Games decided this version would appeal to a wider audience and improve sales. It had also just released after the classification controversy over ''{{Manhunt}} 2'', and Red Star may have been attempting to avoid a similar problem. They promised the sequel will not be censored, and it wasn't. The Japanese sequel is still censored. The [=PS3=] and Xbox 360 remake ''No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise'' is uncensored.

* DenserAndWackier: Compared to {{Creator/Suda51}}'s [[{{VideoGame/killer7}} previous]] [[MindScrew works]], this is much more silly work, though it is FAR from light hearted.

* DownerEnding: The first, obviously false ending: [[spoiler:if Travis Touchdown doesn't get all the beam katana upgrades, he will end the game with a [[VideoGame/{{killer7}} Garcian Smith]] {{Expy}} ready to murder him in his own apartment while he's on the toilet, which immediately cuts to the closing credits.]] The real ending continues from there.

** Speed Buster is a pretty sadistic [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Marisa]] expy. Complete with Nuclear Master Spark.

* FlushingEdgeInteractivity: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Every save point is some kind of toilet, and your file data is on toilet paper.

* GoodOldFisticuffs: [[spoiler:Jeane]]

* HeroicComedicSociopath: Travis.

* HiddenDepths: Nice singing voice, Dr. Peace.

* ManOnFire: One of the [[{{Mook}} mooks]] during the Rank 8 level has the ability to set Travis on fire. If this happens, Travis runs around, slowly burning to death until he can get his hands on an extinguisher.

* MiniDressOfPower: Bad Girl.

* [[PetTheDog Pet The Kitten]]: Travis Touchdown: assassin, otaku, kitty owner.

* SeriousBusiness: All the part-time jobs.
* SexIsViolence: All over the place.
* SexyWalk: Bad Girl.

** Blueberry Cheese Brownie: Travis becomes capable of firing SwordBeam[=s=] that can kill most enemies in a single hit.