No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Back (2018)

Apparently, Suda 51 is a big fan of Hotline Miami and outright got together with the developers to collaborate on this game. Which is awesome. As is No More Heroes 3 also being confirmed.

Edited by Berserker88 on Dec 27th 2018 at 7:23:17 AM

Yeah, I heard that he's collaborating with a lot of indie developers apparently. I can never keep up with the references in this franchise but it's fascinating nonetheless.

Suda's actually directing this game too. Apparently it's the first game he's directed since the original game which... sounds odd.

I thought Suda already confirm NMH 3 way back in the day?

He mentioned it as an idea a ways back, but not with any real plans in mind. Now he's explicitly saying he wants to make it soon after this game.

...never noticed this.

One of those precious moments where Sylvia shows genuine concern for the guy. I believe she also screams his name if you die to Harvey's magic box attack.

(Plus, one of those all-too-common moments where I spell Sylvia's name wrong.)

Edited by Berserker88 on Dec 28th 2018 at 6:14:38 AM

Oh look, the game's coming tomorrow.

Here's something we apparently missed: remember how there was a possibility that Robin Atkin Downes wouldn't be coming back as Travis?

He's back, baby.

I picked the game up yesterday and have gotten a good ways into it by now, so I suppose I should share my first impressions.

In short, it is way better than I expected. The combat is solid, the levels are individually unique and interesting, if a bit lengthy, the story is surprisingly complex, and the bosses have a lot of depth as a good NMH boss should. My only big complaint so far is the distinct lack of voice acting or any real cutscenes aside from the intro. Most of the dialogue is delivered through text, which is fine and all, but these characters are so fun that it makes me long to see them a little more animated.

I was really just looking for a decent spinoff to hold me over until NMH 3, but I see myself playing through this one a few more times until then, especially with Shinobu and Bad Girl coming. Definitely recommended.

Huh.

Well that is a pleasant surprise.

I can't believe the story is complex and the bosses are decent. This just didn't seem like it was going to have that sort of boon.

Surprised the heck out of me too. The trailers did not do it justice, which I hope doesn't hurt the game too much in the long run.

Just to clarify, and I'll spoiler tag this just in case, but I'm only talking about the general layout, most of that complexity so far has been through faxes you get after each level, as well as the Death Drive MKII's in-universe game magazine, which is hilarious by the way, so it's more of the Story Breadcrumbs variety. And then there are these visual novel segments where you collect each of the "Death Balls" to unlock more levels, which I also won't spoil because those are full of WTF.

As for bosses, what I've seen so far is that first you get a preview of their game and backstory in a magazine article, then you see an elaborate opening cutscene that shows them off a bit more (forgot about those earlier), then some more breadcrumbs dropped throughout the level itself, then the usual back and forth between them and Travis (or Badman), then a multi-stage fight, then another back and forth after you win, and then Travis has a little scene where he reflects on the boss. So it's actually fairly more than either of the previous games give you for most of their bosses, which at least makes up for being comparatively less of them. Now if only they had voice-acted dialogue.

Keep in mind that I've only just beaten the third boss up to this point, so that's only what I've gleaned so far, but unless the quality takes a nosedive later, I'm pretty confident calling it a solid game.

Edited by Berserker88 on Jan 20th 2019 at 6:22:08 AM

How are Badman's scenes? Travis has been the "star" of the franchise so far so I'm curious how Badman is integrated since he seems to have his own exchanges with the bosses. Seems like the game's tone would have to shift a bit if you're not controlling Travis, like, unless Badman is a lazy, fourth wall breaking good for nothing too?

Edited by Soble on Jan 20th 2019 at 7:22:27 AM

To be honest, I actually don't know. I've decided to play the entire game as Travis first, then Badman, precisely so I don't accidentally miss some of their unique dialogue. So I'm pretty curious about that myself, as well as the other playable characters. Points for replay value there.

Come to think of it, that's probably why they only used text instead of full cutscenes for each of them.

So I'm guessing you haven't tried co-op yet?

Are stories different if you play single player or not?

I haven't, mainly because I don't have anyone around to play it with, or another set of joycons. (I do have the Gamecube controller though, which seems mostly compatible except that I couldn't figure out how to recharge the katana with it.) There is a portion in the third level where Badman hangs around and talks to you even in single-player, so there's probably some more dialogue like that in cop-op.

Do the stories differ? I'm going to assume yes as Badman's stated goal is (minor spoilers) to bring his daughter back to life using the "wish" you get for collecting all seven Death Balls. Travis seems to be trying to beat all of these life-threatening games just to see if he can, which to be fair, is pretty in-character for him. Those visual novel portions I mentioned have Travis riding out on his bike to get to them. Badman's car is parked right next to it, so I assume that he has his own version of how he collects the Balls if Travis doesn't.

7 deathballs that grant any wish, huh?

Sounds familiar, but I'm sure I'm tripping

I'm lucky enough to have a friend that's been a huge fan since day 1 so I plan to beat the game with him this weekend. Assuming the game is shorter than it looks

I should find someone to play this with.

I was wary of playing this game since I still haven't finished the second game, but went ahead anyway. I only barely recall what happened in the first two games anyway, so I may rewatch an LP of the first game and replay the second after this one.

My brother and I are playing this co-op, with him as Travis and me as Badman. Near as I can tell, the game only accounts for whoever player 1 is as far as cutscenes and story scenes play out, so even if I, as Badman, initiate dialogue with NP Cs, or am the one who finishes off the boss, the game will be from Travis's perspective regardless.

The only time this changed was in the 3rd Death Ball game, where Badman was actually speaking alongside Travis. But given how that game was setup, that was most likely an exception.

I haven't played this solo so I don't know if the combat changes (such as adding more enemies per wave, and/or giving them more health) to accomodate two players vs a single player, but as far as I can tell it doesn't.

Game's fun though, if a little repetitive (I kinda wish there was more variety to combat, such as the wrestling moves from the other games, but at least Travis and Badman can get character-specific Skills to keep them from feeling too similar to one another), and it still retains the edgy charm I remember from the previous titles. We'll probably redo the whole game with me as player 1 to see Badman's side of things once we beat it (plus there's DLC to consider).

Why's Badman fighting alongside Travis anyway?

Phew. Alright, just finished the game, as Travis anyway. I'll start up New Game+ as Badman tomorrow. But final thoughts, it's good stuff. Pretty much everything I said earlier still holds up, with the exception of the story going from merely "complex" to Killer 7 levels of mindfuck. My only new beef is the fifth game world being kind of a ripoff despite having a cool concept. Though the fact that it's the fifth game world makes me wonder if that was an intentional reference to the Rank 5 fight from the first game.

Speaking of, my favorite world was probably the second one with its interesting mechanics and cool boss fight up until I played the sixth one and remembered how much I love Shadows of the Damned. The game actually manages to hint at a Damned sequel and No More Heroes 3, which is just mindblowing.

On a side note, Bad Dog is adorable and there needs to be fanart of her ASAP.

On another side note, getting Majora's Mask t-shirts for beating the game was an unexpected treat.

We finished the game last week, but I sort of forgot about this thread till now. Felt the last level dragged too long and the ending a bit weird even by this series standards, but otherwise it was good fun. The only thing that really bothered me was Hotline Miami being the only indie that has more than a T-Shirt cameo; I thought I saw a trailer that suggested that TSB would have several indie homages, but I could be misremembering.

We refought a boss with me as Badman and there's barely any difference between his dialogue and Travis's, with Badman making occasional baseball references instead of the gaming ones Travis makes. Though I still plan to run through the whole game again to see if there's more to it since I only went for the first boss.

As for why he and Travis are working together, the game never directly addresses it. It's implied that when the DDMKII sucked them into itself (which the opening seemed to imply was possessed), Badman, apparently also being as hardcore a gamer as Travis, recognized what had happened, and more importantly, that gathering the Death Balls would help him get his daughter back. So he more or less goes along with Travis to do so, which works out for Badman because Travis sees no use for the Death Balls outside of the challenge, so he let's Badman do whatever he wants as long as Badman isn't screwing up Travis's goals.

If I recall correctly, Suda wanted to make a big indie crossover game, but realized that the time and budget it would take to get all of those companies on board with it would be far too strenuous. So he settled for focusing on his favorite, Hotline Miami, and made the rest t-shirts to at least reference them. It's a shame, but better than the game becoming Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Forever.

Edited by Berserker88 on Jan 27th 2019 at 7:24:49 AM

Not sure if there's a NMH 3 thread yet, but, it turns out Travis Strikes Back has some interesting DLC that sheds light on Bad Man and Bad Girl.

There's also Shinobu DLC

And uh... something inexplicable.

Edited by Soble on Jul 26th 2019 at 11:08:27 AM

That Pleather for Breakfast remix. XD

I needed a reminder of just how hilariously nuts this franchise is. As much as I fear Suda dropping another less than pleasant gameplay slog on my lap I am interested as hell in seeing how they'll return to Travis and Henry's rivalry. I hope it's not another desperate struggle where Henry is mostly out of the picture.

I mean, he technically had more screentime in Desperate Struggle than the original.

Which is really just saying that he didn't have enough in either. At the very least, I want either another boss fight with him or a few more as him. Preferably both. Ideally another full character campaign playing as him. Seeing all of these characters added to Travis Strikes Back actually makes me a bit hopeful in that regard.