After nine years, Travis Touchdown is slated to make his grand return in No More Heroes 3, releasing in just a few short weeks. While there has been much anticipation for Grasshopper Manufacture's upcoming action game, it comes after somewhat of a break for the developer. No More Heroes 3 also follows Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, a somewhat controversial title for the studio, with mixed critical and commercial reception.
What many returning fans of Goichi "Suda51" Suda's action series don't realize as hype for No More Heroes 3 reaches a peak is that, based on all of the promotional material, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes essentially acts as the extended prologue to the upcoming sequel. This is true in regards to both gameplay and narrative, with some of Travis Strikes Again's major gameplay mechanics already presenting themselves in the trailers, and the sequel's story acting as a direct sequel to the spin-off title. For gamers excited for No More Heroes 3 that haven't yet played Travis Strikes Again, here is why that should change before the sequel releases.
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While Travis Strikes Again is worth a playthrough mainly because it is a surprisingly engaging beat-em'-up with Suda's unique flair for bending genres, most fans are likely interested in knowing how exactly it sets up the long awaited sequel to No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. The game focuses on Travis' self imposed exile after becoming the number 1 ranked assassin in the world. As he lives out his days in the outskirts of Texas, he is tracked down by an ex-professional baseball player, Badman, father of Bad Girl, a boss from the first No More Heroes game who is looking for revenge after Travis assassinated her on his quest to become the top assassin.
As Badman catches up to Travis, he and Travis are sucked into a canceled video game console that Travis has acquired, known as the "Death Drive Mk 2." The console was created by a designer known as Dr. Juvenile, who created six games known as the "Death Balls," which when collected will grant any wish (an obvious Dragon Ball reference). Travis and Badman form a truce to revive Bad Girl when all of the balls have been collected. The story is told through visual novel sequences dubbed "Travis Strikes Back," which detail the events leading up to the game. These sequences involve Travis traveling the world looking for the various Death Balls as he encounters characters such as Mondo Zappa from Killer is Dead, Kamui Uehara from The Silver Case, and Juliet Chesterfield, the No More Heroes universe's version of Juliet Starling from Lollipop Chainsaw, retroactively canonizing the fact that all of Suda51's games take place in the same universe.
One of these visual novel sequences features Travis and his cat Jeane acquiring a Death Ball off of an entrepreneur known as Damon Riccitiello, who is the CEO of Utopinia corporation and was developing a game known as Serious Moonlight with Dr. Juvenile. What's important about Damon's introduction in Travis Strikes Again is that he is expected to be a major villain in No More Heroes 3. He even acts as the primary focus of the now iconic 2019 Game Awards trailer that revealed his relation to FU, the leader of the Galactic Superhero Corps. and the main villain of No More Heroes 3.
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In the visual novel sequence introduced in the game's DLC, Travis reunites with his apprentice, Shinobu Jacobs, who was featured as a playable character in No More Heroes 3, and discovers that she has been running a dojo in the years since his absence. Most surprising, it's revealed that Travis married Sylvia Christel in the time since No More Heroes 2's ending, and the two have had two kids, a young boy named Hunter and a daughter named Jeane. The game also teases the return of Henry Cooldown, Travis' twin brother who fans have speculated has been brainwashed leading into the events of the third game.
It's fair to argue that with the heavy focus on bridging the gap between No More Heroes 2 and 3, Travis Strikes Again's story is arguably more important heading into No More Heroes 3's than the last numbered installment in the series. The game also successfully ties No More Heroes into the Kill the Past universe of Grasshopper Manufacture's titles that started with The Silver Case, however it is the true meaning behind Travis Strikes Again's story that makes it a must play for fans of Suda51's games, or even video games as a medium.
Beside being instrumental to the story set up to pay off in No More Heroes 3, Travis Strikes Again represents a major move forward for Goichi Suda and his team at Grasshopper Manufacture. Following the release of the first No More Heroes, Suda51 took a step back from directing the studio's titles, instead allowing other directors to lead projects such as Shadows of the Damned, Killer is Dead, and even No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Suda instead took on creative or executive roles for these projects, ultimately reducing his involvement in the actual direction of the games the studio was producing. With Travis Strikes Again, Suda decided that it was time to return to the director's chair, taking inspiration from indie games such as Hotline Miami, which influenced the t-shirts the player can customize Travis with throughout the game.
In taking inspiration from indie games, Suda reduced the team at Grasshopper Manufacture to a staff of only 20 developers, returning the studio to its grassroots production pipeline it had utilized on titles such as The Silver Case and Flower, Sun, & Rain. The story of Travis Strikes Again takes on a lot of themes from some of Suda's earlier titles, most key of which being the concept of "Kill the Past." After all, Suda used the game itself as a way of metaphorically killing his own past and returning to the director's chair having learned from his past titles. In the game's opening, Travis is forced to kill Electro Triple Star, the hero of a video game he grew up loving. Travis is left noticeably guilt-ridden by this, frustrated with the direction his life has turned.
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Later in the game, Travis travels into a game Dr. Juvenile never finished developing called Serious Moonlight, which is built on actual template assets used in Unreal Engine 4. Shortly into development, this game morphed into a game called Damned, a sequel to the 2010 Grasshopper Manufacture title Shadows of the Damned, topped by appearances of protagonists Garcia Hotspur and Johnson. This entire level can be seen as an allegory for the development of the original Shadows of the Damned, as Suda has voiced his frustrations with the project's development in recent years – claiming publisher EA forced the studio to develop the game in a way that was unfaithful to the creator's original vision.
It's because of sequences like this that many have considered Travis Strikes Again's subtext to be that of Suda51's own return to the director's chair, with Suda51 coming back after watching the success of indie developers finding success with his punk game design philosophy. It's because of this interesting backstory, as well as setup for the next game, that Travis Strikes Again is a must play for fans of the series going into No More Heroes 3.
No More Heroes 3 will release exclusively on Nintendo Switch on August 27th 2021.
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