After nine years, Travis Touchdown is slated to make his grand return inNo 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 3also followsTravis 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 ashype forNo More Heroes 3reaches a peakis that, based on all of the promotional material,Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroesessentially acts as the extended prologue to the upcoming sequel. This is true in regards to both gameplay and narrative, with some ofTravis 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 forNo More Heroes 3that haven’t yet playedTravis Strikes Again, here is why that should change before the sequel releases.
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How Travis Strikes Again Sets Up No More Heroes 3
WhileTravis Strikes Againis 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 upthe long awaited sequel toNo 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 firstNo More Heroesgame 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 obviousDragon Ballreference). 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 fromKiller is Dead,Kamui Uehara fromThe Silver Case, and Juliet Chesterfield, theNo More Heroesuniverse’s version of Juliet Starling fromLollipop 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 inTravis Strikes Againis that he is expected to bea major villain inNo 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 ofNo 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 inNo 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 Christelin the time sinceNo 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 bridgingthe gap betweenNo More Heroes 2and3,Travis Strikes Again’s story is arguably more important heading intoNo More Heroes 3’s than the last numbered installment in the series. The game also successfully tiesNo More Heroesinto the Kill the Past universe of Grasshopper Manufacture’s titles that started withThe Silver Case, however it is the true meaning behindTravis Strikes Again’s story that makes it a must play for fans of Suda51’s games, or even video games as a medium.
What Travis Strikes Again Represents
Beside being instrumental to the story set up to pay off inNo More Heroes 3,Travis Strikes Againrepresents a major move forward for Goichi Suda and his team at Grasshopper Manufacture. Following the release of the firstNo More Heroes, Suda51 took a step back from directing the studio’s titles, instead allowing other directors to lead projects such asShadows of the Damned,Killer is Dead, and evenNo 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. WithTravis Strikes Again, Suda decided that it was time to return to the director’s chair, taking inspiration from indie games such asHotline 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 asThe Silver CaseandFlower, Sun, & Rain. The story ofTravis Strikes Againtakes 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 titleShadows 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 originalShadows of the Damned, as Suda has voiced hisfrustrations 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 consideredTravis 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, thatTravis Strikes Againis a must play for fans of the seriesgoing intoNo More Heroes 3.
No More Heroes 3will release exclusively on Nintendo Switch on August 27th 2021.
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