Nolan Posted September 3, 2009 Posted September 3, 2009 That was so incredibly awesome, no one has any excuse not to buy this game, even if they don't have a Wii they should buy it.
Dante Posted September 4, 2009 Posted September 4, 2009 (edited) New screens: Edited September 4, 2009 by Dante
Dante Posted September 4, 2009 Posted September 4, 2009 (edited) IGN's Hands-On As Travis enters the room, the enemy is flanked on both sides by beautiful afro women. The two exchange words like, "'I've got a shit ton of anger to work out!" Shortly after, the boss unexpectedly picks up his women and hurls them both at the antihero. Within seconds, the ladies are cut limb from limb -- twisted collateral damage and the penalty for standing in the middle of the two fighters as they clash beams. The first time I saw this brutal cinematic, I thought, well, that was ridiculously harsh, and yet I couldn't help but smile because the entire scenario is so far-fetched and over-the-top that it borders on funny, especially later when the nemesis punts one of the girls' decapitated heads like a football. Yeah, it's obscene and offensive, but it wouldn't be No More Heroes 2 if it wasn't. Edited September 4, 2009 by Dante
Ganepark32 Posted September 4, 2009 Posted September 4, 2009 Looks great. The jobs moving into retro 2d style gameplay is probably the best thing they could do in that respect and should actually make them more enjoyable than in the original. Still want to see the new Santa Destroy and the improvements that have been made there to make it less like a ghost town.
Guest Captain Falcon Posted September 5, 2009 Posted September 5, 2009 Whilst it does look good, I'm not particularly taken by the new HUD shown (I'm not sure what the pink thing in the corner is supposed to be but I have a few ideas). Also, whilst it may reflect the tone of the game better, I think the bold colours used in the original gave the graphics a more defining edge than what's been shown here so far - everything here looks a bit dull in comparison.
Sméagol Posted September 7, 2009 Posted September 7, 2009 Whilst it does look good, I'm not particularly taken by the new HUD shown (I'm not sure what the pink thing in the corner is supposed to be but I have a few ideas).[..] You mean the upper right corner (I believe that was the pink one )? I think it was the katana-charge (battery) meter. Nevertheless, your ideas are probably correct as well .
Dante Posted September 18, 2009 Posted September 18, 2009 (edited) 1up Special "Hey," you might be saying. "Aren't Cover Stories supposed to start on Mondays, not Thursdays?" Well first, thanks for paying attention, but yeah that's the idea. We decided to do this one differently so we could use it as a rolling start heading into the Tokyo Game Show (starting September 24th), where No More Heroes 2 look like it'll be one of the biggest games on display. Which strikes me as pretty rare for a game Ubisoft is publishing in the U.S., but something that might become more common now that they've picked up games like this and Q Entertainment's Project Eden. Anyway, check out our pre-TGS coverage below, and let me know what you think! 17th - 23rd September 7 Things You Don't Know Two new playable characters, the final word on MotionPlus, Classic Controller support, obscure trivia, and exclusive new screenshots. No. 1 -- Shinobu is playable character #2 If you've been paying attention, you probably know No More Heroes 2 will feature new playable characters, the first of which you may remember from the original game: Shinobu. But to make this entry qualify as something you don't know, Grasshopper provided us with details on how she fits into the game. As you play through the story, there will be a few times when control will shift away from series star Travis Touchdown, and for two stages you'll use Shinobu as she fights the characters Million Gunman and New Destroyman. Controlling her should feel somewhat similar to playing as Travis, but she can perform unique combos with her katana, and unlike Travis, she's able to jump. No word yet on if that means she'll face platforming challenges, but since these stages are exclusive to her, it seems like a possibility. No. 2 -- Something is up between Shinobu and Travis I'm not going to pretend to know much about No More Heroes 2's story at this point, but according to the team at Grasshopper, Shinobu spent her downtime between games becoming the top fighter in Asia, and in the second game, she's serving as an assistant of sorts to Travis. Considering her less-than-civil relationship with Travis in the original game, that she now refers to him as "Master," that certain scenes in the sequel hint at her now having feelings for him, and that one of the screenshots we posted today shows her riding a motorcycle with Travis' sworn enemy Sylvia in the sidecar, I get the feeling we'll be hearing a lot more about that relationship. No. 3 -- Henry is playable character #3 OK, same rules as entry number one -- word is out that you'll be able to play as Henry (the same Henry from the first No More Heroes), but we've got the first light details. Much like Shinobu, he appears in part of the story, so you don't choose whether to play as him. And while Shinobu can jump, Henry will be able to dash, in addition to having his own unique attacks. Grasshopper is keeping quiet on how he fits into the story, but you can make your guesses based on the teaser image above. No. 4 -- It looks a lot better than the first game If you've been looking closely at the screenshots and videos released from the game thus far, you can probably tell that No More Heroes 2 is a better looking game than the original, but to humor me, Ubisoft sent over a copy of the demo shown at PAX a few weeks ago, and I put it side-by-side with the original game. And the difference was more impressive than I was expecting. Most obviously, the character models have far more detail in them this time around -- they seem denser and their textures look cleaner. This is still a series that puts style above technical achievements, but the technical side is close to as good as I've seen on Wii. No. 5 -- MotionPlus is out Late last year, Suda mentioned in an interview that he was interested in adding support for Nintendo's Wii MotionPlus peripheral to the game, presumably to allow for more precise attacks. But he now tells us that this idea didn't end up making the cut, in part because of the next entry on our list. No. 6 -- The Classic Controller is in Grasshopper's tradeoff for leaving out MotionPlus support is that they've included a Classic Controller option. Given that No More Heroes 2's minigames are presented like classic 2D games, this makes a lot of sense, but you'll be able to play the whole game on the SNES-style pad -- not just the minigames. As it turns out, Grasshopper's motivation for this had less to do with the mingames and more to do with the popularity of Capcom's Monster Hunter Tri, which many people in Japan play using the Classic Controller (and was even packaged at the same time as the Classic Controller Pro). According to Suda, Grasshopper -- and Japanese publisher Marvelous -- wanted to support this controller to appeal to those players. No. 7 -- Travis Touchdown is Goichi Suda, basically While piecing together this list, I asked the team at Grasshopper to provide a series of trivia nuggets that most people wouldn't know about the company, and their list came back with a few unexpected entries. Such as: "Suda51 threw out his back recently while watching Friday the 13th; he actually got scared and jumped in fright." And: "When Grasshopper employees go to the bathroom, we say we 'go to save.'" Their list continued with a few notes describing how Travis Touchdown was inspired by Suda's own tendencies: "You hear the sound of Travis' key ring when he walks. This is actually one of Suda-san's habits as well." "Suda51 was not happy with the quality of the professional wrestling techniques created by animators, so he tried the actual moves and techniques on the animators." "Suda51 is crazy about cats. Travis has a cat in the game just because Suda-san wanted him to have one." Edited September 18, 2009 by Dante
marcel Posted September 18, 2009 Posted September 18, 2009 WTH! why support classic controller? When the first no more heroes was announced the motion controls where the features that brought it to the Wii, and now they support the classic controller? No motion plus support i can understand, because the fights would really not be marginally better with motion plus. Classic controller support sounds pretty fishy to me, are they considering going multi-platform with this one?
Dante Posted September 18, 2009 Posted September 18, 2009 WTH! why support classic controller? When the first no more heroes was announced the motion controls where the features that brought it to the Wii, and now they support the classic controller? No motion plus support i can understand, because the fights would really not be marginally better with motion plus. Classic controller support sounds pretty fishy to me, are they considering going multi-platform with this one? The reason for the classic controller is mention in my last post. No. 6 -- The Classic Controller is in Grasshopper's tradeoff for leaving out MotionPlus support is that they've included a Classic Controller option. Given that No More Heroes 2's minigames are presented like classic 2D games, this makes a lot of sense, but you'll be able to play the whole game on the SNES-style pad -- not just the minigames. As it turns out, Grasshopper's motivation for this had less to do with the mingames and more to do with the popularity of Capcom's Monster Hunter Tri, which many people in Japan play using the Classic Controller (and was even packaged at the same time as the Classic Controller Pro). According to Suda, Grasshopper -- and Japanese publisher Marvelous -- wanted to support this controller to appeal to those players.
marcel Posted September 18, 2009 Posted September 18, 2009 The reason for the classic controller is mention in my last post. but thats one of the lamest excuses ive ever seen. Im not flaming the classic controller supports, but first they bring a potentially 360 game to the wii because of the motion controlls. And with the sequal they support the classic controller.
darksnowman Posted September 18, 2009 Posted September 18, 2009 but thats one of the lamest excuses ive ever seen. Im not flaming the classic controller supports, but first they bring a potentially 360 game to the wii because of the motion controlls. And with the sequal they support the classic controller. Yeah. I'm thinking that seeing as they are branching the series out to the non-Wii consoles after NMH2 they are taking the opportunity to get some groundwork in with traditional controls. (Even though the other consoles will have their own motion controls in the future.)
Dante Posted September 19, 2009 Posted September 19, 2009 No More Heroes 2 Cover Day Two: Our visit to Grasshopper Manufacture Grasshopper Studio Photo Blog Batman toys, man hugs, Scarface tabletop arcade machines, a real-life lightsaber, Star Wars pinball, and a Game Center CX doll.
Nolan Posted September 19, 2009 Posted September 19, 2009 everything about their studio is absolutely awesome.
Blue_Ninja0 Posted September 21, 2009 Posted September 21, 2009 I would steal that awesome sword for myself but I would probably be killed in the process. Is it me, or in the last picture Mario has more beard than he should? So, do we know anything about the european release regarding the blood? Will we be getting the japanese version?
T-3 Posted September 21, 2009 Posted September 21, 2009 So, do we know anything about the european release regarding the blood? Will we be getting the japanese version? They're planning to release a bloody and a non-bloody version in Europe. Though, IMO it's kind of pointless to release two versions for a game with such a comparably limited following. They should just stick with the bloody version.
D_prOdigy Posted September 21, 2009 Posted September 21, 2009 I knew it: 1UP: You mentioned once that No More Heroes 2 would be the last game in the series on Wii. Have you done any experiments on what it might be like on another platform, especially with the new motion controllers that have been announced for other systems? Suda 51: Actually, I answered differently, and it may have been misinterpreted. What I wanted to say was, looking at the Wii, I think No More Heroes 2 will probably be the last iteration for this current platform. But there's probably going to be a "Wii 2" or other next-gen system from Nintendo at some point, so I was saying that I would want to do another game in the series on the next Nintendo platform. I want to continue the No More Heroes series, but I've finished the story for Travis. It's completely finished in No More Heroes 2. So I want to think of a different story -- a different character, or something like that within the series -- starting on the next Nintendo platform.
Nolan Posted September 21, 2009 Posted September 21, 2009 Well that's kinda awesome. But it means quite the unknown wait for a 3rd game though.
LostOverThere Posted September 22, 2009 Posted September 22, 2009 Mind has been blown. Part of me is happy it will be on a Nintendo platform, the other part disappointed that we'll have to wait so god damn long for a sequel.
Dante Posted September 23, 2009 Posted September 23, 2009 Shinobu trailer No More Heroes Giveaway In honor of this week's cover story, 1UP & Grasshopper Manufacture teamed up to put together a lovely giveaway package for one lucky 1UP user. You can win two large posters, one of Travis Touchdown and Sylvia, both are signed by Goichi Suda himself. In addition two these two pieces, you'll also receive three t-shirts. Feel free to share them with your friends, or keep them all to yourself! Because the posters are bigger than our desks, we had to use the conference room table to display them. Take a look at what you can win:
Blue_Ninja0 Posted September 24, 2009 Posted September 24, 2009 Awesome shirts! Lucky bastard! And we can use Shinobu? Oh yeah!! They're planning to release a bloody and a non-bloody version in Europe. Though, IMO it's kind of pointless to release two versions for a game with such a comparably limited following. They should just stick with the bloody version. Agree, it's pointless. I'm kinda relieved though.
Dante Posted September 30, 2009 Posted September 30, 2009 New Interviews! IGNs the tail end of the Tokyo Game Show we had a chance to score a brief sitdown with Suda 51, creator of No More Heroes and multiple other secret projects he's currently sworn not to talk about. Snagging him right before his personal demo with Microsoft's Natal, we shot a few questions his way, chatting about the upcoming No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle on Wii, his thoughts on Project Natal, and his mystery action/horror game with EA. Check out our interview below, and be sure to look for more from Suda in the coming months. IGN: First off is a question lots of us have been wondering for a long time. It's simple. Why are you so awesome? Suda: Wow. Well I'd have to say it's because every day before work I stop to take a dump. So that's what I guess people should go through if they want to be as cool as me. IGN: Awesome. And we're off to a good start. So I guess we should talk about games. No More Heroes 2: Most of the time we see innovative games from you, but it's not often we expect a sequel. Was it due to the sales of No More Heroes, or did you simply like working on the game and wanted to do a second attempt? Suda: The main reason I actually wanted to make a sequel for No More Heroes is because I really just love the character Travis. I really like him, and I thought it'd be great to see more of him in another story, so that's why we wanted him to make a return with No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. IGN: Now you talked a bit about Wii in an earlier interview, and mentioned that this would be the last No More Heroes on the system. Is this a franchise you want to take onto another console, or does it mean that if you're finished with NMH on Wii that the series is over as well? Suda: I still think that No More Heroes and Wii is a good match, and that for the game we need motion controls, and that's why it works so well on Wii. Even if Travis's story is finished with number two, and we decide to make another No More Heroes game within the No More Heroes world or setting I still think that it should be on a Nintendo platform, and more specifically the Wii 2 later down the line. I'm assuming that for the next Wii Nintendo will do more impressive motion controls, and that's what No More Heroes is all about. Right now though we're working on making No More Heroes 2 as strong as can be, so I'm not really thinking about a third game currently. IGN: Now it sounds like after this interview you're actually on your way to go play the Natal. Just a couple days ago Kojima and a few other developers mentioned how big of a step the technology is. Are you considering making a project on it as well then? Suda: After this interview I'm going to try the Natal project; just about 15 minutes from now. Feel it for the first time. "I'm going to try and decide if there's something we can make with this device. The first game I'm going to try with it is Burnout Paradise, since I'm a huge Burnout fan and I want to see how that will control. I want to see, for example, how it will implement motion into a hardcore game like Burnout. After that maybe I can get a feel for Natal and figure out a game design that would work well with it, since it is a project I would very much like to tackle. IGN: I have to ask a few more questions on No More Heroes 2, otherwise the Nintendo fans will suplex me… Suda: Haha IGN: Fist off, can you tell us about a boss we haven't seen yet? There was a moment in a previous trailer where Travis was surrounded by cheerleaders and you mentioned fighting multiple bosses at once… I'm very interested in hearing about that. Suda: Haha. Well for now I have to keep it to only a few bosses. Definitely you should expect more bosses than in No More Heroes one though. At PAX we had a demo where you were fighting Nathan Capran, and what I can tell you is a little info about his origin. Originally he was created during No More Heroes, and I was thinking about him as a potential boss, but there wasn't really room to fit him into the story, so we decided to hold off. But I still wanted to see how he'd fit into the No More Heroes world, so once the sequel was decided on I absolutely wanted to get him into the game. That's how we got the boss everyone saw at PAX, and unfortunately I'll have to hold off on other talks at this time. IGN: Fair enough. Now for the job system, you made the decision to move it all into 2D, and we've already been seeing some great feedback on that. How many of those games are included, and were there any talks about having them in their own challenge mode as well apart from the main game? Suda: You'll see around 10 2D mini-games in No More Heroes 2, and they'll all be done in the retro 2D, 8-bit style. I thought that'd be a fun way to re-imagine them. If you want to play them though so far you need to actually go to the areas in the story mode, and I'm not sure yet if I'll include them as any separate challenge mode. So far they're contained only in the story mode. IGN: I saw those and instantly thought about a No More Heroes DS game – 2D hack-n-slash arcade game… Suda: Oh yes. That could also be done on WiiWare too quite well… IGN: That'd be great, yeah. So final question, since I can hear your stomach growling. Suda: Haha yes. Lunch, then Natal. IGN: Well the last question is about your secret project. I know you aren't supposed to talk about it and all that, but last time you gave us one word – "Sparkly" – and if you can't tell us more you should at least give us another word to go along with that. Suda: Haha sparkly. That's right… IGN: So come on. Give us something here… Editor's Note: Suda then proceeds to squirm around in his chair and go back and forth with PR, who obviously don't want him sharing anything. Suda: Oh man. I love IGN, so I really want to give you something here… It's an action/horror game, and it'll be very scary… And I guess I can also tell you that the main character has a very cool watch. IGN: A very cool watch? Suda: Yeah. I better leave it at that. Editor's Note Again: This could have something to do with the main mechanic; perhaps stopping time or turning back time. Or it could just be that Suda likes the guy's watch… IGN: Ok. Well we're sadly out of time, but thanks for sitting down with us and chatting. Enjoy Natal! Suda: Thanks. Joystiq When we came into Marvelous Entertainment's hotel room, we witnessed another outlet recording a video interview with Suda 51, producer of No More Heroes and its sequel. Marvelous brought this, well, marvelous beam katana prop, which lights up and makes appropriately lightsabery noises, and someone pretended to attack him in the conclusion of the video interview. Suda gamely displayed mock fright at the beam katana attack for multiple takes while someone waved the device around in front of him. All we did was ask him some questions about No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle and Grasshopper's other work. Joystiq: First off, how many times today have people bopped you on the head with that thing? Suda 51: I've been hit on the head with the beam katana the same number of times as there are people who went to Tokyo Game Show today. There's a universal appeal to hitting someone on the head with it. [Laughs.] It's dangerous. No More Heroes 2 isn't on the show floor. Is there any reason? The reason is that the Japanese publisher, Marvelous, doesn't have a booth this year. Maybe we should have it at the Ubisoft booth, but Marvelous is the publisher. Also on the subject, the game wasn't on the stage at Ubisoft's E3 presentation either. We didn't manage to have it on time at E3, but we had a demo at PAX. We managed to create a demo for PAX. Have people been enjoying the demo? Good feedback? It was shown during PAX and here to journalists who haven't played it, and yeah, we've gotten good feedback. One issue that people had with the first No More Heroes was the open-world town of Santa Destroy. The general complaint was that there wasn't much to do. What's being done to address that? I heard all the critiques from users about the open world. You can be sure for No More Heroes 2 that we'll fix it to some extent. But you'll find out later. Do you think that those critiques were accurate? Is that something you agree with? I always try to keep my ear open and listen to the users, and if I think that something is wrong with the open world, of course I'm going to fix it for the sequel. Basically, I listened to the user reviews and the fans about this one. In a previous interview for the first game, you compared developing No More Heroes to going to the bathroom. What's a good metaphor for the development of the sequel? For No More Heroes I got the idea when I was actually on the toilet, but for No More Heroes 2 this time I got the idea after I did what I had to do on the toilet. But still on the toilet. No More Heroes 2 will support the Classic Controller. Is that mostly to attract the Monster Hunter audience? That's correct, because in terms of the Japanese market, you see that Monster Hunter Tri was a big success here, and so you have to consider those fans who bought MH3 with the Classic Controller. After consulting Marvelous, we decided to make No More Heroes 2 compatible with the Classic Controller. Some of the big appeal of No More Heroes comes from the satisfying finishing move motion. How does that work with the Classic Controller? The most natural way to have this gameplay system with the slash move on the Classic Controller is to put the special move on the left analog stick. So now you don't move your hand anymore, you just move the analog stick in the right direction based on how it's written on the screen. And regular attacks are still on a button? Yes, and the normal attack is still on the A and B buttons. The Classic Controller support would make it easier to port the game to other systems. Did that come into discussion at all? You're right, but No More Heroes is a Wii title. So even though it's compatible with the Classic Controller, I'd still like you to enjoy it with the Wii Remote because that's how No More Heroes should be played. How do the two new playable characters control? Do they control differently? For example, in the case of Shinobu, the difference between her and Travis is that she can jump. There are differences in the way you fight too. In this game, Travis is seeking revenge. Is there still a competition going on between assassins? Is he still climbing ranks? He's going to fight to become Number 1 assassin again, but this time he's going to start from the 51 rank. How did he lose his rank? The ranking has been updated, and after the update, Travis ended up being at 51. Are there 50 bosses? I've prepared 50 bosses, now, will you fight every one or not? Maybe they'll kill each other. You'll have to play to find out. As you get more famous in the game industry, do you feel more or less free to experiment and do new, weird things? First, I'm really glad that people look at what I'm doing and look at new titles from Grasshopper. But I still feel that I make games as I like, so I don't feel that I've lost any freedom when I'm making a game. For me it's the same. You've made adventure games like Flower, Sun, and Rain in the past. Any plans to go back to adventure? If you look at the market as it is right now, just an adventure game without action ... that's kind of hard. Of course I haven't given up on adventure games, but I understand that you need to put some action features in it. So if we're talking about action adventure, of course I want to try to work on those kind of titles in the future. I'm not really done with adventure games, I just need to put a taste of action in it. Speaking of adventure games, some time ago you started Project S with Kojima-san. It involved a radio drama, but is there more? Yes, I'm going to continue the radio drama with Kojima-san. That's what I'm doing with him at the moment. Any chance we'll ever get to hear that in English? I don't know. That's something you'd have to check with Konami. I was really interested in new Snatcher-related material, and also when I heard that you were involved, but ... I can't listen to it. You are a fan of Snatcher? I think it's a really great game. Every time there's a countdown on the Kojima Productions site, I hold out a bit of hope that maybe it'll be Snatcher this time. (laughs) Anything you can tell us about Kurayami? There is no real update, sorry. (laughs) Is it still in development? It's not even in development right now. Is it canceled? We aren't even really working on it. We've just been talking about it, but there hasn't been time to work on it. Recently, some sites rediscovered the artwork ... Actually it was really just for Edge. The artwork was just something we submitted them. We're not working on this project yet. They had some special coverage about Grasshopper and we talked a little bit about Kurayami, and so we gave them some artwork. When was that? Three years ago. A bunch of sites posted the artwork again, and for a while everyone thought it was new. One day ... It's not canceled, I haven't given up on it. One day I'll have time to work on this title.
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