GOTY 2022 & '21 - Number 9
(A video version of this is available here)
I think Suda's a good egg - killer7's a great game that I'll put up there with the top Resident Evils - but he's put his brand to a lot of shallow, obnoxious trash. I think a lot of that happened around the start of the 2010s, when he became convinced that people only wanted one thing from him - Do that No More Heroes thing again.
Suda and Grasshopper's earlier stuff didn't often feature slick, intricately designed gameplay or comprehensive, satisfying storylines, but they were always daring, creatively ambitious and rich with style and atmosphere. Stuff like Flower, Sun & Rain or The Silver Case felt like you'd unconvered 40 minutes of an unknown foreign language horror film on an unlabeled VHS. Post-No More Heroes, GhM games frequently felt like Newgrounds pish in 3D. Full of worn-out tropes, excessive swearing and banal, braindead combat. No More Heroes felt like the turning point when the cynicism crept in and the sincerity slipped out.
There was definitely something to the original No More Heroes though. Grasshopper really chasing their ideal of being the videogame industry's punk rock band. There was a real energy and individual voice to it. The contrast of the mundane, humiliating part-time jobs and the raucous, wild boss fights. An invitation to ignore convention and adopt dangerous ideas. That feeling of being about 20 years-old, wrapped up and sold on a Nintendo Wii disc.
No More Heroes is an exceptional game, not necessarily in terms of quality, but in how distinct it is. If you like it, you're going to have a very hard time finding more games that scratch that itch. It deserves to be remembered, and it's a great pleasure to see them get it right again.
No More Heroes 3 is a scruffy, ugly little game, but one that's bursting with energy. Suda's willingness to just pick up things he thinks are cool, like lightsabers or Kaneda's bike and just paste them into his game are a mark of how its design is lead by sincere, unpretentious passion. It's a team having a great time making a game, and it's easy for players to get wrapped up in that. Thankfully, this time, Grasshopper have also put some consideration into how to make an exciting combat system, and No More Heroes 3 might be the most fun game they've ever made.
Spacing between your enemies is fundamental to how you approach fights in No More Heroes 3. You can crowd enemies into groups for sweeping attacks, or draw them out for one-on-ones to protect yourself from swarming defenses. They've got dodge rolls in here, and if you know how committed I am to Splat Dualies, you'll understand why I've taken to that so instinctively. There's new abilities that charge up over the course of each fight, allowing you to slow enemies, set up automated attacks in a designated spot, or kick them away into a corner. You soon find yourself getting into a rhythm of attacks, learning how each new enemy type fights, and really getting the most out of your abilities. It's really fun, and miles away from the endless, brainless, repetitive action sequences offered by No More Heroes 2. 3 had me eating up opportunities to grind away for the next boss fight or stat boost.
No More Heroes games' structure is always a good comfort. They're proper games. PS2 stuff. Zone of the Enders and Onimusha. Boss characters and level gimmicks. You're not passively getting through them. When you're away from them, they're still on your mind. Really standard stuff for pretty much any Capcom or Konami game between 1997 and 2006, but they're a shrinking niche when everything has to be an ever-expanding revenue source. I don't know if anyone under 25 would even think to play No More Heroes 3 - I don't know if it would resonate with them - but there's a great satisfaction to seeing a new title with this kind of structure. I think a lot of the backlash towards The Phantom Pain was directed towards shifting away from linear progression and charismatic bosses, and towards micromanagement and enemy camp raids. If you want a game that feels like 2004 again, you might really appreciate No More Heroes III.
It's that variety that makes the game. The scattershot energy. There's a lot of bad sidejobs and some levels that don't really come together too cohesively, but you can appreciate all the wild directions it's pushing in. There was always a concern that Grasshopper would lose its identity as it rapidly expanded and started hiring swathes of young western fans. I think the previous decade of their titles indicate that it wasn't an unwarranted concern, but it works to No More Heroes III's benefit. Even if I don't love every avenue it decides to head down, it approaches it with real vigor. I don't think anyone could accuse the game of feeling passionless.
As someone who vocally supported Suda through the 2000s, I feel a bit of responsibility to how the wider perception of him has formed. It was an era when publishers and the media were looking for Japanese auteur developers with devoted fanbases to drive excitement for news and projects. I don't think Suda is a poor fit alongside names like Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Hidetaka Suehiro, especially given how much time he's spent with those individuals, but I think the public latched on to Suda's more superficial qualities, and made that his name. The presentation that his games have become associated with. I'd argue that his most interesting work comes from the innovation in his design. The Xevious meets Bosconian of Liberation Maiden, or how killer7 boiled down survival horror design to linear exploration and action stand-offs. I don't think No More Heroes III does quite as much to innovate in design, but it successfully develops upon something he'd previously established. I think that's something to latch onto. Even if Suda doesn't bring us games as ambitious and daring as his early titles, he can still make good stuff that doesn't feel like a retread.
(A video version of this is available here)
I think Suda's a good egg - killer7's a great game that I'll put up there with the top Resident Evils - but he's put his brand to a lot of shallow, obnoxious trash. I think a lot of that happened around the start of the 2010s, when he became convinced that people only wanted one thing from him - Do that No More Heroes thing again.
Suda and Grasshopper's earlier stuff didn't often feature slick, intricately designed gameplay or comprehensive, satisfying storylines, but they were always daring, creatively ambitious and rich with style and atmosphere. Stuff like Flower, Sun & Rain or The Silver Case felt like you'd unconvered 40 minutes of an unknown foreign language horror film on an unlabeled VHS. Post-No More Heroes, GhM games frequently felt like Newgrounds pish in 3D. Full of worn-out tropes, excessive swearing and banal, braindead combat. No More Heroes felt like the turning point when the cynicism crept in and the sincerity slipped out.
There was definitely something to the original No More Heroes though. Grasshopper really chasing their ideal of being the videogame industry's punk rock band. There was a real energy and individual voice to it. The contrast of the mundane, humiliating part-time jobs and the raucous, wild boss fights. An invitation to ignore convention and adopt dangerous ideas. That feeling of being about 20 years-old, wrapped up and sold on a Nintendo Wii disc.
No More Heroes is an exceptional game, not necessarily in terms of quality, but in how distinct it is. If you like it, you're going to have a very hard time finding more games that scratch that itch. It deserves to be remembered, and it's a great pleasure to see them get it right again.
No More Heroes 3 is a scruffy, ugly little game, but one that's bursting with energy. Suda's willingness to just pick up things he thinks are cool, like lightsabers or Kaneda's bike and just paste them into his game are a mark of how its design is lead by sincere, unpretentious passion. It's a team having a great time making a game, and it's easy for players to get wrapped up in that. Thankfully, this time, Grasshopper have also put some consideration into how to make an exciting combat system, and No More Heroes 3 might be the most fun game they've ever made.
Spacing between your enemies is fundamental to how you approach fights in No More Heroes 3. You can crowd enemies into groups for sweeping attacks, or draw them out for one-on-ones to protect yourself from swarming defenses. They've got dodge rolls in here, and if you know how committed I am to Splat Dualies, you'll understand why I've taken to that so instinctively. There's new abilities that charge up over the course of each fight, allowing you to slow enemies, set up automated attacks in a designated spot, or kick them away into a corner. You soon find yourself getting into a rhythm of attacks, learning how each new enemy type fights, and really getting the most out of your abilities. It's really fun, and miles away from the endless, brainless, repetitive action sequences offered by No More Heroes 2. 3 had me eating up opportunities to grind away for the next boss fight or stat boost.
No More Heroes games' structure is always a good comfort. They're proper games. PS2 stuff. Zone of the Enders and Onimusha. Boss characters and level gimmicks. You're not passively getting through them. When you're away from them, they're still on your mind. Really standard stuff for pretty much any Capcom or Konami game between 1997 and 2006, but they're a shrinking niche when everything has to be an ever-expanding revenue source. I don't know if anyone under 25 would even think to play No More Heroes 3 - I don't know if it would resonate with them - but there's a great satisfaction to seeing a new title with this kind of structure. I think a lot of the backlash towards The Phantom Pain was directed towards shifting away from linear progression and charismatic bosses, and towards micromanagement and enemy camp raids. If you want a game that feels like 2004 again, you might really appreciate No More Heroes III.
It's that variety that makes the game. The scattershot energy. There's a lot of bad sidejobs and some levels that don't really come together too cohesively, but you can appreciate all the wild directions it's pushing in. There was always a concern that Grasshopper would lose its identity as it rapidly expanded and started hiring swathes of young western fans. I think the previous decade of their titles indicate that it wasn't an unwarranted concern, but it works to No More Heroes III's benefit. Even if I don't love every avenue it decides to head down, it approaches it with real vigor. I don't think anyone could accuse the game of feeling passionless.
As someone who vocally supported Suda through the 2000s, I feel a bit of responsibility to how the wider perception of him has formed. It was an era when publishers and the media were looking for Japanese auteur developers with devoted fanbases to drive excitement for news and projects. I don't think Suda is a poor fit alongside names like Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Hidetaka Suehiro, especially given how much time he's spent with those individuals, but I think the public latched on to Suda's more superficial qualities, and made that his name. The presentation that his games have become associated with. I'd argue that his most interesting work comes from the innovation in his design. The Xevious meets Bosconian of Liberation Maiden, or how killer7 boiled down survival horror design to linear exploration and action stand-offs. I don't think No More Heroes III does quite as much to innovate in design, but it successfully develops upon something he'd previously established. I think that's something to latch onto. Even if Suda doesn't bring us games as ambitious and daring as his early titles, he can still make good stuff that doesn't feel like a retread.
2 Comments
Cheers. I brought the old GOTY lists over with links last week. I might copy and paste the individual posts too, but I'd probably backdate them so I don't clog up folks' timelines with out of date content.
letshugbro
1 year ago