It was nearly ten years since Travis Touchdown last ignited his beam katana in a mainline No More Heroes game by the time Goichi “Suda 51” Suda and his team at Grasshopper announced No More Heroes 3 in 2019. This sequel would later be delayed, but eventually launched on the Nintendo Switch to mostly positive reviews last August. Now, No More Heroes 3 is being ported to PlayStation, Xbox, and PC systems this October – with publisher XSeed Games bringing sharper visuals and better load times onto current-gen hardware.
No More Heroes 3’s story takes place years after the events of No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again, with the foul-mouthed otaku assassin Travis Touchdown returning to Santa Destroy after years in retirement. This time he faces a new enemy in his quest to become the world’s deadliest killer: a group of alien superheroes who wish to take over the Earth. Naturally, it falls to Travis to defeat these extraterrestrial invaders in over-the-top battles and ascend the Galactic Superhero Rankings. In true Grasshopper Manufacture fashion, No More Heroes 3’s story is delightfully tongue-in-cheek, with plenty of fourth-wall-breaking antics and gaming references mixed with some surprisingly somber themes.
No More Heroes 3’s standard gameplay hasn’t changed much from the Steam versions of the previous No More Heroes games, as players attack enemies with Normal and Heavy strikes from Travis’s beam katana as well as devastating wrestling moves and opponent-finishing Killer Slashes. Dodging out of an enemy’s attack at just the right moment will slow down time and allow Travis to land even more hits for extra damage. The slot machine-like Slash Wheel also returns, allowing Travis to activate special bonuses by matching three icons together after a successful Killer Slash. A new addition to Travis’s arsenal is the Death Glove, which can be used to perform extremely powerful attacks – including a missile barrage from Travis’s new power armor. Each time Travis dies, he can re-enter the fight after spinning a roulette wheel to gain a bonus effect for the next attempt.
As was the case with past installments, No More Heroes 3’s highlights are the boss battles, in which Travis takes on an alien (or another assassin taking their place) in a wonderfully absurd confrontation. This time, the boss battles feature a wide range of different gameplay styles, with mech-suit shootouts, a button-matching game of musical chairs, a harrowing first-person horror section, and even a turn-based JRPG battle pulled from an early Final Fantasy game mixed in with the standard sword fights.
Just like in the first No More Heroes, Travis will need to earn money to pay the entry fees for each of these boss battles. To do so, Travis will have to navigate the open world of Santa Destroy and other new locations on his motorcycle and locate matches and odd jobs to complete. These odd jobs come in the form of various Volunteer Mission minigames in which Travis has to mow a lawn or pick up trash in a lake. The empty open world and dull minigames of the first No More Heroes were quite divisive, and unfortunately not much has changed here. Luckily, there is a Fast Travel option for locations Travis has already been to cut down on backtracking.
Like the previous games, No More Heroes 3 mixes cel-shaded modern graphics with retro-style pixel art for the HUD. There are also a few 2D anime cutscenes, such as a Studio Ghibli-style flashback scene in the beginning. Everything looks crisp on the PS5, and No More Heroes 3 maintains the series’ penchant for stylish visuals. The soundtrack also brings the 90s to mind thanks to its jazzy guitar rifts and old-fashioned chiptune music.
For better or worse, No More Heroes 3 is pretty much more of the first two games with a new coat of paint. All of Grasshopper Manufacture’s wild action, bizarre storylines, and offbeat characters are present and accounted for, as is the often-tedious grind needed to progress to the next high-octane boss fight. However, for fans of the series, No More Heroes III is still a fine send-off for Travis Touchdown and his supporting cast.
No More Heroes 3 will be available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5 on October 11. A digital PS5 code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.
