1. What makes Travis' Schpeletiger new is that it is now twice as long (in addition to the better controls).
2. This has already been verified, but there have been doubts and concerns as to how Grasshopper is going to have 50 unique bosses, from their appearance to actual fighting capabilities. Suda explains to EDGE that basically there is nothing to worry about as they incorporated both the original NMH development team and the NMH2 team (many members being of both teams including the character creator) to brainstorm and according to Suda they had no problems shooting out several ideas and characters from that.
3. The name of the "schoolgirl assassin" we all know about is Kimmy. How appropriate. Suda also mentions that Kimmy wants to keep Travis "all to her self." Possible Misery references?
4. At the end of every boss fight, a 2D image of Travis will walk from one end of the screen to the other to hop onto the Schpeletiger and drive off, accompanied by some new piece of midi music.
5. The idea of Travis using other weapons, even projectiles, was considered by Suda, but ultimately canned as Suda says that the sword/beam katana is what Travis should always use. Suda calls Travis the "modern samurai."
6. It was implied that Bishop actually does not die or get killed off, as the article explains that Bishop will have a bigger role to play in the game. At the same time, Suda says that "Travis is fighting for himself" not for anyone else. Travis is fighting for revenge, but perhaps for someone else other than Bishop?
7. Speaking more specifically on the city, Suda explains that Travis had actually left Santa Destroy for those three years, and it wasn't until he came back that he had seen how much it had changed. Where Travis had gone is not said. Only a portion of the original city will be traveled, based on fan responses on the first game. The streets and sidewalks will be much more busier and cars will "get out of the way" of Travis' bike. There are construction signs and lights everywhere. One of the fighting grounds will be a "new school", "construction yard", and a graveyard. Not sure if the school is new in the sense that it is an additional one to the Santa Destroy High School or if it is just a remodeled SDHS.
8. There are still side jobs such as coconut collecting and a new one involving plumbing. Suda explains that he still wants the player to feel like he has to work hard to play the game as that is what it means to be a punk. Otherwise, he says, there is a disconnect between the videogame world and reality. Still, the side jobs are still improved and provide humor as well as entertainment.
9. It is confirmed that Destroyman comes back as a cyborg as wanting revenge against, who else, Travis.
10. Finally, the bosses themselves: it will not be as difficult, time consuming, and at times boring to collect enough money to advance to the next boss fight. In fact, Suda purposely wanted to mix things up to keep it from getting repetitive by having Shinobu and Henry as playable characters and, at times, fighting more than one boss fight, sometimes one right after the other, and sometimes simultaneously.
Holy wow at the live demo of NMH, the spoiler. Thank you Gamespot!
Anyhow game looks so much more polished than the first. Things you notice, animation and character models, so much better, framerate is rock solid, fighting area is huge.
Wow at the new videos. Wow.
This is going to be the game the first one should have been.
Kotaku:
Camera Is A Little Bit Too Crazy: I noticed during Shinobu's level that the camera would sometimes have trouble keeping up with her during sharp turns in narrow corridors. Shinobu seems to move a lot faster than Travis, so I could see this becoming a real problem if you're racing through the level, slicing up a storm.
It's No Longer "Open" World: If you liked the open world of the previous game (although some people found it small), you're going to be disappointed to hear that NMH2 sticks to a map system instead. The map system marks where story and side missions are in town and when you select one, you teleport there. To me, it didn't make the world feel small or anything, but I can think of a few people who wanted more open world, not less.
NMH2 is every bit as inappropriate and violent as the first game. And I don't think the fans would want it any other way.
Still Pretty Easy To Pick Up: There are some updates to gameplay that make bosses more complicated to beat and the training gym mini-games are notoriously difficult. But other than that, it's not hard to master the sword fighting moves or the procedure for charging up your weapon. Newcomers won't be lost.
Fashion Statements Are An Option: You can take Tavis clothes shopping and customize a great deal about his outfit — right down to some shades straight out of the 80s.
My favorite thing next to the anime video game you can play in Travis's apartment is Travis's cat, Jean. At the end of the first game, she appears to have let herself go and is now a big ball of cat blubber. A mini-game lets you train her with "cat exercises" and arrange her diet so that she loses weight over time. The cat exercises were pretty hilarious — one of them involves Travis hoisting her up over his head, which probably benefits his weight loss more than hers. So adorable! And probably the reason I drew giant smiling cats all over my notes.
Final Thoughts
Now that my ankle is mostly better and I no longer am under the effects of painkillers, I realize how ridiculous the cat thing is. My cat would kick my ass if I tried to lift her over my head under the pretense of trying to make her lose weight.
—Suda 51 had nothing to say either about the ports of the first game to the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, or about his ongoing project with EA.
1up:
What surprised me the most about Despserate Struggle is the fact that you can't explore Santa Destroy, the city the game's set in, on your own anymore. In game terms, the city's been reduced to a menu screen, where you select missions, boss stages, stores, etc. on a regular list with a map as the background.
It's not something you expect a sequel to do. Had this been a normal chain of events, the first No More Heroes would have the simpler city traversal, and the sequel would go into full-on open-world mode. Surely, polishing up the city could have been a more attractive proposition after (presumably) being given a bigger budget, but on the other hand, Santa Destroy felt pretty dead in the original, so it's possible that the developers at Grasshopper went down the easy path rather than playing the odds with gamers, focusing instead on what the game was really known for: its action and ludicrous story.
The menu-driven navigation makes a little more sense when you consider that the story involves hero Travis Touchdown now having to take down over 50 rival assassins to get back to the top of the national assassin rankings (though it's still not 100% clear that the player will actually be engaged in 50+ stages/boss fights), so jumping around town is obviously quicker and easier than exiting the apartment, hopping on Travis' motorcycle, and zooming across town. But does this mean Travis has no more use of the bike he calls Schpeltiger? Not so, says Suda, as there will still be a time or two when you'll get to ride the jet-powered beast.
Another addition to the main game is a handful of missions where you'll get to play as deadly schoolgirl Shinobu, and Travis' brother, the now-arch rival Henry (for the record, I only got to see and play as Shinobu). In practice, Shinobu doesn't play too differently from Travis, but she is naturally faster on her feet, and also has the ability to jump by pressing the B button. Little else differentiates her missions, as the stages follow the same action formula, but it's been constantly repeated by Grasshopper that Shinobu and Henry's return is mostly to satiate NMH fans who wouldn't mind a chance to play as two of the more recognizable characters in the series.
After all the promising new stuff in Desperate Struggle, what's one more thing to look forward to?
Descructoid
Major spoilers at the link so I chopped them out of these extracts guys. (GG)
Even the moe anime that Travis loves, Bizarre Jelly, has received a major boost in the game. No longer something Travis just loves, Bizarre Jelly is a mostly full anime that can be unlocked through the game by playing the cute 'em up shooter, Bizarre Jelly 5, at Travis' apartment. This game is just almost fully featured, close enough that Suda jokingly mentioned porting to WiiWare with some updates. As for the anime, it's a whole bunch of Cute Witch ten year-old girls with big boobs who wobble and transform nakedly three or four times each in their into video. It's utterly over the top, and with the production values of a real anime studio, it looks great.
Travis also can change the clothing he is wearing, check out his unlocked items, as well as play with his morbidly obese kitty.
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle really impressed me. More than just a simple continuation of the storyline form the first game, it is clear that Suda 51 wanted to make a game to appeal to the fan base. More than just fan service, it looks like he and Grasshopper are really going to improve the game in all the right places. Gone are the redundant and boring elements, and replaced are action packed and exciting things to do. Fans of the original should definitely take a look, and people that missed out on the original, I say this: Suda 51 and team have not forgotten you. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is designed from the ground up to make sure you know everything you need to know, you'll know.
IGN
Suda did mention that he took a lot of input and criticisms from the first No More Heroes and applied it to the sequel, so if you had some issues with the first one, you might find they've been addressed in this sequel.
Maybe it was the pressure of playing in front of Suda 51, but man, the first level – a training mission – definitely doesn't hold your hand in teaching you the game's mechanics, both button presses and motion control. You certainly learn what you need to do and how to do it, but the difficulty level isn't exactly toned back a bit.
What I like about this game is the fourth wall breaking – the characters are constantly winking back to the player during cutscenes and the story never, ever takes itself seriously.
The game is still a full 3D action game that features that same cel-shaded style that made the first game such a looker. The cutscenes are pretty gorgeous with great animation and cheesy (but fun) dialogue. Admittedly it's not a massive leap in visuals from the first game, but considering how good the first game looked on the SD Wii, I'm not complaining.
The original game is already on our list of recommended Wii titles, and in my short hands-on with the sequel it's not hard to imagine that the sequel will bounce the original off our list. It won't be long when we find out if the follow-up will surpass the sequel since the game ships just after the turn of the new year
Oh jeez Kupo.
Will you at least read reviews I post?
Now what?
Now you start reading, Kupo.