Beneath its relatively lackluster gameplay, Travis Strikes Again is a very artful game that narrates the life and career of Goichi Suda. There are a lot of analogies that tell his love for games as a form of expression, and how infamous ventures with Electronic Arts had him burnt out from his visions and so he tells us the player what he has been up to, in a sense just reassuring us he is not dead and he has just been contemplating many things through the years, not to mention the very end of the game served as a surprise of what was to come after 2019.

Travis Strikes Again is an odd game, it does not have much of a replay value, but it is definitely worth at least one go and worth your attention if you're invesited on the perspective of game developers.

Me 1 hour into replaying this in coop: Wow this is so goat goaty, this is an easy 9/10, maybe a 10/10. Why did I even give it an 8/10

Me 5 hours into replaying this in coop: why are the levels so long, why are the enemies so tanky, why does this shitty (awesome) 20 minute long jumping challenge reset both players if one player falls, why are the sound effects mixed so loudly that I have to turn them down halfway just to be able to enjoy the music properly

feels like most of this game's problems could've been resolved by segmenting each stage into at least 2 levels each and giving the player some additional way of interacting with enemies (a parry perhaps...?)

Aside from that the game is still excellent when it comes to the writing, presentation and music. It's ballsy, soulful, introspective and masterfully develops Travis Touchdown as a character while also being a tribute to (indie) games all over. It's also pretty funny to play coop and arguably the best way to experience it.

Anyway, now I'm going back to listening to 'Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes OST - Theme of Killer Marathon Feat. Marushow,surapurutame' on repeat, which is coincidentally what I was doing before replaying this game as well.

Check the game out (after playing NMH1 and 2) and crank the music up to 100 and the SFX down to 40, then return to this review and thank me please!!
And as Travis Touchdown always says (lest we forget):
10 HOURS OF GAMING A DAY!!!

There are some days where you question if it's worth going on. If it's worth starting anew after an abnormal period of absence, if it's worth continuing after a history of failure, or if there's anything left for you after you've reached the very top.

Travis Strikes Again is the epitome of those feelings. Where the No More Heroes series, its creators, and its revered protagonist Travis Touchdown come to terms with their past and rejuvenate their passion to move forward in life. It's fitting that this type of story is told through the premise of diving into the last remaining mementos of a game developer who vanished from the public eye: leaving nothing but a failed gaming console and its cancelled video games where you have hypothetical fights with the proposed heroes of those titles that never saw the light of day.

The atmosphere of this game is extensively cozy - nostalgic, nocturnal, and artistically robust at every given moment. Combat, while different from the combo-based swordplay of the numbered entries, is arguably at its most strategic and challenging, thanks to TSA's innovations of varied enemy varieties and customizable skill chip powers. Granted, some stages can overstay their welcome and the game as a whole is missing the trademark ultraviolence and gore that defines NMH. But the sheer arcade-y fun of the action, paired with some pretty fun setpiece variety and segmented by thoughtful dialogue, absolutely makes up for it.

It's a game that I always find enjoyment in experimenting the possibilities - whether its with the other playable characters, and co-op that makes for a perfect night session with friends. It's a game that opened my eyes to what made me love the No More Heroes games and why it deserved to remain in the light once more. And most importantly, it's a game that always inspires me to come back. Because even after you've felt like your best or worst years are behind you, you've still got shit to carry with you in the present. More than a game about games - or at worst, a game meant to be homework for a "real" game - Travis Strikes Again is a game about the resolve to create something new with oneself.

Combat can get pretty repetitive and tedious (that last level especially was just exhausting) but literally everything else about this game RULES and really reminded me of what made me fall in love with this series to begin with









i also wore the yiik shirt the whole game

Ya era hora de que jugara de una maldita vez TSA después de haberlo pospuesto por tantos años ya que claro, no es como que realmente lo que hice fue ver un walkthought de este juego en youtube en velocidad x3 puesto que si no, jamás lo hubiese terminado no?

Ya dejando el mame de lado, lo siento pero no pude jugarlo y preferi hacer eso... Asi que la calificación no la tomes en serio, realmente no lo juegue aunque por lo que vi el gameplay era más o menos decente (Pero no tanto como para ponerme a jugarlo).

Se nota que esta entrega fue hecha con carino por todas las referencias tanto a la scene gaming como propias meta referencias y hey, realmente se siente como un buen fanservice, pero también tiene detalles extremadamente importantes para NMH 3 (el cual lo juegue hace varios meses y pude entender mucho mejor cosas que aparecían en esa entrega). De hecho, habiendo jugado el 3 primero y luego ver la historia ahora del TSA es medio deprimente sabiendo lo que le sucede a cierto personaje introducido aquí...

En fin, con esto al fin me saco de encima este juego, puta, al fin viejo... En fin, recuerden, no veas thor, sino tu hermano te cuckeara.

Un bon beat them all avec des niveaux complètements fous à l'image des personnages du jeu. l'histoire n'a à peu près aucun sens mais on s'en fou car l'important ici c'est le fun ! Le rythme du jeu est assez inégal en fonction des niveaux. Chaque niveau propose une petite histoire, un level design et des mécaniques qui lui sont propre, c'est fou de voir toutes ces idées de gameplay condensées dans ces mini univers. Le plus dommage est le manque de variété dans les ennemis alors même qu'on parcours des environnements eux très variés. Les mini-boss peuvent s'avérer très répétitifs, en revanche les boss qui concluent chacun un niveau sont tous différents dans la manière de les affronter. Plusieurs personnages jouables sont proposés ainsi que du multijoueur local, une option qui est toujours la bienvenue à une époque ou le local se fait de plus en plus rare. Un jeu à essayer pour les curieux qui cherchent une expérience vraiment originale ou un jeu rempli d'humour et qui ne se prend pas trop au sérieux.

For better or worse, this is Suda's MGS4. Everything he's worked for, everything he's struggled with all leads up to this point. Every expectation you have for it is shattered, it's not a fun arcade game, the story isn't as meta as you'd think, its subtext isn't as deep as it would have you believe, all the cameos are flat, almost bastardizations of the original characters. Really the whole point is just that it's made by a guy for himself and only for himself, it's like vent art that breaks the fourth wall.
Its greatest strength is being artistically motivated above everything else, even pushing out what some would see as crucial mechanics in favor of a few more lines of good dialogue. You can't just come in and say "wow that was so weird, anyways time to play more Hotline Miami or whatever," you have to meet it on common ground, play by Suda's rules, listen to everything he's trying to say here. It's a sequel to every Suda game, you can't just pick it up and expect to like it without doing your homework first, especially if you've only ever seen Suda's recent work. Whether or not you like it, that's up to you, but in the end it's not really made for you is it? It's made for Suda, for all of his characters, for one push at artistic freedom above all else.
The art direction throughout the game is phenomenal and the music is uncharacteristically good for the context it's put into. Welcome to Hell is still probably my favorite track from any video game ever.

Oh god where to begin. Combat is a joke, hold the attack button for hordes of enemies, spam the heavy attack button for bosses (highest difficulty for the record). Story is almost interesting before dropping the premise immediately and not having the two main characters talk a single time except for one joke. Levels are too long and have nothing to fucking do except fight enemies. This game eroded all of the goodwill I had left for this series and has a genuine shot at being my least favorite game of all time