Flopiyt
2007
"I know a lot of gamers out there don't have much patience..."
The opening words and cutscene of No More Heroes, Suda 51's borderline profane excursion onto Nintendo's 'hit family friendly console' still get me, even this long down the line. Maybe it's because the conception of a 'gamer' has changed a great deal since 2007- maybe it's because too little has changed, but at the very least, the barely disguised mockery of the audience Suda depends on to survive is my favourite element of NMH.
It permeates every element, the gameplay loop mocks you for even partaking in it at all. Suda holds a tight lease. Work, do menial labour. Again. Again. Again. Pay a con artist who leads you on with promises of escape. Have your fun, fight the colourful battles. Suda lets you feel powerful as you cut down dozens of identical enemies. The soundtrack is a repetitive madness mantra, running forever in Travis' head. "Gotta find the exit gotta find the exit gotta-"
Suda looks hatefully at you, the player, and equates Travis' miserable existence to your own. You work, to pay for this game. I think it's called 'No More Heroes'? You play to have some escape, like Travis' experience at those fun ranking battles. Then you go back to the real world, back to the monotony. Travis' is an aging anime nerd who never moved on and only feels when he swings his literal phallus sword around. Things, at this point, may be hitting unusually close to home for a videogame on the Nintendo Wii.
No more heroes could be a genius postmodern look at the relationship between videogames and their players. It could be a badass game with a rocking soundtrack about trying to become number one. It could be a buggy mess, a product of little budget and rushed development.
It all comes back to those opening words for me. To me, No More Heroes is a game about time and patience. It actively drains it from you, saps it with it's scorpion catching minigames, it's repetitive free fight missions that drag the game out by three additional hours. What will it take to not end up like Travis? Patience.
The patience to enjoy the ride, to stick to what you enjoy doing. To not become a pleasure junky living a shell life, waiting, perhaps patiently, for the next rush of blood.
If you've made it this far into this review, you'll have exhibited some patience. For the clumsy way I have structured this, the placement of commas, et al.
Someone I know once said Gamers don't have much patience.
The opening words and cutscene of No More Heroes, Suda 51's borderline profane excursion onto Nintendo's 'hit family friendly console' still get me, even this long down the line. Maybe it's because the conception of a 'gamer' has changed a great deal since 2007- maybe it's because too little has changed, but at the very least, the barely disguised mockery of the audience Suda depends on to survive is my favourite element of NMH.
It permeates every element, the gameplay loop mocks you for even partaking in it at all. Suda holds a tight lease. Work, do menial labour. Again. Again. Again. Pay a con artist who leads you on with promises of escape. Have your fun, fight the colourful battles. Suda lets you feel powerful as you cut down dozens of identical enemies. The soundtrack is a repetitive madness mantra, running forever in Travis' head. "Gotta find the exit gotta find the exit gotta-"
Suda looks hatefully at you, the player, and equates Travis' miserable existence to your own. You work, to pay for this game. I think it's called 'No More Heroes'? You play to have some escape, like Travis' experience at those fun ranking battles. Then you go back to the real world, back to the monotony. Travis' is an aging anime nerd who never moved on and only feels when he swings his literal phallus sword around. Things, at this point, may be hitting unusually close to home for a videogame on the Nintendo Wii.
No more heroes could be a genius postmodern look at the relationship between videogames and their players. It could be a badass game with a rocking soundtrack about trying to become number one. It could be a buggy mess, a product of little budget and rushed development.
It all comes back to those opening words for me. To me, No More Heroes is a game about time and patience. It actively drains it from you, saps it with it's scorpion catching minigames, it's repetitive free fight missions that drag the game out by three additional hours. What will it take to not end up like Travis? Patience.
The patience to enjoy the ride, to stick to what you enjoy doing. To not become a pleasure junky living a shell life, waiting, perhaps patiently, for the next rush of blood.
If you've made it this far into this review, you'll have exhibited some patience. For the clumsy way I have structured this, the placement of commas, et al.
Someone I know once said Gamers don't have much patience.