As much fun as there is to be had in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes the trek into the video game library of the Death Drive MK-II console wasn't the proper sequel that fans have been waiting on for over a decade. It's a good game, but a side story for the series that veered off the path of what a traditional No More Heroes entails. Now the sushi-scarfing otaku is back in a proper numbered sequel, but after so much time has passed is No More Heroes III a touchdown for the franchise or did the beam katana finally run out of charge for good?

Prior to the events of the original No More Heroes a boy named Damon Ricotello ventures into the woods and discovers a young alien named Jess Baptiste VI, aka FU. Like a twisted version of ET, Damon takes care of FU and hides from government scientists looking to experiment on him. The two become friends, and after Damon helps FU build a new spaceship he leaves, promising to return in twenty years. FU keeps his promise, but upon his return it's announced that he took a page out of the King of All Cosmos playbook and destroyed a planet out of boredom. Upon his return to Earth FU wants to take over the planet with his buddy Damon and has the aid of the top-ranked assassins throughout the galaxy.

The story of No More Heroes III progresses from that following the tradition of Travis having to take out the various ranked assassins and work his way to the top of the ranking. It sounds straightforward, but the actual progression is anything but. As Travis leaves the corpses of his rival assassins in his wake the story unfolds in a manner that shows how weird the game world can get while paying fan service with references and callback to other games where Suda51 has been involved, along with a few other references/parodies of other games.

Being originally released back on Wii, No More Heroes took advantage of that platform's motion controls. No More Heroes III continues this tradition but also realizes some people prefer traditional control inputs, especially when the Switch doesn't lend itself well to motion controls while being used in handheld mode. As such, No More Heroes III can be enjoyed in docked mode while using the motion control features of the Joy-Cons or with a more traditional approach that requires no motion control, so the player has the choice on what configuration is more comfortable for them.

No More Heroes III has a lot of entertaining cutscenes to advance the story, but after that Travis is left to own to either take on many of the odd activities the world has to offer (more on that later) or try to progress through the main story as quickly as possible to take out the rival assassins. The map is divided into a few different areas that Travis can reach the by riding the red Schpeltiger to or using fast travel to quickly move between islands. He can roam freely, taking on odd jobs by people or finding aliens to give him new T-shirts in case he wants to change out of his Joy Division inspired starting shirt. There aren't any enemies to fight while roaming, but there are plenty of those in Defense missions and Designated matches scattered throughout the world. Defense missions give the player the opportunity to take on waves of enemies, honing their skills and collecting resources to purchase sushi or power up Travis. The player has to complete the Designated matches to advance and they have to be the correct color to fill the gems in the upper right corner of the screen. Once the proper Designated matches are completed Travis can pay the entrance fee to the ranked matches at the nearest ATM and take on the next ranked assassin. And we can't forget that Travis has space armor, as some missions require him to done a flying mech suit to take on massive monstrosities in outer space.

The boss fights are the main highlight and they're a diverse and colorful bunch. Each of the ranked assassins that Travis takes on has their own personality and some require a unique approach to defeat. To avoid spoilers we won't get into too many details about the different characters, but some of the matches take truly bizarre turns and a couple were simply laugh-out-loud funny. For the most part Travis can take them down through hacking and slashing them to death with his beam katana, which still needs to be regularly charged throughout the fight. But he also has some other moves at his disposal such as the ability to slow time or deliver some pro wrestling moves like flying drop kicks and suplex. These duals are ridiculous, absurd and fun.

To take on the most powerful assassins in the galaxy, Travis needs to power himself up and keep supplies on hand. At the Motel Travis can power himself up by doing things like reducing charge time for special attacks or increasing his health. He can also adjust the attributes on his Death Glove, but these typically come with a trade off like ten percent increase to attack but minus five percent to defense. Plus we all know he loves sushi, so keeping some to-go food on hand is a good idea. Gathering resources for such things requires work and there's no shortage of odd jobs for Travis to take care of. No job is beneath him, whether it's collecting scorpions, mowing lawns, mining, unclogging public savepoints toilets or picking up trash in alligator-infested waters, there are plenty of opportunities to earn for those who are willing to work. The standout volunteer job is working for the coast guard, where Travis mans the gun turret of a tank to take out giant aggressive bipedal alligators.

No More Heroes III took its sweet time to arrive after No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle but was well worth the wait. The vulgarities of Travis Touchdown within the surreal world of Santa Destroy under an alien invasion are hard to imagine as a mainstream hit. But people who enjoy such things, or are in general fans of Suda51's previous work, will not be disappointed in No More Heroes III. The main game can be completed in ten to fifteen hours, depending on how much exploration or volunteer jobs someone feels like doing. The absurdity of the game world is one of its selling points, and while it can be accused of being weird for the sake of being weird, the bizarre world and storyline flow with a sense cohesion that captivates the player's interest in climbing the top of the ranked assassin ladder. The gameplay mechanics help make the experience enjoyable as it's hard to have a bad time dropkicking and suplexing enemies in between beating them with the beam katana.

The look and sound of No More Heroes III is stylized. It draws influence from 70s sci-fi B-movies and unsurprisingly has a certain psychedelic quality to it. The option to switch between motion controls and traditional controls is a great feature. Both work well, but having the option to go the route that's most comfortable is always a welcome feature to a game. There are initially three difficulty settings, and when the game is completed an extra hard Carolina Reaper difficulty is unlocked, which seems appropriate for a game that uses a toilet as a save point, as well as new game plus for people who want to complete all the volunteer jobs without having to start over.

Closing Comments:

After over a decade since a proper numbered sequel, No More Heroes III brings back the franchise in what could arguably be called its strongest entry yet, and one of the best overall games that Suda51 has helmed. No More Heroes III is unapologetically ridiculous and violent, even if the aliens bleed pixels most of the time. Saying this is a game for everyone is a stretch, but mass popularity has never directly correlated with quality and this is one of the year's most fun games. The story draws in familiar characters and references other Grasshopper Manufacture games which adds a nice touch to fan service, and hearing Travis discuss Miike's films helps make the assassin a more relatable character.