Suda 51 is a mad genius. He takes pieces and bits from his loves and inspirations, mashes them up, and unleashes them on the gaming world. While there may be familiar elements in his games compared to other games on the market, he manages to deliver a unique take on the tried and true. While his latest games may not be as superb as his previous titles, they all still manage to be unique and entertaining despite of their shortcomings. The genius lies in creating fantastic experiences from what seem to be unworkable ideas. For instance, No More Heroesfollows Travis Touchdown, a stereotypical otaku, an obsessed anime fan. Travis wins a lightsaber beam katana through an online auction and kills an assassin. After slaying the assassin, he decides to become the number one assassin in the world by killing the rest of the assassins. Sound crazy yet?
Oh, did I mention that Travis is also an ex-luchador? You save your game by using the restroom and recharging your beam katana’s power requires Travis to do a very suggestive motion.
And that is probably where the slightly insane parts of No More Heroes stop, and everything is full throttle over the top bonkers from this point forward. No More Heroes, is preposterous in the best way possible.
The assassins are all boss fights and are some of the most zany and memorable boss fights in gaming. Dr. Peace is one such opponent.
Dr. Peace is the ninth ranked assassin, so he is the second boss you encounter in the game. When you come across Dr. Peace, he is standing on the pitcher’s mound in the middle of a baseball stadium. When Travis walks in, Dr Peace begins to sing. And this song is just, well, watch for yourself.
***NSFW***
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMlc6n513Ng
You only hear a little bit in the cutscene, but what you hear is so bizarre, you cannot help but remember it. And the entire song is even better. And the lyrics, read these lyrics while listening to the song in its entirety.
“Despair the end of the world
I hear the rising phoenix in my dream
And the virgin child made her wish upon a star
That night her mother talks no more
Cape of hope, the end of the dream
A shining fish splashes in a stream
And the virgin child loses her heart and soul
That night her mother’s eyes see no more
When the wind blows
The virgin child’s corpse sing a song
Such a pretty melody never heard before
No more lullabies
The virgin child smiles from H***”
Seriously? The song has such a beautiful melody juxtaposed against some seriously sinister lyrics. In any other game, I do not know how the developers could make this work. In this case though, the song makes sense because the game as a whole makes no sense and is so outlandish that you accept whatever Suda throws at you and say, “I need more!” And the discussion following the song make the fight painful. I really want to know more about Dr. Peace after spending only three minutes with him. These three minutes gave more insight into his character than three Uncharted games did for Nathan Drake.
I have not completed No More Heroes yet; I actually just finished this boss fight with Dr. Peace recently. However, the song and fight were so memorable, I had to share it immediately. Who knows? There may be another memorable musical awaiting me once I progress further in the game. Now if you will excuse me, I have to reach the rank of number one assassin!