Goichi Suda, the creator and developer of the No More Heroes franchise, gave an interview to GameXplain where he spoke of No More Heroes III and the future of the saga. It may not be good news for many, but Suda51 believes that he will not be able to make another No More Heroes until the 2030s.
This is because the franchise is almost entirely owned (90%) by Marvelous, the publisher of the game in Japan, while its developers only have 10%. This implies that they can only do something with their characters whenever the publisher wants it, and not when they want to do it.
It depends on Marvelous
These were Suda’s words about it:
No More Heroes 4, it would probably be in about 10 years or so, both in real life and in game time. One of the general themes of the series was kind of a Rocky-ish theme. Much of Travis’s story mirrors that of Rocky Balboa. So if Grasshopper did a No More Heroes 4, then what I’d like to do, not to say that this would definitely happen, is basically make the story mirror Rocky IV, where Rocky takes on Drago. In No More Heroes 4, Travis would face a super tough enemy in the north who is basically the No More Heroes version of Drago from Rocky IV. Again, this assuming Grasshopper was going to make this game. I’m not saying this is the way the game is or that it’s definitely going to come out. This is just what I would like to do if Grasshopper made the game.
Let’s remember that No More Heroes 2 was released in 2010, so we’ve really had to wait 11 years for this sequel. However, there was a spin off in the middle, Travis Strikes Again, which didn’t get as good reviews but at least brought back some characters like Shinobu.
Possible spin off
And it is that the murderer is another topic that was touched on in the interview. Suda51 believes that he will not be able to make No More Heroes 4 for another 10 years, but not with the possible spin-offs or prequels. In this sense, consider that Shinobu is the perfect candidate to star in a title in the saga.
The problem is, we can’t go and do what we want with these characters, but everyone at Grasshopper is really aware of the importance of Shinobu as a character, and he’s even an icon to some fans. In fact, her and Travis’ partner seems to have gotten quite popular. I have thought a lot about further developing Shinobu in various ways. But due to intellectual property, I can’t really confirm anything, but I would be very happy to give Shinobu his own game, or even have him appear in another game, as a standalone game as a guest character.
Put like that, it seems that we are at the mercy of Marvelous to receive more games from Travis and company. And it is most likely true, but it also depends on what No More Heroes III also sells, good sales may shorten the wait.
No More Heroes III will debut on Nintendo Switch on August 27.
