No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is an action game for the Nintendo Wii developed by Grasshopper Manufacture. It is the sequel to No More Heroes, released in 2010.
Gameplay
The gameplay of No More Heroes 2 follows much of the same formula and structure of the first No More Heroes: players play through "hack and slash" action stages as Travis Touchdown, killing enemies and bosses along the way, and can shop at stores around Santa Destroy between fights. However, the ability to explore Santa Destroy has been removed; instead, players merely select where they wish to go from a menu. Similarly, there is no longer any need to pay ranking fees to proceed to the next stage, simplifying the process even more.
Notably, at certain points in the game, the player controls characters Shinobu and Henry Cooldown instead of Travis. These characters have their own moves that are variations on Travis' normal control scheme.
Plot
No More Heroes 2 takes place three years after the first No More Heroes. Travis Touchdown has left the United Assassins Association after the previous game. In the time since then, however, Santa Destroy has undergone urban development thanks to the success of the company Pizza Bat, and the UAA has developed into a more serious organization that broadcasts its fights. The new top-ranked assassin, Jasper Batt Jr., sends a group of assassins to murder Travis' friend Bishop Shidux, prompting Travis to enter the rankings again to climb his way to the top to get revenge.
Development
No More Heroes 2 was developed in response to the first game's overseas popularity, and thus was released in the US first; in fact, Japan was the last region the game released in, almost a year after the US release. However, for unknown reasons, No More Heroes 2 was not directed by Suda. Although according to the credit on a leaked earlier version of the script, Suda did write the game, he is not credited for it in the final game, nor is anyone else.
Unlike with No More Heroes, the characters were designed before the story was written for No More Heroes 2, and the plot then written around them. This is likely why the game's story and structure is very similar to the first game. Suda remarked in The Art of Grasshopper Manufacture that this made the story rather thin.
When the game finally did release in Japan, a special "Hopper's Edition" was released that came with several bonuses, including No More Heroes 1.5 and the Erotica Comic.