Coming one day in advance of the announced May 30 reveal date, a new trailer for No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle has just captured the hell out of our attention. Yes, that is a random shot of a luchador as a backdrop for Suda 51's credit -- why not.

If you wanted to see more of the dual-sword moves shown in the Famitsu scans, well, here you go -- this video is loaded with shots of an older-looking Travis Touchdown swinging two Beam Katanas around. It also introduces the new assassin Nathan Copeland, who starts his fight with Travis by throwing ladies at him. Even with that weirdness, the tone of this trailer is much more serious than before -- though it ends in a very No More Heroes way.

If that's not enough for you, check Famitsu for new screens!

[Thanks, Mr Khan!]

The latest Famitsu issue, in addition to some stuff about Metal Gear or whatever, also features a blowout article about the latest game from Kojima's friend and colleague Suda 51, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. The article shows that the UAA assassin's organization and its liaison, Sylvia Christel, have returned, along with (necessarily) new assassins like the #50-ranked Nathan Copeland. Desperate Struggle occurs three years after the events of the first game, and Travis Touchdown has been called back into action after Bishop from Beef Head Video is captured by gang members, according to IGN's translation.

To take on these new assassins, Travis Touchdown has developed new techniques -- like dual wielding beam sabers, as seen in the scans. It may just be because the scans are tiny, or because we're insane for No More Heroes, but it seems the graphics have been refined for this adventure. We'll find out on the 30th when a new trailer debuts!

Well, today officially sucks, because the game we anticipate the most -- Suda51's No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle -- won't be available to play at next month's E3, Goichi Suda told 1UP. We'd cancel our trip, but we already bought the frakking plane tickets!

It's not all bad news, however, as Suda51 does hint at the game being at the show, just not in playable form. He also says that the game is "at the very end of production," providing hope that it will meet its scheduled US release of January 2010 on the Wii.

Josh Keaton, voice actor extraordinaire, recently dropped a huge bomb during an interview about his work on a new Spider-Man cartoon. Gaming enthusiasts will likely recognize Josh as Ocelot from the Metal Gear Solid games, but he's expanding his gaming portfolio, as he just finished doing Destroy Man for No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle. Considering Destroy Man faced off against Travis Touchdown in the first game, we're wondering just how he could make a comeback. Son of Destroy Man, maybe?

Keaton describes Destroy Man as an "unapologetic jerk of a character," which we guess is techincally correct. We'd personally go with the awesome guy with the crotch laser. Or maybe the world's best handshaker, but that's just us.

[Via Go Nintendo]

Some people didn't find Santa Destroy to be as open and navigable in No More Heroes as the rest of us did, and Suda51 has definitely heard those concerns. During a recent interview with GameSetWatch, he said to "expect big changes for No More Heroes 2's open world." If by big changes, you mean bigger lawns to cut, more trees to shake, and bigger alleyways to mutilate dozens and dozens of enemies in, then we're on board with Desperate Struggle!

Other than that, the interview mostly focuses on the difficulty foreign talent has adapting to their new surroundings at Grasshopper Manufacture. That doesn't mean you shouldn't read the interview in its entirety, however. So hit up this link right here.

No More Heroes was without a publisher in the US until Ubisoft picked it up, since Japanese publisher Marvelous Entertainment didn't have an American branch at the time. Since then, they've made a multi-game agreement with XSEED, and thus we assumed that company would handle the distribution of No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle when that title is released stateside in early 2010.

According to secret sources in contact with IGN, the Marvelous/XSEED partnership may not extend to Desperate Struggle after all -- Ubisoft is "in negotiations" to distribute the new game. It doesn't actually matter who localizes the game in terms of content, if the new game's anything like the original, whose voice work was already in English. But Ubisoft is probably capable of getting more copies into more stores, so we approve of this potential arrangement.

We've recently featured excerpts from Suda 51's Eurogamer interview, but Eurogamer has just now posted the entirety of the chat, and it's excellent reading for anyone interested in No More Heroes Desperate Struggle or Suda. Talking about the new game, the charismatic game director mentioned his desire for a somewhat less jovial tone this time around: "I think it's time for No More Heroes to become serious. But it's going to have humour, don't worry. It won't be too serious."

The revenge-based plot seems to fit in with this idea. In the first game, Travis Touchdown was essentially competing in a big game; having a real, personal stake in the fighting definitely changes the feel of the game. Suda even has a vendetta against Santa Destroy: "I wanted to make a lot more stuff, more detail. So this time in No More Heroes 2, I want to take my revenge. And actually, the theme of No More Heroes 2 is revenge, so..."

There's also the all-important "weirdness" contingent. There's no poop talk yet, but Suda expressed his admiration of a past E3 promotion in which booth babes threw pants at attendees. "One day, I want to be able to throw pants to the public. That's one of my main goals."

"Give us MotionPlus!"

That seemed to be the most popular response when we asked you what changes you'd make to No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle. Luckily for us, Goichi Suda seems to agree (does he read Wii Fanboy reader comments? If so, hai, Suda!). Speaking to IGN (hit the break for the full video interview), the maverick developer discussed how he'd like to utilise Wii MotionPlus in the No More Heroes follow-up, despite not having touched the add-on yet. 1:1 beam katana action? Um, yes please.

He's also "very interested" in online play, though sounded slightly less committed to the idea when he discussed it with CVG, describing it as "still up in [the] air." We'd probably take MotionPlus over some online mode, though if Suda feels like adding both to Travis' next outing, we suppose we can accept that as well.

Rising Star Games has announced European releases for another set of Marvelous Wii games shown at TGS. Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga, Marvelous's RPG, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, the superhot sidescroller from Vanillaware, and Image Epoch's Arc Rise Fantasia are all headed to Europe sometime in 2009-2010. They're joining a pile of upcoming DS, Wii, and PSP games including Rune Factory Frontier, Avalon Code, Luminous Arc 2, and of course No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle.

Even if nobody else released any Wii games in Europe, it would seem that Rising Star Games would have you covered!

Rising Star Games, Marvelous Entertainment's European arm, gave a statement to Electronic Theatre about the dual-version European release of No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle announced by Suda51. On a basic level, Rising Star's Yen Hau confirmed the plans to sell two versions, not that we didn't believe Suda.

Hau also detailed the exact differences between the two releases, and it's good news. "There's no difference bar the blood," Hau said. "If you remember the differences of the first game it'll be just that." The "uncensored" European release will be exactly like the US version, and the "censored" release will be like the Japanese version. This also means that Grasshopper is planning to release the game in Japan.

We look forward to hearing more details about the logistics of this dual release -- like whether both versions will be available in stores, and if the packaging and marketing will vary.

[Update: A Rising Star Games press release details the storyline of Desperate Struggle: "Taking place three years after the end of the first title, No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle sees hero Travis Touchdown embark on a mission of revenge following the murder of his best friend."]


[Via N4G]

But, wait, before you break out that pen and paper and start writing that angry letter, know this: you're also going to get a fully-featured, bloodtastic game, just like those of us in North America! This time around, you're going to have the option of choosing which version of No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle you want, though we can't imagine why you'd want one without the buckets of blood and over-the-top violence.

"We won't be able to make the same game for all territories," Suda 51 said. "For Europe, we're going to release two versions. One extreme version, and one with less violence." Why? Well, because so many Europeans bugged him about the version that released to their territory and how it was the same as the Japanese version of the game. "With No More Heroes 2 we want to please the fans too. I want the European users to be able to experience the extreme version."

So celebrate, Europe. For once, you're being taken seriously!

So our secret is out: we're already totally hot for No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle. Aside from its name and the brief trailer we gushed about yesterday, little is known about the title (it might not even be a Wii game), but our love for the first No More Heroes means we're already unhealthily excited for this follow-up.

We recognize that not everybody feels the same way, however. In the replies to our 9/10 review of Goichi Suda's Wii debut, a number of people suggested they were -- gasp -- disappointed by the game.

If you were one of those non-fans, what needs to change in the sequel to convert you?

"I will be back" is all beam katana-wielding Travis Touchdown can utter in this debut trailer for No More Heroes 2, before he presumably jumps into battle against a woman with six metallic arms beckoning him to fight. Other than its existence and a possible second title (the trailer calls it both NMH2 and NMH:Desperate Struggle), we've got nada on the game or its platform (should it decide to venture away from the Wii). Check out the (currently unembeddable) trailer here.

Not even sure if we can hold it together long enough to write some intelligent commentary about this announcement. Marvelous said that they'd reveal a game from a charismatic game creator at this year's TGS; they've revealed the creator to be Suda 51, and the game to be a sequel to No More Heroes, the best Wii game ever.

Called No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, the game once again stars Travis Touchdown, and once again takes place in Santa Destroy. We don't know much else -- in fact, we're only assuming it's another Wii game -- but we know it's GOTY 2009, unless it takes longer to develop, in which case it will be GOTY 2010. We would like to wish everyone else at TGS good luck trying to get us to pay attention to their announcements.

[Update 2: Marvelous's TGS press release (PDF) confirms that it's a Wii game. The best part? It's already scheduled for release in Europe (in February or March of 2010) and the US (January 2010).]


[Thanks, sn1per!]