No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.2.0 Update

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is an action-adventure hack-and-slash video game developed by Grasshopper Manufacture for the Wii. The sequel to No More Heroes (2007), was released by Marvelous Entertainment in Japan, Ubisoft in North America, and Rising Star Games in PAL territories in 2010. The game continues the story of professional assassin Travis Touchdown; upon discovering that a corporation’s CEO placed a hit on his best friend, Travis rejoins the ranks to fight his way through an even greater number of assassins to confront his best friend’s killer and attain revenge.

Desperate Struggle was the only game in the series without Goichi Suda as lead director; he was relegated to executive director, with Nobutaka Ichiki replacing him. The game received critical acclaim, with critics considering it to be superior to its predecessor. A port of the game developed by Engine Software was released for the Nintendo Switch in 2020, and for Amazon Luna and Microsoft Windows in 2021. It was followed by two sequels: Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes (2019) and No More Heroes III (2021).

GAMEPLAY

The combat is similar to that of No More Heroes, with mechanics such as wrestling moves and deathblows returning. There are four beam katanas, which Travis can freely switch between in the middle of battle, each with different properties. For example, the Peony is a large and heavy sword with a wide range, and the Rose Nasty consists of two beam katanas which Travis dual-wields. There are two sections in which Shinobu and Henry are playable, both of whom have different capabilities from Travis. Shinobu can jump, and her section contains some platforming elements, while Henry can make a quick dash in all directions by using the B button on the Wii remote.

The overworld from the first game is gone, and Travis no longer has to pay an entry fee to enter ranked battles, allowing the player to progress through the game more quickly. The minigames that Travis can do to gain money and become stronger are 8-bit style games, in genres including action, puzzle, and racing. Another feature is a “Deathmatch” mode, allowing the player to replay any of the bosses once the game has been completed.

PLOT

The story of No More Heroes 2 is told through cutscenes following Travis’ journey, interspersed with scenes of a woman at a peep show dictating the story’s events to a silent, unknown observer.

Three years have passed since Travis Touchdown became the top assassin in the United Assassins Association (UAA) and walked away. He has returned to Santa Destroy and fights Skelter Helter, who seeks revenge on Travis for killing his older brother Helter Skelter before the first game. After winning the battle, he meets Sylvia Christel, who informs him he is ranked as the 51st best assassin. The nearly-dead Skelter Helter interrupts them and warns Travis that he and his co-conspirators will still have their revenge.

The same night, a group of criminals kill Travis’s best friend, Bishop, and throw his head through Travis’s window in a paper bag. Travis, seeking revenge, asks Sylvia to set up the next fight. Sylvia tells him that the one who ordered the killing was Jasper Batt Jr., the CEO of Pizza Bat and the first-ranked assassin. In the first game, Travis stopped three different attempts by Pizza Bat to expand into Santa Destroy by assassinating the CEOs. In the three years since, with Travis out of the picture, Pizza Bat successfully opened a headquarters in Santa Destroy and bought out practically every business in town. Travis resolves to climb to the ranks to get a chance for revenge on Jasper.

Travis fights and defeats Rank 50 rap star and religious fanatic Nathan Copeland. Afterward, he meets Rank 25 football star Charlie MacDonald and his cheerleaders, who transform into a giant mech called the Santa Death Parade. Travis defeats them in his mech, the Glastonbury, built by Dr. Naomi and based on a mech from his favorite anime. He feels remorse for the cheerleaders, explaining that they were harmless, but backpedals after Sylvia offers to nullify his victory. He also spares the optional challenger (the only way to fight her is by going back to the motel after beating Charlie) Kimmy Howell, commenting that he “can’t kill a co-ed”. Travis also begins fighting the supernatural: facing Rank 24, the child ghost and fire starter Matt Helms, followed by Rank 23, the poisonous siren Cloe Walsh.

Sylvia organizes a battle royale with twelve assassins, including Travis. After arriving at the arena, Travis witnesses all the other contestants killed off by Rank 10 Dr. Letz Shake (who was destroyed by Henry in the first game). Letz Shake reveals to him that he has frozen Henry in carbonite as revenge before facing Travis. After he destroys Letz Shake and rescues Henry, he meets up with Shinobu, who now idolizes him and calls him “Master”. At Sylvia’s request, she fought and defeated Rank 9 wealthy gunslinger Million Gunman and Rank 8 cybernetic twins New Destroy Man for Travis. Shinobu advances on Travis, but he turns her away because he feels “like the pervy teacher in a porno”. Rejected, she takes her leave.

Travis fights a grueling battle against Rank 7, the silent but honorable Ryuji. Travis crows triumphantly after Ryuji concedes, but Sylvia kills him in cold blood, criticizing Travis for showing mercy. Henry, suffering from hibernation sickness, fights Mimmy (a mixture of the anime girls and robots Travis watches) in a nightmare before awakening. He reconciles with Travis and kills the next three assassins for him. Travis fights Rank 4 Margaret Moonlight, a gothic Lolita, and Rank 3 Captain Vladimir, a missing cosmonaut, and convinces Sylvia not to destroy the latter’s body after finally finding peace. After defeating Rank 2 ascetic Alice Twilight (or Moonlight depending on version), the penultimate assassin, he decides he is fed up with the ranked battles and the UAA. He berates Sylvia, insisting that assassins are human and that they should not have to die for entertainment like it’s some kind of video game. He promises to tear down the UAA after defeating Jasper. Sylvia arrives at Travis’s motel room and sleeps with him for the second time, giving him the “Five course meal” and damaging the motel in the process.

Travis fights his way through the Pizza Bat headquarters to meet Jasper in his office. Jasper reveals that he was seeking revenge for his father and two brothers, the previous Pizza Bat CEOs Travis killed in the first game. Henry enters and helps Travis defeat him. After defeating his second form, Jasper becomes a giant parade balloon, which Henry refuses to fight and destroys the roof with one swipe.

This final form is destroyed after Travis leaps out of the office and slices it in half. Sylvia, riding Travis’s motorcycle, catches him and drops him off at his motel. A scene after the credits reveals that the woman at the peep show is Sylvia, who took the job after the UAA’s collapse, and that Travis himself has been listening to Sylvia’s story about his exploits. The two have a tearful reunion as Travis informs her that they need to return to Santa Destroy for an unknown purpose.