No More Heroes

No More Heroes is a game that landed on the family-friendly Wii like a punch to the face. The main character is Travis Touchdown, an annoying otaku living in a motel in the small town of Santa Destroy, who buys a lightsaber-like beam katana over the internet and decides to become the best hired assassin in the world. To work his way up from eleventh place on the ranking to first, he must defeat the other assassins one by one, each a bizarre figure with their own scene and their own idea of how their death should look.

The combat system is simple but has style. The player attacks with a button, switches between high and low stances, and the moment an enemy is weakened, the game displays a direction to swing the controller in to finish them off. The katana is recharged the same way, leading to one of the most famous and deliberately most embarrassing animations of its time. Between fights, the player moves around an open city that is deliberately empty and dull, riding a motorcycle and taking on lowly side jobs to earn the entry fee for the next duel. This part of the game splits players into two camps: some consider it a boring filler, others a deliberate commentary on the emptiness of the hero's motivation.

Technically it was average, the city textures are thin and the framerate wasn't always smooth, but the visual style is unmistakable thanks to sharp colors, comic-book effects, and an interface stylized after eight-bit games. The music is electronic, aggressive, and the main theme sticks after the very first listen. Reviews were mostly positive and praised the game especially for its distinctiveness and humor, which constantly breaks the fourth wall. Today, No More Heroes is seen as one of the console's most important independent-minded titles and kicked off a series that has seen several sequels. For console owners it was proof that the Wii didn't have to be just a machine for family sports games, and the title still works today as a clear recommendation for anyone who likes author-driven games with a strong point of view.