A riddle inside an enigma: The Key to the plot of No More Heroes

This is an explanation of No More Heroes plot. I strongly advise that if you
have NOT already played it, you buy it and play through it immediately.
It is $20 at Amazon.com, and well worth it.

If you have played it, I recommend you play through it at least three times,
(watching cutscenes every time, of course), to make sure that you know what
I am talking about. If your memory is fuzzy, replay it. It is worth it anyway.

No More Heroes, on the surface, has a plot that is completely nonsensical.
It is contained almost entirely within the time before the game even begins,
and the final thirty minutes or so of the game, with practically nothing in
between. I do not believe this is the case. I believe that the events which
transpire between them are not merely cool boss fights to act as filler,
but are clues to the real plot behind it.

Surprisingly, the plot twist at the end is still a plot twist. The story is
still a great one. The boss fights throughout acting as clues, instead of a
grind, has greatly increased by appreciation of the game; and to some extent
I don't really care how correct it is.

My thoughts on this first started with people talking about similarities
between the No More Heroes trailer and the console wars. I kept thinking
about it, but never really went beyond that. And then earlier, while I
was finishing up a game, it all began to hit me, and become clear.

Suda51 apparently said that No More Heroes would deal with "Social Issues".
This is the only interpretation I can imagine that fits. It makes almost
perfect sense, there are hints and clues throughout, and it is relevant to
the player. Let's begin, from the moment the game starts.

「I know a lot of gamers out there don't have much patience.」
They're casuals! In the very first line of the game, No More Heroes
mocks casual gamers, and simultaneously sets up its own plot. This line,
which otherwise seems out of place, is at the heart of the story.

「So I'm at the register, then I realize I got no money.
I was seriously broke. Why? Cuz I met this smokin' hot chick last night
at the Death-Match bar. Man, she smelled good! So being the gentleman I am,
I bought her a drink.」 The casual market. Tempting. Alluring.
Available?

「Anyhoo, I decide to get a job. The gig: assassinate the Drifter.
So I went where I was supposed to and waited for the guy to show up.」
The Wii released just after the PS3 did.

「And there he was. This cat. Well dressed, cool. Couldn't tell if he was
"the shit"...or just plain ol' shit. Yeah, so he's stylin', fast,
aggressive and packin' heat. Bada Bing! Or at least it was supposed to
be... Til she showed up. Her name: Sylvia Christel. An agent with this
whatchamacallit Association.」

The PS3 was supposed to win. It had the big guns. It had the style.
But then the Wii showed up to the fight with a beam saber (Wii Remote), and
chopped it down. And then... the casual market showed up.

「Congratulations. You are certified as the 11th-best hit man. How about
getting rid of the ten killers above you and aim for the top?」

The casual market tempts the Wii. If the Wii can best the status quo
(preexisting games), it will be worthwhile, somehow.


「And for you there holding the Wii Remote　right now...
　Just press the A Button. Let the bloodshed begin！」
　
This is a major clue. Suda51 took the time to link not only in the
normal video game sense the controller to the weapon, but to link it as
part of the plot. The Beam Katana is not just controlled by the Wii remote,
it is a metaphor for it.

And with this, Travis goes flying through the gate of Death Metal's mansion,
landing with a triumphant "FUCKHEAD!". This is a rather literal interpretation
of the Wii's launch. Everything that happened before was out of the player's
control. The PS3's power had been defeated by the Wii remote before the
fight even began, and likewise the Wii had been driven by casual forces
from the start.

「He only looks tough because his mother was an ugly bitch!」

Death Metal is, of course, the 360. The Wii would defeat him right after the
PS3. These two fights are linked together by being before the player ever has
access to the open world. And this line from Sylvia, mixed in among
motivation, is a clear reference to the 360's appearance only seeming good
because it's predecessor (Xbox) was so bad.

Side note; "Trust your Force" could refer to two things. First, the Wii
Remote uses accelerometers to measure motion; it could easily be referring
to the physical forces which make the Wii's winning games possible. Secondly,
and what is the main intention, is an allusion to The Force from Star Wars.
I will explain more about this when we fight Dark Star.

A non-plot related note, he splits himself in three, all of which
attack with an ORANGE Beam Katana. "Orange" is a clear parody of Apple
Computers. The splitting in three is a reference to the 360's three core
processor... which is based on the PowerPC. In the same way his Beam Katana
is an Apple Parody, the 360's CPU (arguably its main weapon against its
competitors) is based in a technology most famously used by Apple.

Death Metal is living a life of luxury. He's old. It's past his time.
He's angry with the newcomer, he sees him as arrogant. The Wii; Nintendo;
Travis; they see their opportunity for glory. They imagine what they can do
when they're on top. And they're willing to follow the Casual Market to do it.

「So what you're tellin' me is that I gotta continue fighting.
There's no way out of this. You set me up, bitch!」
「Quit your bitching and get with the program.
　There's only one road out of here.」

The Wii has, effectively, killed the hardcore gaming platforms. Now any
other competitor could come along for his head. Taking out the assassins
above it -- or in other words, other forms of entertainment;
holds promises of rewards 「do it with me?!」from the casual market.

The casual market later explains that he needs to work to take out his
opponents. He needs to pay! And so Travis begins the first of many jobs.
These are a metaphor for the Wii's market, flooded in crap. Much of it is
barely any fun, and where it is fun (assassination missions), is completely
uninspired. The overworld as whole is also a metaphor for the gamer's life;
doing things you'd rather not do, so you can get what you need, and put
the rest of it towards games (boss fights).

So after the Wii has earned enough money from jobs (console sales from
casual games), he can take down the first boss (game). The PS3-360 order
indicated by the first two assassins Travis takes down. The allusions to
specific elements the Wii takes down become weaker as we near the end,
as the main story to be told is revealed and becomes clearer.


Dr. Peace is Metal Gear Solid. (PS3)

** The character is modeled on Charles Bronson,
an actor. Likewise, Solid Snake was based on the actor Kurt Russel.
** An old man (Old Snake). Addicted to blood (war), good with guns.
** He rants, somewhat nonsensically, about the construct of society.
** His daughter MAY be Z.O.E.; which used MSG2's engine. I also think that
Kojima may reveal that Orbital Frames are descendants of Metal Gears,
but that's a subject for another essay, and I would need to play MGS4.


Shinobu is, interestingly enough, No More Heroes itself, when it was a 360 title.

** A young swordsman. Very Asian in styling, American in personality.
** Shinobu has a dead father, and blames Travis. This is recursive; when
you look at it as a metaphor for No More Heroes, Travis is in effect
blaming HIMSELF for his father's death. Which also fits with the manner
in which he was killed; Jeane used Travis to get to their father.
Travis referring to Shinobu's father as a 'mentor' is also recursive;
Jeane angrily remarks that Travis probably thought their father was
a great man.
** Prone to anger, vulgarity, and killing people when it isn't needed.
** Travis indicates that he knows she isn't fully mature, and that she
could become something more. This is because Shinobu is based on
the ORIGINAL, 360 version of No More Heroes. Before the Wii Remote
(Beam Saber) came along, NMH (Shinobu) was GOING to be on the 360
(Represented by an old sword)
** In the end, Shinobu (NMH) would save Travis (the Wii), when it looked like
the hardcore market (Jeane) was going to kill it.

Destroyman and Holly Summers are, together, Grand Theft Auto.

** The reason they are together is because it is such a large and
crossplatform game.
** While he is in his Postal Worker uniform, Destroyman comments on
'some customers that filed [nonsense] complaints'.
This is a reference to GTA's content, and complaints about it.
** Destroyman is the plot, story, cinematics, style, and so on of GTA.
Over the top, heavily Americanized, and underhanded tactics all the way.
Lots of comedy.
** In her opening remarks, Holly implies that she enjoys Fighting and Killing,
and accepts death. This is a reference to GTA's common mayhem and death.
** ... because Holly summers is the gameplay of GTA. Heavy on weapons,
and weapons of all sorts. And with an incredibly violent ending.

Letz Shake is another look at the battle between the Wii and power...
it even makes direct references to the processors of the other consoles,
as well as accessories which look like some classic gaming bits! The two
consoles must team up to have any choice of destroying the young challenger.

But before we ever get to fight him, he's killed by a strange man! We'll talk
about this later, when the time is right.

Let's take a break to talk about Sylvia. I've already said she's a metaphor
for the casual market. Her temptation in the real world is not intentional,
on the part of casual gamers, but is just as strong. Travis is the Wii's
hardcore existance. Despite the attention Travis gives Sylvia, she's still
not that interested in him, and would rather go out partying and shopping.

With Letz Shake destruction cementing the downfall of Next Gen games, Wii
moves on to the real challenges: non-gaming media. I admit that my guesses
at these are very loose, and they could be interpreted in other ways. However,
I think my guesses are reasonable; and they're largely irrelevant anyway.

Harvey is films and movies. In a theatre, 「drama and passion!」, and the various
dolling up Sylvia talks about; and pure showmanship, doing what seems impossible.
Without his vision, he is completely useless.

Speed Buster is Television. Around before the NES, and destroys it, but
dies itself shortly thereafter. Thunder Ryu being the NES, of course.
It is inflexible. It only goes one way. With a bit of creativity, a flexible
medium has no problem toppling and destroying it.

At this point, Sylvia is starting to realize she's gotten about all she's
going to out of Travis.

Bad Girl is the internet. Not much else to say here.

Now we start to get back to the point. The Rank 1 match! We find out that
Sylvia has been leading us on all this time. She was using us; now that she's
had her fun, she's leaving town. But we've come this far, right? Maybe we
should keep trying...

I'm not sure if Travis' bike being stolen has any significance, but afterwards
things are very important. The biking section represents a long and barren
road that the Wii walked down. Ugly. Repetative. Mediocre controls, and not
very much fun. This is the desert of Casual Games.

The Wii then wanders through the forest. Guided by its old mentor (Thunder
Ryu is the NES, remember?), it eventually makes its way to a gate. The phone
call from Sylvia is very important.

「Travis, can you hear me? It's Sylvia. I never thought you'd make it
this far. But I am sorry... I cannot see you anymore. I want to fly to
your side, right now. I want to be in your arms. I want to be with you.
I want to share my life with you... No matter the cost. Meeting you...
I've felt truly alive for the first time. I mean that. But feelings and
reality are two different things. Life is not that simple, yes? Now be
honest. Did you really think I would let you do me if you hit number
one? You really are an idiot, aren't you, Travis? Come back to reality!
I mean, look at yourself! You are a dopy, otaku assassin. The bottom of
the barrel. No woman would be caught dead with you... Unless she was a
desperate bitch! Where in the world could you find a woman who could
fall in love with someone like you? Well... One is right here. It was
fun, Travis. I love you.」

The casual market can, in fact, learn to love hardcore games on the Wii!

Dark Star, I believe, does not himself represent anything, but rather
functions to serve as a clue to the truth, as he does in the plot interpreted
at face value. He is an obvious parody of Darth Vader; while he does not
explicitly try to take Travis to the Dark Side, it is implied that he would.

And this is the heart of it. The lightsabers aren't coincidental; Travis is
a Jedi. The "Light Side" he is on is hardcore gaming. The "Dark Side" is
casual gamers. This is the "Force" that Sylvia tells Travis to use. Furthermore,
Thunder Ryu is Obi-Wan Kenobi. The mentor; comes back as a spirit guide.
The last clue to this puzzle comes later...

Jeane is hardcore gamers. She and Travis have a mutual father, in the Gamecube,
which Jeane felt abused her (lackluster library), and got her revenge by killing
him (gamecube sales going to crap). Travis loved her before she did this,
and only seeks to kill her out of revenge. As mentioned in Shinobu's section,
Travis apparently thought he was a great man.

Hardcore gamers, of course, beat the crap out of the Wii... but just before
they can kill it, No More Heroes drops! The Wii gets its vengence...

Later on, the Wii is on top. It is comfortable. But another assassin catches
it with its pants down; this might be a reference to an inevitable period
without any good game releases, but it's not very relevant. Henry is
disgusted in Travis-- 「You're a disgrace to yourself, and all those
you've killed」

Henry stops him. After some fighting, we learn that Henry is Travis' twin--
Henry is the casual Wii yin to Travis' hardcore yang! Letz Shake's pure
power was overcome by the blade (Wii Remote) of casuals, before the Wii's
Hardcore potential (Travis) could even try.

We learn that Sylvia has not only married Henry, but they've been married for
years. As much as it shocks us, casual gamers have been around far longer
than the Wii has. They also allude to an affair between Travis and Sylvia,
likely either after the Harvey fight, or after Travis is number one.

The casual/hardcore balance is the same as the lightside/darkside balance.
It is yin and yang. One does not exist without the other. 「All we can do
is keep running」

In the final scene of the game, we see their fight eternally frozen in
a painting: the balance between casual and hardcore brings art. And we see
Sylvia with a young girl named Jeane. It's not clear who her father is;
casual or hardcore gaming, but hardcore gaming has been destroyed and reborn
from the ordeal of the Wii.

No More Heroes plot is not almost completely non-sensical; it is a complex
metaphor about the Wii's life; a love letter to hardcore gamers.
It is about learning to accept casual gaming, even while we fight about
its damage. It is the story of the Wii.