If you ask most gamers what is their favorite franchise from this console generation they'll say Gears Of War, Uncharted, or The Batman Arkham games. If you were to ask me, I would say Suda51's hyper violent and hyper sexualized No More Heroes from the talented guys at Grasshopper Manufacture.
No More Heroes isn't a well known game franchise, and maybe that is why i love it so much.
Here is a little synopsis: In the fictional town of Santa Destroy, California lives Travis Touchdown. He is your average, everyday nerd. He collects comics and anime, has a library of wrestling dvds and spends his days playing video games. He soon becomes in desperate need of finances for his geek addictions-thus we enter Sylvia, a head member of the UAA, United Assassins Association, and soon she takes Travis in as her newest assassin recruit. Now Travis, armed with a lightsaber-esque beam katana, must climb the ranks and become the number one assassin and dodge the people coming after his head.
1. Travis Touchdown: I think Aaron does his best work when he plays completely crazy and out there characters. Everyone knows I'm a big Aaron Paul fan but you can't hate me for liking a decent actor. The best part about Aaron is that he can convey emotion pretty well, and the story of Travis-as hilarious as it is-is a rather tragic and sad one. Travis is a man who is driven by the fear of death, but soon that fear turns to hatred and anger, and we've all seen what Aaron Paul looks like when he is angry.
2. Sylvia Christel: If the assassins are actors, then Sylvia is a combination of casting director and manager. She basically sets up and assigns the assassins for their next ranking battle. She takes an interest in Travis and often times goads him into doing things with sex. Like I said the story of Travis is kind of sad, he feels like he has went through life with no one having his back, but ever since that faithful night in a bar she has been keeping a close eye on him. Now the actress is better known as the hot blonde on Community, I know her better as Cherry Daquerie in the Clark Gregg directed film Choke, and Gillian Jacobs has some damned decent drama acting chops.
3. Henry Cooldown: Henry is a cold and calculating bastard, but he is a thankful one as-well. Henry i a shadowy figure that we don't know much about, but he is apart of the bigger scheme of things. To avoid spoilers i won't tell you much, but one not so spoilery thing... He is infact Sylvia's husband of ten years. Richard Armitage, you know him as the bad ass dwarf in The Hobbit.
4. Jeane: Jeane is the main antagonist of the game. She used to be a major crush of Travis' but soon that changed when she murdered his parents and his brother. She soon resorted to prostitution so she would be able to pay for her assassin training. Jeane may be the bad guy, but she is a bad guy we can feel for. That has always been the main theme of the games, there is no right or wrong, and Jeane was doing what she could to survive. Emily Kinney went from my most annoying thing in The Walking Dead to one of my favorites, she's no Daryl Dixon, but she is a decent actress.
5. Shinobu: Shinobu is another ranked assassin after the number 1 spot, but she just right behind Travis. Soon after Shinobu takes on our protagonist, she is defeated and humiliated- but left alive and spared by Travis she spends her second chance getting better, faster, stronger. I haven't seen Zoe in much except X-Men: First Class, but i did enjor her for what she was worth.
Now let me just gloss over the minor characters and other Assasins:
Helter Skelter aka The Drifer. Travis's first kill. Paul Bettany (Legion, The Davinci Code.)
Count Townsend aka Death Metal. Jasaon Momoa (Bullet To The Head and Game Of Thrones.)
Pastel Brankino aka Dr. Peace. Tom Savini (Planet Terror, From Dusk Till Dawn.)
John Harnett aka Destroyman. Jai Courtney (Jack Reacher and Spartacus)
Holly Summers. Jaimie Alexander (Thor and Rest Stop.)
Letz Shake. Wes Bentley (American Beauty and The Hunger Games.)
Harvey Moiseiwitsch Volodarski. Bradley Cooper. (Limitless. and the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy.)
Speed Buster. Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook and Stoker.)
Bad Girl. Elisha Cuthbert.
Dark Star. Damion Poitier (Hunter Prey and The Avengers.)
Ermen Palmer. Forest Whitaker (Repo Men. The Last King Of Scotland.)
Dr.Naomi. Hayley Atwell (Captain America: The First Avenger.)
Thunder Ryu. Louis Ozawa Changchien (Predators.)
Bishop. Josh Gad (Thank You For Sharing. The Rocker.)
Now that is over with lets go over the directors.
1. Suda51-Goichi Suda: I have said this before, but I think Suda is a talented visionary. He makes some darned good games. I wouldn't think twice about it being weird if he said he wanted to direct a movie. With No More Heroes being his game and all i find it rather fitting.
2. Matthew Vaughn. (Layer Cake, Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class.)
I have never met a person say they were bored watching a Matthew Vaughn Film. The guy is good at driving over the top violence and mixing it with humor and drama, those are all the things needed for No More Heroes adaptation. He is a great director and i always look forward to any project he is doing.
Well there you have it. If all is said and done and all I did was get you guys interested in a seriously fun game franchise, then I did my job. The game is like 14 dollars on the Wii and there is a PS3 port- No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise for 20 dollars. Well I'll leave you guys with a couple of my favorite tracks... keep note these are from the sequel No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle. So comment below and let me know what you think.
I would also like to credit Lozzy94 for contributing to some of these cast members.