Suda51 says his new game isn't a No More Heroes sequel because series star Travis Touchdown needed a break: 'I could write Travis all day, but dude is exhausted'

Romeo Is a Dead Man, which launches this week, is a dizzying mismash of styles: 3D graphics, 2D animation, comic book cutscenes, 8- and 16-bit minigames, and more, intentionally jarring as it swaps from one to the next. Romeo's hack-and-slash action is a lot more familiar. It's similar enough to producer Suda51's No More Heroes series, which has been ongoing for nearly 20 years, that I asked Suda in a recent interview why he opted for a fresh hero and setting, rather than a sequel to his most popular series.

Was he bored of No More Heroes after so many years? Were sales poor? Instead of either of those reasonable explanations, Suda51 had a different one: Travis Touchdown needs a nap.

"Travis has been doing a lot of heavy lifting the last couple years," Suda said via translator. "We had Travis Strikes Again, and then No More Heroes 3, and altogether it was about five years of Travis doing his thing, you know. I felt that by this point, he's tired, man, you know? He needs a bit of a break. Instead of jumping straight back in and giving the guy even more work to do, I thought I'd start up a new IP, give the dude some time to rest, and give myself and our team some time to try new stuff. To possibly even come up with a character that may even overtake Travis, as far as how representative it is of our studio. But yeah, the main thing was dude needed a rest."

I asked Suda if saying 'Travis is tired' was just a nice way of saying he's tired of Travis—which would be understandable, after working on No More Heroes, its sequels, and PC ports since 2007. At that point, Suda asked if he could swear.

Not at me, thankfully.

"In No More Heroes 3 he had to fight this whole group of aliens, and honestly, you know, that dude went through some shit for a while. He was up there kicking ass and getting his ass kicked constantly. Me personally, I could write more Travis scenarios all day long, but Travis himself, dude is exhausted. He needs some time off. Right now he's probably either in Mexico or possibly the Caribbean, just chilling on the beach and trying to recharge his batteries. When he's ready to come back, and finally healed up and ready to start kicking more ass, maybe we can get back together and collaborate again."

If Grasshopper ever makes a No More Heroes 4, I expect Travis will show up with a tan.

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