The Wii's Best 'Star Wars' Game Wasn't A 'Star Wars' Game
I don’t know about you, but when the Wii launched, I had one thought in my head: “Man it would be awesome to have a Star Wars game on the Wii.” The Wii’s use of motion controls and even the design of the Wii Remote scream "lightsaber!" The thought of using it to swing a lightsaber around in a video game still makes me excited to this day. However, my childhood dreams were never quite realized. The Wii did have some Star Wars games made for it, but a third of them were Lego games and the others were either ports, didn’t get the motion controls quite right, or both. It seemed like there would never be a game that was able to hone the motion controls and give me the sense of actually swinging a lightsaber in my hand. That changed when Grasshopper Manufacture and Suda 51 released No More Heroes.
No More Heroes is a game that is mostly style over substance in terms of story, but it wears that title as a badge of honor. The story follows Travis Touchdown as he fights his way to becoming the number one ranked assassin, but the story is chock full of references, Easter eggs, unique characters, hilarious moments, and non-stop action. This culminates in fantastic gameplay that is unique and incredibly fun, but what does this have to do with Star Wars?
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Well, the weapon that Travis chooses to be his tool to slay his way to the top of the ranks just so happens to be a lightsaber. Actually, it is a “beam-katana,” but both are laser swords that can cut through almost anything. This is one of the main things that make No More Heroes feel like Star Wars. The gameplay is everything I didn’t know I would want in-game with a lightsaber. The movements of the beam-katana are smooth and fluid, and the animation borrows just as much from anime and samurai flicks as Star Wars does. The combat doesn’t rely solely on motion controls to track the movement of the beam-katana. Instead, you tilt the controller up or down and combine that with button presses to attack. The direction the controller is tilted determines whether the attack is a high or low attack. When enough damage has been dealt to an enemy a quick-time notification with an arrow pointing in a direction will appear, then you swing the controller in the direction shown to land the bloody killing blow.
This may not sound like fun on paper, but this gameplay style is incredibly addictive and so much fun to execute. This merging of button and motion controls doesn’t recreate the feeling of holding a lightsaber in detail, but it may be the most fun and interesting way a lightsaber has been used in any video game. There may not be any Force powers in this, but there are powers triggered by slot-machine that appears after killing an enemy. Depending on the outcome of the slot, there can be a variety of different powers from slowing time to a massive screen wiping explosion, which is as good of a substitute as any for the Force.
The gameplay and lightsaber aren’t the only things Star Wars inspired in No More Heroes. Suda 51 said Star Wars was one of the main things that inspired No More Heroes. There are tons of references and story beats from Star Wars utilized in the game. As a matter of fact, Suda 51 threw so many Star Wars references and jokes into No More Heroes that management at the studio told Suda that he would have to cut and change some of them, or he would definitely get a lawsuit from George Lucas (who still owned Star Wars at that time). That being said, Star Wars still flows heavily through No More Heroes' veins. Besides the beam-katana and without major spoilers, there are characters who look like TIE Fighter pilots, there is a secret sister and an evil dad twist in the game, Travis sees his sword-wielding mentor die, Travis’ dad is named Dark Star, and tons more.
I know there are quite a few differences between No More Heroes and Star Wars. No More Heroes is much more stylized than every Star Wars movie, book, and comic combined, and this is not meant to be a review of No More Heroes. The point is that, during the Wii’s lifetime, studios outside of Nintendo (especially American studios) didn’t really know how to make motion controls work in a way that felt good and wasn’t a gimmick. The most obvious game idea for the console, namely a game where you wield and control a lightsaber, either couldn’t get through development or was assumed impossible. However, Suda 51 and Grasshopper proved that not only was it possible, but it could become one of the greatest games on the console. If you have played No More Heroes, you know or can imagine the possibilities of a Star Wars game done with the gameplay No More Heroes. If you haven’t played No More Heroes, go check it out whenever you get the chance. You will not be disappointed. Even if you have played No More Heroes, go play it again. It is one of the best action games that has ever been made, and it may just scratch that Star Wars itch while you wait for a new Jedi: Fallen Order.
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Source(s): NintendoWorld