From its announcement at E3 2019, No More Heroes III from Grasshopper Manufacture has been floating around on the release schedule. The three-quel comes over a decade after the second game released on the Wii, and it follows up the 2019 spin-off titled Travis Strikes Again. No More Heroes III initially aimed for a 2020 release window, but as with most projects in the industry, the game saw a delay to 2021 due to COVID-related logistical complications.
It wasn’t until a February 2021 Nintendo Direct where a concrete release date would come to light. No More Heroes is set to debut exclusively on Nintendo Switch on August 27, 2021. Grasshopper Manufacture reaffirmed the news in a May 2021 overview video, recapping the series lore and revealing the return of some key characters from games past. The video itself was lovingly chaotic, with fake YouTube timeline scrubbing and thumbnails, showcasing female lead Sylvia Christel’s new role as an online influencer.
Sylvia summarizes the events of the first two No More Heroes games, as well as the Travis Strikes Again spin-off — the character emphasizes that players don’t have to play the previous ones to enjoy No More Heroes III, but it would certainly help. The video also reveals returning characters Shinobu Jacobs and Bad Girl; both were previous opponents of protagonist Travis Touchdown, with the former becoming an ally to Travis and the latter dying in combat. How Bad Girl has returned is something joked about in the video by Sylvia, with no straight answer given.