No More Heroes for Switch is completely new, not launching in 2017

The No More Heroes game announced for Switch at Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017 is a completely new game, not a port, according to Grasshopper Manufacture creative director Goichi Suda.

Speaking to 4Gamer, Suda said, “Actually, when I was on stage, I was going to say that it isn’t a port and that it’s a new title, but I completely forgot…”

Pressed if that means it is “No More Heroes 3,” Suda responded, “That, I still can’t say. However, the script will be completely written by me, and for the first time in 10 years, I’m also doing the direction.”

4Gamer asked if the artwork of No More Heroes protagonist Travis Touchdown that accompanied the announcement was illustrated by Yuusuke Kozaki, who did the character designs for the previous games.

“Yes,” Suda said. “Kozaki will of course be involved. However, this time, I’m thinking about having various other people participate. When I go to overseas events, I’ll once in a while come across someone who says ‘When you create a new No More Heroes, let me do the character designs.’ And these are famous people. So I think it would be good if we could do a of collaboration of that sort.”

Suda asked 4Gamer if they’d be interested in them making it a title that can collaborate well with indie games. “That’s something I’ve been also thinking about,” Suda said. When 4Gamer asked for specifics, Suda replied, “I still can’t say.”

When asked about the development status of the game, Suda said, “Regarding the story, while I haven’t written it down to the plot, the overall picture and essential parts have been solidified. And since the direction of the game design has almost been decided, we’re about to begin development.”

As for the release window, Suda said that while 2017 is the 10th anniversary of No More Heroes and that he would like to release it this year, “it won’t be this year.”