No More Heroes tones down the insanity from Grasshopper Manufacture’s last console title, Killer 7, with a plot that’s fairly easy to follow and characters that are still eccentric, but not freakish (at least most of the time), while putting the gameplay into a more enjoyable place. So it’s more accessible, and yup, it’s a better game for it. It’s not just like Earth Defense Force 2017 (which is a good game despite some technical issues), it’s one of few games I have enjoyed despite its gameplay, which isn’t bad, but just shallow compared to other action games. The A button attacks, holding the remote vertically or horizontally changes stance, and gestures do grappling and finish moves, which are very satisfying, but eventually combat becomes a chore.

This is arguably the first punk video game, not just in aesthetic - which actually mixes punk, Californian, Japanese and Mexican - but in attitude. It’s the best kind of satire - relentless and subtle. It parodies everything from the daily grind (if you want luxuries, like new clothes or stat boosts you have to work for them, literally, by completing boring and tedious mini-games like pumping gas and mowing lawns), to other video games (there’s a fetch quest that tells you where all the items you need to collect are and you get beaten up after you find them, and a boss fight that doesn’t even exist), to the people who play them (you jerk off the remote to recharge your beam katana‘s battery), to other Wii games (Wii Sports baseball has never been bloodier). And eventually, and most importantly, itself, when the fourth wall completely breaks down during the last chapter of the game and the characters start talking about the game being delayed and getting review scores.

The player character, Travis Touchdown, isn’t even an anti-hero, he’s just kind of a douche bag. He’s not like most other video game heroes; he’s not out to save the world - he has totally selfish motives. Upon meeting the female character leading him up the ladder of assassins he asks “if I become number one, will you do it with me?” He’s unlikable and unpleasant but still totally relatable - a fine avatar for most gamers.

Driving around the overworld isn’t fun, as your motorcycle controls like an elephant with rocket-propelled roller skates on, and there’s little actual exploring to do, but it’s just another part of the grind, and makes much more sense in the context of the game than if it was just a series of menus. Comparisons to Grand Theft Auto are all too common and totally unfair. People who either don’t get the parody or don’t like it will probably have a hard time enjoying the game, as the gameplay itself isn’t particularly strong, but those of us who are into it will have no problem spending three minutes catching scorpions so they can buy a couple more t-shirts.

In a recent interview, Grasshopper Manufacture CEO, and visionary behind its games, Goichi Suda said that Travis sitting on the toilet to save his progress was an allegory for how he creates games, by consuming all sorts of media across both genre and culture, and shitting out a game that’s a mixture of all these things. This is clear when you play the game, as hints of Kill Bill, The Stranglers’ album the game is named for, and countless video games, from Metal Gear Solid to Mega Man, come through, and the game is totally unforgettable for it.