By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Even Travis Touchdown didn't think it'd be released in 2020, pre-CCP Virus!
A wise man at the end of 2019 once said, “2020 release? Huh, good luck.” That was Travis Touchdown when No More Heroes 3 for Nintendo Switch was announced, still developed by SUDA51 of Grasshopper Manufacture. It turns out that Travis Touchdown (the series protagonist) and his sentiment were spot-on, according to a just-published tweet by Grasshopper and Suda51.
Here is the statement in text form:
This is Goichi Suda from Grasshopper Manufacture, with an announcement regarding the postponement of the release of No More Heroes 3.A few things to point out there. One, I would think that SUDA51 wouldn't have to read fan comments on social media to know that 2020 has been a very tough period for many people, unless he's one of the aliens that are apparently in No More Heroes 3's antagonist squad. Two, he is “prioritizing quality”, as opposed to, say, finishing the game at its original scope. I wonder if that indicates that No More Heroes 3 will be smaller than originally intended, but what remains will be of better quality. (This will likely manifest as a fourth-wall breaking joke in-game.) That... should be a net positive, especially given my reservations on the No More Heroes series in general after the last game.
Reading through the comments of fans on social media, we know 2020 has been a very tough period for many of you. To everyone who has been waiting for further news and release date confirmation ever since the reveal of the trailer for No More Heroes 3 at TGA at the end of 2019, I would like to offer my sincerest apologies.
All staff members at Grasshopper have been working as hard as possible on developing the game in hopes of releasing it in 2020, but the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have unfortunately proven to be a real body blow to our schedule, causing unforeseen delays in development. Now that we have managed to get back on our feet with development, we have decided to focus on prioritizing quality, and to therefore push back the final release date.
Very sorry once again. We hope that everyone who has been waiting patiently for No More Heroes 3 can understand and accept this decision, and we will continue to put every effort into the title’s development as we shoot for a 2021 release date.
In other and hopefully better news, we are extremely pleased to announce that Darick Robertson — of The Boys fame, and of whom I am personally a huge fan — will be joining the project to provide illustrations for the game. We will be posting some original illustrations, so please be sure to check them out. Please stay tuned for key art from Darick himself, as well as further announcements and news regarding No More Heroes 3.
SUDA51 [NO MORE HEROES 3 Director]
And three, they say they are shooting for a 2021 release date. ...I just want to note that leaves it open for being delayed to 2022. Or beyond!
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| That Japanese apparently translates to the “2020 release? Huh, good luck.” Though with another question mark. |
Ludwig always figured something was suspiciously going on with the No More Heroes 3 development after it failed to appear in the July 2020 Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase, as well as the August 2020 one. He has no issues whatsoever about the game being delayed, but figured it's newsworthy. He does not know who Darick Robertson is, but hopefully he has cool art.
No More Heroes 3 released August 27, 2021.
i would really love a new ace attorney game
ReplyDeleteI guess this is technically not a bad comment, since it's Ace Attorney, but it sure isn't on-topic.
DeleteI have a firm belief that in a few weeks we'll see an Ace Attorney announcement, though. Though... wot if it also got virus'd? >_>
that would rlly suck its been too long
Delete"Two, he is "prioritizing quality," as opposed to, say, finishing the game at its original scope. I wonder if that indicates that No More Heroes 3 will be smaller than originally intended, but what remains will be of better quality."
ReplyDeleteI didn't get the impression that he was saying anything about the game's scope. My interpretation of that part is that they decided to prioritize quality even though that means a delay, instead of prioritizing the 2020 release.
I'd like to think that if "prioritize quality" meant "stick to the original game scope", he wouldn't have worded it that way to begin with.
DeleteHe specifically says the decision to prioritize quality is the reason for the delay. Unless you assume scope is the only possible trade-off with quality, I don't get how you're seeing this as being about the scope.
DeleteIt's math!
DeleteLet's say they were always aiming for December 2020.
Then let's say the "real body blow to our schedule" pwned four months of development time. By default it has to release April 2021.
He could've wrote,
“All staff members at Grasshopper have been working as hard as possible on developing the game in hopes of releasing it in 2020, but the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have unfortunately proven to be a real body blow to our schedule, causing unforeseen delays in development. Now that we have managed to get back on our feet with development, we have to therefore push back the final release date.”
But instead there was a “decision” to prioritise quality. What does that mean? They'll disproportionately delay it to, say, July 2021 and keep the same scope but put more development time than originally planned for higher quality?
Or, still plan for April 2021 but do a trade-off to improve quality?
(Note I'm also assuming the quality would be iffy to begin with. ...And when I made the mention in the article about the fourth wall being broken, that's already happened in NMH2 when the story has you skip a bunch of would-be boss fights.)
It seems like we're thinking roughly along the same lines, except that the way I see it (using your example) it would be the choice between rushing it to release an inferior version in December 2020 after all versus prioritizing quality and accepting the delay to April 2021.
DeleteI'm assuming if they released it in December 2020 in the actual timeline we're in, it'll be buggy and perhaps have unfinished levels in it.
Delete...(Watch it come out 2022)
And that would definitely not be prioritizing quality. ;)
DeleteWell, however long the delay is, it gives us plenty of time for the rumored port/remaster of the first two to happen for those of us curious about trying the series...
Hopefully they're spending the delay time on NMH3, not putting a port together. <.<
Delete