Suda51 says No More Heroes 4 is probably about ten years away, interested in a Shinobu spinoff

The wait between No More Heroes 1 and 2 wasn’t very long, as the sequel followed just a couple of years after the first game. However, the same can’t be said of the series’ latest entry. After we saw No More Heroes 2 in 2010, it’s taken over a decade to get No More Heroes 3. We may be in for a similar wait for a theoretical fourth game.

In an interview with GameXplain, director Suda51 said that No More Heroes 4 “would probably be in about 10 years or so, both in real life and in the game’s time.” He also has a potential idea in mind in which “Travis would go up against a super hardcore enemy up north who is basically the No More Heroes version of Drago from Rocky IV.”

Suda51’s full words:

“Put simply, yeah. Marvelous owns 90% of the IP, so whether or not Grasshopper would be able to make No More Heroes 4 is pretty much up to Marvelous. If I were to make No More Heroes 4, it would probably be in about 10 years or so, both in real life and in the game’s time. One of the overarching themes of the series was a sort of Rocky-ish theme. A lot of Travis’ story reflects that of Rocky Balboa. So if Grasshopper were to make a No More Heroes 4, then what I would want to do – not to say this would definitely happen – is basically make the story reflect Rocky IV, where Rocky goes up against Drago. In No More Heroes 4, Travis would go up against a super hardcore enemy up north who is basically the No More Heroes version of Drago from Rocky IV. Again, this is assuming Grasshopper were to make this game. I’m not saying this is how the game is going to be or that it is definitely coming out. This is just what I would like to do if Grasshopper were to make the game.”

Travis Touchdown is the star of No More Heroes, but the series does have other memorable characters. In that same interview, Suda51 spoke about interest in making a spin-off featuring Shinobu.

“To be honest, I considered giving Shinobu her own spin-off possibly. Other characters as well, but Shinobu in particular. Putting it simply though, No More Heroes is not my IP. Marvelous owns a majority of the IP and Grasshopper owns a part of it. The problem is we can’t go off and do whatever we want with these characters, but everyone at Grasshopper is really conscious of Shinobu’s importance as a character, and she’s even iconic to some fans. In fact, the pairing of her and Travis seems to have become quite popular. I’ve put a lot of thought into developing Shinobu further in various ways. But because of the IP ownership, I can’t really confirm anything, but I would be really happy giving Shinobu her own game, or even having her appear in another game, like an indie game as a guest character.”

You can watch GameXplain’s full interview with Suda51 below.