No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2 rated for PC by the ESRB

An image from the Nintendo Switch port of No More Heroes.
(Image credit: Grasshopper Manufacture)

Infamously rude and crude action games No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle may well be coming to PC, as new listings on the ESRB website show. Surprising no-one, they have been given an M for Mature, or 17+, rating for "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language." The ESRB ratings system categories often seem like overstatement though in this case they feel, somehow,  inadequate to the task.

Ratings pages for both games on Windows PC appeared some time in the last 24 hours or so, and ratings pages don't usually show up on the ESRB unless a publisher plans to release the games for that platform. The ESRB, or Entertainment Software Rating Board, is the industry body that gives age ratings to games in North America.

So presumably you'll soon be able to watch Travis Touchdown do masturbatory movements to recharge his laser sword on your PC, rather than buying a Nintendo Wii or Switch. They're pretty run of the mill action games, but the completely over-the-top dialogue, toilet humor, and character concepts make them something unique. I kind of imagine they're what the inside of Quentin Tarantino's head is like.

No More Heroes is a game series made with the involvement of Goichi "Suda51" Suda, a Japanese designer infamous for alternating between darkness and juvenile comedy in his games with Grasshopper Manufacture, which he founded. The series focuses on Travis Touchdown, an assassin who uses a laser-beam sword to cut lots of peoples' heads off while blood fountains everywhere, and who kills a bunch of other equally ridiculous assassins to become the best assassin. The third game in the series, a spinoff called Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, released for PC in 2019.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.