The next game in the No More Heroes universe is calling in some indie friends for backup, and they're coming exclusively to Nintendo Switch in 2018. Nintendo capped off its pre-PAX West Nindies presentation with the very first trailer for Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, finally making good on that weird moment when series creator Suda51 took the stage at the Nintendo Switch reveal event in January.
The strange tale of Travis Strikes Back begins when Travis and his would-be killer are sucked into an arcane video game console. Their only hope of escape lies in beating all six games and their bosses. Hotline Miami is prominent in the trailer, so that's a shoo-in, but I wonder what other indie games will get in on this bizarre collaboration? Here's my dream lineup:
Octodad
Just imagine it: Travis briefly loses all of the bones in his body but still somehow keeps a death grip on his beam saber. Slice through bad guys, struggle to navigate around stationary objects, and live out a family drama, all at once!
Broforce
Mash-up Travis' pop culture obsessions with Broforce's deep reverence for cheesy action movie standbys and you've got something really special. Mostly I just think Travis would make an adorable little 2D sprite dude and want to hear his official Bro-ified name. Brofist Brodown?
Spelunky
You can't have a truly representative indie collaboration without a roguelike, so you might as well go for the best. Hopefully you don't have to do a solo eggplant run to beat this part of the game or else Travis Strikes Again might take a while...
Undertale
I have no idea how you would mesh the punk cynicism of No More Heroes with the bittersweet optimism of Undertale and now I need to know. Travis might struggle with the concept of a 'true pacifist run' as the world's greatest assassin, admittedly.
Stardew Valley
Harvest your crops with a goddamn beam saber.
We'll just have to wait and see what the indie collaborations of Travis Strikes Again actually look like (not to mention the game itself). Until then, you can read through our list of the best indie games and come up with some ideas of your own.
