No More Heroes strategy guide: Kill the killers

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Become number one without breaking a sweat with our assassin battle masterclass

Destroyman

It's tricky to take an adversary seriously when he looks like he's just stepped out of an F-Zero fetish bar. And indeed, Destroyman is a lot less difficult to deal with than his various exploding appendages may make him seem. Once again, it's all about exploiting the recovery times of his attacks to lay down the smacks, and luckily all of his assaults are pretty big. Big attacks mean big opportinities, and Destroyman virtually hands it to you on a plate at times.

  • The floor-punching Destroy Smash is your key window. You could raise a family during its recovery time, so it's the prime move to throw back in his face. As a result, you should spend most of the fight just within range of its shockwave, ready for a quick roll back/run forward to avoid it and move back in to attack.
  • The electric shocker move is also really easy to avoid, and is second only to the Smash in terms of leaving him wide open, so use that against him too.
  • The Destroy Laser looks like it's going to slice you in half, but is actually really no problem at all. Just block it and it won't even singe your eyebrows.

  • The cannon shots are no harder to avoid with a side roll than Shinobu's Sonic Sword, so use the same tactic toevade them. Just start flicking the d-pad as soon as you see him start charging one and don't stop until it%26rsquo;s left the screen.
  • When he hoists himself up to the ceiling, you'll need to break the winch he's attached to and bring him crashing back down into 'saber-range. It's tempting to run around the room smashingall the wincheswith your katana, but that will just open you up to unnecessary cannon hits as you stand still to arget each one. Instead, let him do the work for you. Take a wide arcing run around the edge of the room, letting his shots follow behind you. Pause very briefly in front of each winch as you pass, and nine times out of ten his next shot will lock onto your position and hit the mechanism, destroying it instantly. If he misses or it turns out to be the wrong winch, just keep going. He'll hit it eventually, and his hitting the wrong ones will drop a piece of set equipment which will probably come in useful for cover later on.
  • Towards the end of the fight, he'll start letting rip with his Vibrating Crotch-Laser Of Doom (Our term, not Suda's). It looks scary, as Vibrating Crotch-Lasers Of Doom are wont to do, but it's actually really easy to avoid and turn around on him. Just before he fires it, drop your block and start free running to the side, arcing around behind him and spiralling nearer as you go. You'll need to run to stay ahead of the beam as it follows you round, but it should be pretty easy to get some hits in as he winds down, Just make sure you don't spiral in too tightly, too fast, or you'll run straight into it. Duh.
David Houghton
David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.