I have a very important announcement to share today. pic.twitter.com/i4qTdNpYeD
— SUDA51/須田剛一 (@suda_51) September 10, 2020
Suda confirms No More Heroes 3 has slipped to 2021 and is ‘prioritizing quality’
Switch exclusive was originally due this year
Switch exclusive No More Heroes 3 has been delayed to 2021, director Goichi Suda confirmed on Thursday.
In a statement published on his Twitter profile, the Grasshopper Maunfacture head claimed that disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic meant that the game was unable to hit its 2020 release target.
“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,” he wrote.
“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 more positive news for the title, Suda confirmed that The Boys artist Darick Robertson would be joining the No More Heroes 3 project to provide illustrations.
No More Heroes 3 was announced at E3 2019, when Nintendo said: “Travis Touchdown returns to Santa Destroy after a 10-year absence. There he finds a huge artificial island metropolis floating in the sea, and a mysterious flying object hovering high above.”
The action sequel sees Robin Atkin Downes reprising his role from the previous series entries as Travis Touchdown.
Original series lead character designer Yusuke Kozaki has also returned for the project, as has boss character designer Masanori Ushiki.