Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Romeo is a Dead Man is the newest action game from Grasshopper Manufacture, with SUDA51 and Ren Yamazaki once again co-writing and co-directing it, as they did with No More Heroes III previously. I was excited for this as soon as it was announced, because I really enjoyed NMH3, and it completely reignited my interest in Grasshopper Manufacture. To get straight to the point, unfortunately, I think NMH3 is better than this in almost every way, but this is still a good game. I enjoyed it. This is a full playthrough of its highest difficulty.
Right off the bat, it's fair to say nobody is actually playing GhM games for their gameplay. None of them are great. So how much you like their games will REALLY depend on how much you like their style and aesthetic, and how similar your tastes are to Suda51's. If you get most of the wrestling, movie, music, tokusatsu, anime etc. references that he litters his games with, you'll enjoy it a lot more than someone who just wants to play an action game and doesn't get any of it.
Romeo's gameplay is about on par with NMH3's, or maybe a little worse. You've got 4 different melee weapons to fight with, but they all have extremely simplistic movesets, so there's very little depth to explore with them. You also have 4 different guns you can use at any time by holding the left trigger to go into a TPS mode, but they're mainly used for hitting long ranged enemies, or targeting an enemy's weak point for massive damage.
The main thing that sets Romeo apart from your standard action game are your support options. You can equip 4 different zombies that you can call upon at any time, and they all have some special attack or ability to help you in battle. There's a decent range of options to pick from, with choices that are practically useless, to ones that are practically broken they're so strong. It's fun to learn what each of them can do and figure out how to synergize your loadout. For regular gameplay, I just stuck with the chain lightning, bomber, bowling ball, and Mictlantecuhtli - who creates a wormhole on the ground and drops all of the enemies in front of you. If you're RPG-brained, you might just automatically assume a lot of the powerful abilities (like freezing enemies, poisoning them, slowdown, the wormhole, etc) won't affect bosses, but they do, and they can make any fight effortless if you chain your abilities well.
It has fun systems to play around with, but the novelty wears off after a couple of playthroughs.
Suda51 is pretty creative when it comes to writing characters and scenarios, but this isn't his best work. I didn't find the main story especially interesting, and the characters aren't super likeable either, but they get the job done in both areas. The art design, music, and overall style of the game is great, but the rest of it isn't as strong.
The one thing that I consider a major negative about this game are the "Subspace" levels. These are the interludes in the stages where you get transported to a different area and have to run around a maze-like area and find a key or exit in order to progress. If you're just following the main story path and don't care about exploring everything, it's pretty straightforward and not TOO annoying. But these areas only exist to pad out the length of game and make it worse. How bad these sections are will vary, but they all start from "bad" and get worse from there.
This probably sounds pretty negative overall, but I enjoyed this game quite a bit. My tastes are pretty similar to Suda's, so I got a kick out of every reference I caught. The style lifts an otherwise decent game up quite a bit for me, but that's going to vary a ton from person to person. It's worth a shot if you're a fan of the developer, but it's safe to say that No More Heroes 1 is still hands down my favorite GhM game. I'll keep looking forward to what they do next though, I'm always at least vaguely interested in what they're doing, even when they go through long stretches of mid games.
0:00 Intro
1:51 Prologue - Nightmare
13:01 Chapter 1 - Embers
20:35 BOSS: Everyday is Like Monday
31:26 Chapter 2 - Hubris
1:03:05 BOSS: Enhanced Phantasm
1:16:29 Chapter 3 - Plight
1:31:10 Chapter 4 - Reinvention
1:57:04 BOSS: Death Changeling
2:17:08 Chapter 5 - Atonement
3:06:57 BOSS: Fused Reanimated
3:21:30 Chapter 6 - Conflict
4:28:57 BOSS: Enhanced Magrus
4:43:20 Chapter 7 - Existence
5:26:10 BOSS: Death Changeling Parabellum
5:41:41 Chapter 8 - Transience
6:32:57 BOSS: The Last of the Famous Intergalactic Naked
6:40:10 Ending
-----
Beat 'em Ups (e.g. Final Fight): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvMhpG1GR9sk8OYiWQMZZTgl
2D Action (e.g. Metal Slug): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvNFjpnJ59Th6N0IU1PSpD3d
STG/Shmups (e.g. Dodonpachi): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFE6B3779BE759F71
Romeo is a Dead Man is the newest action game from Grasshopper Manufacture, with SUDA51 and Ren Yamazaki once again co-writing and co-directing it, as they did with No More Heroes III previously. I was excited for this as soon as it was announced, because I really enjoyed NMH3, and it completely reignited my interest in Grasshopper Manufacture. To get straight to the point, unfortunately, I think NMH3 is better than this in almost every way, but this is still a good game. I enjoyed it. This is a full playthrough of its highest difficulty.
Right off the bat, it's fair to say nobody is actually playing GhM games for their gameplay. None of them are great. So how much you like their games will REALLY depend on how much you like their style and aesthetic, and how similar your tastes are to Suda51's. If you get most of the wrestling, movie, music, tokusatsu, anime etc. references that he litters his games with, you'll enjoy it a lot more than someone who just wants to play an action game and doesn't get any of it.
Romeo's gameplay is about on par with NMH3's, or maybe a little worse. You've got 4 different melee weapons to fight with, but they all have extremely simplistic movesets, so there's very little depth to explore with them. You also have 4 different guns you can use at any time by holding the left trigger to go into a TPS mode, but they're mainly used for hitting long ranged enemies, or targeting an enemy's weak point for massive damage.
The main thing that sets Romeo apart from your standard action game are your support options. You can equip 4 different zombies that you can call upon at any time, and they all have some special attack or ability to help you in battle. There's a decent range of options to pick from, with choices that are practically useless, to ones that are practically broken they're so strong. It's fun to learn what each of them can do and figure out how to synergize your loadout. For regular gameplay, I just stuck with the chain lightning, bomber, bowling ball, and Mictlantecuhtli - who creates a wormhole on the ground and drops all of the enemies in front of you. If you're RPG-brained, you might just automatically assume a lot of the powerful abilities (like freezing enemies, poisoning them, slowdown, the wormhole, etc) won't affect bosses, but they do, and they can make any fight effortless if you chain your abilities well.
It has fun systems to play around with, but the novelty wears off after a couple of playthroughs.
Suda51 is pretty creative when it comes to writing characters and scenarios, but this isn't his best work. I didn't find the main story especially interesting, and the characters aren't super likeable either, but they get the job done in both areas. The art design, music, and overall style of the game is great, but the rest of it isn't as strong.
The one thing that I consider a major negative about this game are the "Subspace" levels. These are the interludes in the stages where you get transported to a different area and have to run around a maze-like area and find a key or exit in order to progress. If you're just following the main story path and don't care about exploring everything, it's pretty straightforward and not TOO annoying. But these areas only exist to pad out the length of game and make it worse. How bad these sections are will vary, but they all start from "bad" and get worse from there.
This probably sounds pretty negative overall, but I enjoyed this game quite a bit. My tastes are pretty similar to Suda's, so I got a kick out of every reference I caught. The style lifts an otherwise decent game up quite a bit for me, but that's going to vary a ton from person to person. It's worth a shot if you're a fan of the developer, but it's safe to say that No More Heroes 1 is still hands down my favorite GhM game. I'll keep looking forward to what they do next though, I'm always at least vaguely interested in what they're doing, even when they go through long stretches of mid games.
0:00 Intro
1:51 Prologue - Nightmare
13:01 Chapter 1 - Embers
20:35 BOSS: Everyday is Like Monday
31:26 Chapter 2 - Hubris
1:03:05 BOSS: Enhanced Phantasm
1:16:29 Chapter 3 - Plight
1:31:10 Chapter 4 - Reinvention
1:57:04 BOSS: Death Changeling
2:17:08 Chapter 5 - Atonement
3:06:57 BOSS: Fused Reanimated
3:21:30 Chapter 6 - Conflict
4:28:57 BOSS: Enhanced Magrus
4:43:20 Chapter 7 - Existence
5:26:10 BOSS: Death Changeling Parabellum
5:41:41 Chapter 8 - Transience
6:32:57 BOSS: The Last of the Famous Intergalactic Naked
6:40:10 Ending
-----
Beat 'em Ups (e.g. Final Fight): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvMhpG1GR9sk8OYiWQMZZTgl
2D Action (e.g. Metal Slug): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvNFjpnJ59Th6N0IU1PSpD3d
STG/Shmups (e.g. Dodonpachi): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFE6B3779BE759F71
![[SNES] Pocky & Rocky - No Death Clear (Hard)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qo7kThNmTZM/mqdefault.jpg "[SNES] Pocky & Rocky - No Death Clear (Hard)
Pocky & Rocky, known in Japan as Kiki Kaikai (奇々怪界) is a free-scrolling shooter created by Natsume for the SNES. Its the sequel to the 1986 arcade game from Taito. The series follows the adventures of a young Shinto shrine maiden, Pocky (Sayo-chan), and her tanuki companion, Rocky (Manuke), as they fight through a variety of monsters based on Japanese legends and mythology.
This is a no death clear of Hard mode. The game doesnt change too much between Normal and Hard. It just seems like basic stat increases: enemies movie faster, have more HP, and shoot faster. You start with one less life and less bombs, I think. Its not a hard game either way.
The remake will be out in less than a week, so I had to stop procrastinating and play more of the original games. Im glad I did, because not only is this game pretty great, but it helps you appreciate all of the changes and improvements theyre doing for the remake. I watched the trailers again after playing this, and it makes the new game look even better. I think Natsume was one of the best developers on the SNES, and Tengo Project is one of the best developers around today. These guys dont miss.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
2:37 Stage 1
6:55 Stage 2
15:30 Stage 3
23:21 Stage 4
31:00 Stage 5
39:10 Stage 6
45:58 Ending & Credits
Beat em Ups (e.g. Final Fight): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvMhpG1GR9sk8OYiWQMZZTgl
2D Action (e.g. Metal Slug): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvNFjpnJ59Th6N0IU1PSpD3d
STG/Shmups (e.g. Dodonpachi): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFE6B3779BE759F71")
