One of our biggest pet peeves this year was the helmet design in Romeo Is A Dead Man. Lead Romeo Stargazer has been treated like a new mascot by Grasshopper Manufacture even before his formal debut and his striking design was what sold me on the project to begin with. You can imagine our chagrin when halfway through the game the gruesome Tetsuo-esque helmet is replaced with a more sleek Ultraman-inspired one. Not a bad look, but not the one some of us wanted to finish out the story with. Maybe that’s why we were a little too happy to see the helmet swap being added as part of a new update to coincide with the Steam Summer Sale. Along with a discount and a new photo mode, the costume swap will allow players to change the helmet of romeo stargazer and the jacket to those of No More Heroes leading man Travis Touchdown, or strip it off entirely.
The big addition though comes in the form of a collab with director Suda51’s favorite title, Hotline Miami. The collab involves a chicken masked ‘jacket’ skin and a Miami vice style biker one. Released back in 2012 Hotline Miami was a major hit in the indie scene and has continued to inspire games today, but none have taken that love as literally as Grasshopper Manufacture have, with Hotline Miami’s lead character showing up in the company’s flagship No More Heroes series. Alongside the costumes is a new photo mode, but good luck getting a clean shot. Part of Romeo’s style is an obscene amount of hit effects.
We reviewed Romeo Is A Dead Man back in February and found for all it’s maximalist style it was a surprisingly grounded tale about living in a town without opportunity.
