Weapon of the Week: Rose Nasty

Badass Sign #48: being able to wield two weapons at once.

Franchise: No More Heroes

Appearances: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

Type: Swords

Its common knowledge that lightsabers are awesome. A laser sword that can defect laser bolts and cut through anything makes for the greatest sword ever. This must be why otaku Travis Touchdown (no, that’s not a nickname, his last name really is touchdown) spent all his money on getting one. Okay, so technically its called a Beam Katana, but its essentially a lightsaber. With his trusty Beam Katana(s), he can mow down tons of mooks and defeat the country’s best assassins...in order to get a girl to sleep with him. Yeah, not sure where his priorities are.

Regardless, Travis’s Beam Katanas are really cool weapons. Each one (aside from the starting one) has its own way of defeating the enemy. For example, the Peony is a strong-but-slow weapon, but as you defeat enemies, the range grows. No More Heroes 2 has four beam katanas: Bloodberry, which you start with, Camellia Mk-III, your fast but weak weapon, the aforementioned Peony, and Rose Nasty, the subject of this entry.

Rose Nasty is the only Beam Katana in NMH2 that you can’t buy, and it is also the only dual weapon Travis has used. It has two big draws: its battery life and its combo potential. The Beam Katanas run on batteries, and if you run out of juice, you can’t attack until you recharge by doing a NSFW motion with the Wii Remote. Rose Nasty can last a long time without recharging, making it ideal for long battles. Rose Nasty also allows Travis to string together many hits very quickly, which means that you can rack up tons of hits very easily. Combined with a wide slash radius, Rose Nasty makes Travis a force to be reckoned with.

Rose Nasty may be a silly name for a sword, but its by far one of the coolest. Next time, we’ll look at a device that allows you to be the very best like no one ever was. Until then, see ya.