Grasshopper Manufacture’s Goichi Suda, also known as Suda 51,  has announced that their upcoming game No More Heroes III has been officially delayed until 2021. The developer announced this in a message on Twitter stating that the long-awaited sequel is now scheduled for release sometime next year. The game was originally planned for a 2020 release, and since we are already more than halfway through the year, it was slowly but surely becoming apparent that the game would not meet its launch timeframe.

I have a very important announcement to share today. pic.twitter.com/i4qTdNpYeD

— SUDA51/須田剛一 (@suda_51) September 10, 2020

Suda 51 states that the production of the title had been seriously hampered due to the worldwide effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic; “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, causing unforeseen delays in development.” Suda 51 goes onto say that the development team has been able to get the production going at a much better pace, but decided to push back the final launch date as opposed to releasing an unfinished game.

Suda 51 also makes an announcement in this message, revealing that Darick Robertson, who is most well known for the comic series The Boys, is joining the production and will provide special illustrations of the game. Suda 51 also mentions that those new illustrations will be posted from time to time on their social media, as well as new key art from Robertson. The studio has already posted the first illustration by Robertson, which depicts the game’s protagonist, Travis Touchdown standing in front of a large motorcycle with his beam katana out looking absolutely awesome.

No More Heroes III was originally announced at E3 2019 during Nintendo’s Direct, with the initial launch timeframe of 2020. It received a new trailer at The Game Awards 2019, alongside with the promise of a 2020 launch. While it is sad that we won’t be slicing and dicing our way through bad guys this year, it’s also refreshing to see that Suda 51 and the rest of the company want to release a top-quality product. With what we’ve seen thus far, the wait will be well worth it.

No More Heroes III will now launch sometime in 2021 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.