Travis Touchdown

Travis Touchdown (, Travis Touchdown) is the main character of the franchise.

Origin
In the first game, Travis Touchdown is a 27-year old otaku and wrestling fan who lives in the fictional small town of Santa Destroy, California. His parents were killed at a young age, which left him alone for the majority of his life. One day, he wins a beam katana from an online auction and meets a mysterious woman named Sylvia Christel at the Death Match bar. She offers Travis a hit on Helter-Skelter, the 11th ranked assassin of the United Assassin's Association. Having run out of money to buy video games, Travis heads off on his bike to find Helter-Skelter and successfully assassinates him. After the match, Sylvia informs him that he now ranked 11th in the UAA. In hopes of ranking #1, Travis heads to the 10th ranked assassin Death Metal's mansion, but is confronted by body guards on his way there. After defeating them, he engages in battle with Death Metal and is victorious after he manages to disarm the assassin by cutting off his hands. After decapitating Death Metal, Sylvia informs Travis that by being ranked #10, he is now in danger due to being a target of aspiring assassins and therefore has no choice but to climb the ranks. Travis, initially upset at Sylvia for "setting him up", only decides to keep climbing the ranks after Sylvia teases him with the possibility of sex if he can make it to the top. Travis then climbs through the ranks, and is about to battle the #1 ranked assassin Dark Star when all of a sudden, a woman kills him in cold blood. Travis recognizes the woman as Jeane, his childhood love interest, and is shocked when she reveals that she is his parents' murderer. She explains (in a humorously sped-up monologue) that Travis is her half brother and that Touchdown's father was originally married to her mother, who killed herself after Travis' father ran off with his mother. His father later took Jeane in as his slave, which later led to her murdering Travis' parents right in front of him. After a long and grueling fight, she seemingly punches Travis in the heart, but Shinobu Jacobs (the 8th ranked assassin who Travis spared due to her young age) saves him by slicing off Jeane's arm. Jeane initially begs for mercy, but later accepts her fate as Travis bids her one final farewell. After the match, Travis later meets up with his twin brother Henry Cooldown, who was separated from Travis and raised in Ireland. They fight soon after, where it is revealed that Henry is actually Sylvia's husband. The game ends with the two about to kill each other, but it is later revealed in the second game that Sylvia interrupted their fight and divorced with Henry in between the two games.

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle takes place three years after the events of the first game, and depicts Travis fighting through the ranks again to face Jasper Batt, Jr. to avenge the death of his best friend, Bishop. Taking place seven years later, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes depicts the now 37-year old Touchdown, who spends his days playing video games in a camper in a forest, being hunted down by Badman, the father of the first game's #2 ranked assassin Bad Girl, in hopes of killing Travis in order to avenge his daughter's death. While they fight in Travis' camper, a mysterious console prototype called the Death Drive Mk II grabs the pair and transports them into the machine, where they must team up to get through all of the games in order to survive and use their wish to bring Bad Girl back to life. The latest installment, No More Heroes III, takes place two years after the events of Travis Strikes Again. An alien known as FU has returned to the planet Earth after 20 years to reunite with his human friend Damon, telling him that he plans to conquer the planet with his league of intergalactic superheroes. Travis is once again thrust into the assassin game, climbing the ranks in the Galactic Assassin Rankings to defeat FU and save the planet.

Travis Touchdown was created by Goichi Suda (also known as SUDA51) and was named after the protagonist of the 1984 film ' as well as modeled after American stunt performer, who is best known for the MTV show '. His beam katana was based off of the "Schwartz" featured in the Star Wars parody film Spaceballs, itself being a parody of the Lightsaber (which Smash also references with the Beam Sword). Travis has been said to be relatable due to his otaku and wrestling obsessed lifestyle, and has been positively received by players. Due to being a wrestling fan, Travis can use many different wrestling moves alongside his beam katana, and is able to use them to their fullest potential due to fighting outside of the ring. He has also been able to pilot a mech and use a Death Glove, the Death Drive's controller, in order to gain plenty of abilities that Travis couldn't do on his own.

As a costume
Travis Touchdown appears in of DLC as a paid  costume. In said costume, he uses both his design and his weapon from Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, sporting a Death Glove as well. Travis uses a shirt with the symbol of the United Assassins Association (of which Travis is a member) rather than an Unreal Engine shirt for copyright reasons. He was released alongside the other Round 7 Mii Fighter costumes and Steve on October 13th, 2020.

The reveal trailer begins with Travis breaking a crate in Luigi's Mansion in a reference to the intro of No More Heroes, where Travis cuts open the door to Death Metal's mansion. Travis is then shown fighting and  in reference to Death Metal and Skelter Helter, the first assassins the player must face in No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2, respectively. The track "N.M.H.", which plays numerous times throughout No More Heroes was used in the trailer, although it doesn't appear in-game.

Spirits
Travis Touchdown appears as two spirits, released via the No More Heroes 3 Spirit Board event on August 27, 2021.

Trivia

 * As with Altaïr, Vault Boy, Dragonborn, Dante and the Doom Slayer, the logo for Travis' series in the North American version of the trailer simply says "Travis" instead of having the No More Heroes series logo, while having the logo in other regions. There has not been an explanation for this, though it is worth noting all these characters come from series that consist of M-rated games.
 * Despite this, No More Heroes is mentioned by name in the North American version via the “News” section, also the case with Altaïr and Vault Boy, but not the case with Dragonborn or Dante.