Suda 51 notes the "broadly growing Wii market" in choosing to deliver the bloodless Japanese version of the Wii exclusive to PAL territories.
The developers behind the forthcoming Wii exclusive No More Heroes have declared that it was their decision to present the game to European audiences in a form significantly toned-down from its planned North American release.
Grasshopper CEO Goichi Suda and Marvelous Digital Contents Company president Yashiro Wada issued the following joint statement: "The sales point of the game is action. Both I and Wada san have concentrated on making the best possible action game for the Nintendo Wii. We have chosen to release in Europe the same version as has shipped in Japan considering the broadly growing Wii market."
Though the statement specifies No More Heroes’ European release, it is likely that the game will appear in the same form across all PAL territories where the game will be published by Rising Star Games and its distribution partners.
Asked by Games Radar (prior to Suda’s statement) if the decision to go with the Japanese cut was influenced by the difficulties experienced by Manhunt 2 in being classified by the BBFC, Rising Star answered “maybe." It therefore appears possible that Goichi Suda (widely known as Suda 51), having promised to attempt to make No More Heroes more violent than Rockstar’s aforementioned horror sequel, has continued to use Manhunt 2 as a benchmark for tuning his game’s content - notwithstanding significant stylistic differences – for different regional audiences.