No Straight Roads

*This page is about the video game. You may be looking for the company of the same name in the game.*

***No Straight Roads*** is a rhythm-based action-adventure game developed by Malaysian studio Metronomik and published by Sold Out. The game was released on PlayStation 4, PC (Epic Games-exclusive only), Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on August 25, 2020 worldwide, and later on August 27, 2020 in Japan.  An improved, Steam and PS4 exclusive version of the game has been released on October 21, 2021.

## Gameplay

The core of the gameplay revolves around its soundtrack, enemies, and attacks all timed to the beat of the music. The player will control the protagonists Mayday and Zuke to fight by firing notes like bullets, transforming props and objects into weapons, or simply smacking them with their instruments.

## Production

With the creation of the Metronomik, *No Straight Roads* is its first title. The game's demo was first released on Tokyo Game Show 2018, showcasing the boss battle of Yinu and her mother. After the demo release spread from towards global gaming events, it became a success by critics and audiences alike, won over 3 awards, and gained two more demos featuring a new boss battle by DJ Subatomic Supernova and a story introduction level.

It was planned to be released in spring 2019. However, it was postponed to be released for the PlayStation 4 and PC in early 2020, due to Metronomik's new partnership with Sold Out to have its digital release be properly managed.

Later on September 11, 2019, the Japanese voice cast was revealed, including well-known Japanese voice actors Ayane Sakura and Jun Fukuyama. This trailer also announced a guest musician Masahiro "Godspeed" Aoki, who is known for creating music scores for the *Sengoku Basara franchise*, *Astral Chain*, *Street Fighter V*, and *Final Fantasy XV Multiplayer: Comrades*. Joey Bizinger, also known as his YouTube handle **The Anime Man**, is credited to voice an NPC named the Music Elitist (later named Joey) in both English and Japanese versions.

On October 30, 2019, in Paris Games Week, the Associate Producer, Idir Alexander, revealed its French voice cast, along with information about the rest of the artists revealed other than Subatomic Supernova's and Yinu's, guest musician and voice actor Clyde Rabatel, and a few new non-playable characters. The game also participated in the release of an upcoming virtual reality app called *Beam Beam*, which can be seen in a glimpse on a television, before Mayday angrily hits the screen.

Other than the respective voice actors of Mayday, Zuke, Yinu and her mother, DJ Subatomic Supernova, and Joey; Metronomik revealed more voice actors' names for the original English dub of *No Straight Roads* on November 8, 2019, for a 2-day, Level Up Play 2019 event. One more character, DK West (voiced by Alfred Loh), was added. It was not until the next day that DK West had been revealed as a character. In addition to this, Az Samad, who created DK West's rap song, has been added as a guest composer alongside Aoki and Rabatel.

Starting on January 29, 2020, a social media event made by the official video game, #StarsofVinylCity, showcased non-playable characters once or twice a week, including some who were already shown in promos.

Other than releases for the PlayStation 4 and PC, Metronomik announced additional console transfers for the Nintendo Switch and XBOX One in their Rock Rebellion trailer on May 14, 2020, along with a Collector's Edition for all console ports (excluding PC) that is available to pre-order. This trailer also added a European-Spanish dub of the game for Spanish-speakers from both Spain and Latin America, and the new guest reveal of Japanese rock band One Eye Closed. An Assist Mode is only available on the Nintendo Switch, featuring Ellie.

### Concerns About COVID-19

Metronomik's debut video game had its release date moved from early 2020 to just 2020. There were many reasons involved: the staff were sill polishing the game to its final rendering, and the company had their concern towards the COVID-19 pandemic, causing workers to polish the game from home.

The pandemic caused the Taipei Game Show 2020 and GDC 2020 to postpone their events to summer 2020, which were the two events that Metronomik would have participated in. However, the latest build of the game's demo with Yinu and her mother managed to make it in PAX East 2020.

The game was slated to have a worldwide release on June 30, 2020, and a Japanese release on July 2, on multiple platforms, ; however, the release date was pushed backed to August 25, 2020 due to COVID-19.

## Plot

In Vinyl City, the music capital of the world, indie rock band Bunk Bed Junction, with members Mayday and Zuke, set out to impress the CEO Tatiana and some of the superstars from NSR. However, NSR dismissed them because they believed rock was outdated; and only EDM was acceptable under their reign. The duo plan to start a music revolution against the dominance of NSR and its EDM music on Vinyl City by crashing their concerts and performances with the power of rock.

## Gameplay

You play as Mayday or Zuke as they fight against the NSR artists who can attack in a rhythm of the music, both of them can use their instruments as melee weapons to attack enemies. You are able to collect power ups to help become stronger to beat other bosses. Other attacks range from parrying pink attacks on beat, transforming items into weapons, and ranged combat using music notes.

## Post-Game Content

Metronomik announced and released *No Straight Roads*' first downloadable content, which is the Christmas version of the entirety of the game, on December 3, 2020. The Switch version of the DLC have yet to be released, because of some bug-related issues.

## International Differences

* The Japanese dub has a few differences in dialogue.
	+ Zuke's retort about Mayday's yellow hair, after she asked about DK West, is altered to his question of why Mayday has orange skin.
	+ Instead of Tatiana boasting that she would "eat her own dress" in the original English dub, she said that she would dare go bungee jumping off the NSR tower.
* At the beginning of Yinu's piano frenzy (the final phase), The French dub has Zuke saying "Oh. My. God." in English, replacing "Whoa, triplets!".

## Reception

*No Straight Roads* received mostly positive reviews since its release. Many gamers and critics alike praised for the game's art direction, dialogue, and conceptual delivery. They also praised the game for representing Malaysian culture and supporting Malay creators. On the contrary, the game is criticized for its lackluster gameplay and controls.

The Nintendo Switch port of the game has technical rendering issues, from cutscene to gameplay, which is why it received mixed feedback by players and critics. One noticeable example of this console version's technical blunder is the DK West encounters, where the burgers did not spawn for the entirety of the bonus battle, making it entirely too difficult. There were also some lines of the game that were absent within the game as well.

## Staff credits

(Check No Straight Roads/Staff Credits for more information)

## Trivia

* Metronomik's signature logo appears in the "Welcome to Vinyl City" trailer. In this video, it's located on Mayday's left side on the stage, as the heart and the leaves glow magenta pink.
* The Autumn 2019 trailer has a few unused lines voiced by Mayday, Zuke, and DK West in order, which did not make it to the final cut of the game.
* There were no videos or audio clips uploaded from the Level Up convention from Malaysia, for the sake of avoiding spoilers from Zuke's rap battle against DK West.
* It is presumed that *No Straight Roads* marks French voice actress Odile Schmitt's final voice acting role before her death from an unknown long-term illness on March 24, 2020.

## References

1. ↑ NSR's new release date revealed in response of the COVID-19 pandemic (Gematsu)
2. ↑ Japanese release date for NSR (GoNintendo)
3. ↑ Encore Edition release date reveal
4. ↑ NSR's release date postponed to 2020 (The Sixth Article)
5. ↑ Gamasutra article with the reveal of NSR's Japanese voice cast
6. ↑ Jeux Video article revealing NSR's French dub voice cast (French)
7. ↑ JeuxVideo article with Beam Beam (French)
8. ↑ MyGameOn article revealing English voice cast for Mayday and Zuke
9. ↑ Yinu and Mother's voice actresses were mentioned - Metronomik's official Facebook page
10. ↑ Mohamad Ali Imran's twitter account
11. ↑ Gematsu article revealing original English dub cast
12. ↑ JOMgaming article with the reveal of DK West (Malay)
13. ↑ Az Samad is revealed to be the composer for DK West's song (Az Samad's official website)
14. ↑ #StarsofVinylCity event (Twitter)
15. ↑ NSR's Spanish dub reveal in Rock Rebellion trailer (Desconsolados, Spanish)
16. ↑ New guest musician added on NSR's May 2020 trailer
17. ↑ Taipei Game Show postponed from February to the summer (Kakucho Purei)
18. ↑ GDC postponed to this summer (The Verge)
19. ↑ Sold Out's PAX East 2020 lineup (Venture Beat)
20. ↑ NSR's official release date revealed
21. ↑ No Straight Roads gains NX and XBOX One ports (The Sixth Axis)
22. ↑ NSR gets delayed again, due to the recent news relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. (PlayStation Lifestyle)
23. ↑ First DLC content (Twitter)
24. ↑ Odile Schmitt's death (La VDN, French)

## Links

* Official Website
* Twitter
* Art Concepts + Stuff
* NSR Malaysia Fanzine