PixlBit

Watch out for those crazy deadly killer space carrots!

This exciting space shooter was developted by Compile and published by Nexoft, and was released in 1990 for the NES. Obviously, by this time, the NES had TONS of shooters for its library, as shooters were very popular in the 80s, many of which were arcade ports. Gun-Nac bears some resemblances to Zanac, another Compile shooter released for NES a few years earlier, but then again, it bears resemblances with many shooters. I'm happy to say that GN is a very good shooter. 

The game opens up by giving us the story of the game: "In the vast universe, far away, there is a peaceful nation consisting of seven planets orbiting around an artificial sun. Their peace, however, is about to be shattered. Animals, plants, and products from the factories begin to attack the people. The nation becomes lost in chaos without knowing the reason why. A conference of representatives from the seven planets requests the space police to solve the matter. A capable commander, with the code name of Gun-Nac, is summoned. His mission is to investigate the eight areas and restore peace to the nation. Rumor has it that there is a powerful invader in one of the eight areas who is generating all the threats..." 

Then the title screen pops up. You can begin the game or look at the "Control Room" (also known as options). In options, you can listen to the game's music or choose a difficulty. Once you start the game, you're found in some kind of shop looking at an anime girl who has a big smile on her face. Between each level, you will have the opportunity to buy weapons, drop bombs on areas, or upgrade your turbo. More on this in just a moment. 

Perhaps you figured it out from the story, but there are eight levels in the game. Gun-Nac has two weapons at his disposal: his gun and his bombs. You start with a basic gun type; hold down the B button and you will fire repeatedly. The A button will release your bomb. In GN, you have different guns, different bombs, and gun and ship upgrades which help a lot. There are five different types of guns, each unique in its own capacity; there are four different types of bombs. Blue or yellow smiling faces will float by and drop these gun or bomb types, which will have either a number or letter on them. 

The gun types are displayed by numbers. Number 1 is a basic shooter which changes to a spread shot at higher levels. Number 2 shoots out a big ball of energy. Number 3 shoots sporadic boomerang-like objectiles which sort of home-in on enemies. Number 4 shoots a long wall of flames right in front of your ship; after awhile it dies down, but can be shot out again by pressing the B button again. Number 5 shoots a long lazer blast; on higher levels, the lazers will expand, even filling the whole screen if you have the highest upgrade. Number 1 is the best all-around gun to use, and I definitely preferred to use it throughout the game. Number 4 was the one I hated to use; it's powerful, but it only hits things directly in front of you. If you die, you will reappear with a Number 1 gun, the most basic form shooting only straight ahead. Once again, you can grab upgrades (which are P capsules) to enhance your gun, or grab a ship upgrade, which will increase the size of your ship, but also enhance your gun. As an upgraded ship, it takes two hits to destroy you. 

                       This is what Gun-Nac is famous for: BUNNIES!

The bombs are very important, as you will find yourself using them to get past crazy sections and to defeat tough bosses. There are four bombs, simply displayed with four letters: the F bomb shoots out a ring of fire in front of you which will protect you if you're inside the ring; the B bomb causes a wall of ice to move back and forth on the screen, filling the entire screen and destroying anything it touches; the W bomb causes water to rain down and melt the enemies; and the T bomb sends very fast bolts of lightning all over the screen, quickly annihilating the bad guys. The most useful of these bombs is definitely the B bomb, as it effectively destroys everything on screen; this bomb was a necessity for me getting through the game. I really did not like the F bomb because its range was so limited. 

Those yellow and blue dudes I mentioned earlier also drop money occasionally. You can use the money you've picked up to buy things between levels. You can "buy" weapons for your ship, but in actuality, you are simply changing your weapon type for the start of the next level. You can drop a bomb on a certain level, but once again, this simply means that you will receive that bomb at the beginning of the level. You can also increase your turbo, but I have no idea what this does; your ship does not seem to move any faster after the increase. Apparently Compile could not use the dollar sign for some reason; instead, they used the number sign. "Would you like to purchase a weapon? Only #10." Perhaps they don't use dollar signs in Japan, but I'm thinking it was a simple oversight in the translation. 

Well, GN is a great game, but it's also a very weird game. Level 1 has you shooting. . . robot bunnies? . . . that shoot carrot missiles? The story mentions that animals, plants, and products from the factories begin attacking people, so I guess that's why the boss of level 4 is a giant tree, and level 5 has you shooting at killer coins and stacks of money (I'm surprised piggy banks with lazers didn't jump out at you). Level 7, however, is no-nonsense, as you fly through space with walls of fire all around you. This level is insane! You may find yourself breathing frantically as you dodge tons of enemies and bullets all over the place. 

I have to commend Compile because the game never slows down when tons of things happen on screen; the amount of flicker is also surprisingly low. The game is generaous in giving you extra lives, and a little 8-bit jingle will sound when this happens. This is good incentive to shoot everything. Also, you have unlimited continues (atleast on Normal). This is good, because I died so many times on certain levels. I used several continues on level 4, then I used even more continues on level 7. Thankfully, given enough time and experience, you should be able to beat any level. GN certainly has difficult spots, but the game never comes across as unfair. 

Each level has a miniboss in the middle and a boss at the end. The levels are a good length, not too short, but also not too long. And believe me, there's plenty of shooting in each level to keep you busy. While playing, you will need complete attention to be on the screen. There's a lot to look for. Grab the upgrade! Look out for those bullets! Use your bomb now! Get the bag of money floating in space! Plenty to keep you occupied. This game is far from boring. The music is great too (look below for my favorite song from the game); it never gets annoying or repetitive, but makes the game more enjoyable. 

Final Verdict--4 Stars: Recommended

GN is a very well-crafted game, designed with fun gameplay, plenty of interesting mechanics, good music, strong level design, tight controls, good graphics, and addictive gameplay that will make you continue again and again. If you enjoy shooters, you would really have fun with GN. It's worth checking out, and I hope to review more shooters in the future (correction: I will, because there's tons of them). 

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.