A frantic game that keeps you on your toes
Gunstar Heroes is a run n' gun game that was released for the Sega Genesis in 1993; it was developed by Treasure and published by Sega. It's obvious that the main inspiration for this game was Contra; yet GH stands strong on its own. While some things are similar to Contra, many more things set it apart as a unique action game.
The plot for the game is pretty typical: the Empire wants to harness the energy of four precious jewels so they can take over the world. The Gunstar Heroes, Red and Blue, must stop them. Atleast they're not fighting aliens, right?
The game starts off with a few options. First, you get to choose either free shot (you can move while firing) or fixed shot (which allows you to shoot in 8 directions). Free shot is the obvious choice as you will need to move and fire in order to survive in this game. Secondly, you get to choose which gun you would like to start with; there are four types. The flame gun was my personal favorite. Finally, you can choose in which order to play the first four levels, Mega Man-style. There are seven levels total.
Unlike Contra, your character has a life amount at the top in the form of a number. It starts at 100, and once it hits zero, you're dead. You only have one life; after that, it's the Continue screen. Lucky for you there are unlimited continues for all the difficulties (you may need them). Throughout the game, your life amount will increase beyond 100, and believe me, you'll need as much as you can get.
Treasure is a great developer, and they make full use of the Genesis controller. All three buttons are used: one for firing, another for jumping, and another for switching guns. If you get the same gun twice, it will upgrade and become more powerful. If you get two different kinds of guns, you can use one or the other, or you can use a combination of the two, which can be pretty cool.
The action is frantic, with plenty of explosions, and bullets flying all over the place (just like Contra). However, the Gunstar Heroes are actually much more versatile than those tough bare-chested dudes from Contra; Red and Blue can jump, slide, wall-jump, and get this: when they get close to an enemy, they will grab and them throw across the screen! This throwing mechanic applies to bosses too, and giant hover crafts; I was shocked when I saw Red grab the hover craft and throw it off-screen! These guys are awesome!
There's a whole team of bad guys you'll fight throughout the game, including a couple dudes with shades, a sneaky woman, a cool dude named Green, a muscular he-man, a Nazi-type guy, and the main villain, who wears a Roman helmet and cape. The boss battles always involve these guys, usually in big robots, but not always (you'll face the muscular dude and the Nazi man-to-man).
The boss battles range from "piece of cake" to "insane!" The second level boss has five forms! I was expecting two or three forms, so when they kept coming, I really wondered, "How many forms do I have to fight?" It's ridiculous, considering the final boss only has one form. Due to the insanity of this boss, the boss of the third level felt like a let-down; you fight the muscular dude while on an airplane. This fight is pretty boring, but also confusing due to the plane moving from side to side; it's hard to keep track of your character.
An annoyance in the game is when your character gets hit; he doesn't jump back like in old NES games, but he does have a little spasm and shouts out in pain. It's easy to die if you get trapped in enemy fire because he'll keep spazzing, negating any movement until he stops getting hurt, which may happen upon death. Another annoyance is the fact that you can't choose another level after you die (I mentioned you can play the first four levels in any order); you will be asked to continue, upon which you will start at that same level. If you say NO, it will be Game Over and you will have to start from the very beginning of the game.
The fifth level is fun but repetitive. You basically run to the left and shoot (a lot). Tons of enemies litter the screen, and you keep running and shooting. You stop a few times to fight a specific bad guy, but each time you stop it's the exact same bad guy. This level in particular felt uninspired to me. All the other levels were good.
A few levels really stand out to me, such as the Dice Palace (as they call it). A miniature version of your character is shown on a board; you roll a giant die to move that character along (I never rolled higher than a three). Some spots will transport you to fight an enemy, others will let you grab an item. It was a neat level.
The final level is pretty cool as well. The bad guys watch you on a giant screen as you make your way to their hideout. Different bad guys will leave the room at different times and then show up on the screen to fight you. The last level has five boss fights before the final boss! The whole time, the villain watches you until you finally make it into the room where he is. It's a really cool presentation which I'm not sure if I've ever seen in a game.
I have to mention this: at first it seems that the main villain of the game is the Nazi guy, who reminds me of M. Bison from Street Fighter II (maybe a little thinner). Also, a Nazi-type guy was the villain of Metal Slug X. For some reason, Nazis make good bad guys (I mean bad ). But the Nazi guy in this game wasn't the main villain, just one of them.
Final Verdict--4 Stars: Recommended
Frantic, fast-paced, and fun, this game is a real winner. And I shouldn't have to mention that it's even better with two players. GH may be similar to Contra, but it does a great job of giving you a unique experience, filled with fun action and compelling design. The music is good too, although nothing in particular really stood out to me. It's available for the Wii Virtual Console, and I would recommend you try it if you enjoy run n' gun games.
Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.
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