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Gunstar Heroes Review


If there’s any reason to own a Mega Drive then this is it. Gunstar Heroes is one of the best run and gun games ever made. Still rivalling games like Metal Slug, Gunstar Heroes was revolutionary in its’ time because it did some incredible things with the Mega Drive hardware that no other developer thought was possible.

Gunstar Heroes was developed for release in 1993 by Treasure; an obscure new developer formed from ex-Konami developers. The game allows you to play as one of 2 members of the Gunstar family, whose job it is to protect 4 sacred gems which have now been stolen by the evil Colonel Red. It is up to you to stop him at any costs. A simple premise but then again, the simplest games are easily the most fun.

Before I explain how magnificently Gunstar plays I would like to describe the graphics side of things first. Gunstar Heroes is the first game I can recall that uses pseudo 3D graphics as seen on the game’s menu, the second boss encounter in the first level and the infamous plane fight. Even though these elements are very small the effect they leave is simply breathtaking. And when you top it all off with multi-layered parallax backgrounds, segmented bosses and an engine that can cope with it all and the frantic pace the game keeps you cannot go wrong.

Now, onto the gameplay! Gunstar allows you to use a combination of 2 weapons to gain the maximum amount of firepower you can use in any run and gun game. You can switch between any 2 weapons you collect giving you the ability to find better combinations for certain levels and bosses. Now you understand the weapons set-up, you can now run head first into an army of enemies. Shoot them, throw them, blow them up! Gunstar Heroes can only be played to be believed. The pace that game keeps is phenomenal and the amount of exploding enemies that appear on screen is just astounding. How on Earth Treasure managed to fit so much action into a 16 bit game is still beyond me.

The game doesn’t even end at simply shooting things. The game has one of the best mine-cart chases ever devised for a video game, millions of technical bosses made from a large amount of different segments such as a gigantic gun, a robotic panther and even a humanoid styled robot made out of multiple blocks. Gunstar Heroes is such a visual feast sometimes you can forget you should be shooting things rather than staring at the scenery.

But lets take a moment from admiring the game and look at it critically, Gunstar does have some bad points such as the repetitive nature of the game and the fact that it’s just a bit too easy. But that’s still not nearly enough to make you not buy this game, even if run and gun games aren’t your cup of tea. Gunstar Heroes is simply a must own game, there aren’t nearly enough reasons for me to prove how much you need this game in your collection.



10/10



Written by Sonic Yoda on 2/10/06


Box Artwork

Cartridge

Instruction Manual



Screenshots

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