Gunstar Heroes
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| Gunstar Heroes | |
| |
| Developer(s) | Treasure Co. Ltd |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo (VC) |
| Release date(s) | NA December 11, 2006 (VC) |
| Genre(s) | Run and gun |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Cooperative |
| Rating(s) | ESRB (VC): Everyone |
| Platform(s) | Wii Virtual Console |
Gunstar Heroes is a run and gun video game released in 1993 by Treasure Co. Ltd for the Mega Drive/Genesis and the Sega Game Gear. In many aspects, Gunstar Heroes is considered innovative. It combined a linear, side-scrolling shooter with plot elements, a combo-based weapon system, a dice game, recurring bosses, and combat strategy. It remains one of the most popular games of the 16-bit console, and is often found being traded for relatively high prices. In the console's later years it was re-packed in Sega's Classic Pack along other games such as Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, Altered Beast and Flicky.
Contents |
[edit] Story
The Gunstar family has been the protector of the planet Gunstar 9 (G-9) for generations. Professor White Gunstar, in his youth, defeated Golden Silver, a destructive android that traveled millions of miles to suck G-9 dry of all its resources. Professor White was able to extract the four famous Mystical Gems (The robot's power source), and imprisoned the robot on one of G-9's moons.
But now, years later, a new menace has arisen. Colonel Red, a vicious dictator (and a very bad dresser), found out that the Gunstars know the location of the Mystical Gems. One day, The Colonel kidnapped the Gunstar twins' older brother Green and used a mind control machine to make Green obey his orders.
With Green's help, Colonel Red has amassed all four Mystical Gems, has turned Gunstar 9's peaceful worker droids into deadly menaces, and is now preparing to leave for Gunstar 9's moon to reactivate Golden Silver. As one of the Gunstar twins, you must fight your way past Colonel Red's Empire Army and retrieve the Mystical gems, or Golden Silver, the Destructor will rise again and destroy your world! Are you heroic enough for the task?
[edit] Characters
- Gunstars Red and Blue - Player 1 and 2, respectively. There is little information given about these characters other than they are the Gunstar Heroes, twins of a family which protects the Gunstar 9.
- Gunstar Green - Brainwashed by the Empire, now he is working to collect the Gems that can reawaken Golden Silver. He also has possession of the giant mech, "Seven Force".
- Gunstar Yellow - A navigator for the Gunstars, she gives them short briefings on the levels.
- Dr. Brown - Also known as Professor White Gunstar, he deactivated Golden Silver in the past, but is too old to do so again; instead, he helps Red and Blue as their mentor.
- Pink - A well-known bounty hunter hired to stop the progress of the Gunstars.
- Kain - The tall member of Pink's group.
- Kotaro - The small member of Pink's group.
- G.I. Orange - Head of a huge warship, Orange loves melee combat, and attacks with his incredible fighting skills and strength... and, in desperate situations, bright blue plumes of flatulence.
- Dr. Black - A gambling fanatic, he awaits the Gunstars at his fortress, which is filled with many treacherous traps. (And goodies if you're a good gambler!)
- Smash Daisaku - Also known as Colonel Red, he is villain who aspires to reawaken Golden Silver. He is eager to face the Gunstars, but he, in fact, answers to...
- General Gray - Little is known about Gray, other than the fact that he is in charge of the Empire. He doesn't make an appearance until Stage 5, however, and is never actually fought.
- Golden Silver - A 1000-year-old robot, programmed to go across the universe and suck the energy out of planets. He was deactivated by the Professor earlier, but now an uprising threatens to reawaken him with the Gems taken from him.
[edit] Weapons
When the game begins, players can choose to play with either Fixed Shot, or Free Shot.
- Free Shot - Allows the player to move while firing (Similar to the Contra series), and can do a diving attack on enemies. The sprite for a player using Free Shot has short dark hair.
- Fixed Shot - The player must stop to fire, but may fire in all eight directions while standing. In addition, he performs a flying kick, which can be directed forwards or downwards. The sprite for Fixed Shot has lighter and slightly longer hair, held back with a headband (resembles Gunstar Blue in Gunstar Super Heroes).
The weapon system gives each player space for two weapon shots. The player can then combine any two simple shots to form a combo shot. This isn't to say that the player is forced to use the combination; with the press of a button the player can choose to rotate from the combo to only one weapon, then to the other, and finally back to the combo. Generally, though, the combo shots are more powerful.
Although players choose their main shot at the beginning of the game, the weapons are dropped very frequently from bird-like robots that fly by during the heat of battle. If the player only has one slot selected, then they can choose to swap that weapon out for the new one, creating entirely different combos.
In addition to all the weapons, it is also possible to grab enemies that get too close, and toss them into other enemies, damaging both enemies involved. This can be risky since several enemies are capable of melee attacks, but is an effective last resort. Less risky but also useful is the sliding tackle movement, which allows the player to dodge and attack a nearby opponent at the same time. The characters can also use a jumping attack that depends on the character used, and a long-range skid attack that's good for destroying boxes.
[edit] Legacy
On October 6, 2005, Treasure and Sega released a sequel, Gunstar Super Heroes for the Game Boy Advance, which made a few changes, such as having a fixed weapon selection (instead of allowing players to pick their favorite combination) and the addition of overpowered attacks controlled by the trigger.
Gunstar Heroes was released December 11, 2006 in North America on the Wii Virtual Console and December 14, 2006 in Europe.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Gunstar Heroes at Virtual Console Reviews
- Official Treasure Co. Ltd Webpage
- Mobygames Entry
- GameFAQs: Gunstar Heroes
