Gunstar Super Heroes

"Fans of The Original Gunstar Heroes Should Stay Away From This Game"

Most game enthusiasts are very familiar with the name “Treasure”. Treasure has been known as a company that makes quality games, and loves to please their fanbase. Treasure has rolled out some very impressive games: Radiant Silvergun, Guardian Heroes, Ikaruga, Bangai-O, and quite possibly their most popular game, Gunstar Heroes for the Sega Genesis. Gunstar Heroes was a great game and I consider it to be my favorite side scrolling shooter of all time.

Gunstar Heroes was an important game for the Genesis. After the SNES had been out for a while, the fact that the SNES had superior hardware to the Genesis was taking its toll, and the differences between Genesis games and SNES games was becoming greater, in favor of the SNES. Out of almost nowhere, lands Gunstar Heroes, a Genesis exclusive which showed that the Genesis still had plenty of fight left in it. It supported a 2 player co-op feature, blazing fast run and gun gameplay, and enough levels and difficulty settings to keep you busy for weeks.

More than 10 years after the launch of Gunstar Heroes, Treasure decided to do a semi-remake on the GBA. I say semi-remake, since there is a lot that has changed in Gunstar Super Heroes, but you can tell that the game is from the same mold, and you even fight the same bosses, and have to clear the same obstacles. While Treasure has no doubt pulled out all the stops to make an enhanced Gunstar Heroes on the GBA, the game really falls short of what it should be, and ends up being a forgettable experience that hardcore fans of the original Gunstar Heroes will want to forget sooner than later.

It's a shame that I found this game to be so inferior to the original. I really wanted a great and portable version of Gunstar Heroes to be able to take anywhere, but this game is not it. In fact, I would throw this game into the mediocre category and say that it's one of Treasure's worst efforts I have ever seen, if not THE worst from Treasure. Keep in mind Treasure has made some great stuff, so this game is getting compared to stuff like Radiant Silvergun and Bangai-O.

Now let's look at the breakdown of why I was so disappointed with this game.

Graphics 7/10

The graphics in Gunstar Super Heroes (GSH) have received a facelift from the original Gunstar Heroes. Not only was there a graphical update, but there has also been a change in art style. The art style is more along the lines of Mischief Makers for the N64 than the original Gunstar Heroes. I can see what they were trying to do in giving the game a graphical update, but the style just doesn't sit well with me after playing the original Gunstar Heroes so many times.

Don't get me wrong, the graphics in GSH are very impressive. For the majority of the game, there will be explosions on the screen and giant enemies or bosses in your way which you must destroy. With all of this going on, GSH runs beautifully, and rarely, if ever, slows down.

Lots of “Mode 7” is used in the game, to allow for spinning areas and sometimes confusing maze-like areas. Technically, the game looks quite good, but for some reason, I was not all too thrilled with the new look for the Gunstar Heroes.

First off, one major thing that bothered me was how the bosses were re-drawn. I don't know how they could have butchered Orange so badly. He almost looks like a different boss. He's also much easier in this version. In fact the whole game is pretty easy, but I'll get to that later.

Other than Orange, I didn't like the re-drawn Green either. He looked the same for the most part, but his transformations just seemed less intimidating. I also didn't like the re-draw of Pink, or the Gunstar Heroes. I think I would have enjoyed the graphics and character models much more if I had never played the original.

So yeah, graphically, I was not that impressed, but it's a slightly skewed score. Others may think it looks great, but I really didn't.

Story 5/10

Don't worry, the original Gunstar Heroes would not get a high score either, but this one is even worse since it basically rips the story from the first one, adds a few things, and tries to act like it's a different story when it is clearly not. You will control one of two characters, either “Red” or “Blue”. Quite honestly, it makes little difference, since the majority of the weapons they have are similar. You will be getting orders from another 3YE member named “Yellow”. She will brief you in between missions and tell you useless stuff.

The Earth is being threatened by The Empire and General Gray, who looks just like he did in the original Gunstar Heroes. In order to save the Earth, you must start at the Earth stage, and battle your way through all of the moon stages. You will get little pieces of the story between levels, but it's all pretty lame, so just play the game.

Music and Sound 6/10

The sounds and music are okay, but pale in comparison to the original. All of the music in the original Gunstar Heroes had a ring of urgency and really got you pumped up to take out the next boss and move forward. I really didn't notice this with GSH. I found the music to be forgettable, and nothing special.

The sound effects are about the same. Loud explosions can be heard after bosses are defeated, and your weapons all have a distinct sound, so you know which weapon you are using without even looking at the screen.

One track in particular which I liked in the original Gunstar Heroes was the Dice Maze music. However, the dice maze in GSH has some crappy music that made me cringe. Again, people that did not play the original Gunstar Heroes may like the music a little more, but I really didn't like it that much.

Gameplay 5/10

It's really a shock to me that GSH differs so much in the gameplay department. First off, while playing the game, you will choose to play as either Red or Blue, two different characters that are pretty much the same, but they have 1 or 2 different weapons. Red will have Force, Fire, and Chaser, while Blue will have Lightning, Chaser, and Fire. You will start out with all of your weapons this time, and keep them. There is no combining of weapons to get certain effects. I really hated that. Double Force was my favorite weapon in Gunstar Heroes, and I had to play through this game with only a single Force weapon. It really takes some of the experimentation out of the action. You can switch between any of the weapons at any time, which was nice, but it just doesn't feel the same.

You can then pick a control scheme from quite a few different choices. However, no matter which one I chose, it seemed cluttered and annoying to get my Gunstar Hero to do what I wanted him to do. You now have a fixed shot and a free shot, which are two different buttons. Double tapping the “R” button will now make you pull off a super attack with your desired weapon. When playing GSH, you have a small bar next to each weapon, and when it's filled, you can launch the super attack. It's a nice and welcome feature, but double tapping and then aiming can be hard while in battle. I found myself sticking with the Chaser, just so I didn't have to aim it.

Your jump button serves many different functions, much like in Gunstar Heroes. You can do a slide kick, do jumpkicks, wall bounce, and even do diving kicks as well as an uppercut move. This was a cool and well implemented part of the game. It means that you don't need to rely on constantly shooting everything.

Getting close to enemies now makes your Gunstar Hero pull out a sword and carve up his enemies at close range. This drove me nuts. Why did they remove the Throwing feature in this game? It was one of the best parts of Gunstar Heroes. Whipping enemies into mobs of waiting enemies was so much fun in Gunstar Heroes. You could even control where you would throw them, now you get a boring close attack…..blah.

The bosses in the game do not disappoint. They are just as big and impressive as ever. However, you will not see too much of them since most bosses will fall in a matter of seconds, Yes this game is painfully easy. So easy in fact that you can finish it in an hour or so in your first sitting. Again, why did they change this? There was plenty of challenge in Gunstar Heroes and it all worked out well. I really don't see why they messed with the difficulty so much. I makes for a short lived game which you can plow through all too fast.

Finally: The Dice Maze. Why, why, why, why did they ruin the dice maze? The dice maze was one of the coolest, if not the coolest thing in Gunstar Heroes, and it is totally dumbed down in GSH. As stupid as it sounds, throwing the dice in Gunstar Heroes was so much fun. In GSH, you have a scrolling cursor which goes over the different numbers and you hit a button to stop it……..stupid. While in the dice maze, you will fight some of the same bosses, like the Tiburon and Mellon Bread, but they are easy as pie, and at this point you will want to shut this game off and go play Gunstar Heroes.

GSH is also broken up into some annoying little mini-games at the beginning of some levels. In one, you will be on top of a plane, and hitting your directional pad will make the entire screen turn instead of make your character move. I'm not sure what they were trying to prove with this, but it's dumb. There's also a mini-game where you will be in a spaceship in a top down shooter type game. Again, it lasts for about 2 minutes, and is poorly implemented. Then there is a little maze thing that you must spin, and make these little yellow things follow you to the exit. These little gameplay features just don't seem to fit into the Gunstar Heroes style of play, and just seem like a waste of time.

At least in Gunstar Heroes there was a purpose to being in a spaceship, it was to get to the Moon. I GSH, it's just for………….you know what, I'm not even sure what it's for. In fact, I'm going to stop talking about it because it really annoyed me.

The gameplay in the original Gunstar Heroes was top notch, and I really don't see how Treasure could have messed this game up so bad, but they did. GSH plays no where near as good as its predecessor, and this should be taken into consideration before buying it.

Re-playability 3/10

I really don't see why anyone would want to play this game for more than 10 minutes when they could be playing the original Gunstar Heroes which is so much better. Like I said before I'm a huge fan of Gunstar Heroes, but this game just falls flat and pales in comparison to the original. I guess Gunstar Heroes will still remain my favorite 2d side scrolling shooter, and this will go down as one of the worst Treasure games I have ever played.

So who would like this game? If you are really looking for a 2d side scrolling shooter for the GBA and have never played Gunstar Heroes then you may get some enjoyment out of it. It will be a short ride, and you may get some enjoyment out of it, but if this is the case, you should really be seeking out Gunstar Heroes for your shooter fix.

My review score 5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/20/08

Game Release: Gunstar Super Heroes (US, 10/25/05)