Gunstar Heroes
| Gunstar Heroes | |
|---|---|
North American cover art
|
|
| Developer(s) |
Treasure M2 (GG) |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Producer(s) | Masato Maegawa |
| Designer(s) | Yoshiyuki Matsumoto Hideyuki Suganami |
| Programmer(s) | Mitsuru Yaida Hideyuki Suganami |
| Artist(s) | Tetsuhiko Kikuchi Hiroshi Iuchi |
| Composer(s) | Norio Hanzawa |
| Platform(s) | Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear |
| Release |
Genesis Game Gear
|
| Genre(s) | Run and gun, platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player, cooperative |
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 95% |
| Metacritic | 96% |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| AllGame |   |
| CVG | 92% |
| EGM | 36/40 |
| Eurogamer | |
| GameFan | 197/200 |
| GamePro | 5/5 |
| GamesMaster | 90% |
| GameSpy | 10/10 |
| IGN | 9/10 |
| Nintendo Life | 9/10 |
| Nintendo World Report | 9.5/10 |
| Mean Machines Sega | 93% |
| MegaTech | 95% |
| Retro Magazine | |
| Sega Force | 94% |
| Sega Magazine | 94% |
| Awards | |
|---|---|
| Publication | Award |
| GameFan Megawards |
Game of the Year, Best Action/Platform Game, Best Music (Genesis) |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | Best Action Game, Game of the Month |
| MegaTech | Hyper Game |
Gunstar Heroes (ガンスターヒーローズ Gansutā Hīrōzu?) is a run-and-gun shooter video game, and the first game developed by Treasure and published by Sega. Treasure's debut game was originally released on the Sega Genesis in late 1993, and later on, ported to the Game Gear by M2. In February 2006, Gunstar Heroes was released as part of the Gunstar Heroes: Treasure Box Collection for the PlayStation 2. It is also available on the Wii's Virtual Console. In 2009, it was released on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. In 2015, a 3D Classics version was released on the Nintendo 3DS eShop.
The game's premise was altered slightly for its western release, but is generally centered around the exploits of the Gunstars, a mercenary family out to stop the Empire, a dictatorship that seeks to revive an ancient weapon by using the power of four gems hidden throughout the planet. It has been listed among the best video games of all time by various publications.
Gunstar Heroes is a run-and-gun side-scrolling shooter much in the vein of Contra. The playable characters, Red and Blue, represent different control schemes: Red being free shot, which allows the player to move freely while shooting; and Blue being Fixed Shot, which makes the player stay fixed in one spot while firing. There are four different basic weapon types the player can choose from at the beginning of the game: Force, which fires a rapid series of small bullets; Lightning, which fires straight lasers that pierce through enemies; Chaser, which fires stars that home in on enemies; and Flame, a short range flamethrower that is very powerful. These weapons are dropped as power-ups throughout the game, and the play may hold onto two at a time. By combining two weapons, a new weapon can be formed. For example, combining Lightning and Flame results in a short range beam weapon that ignores most collision from walls and enemies. Counting the basic weapons, there are a total of 14 different possible weapons in the game. In addition to using weapons, the player can engage enemies in close quarters combat. Enemies can be tossed, and other moves can be performed, such as sliding and jumping attacks, and a long-range skid.
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Wikipedia