Random Game O' the Day: Gunstar Heroes

[digitalpress]

The DP Random Game Generator of Games that I Consider A "Ten" (tm) has brought forth Gunstar Heroes, that little classic for the Sega Genesis.

See my "SLANT" below, for my personal opinion. Then let's hear yours! Everyone has played this game. Discuss.

DP Guide sez:

U.S. Game Releases
Gunstar Heroes (Genesis, by Sega) $25/R4 +
Developed by Treasure. As if the game wasn't great enough, it was originally packed with a sample of "Fruit Roll-ups"! SANTULLI SLANT: Once upon a time this game was the classic "sleeper", a top ten game with practically no advertising and very little buzz. Today, you can't even call yourself "in the loop" if you don't know about Gunstar Heroes. The game that really put development house Treasure on the map, the game takes the familiar elements of side-scrolling platform shooters like Contra and changes everything you've learned. For example, you have control over the power-ups you grab in that you can mix-and-match to form your own favorite variety of firepower. The level designs are outrageous and memorable, especially the board-game level composed entirely of mini-games. Gigantic bosses, rich, colorful visuals, and frantic, simultaneous two-player action... THIS is how all games should be done. [Gr: 9, So: 8, Ga: 10, Ov: 10] Released 1993.

Non-U.S. Game Releases
Gunstar Heroes (Game Gear, by Sega) $/R +
Developed by Treasure. Released 1995. #G-3347.

Gunstar Heroes (Genesis, by Sega) $0/R4 +
Developed by Treasure. Released 1993.

http://www.digitpress.com/dpsightz/genesis/gunstarheroes_2.jpg

[Oobgarm]

"Note that we very rarely give anything a 10 in any category."

That says a lot about Gunstar. Getting a 10 in both Gameplay and Overall is nothing to sneeze at.

It's personally my favorite Genesis title, but I didn't have the system until after it was considered obsolete, so I wasn't privy to the system while it was in it's prime. I was a Nintendo devotee.

Actually, Gunstar is the reason I bought the Genesis in the first place. I might not be good at the game itself, but I have a blast playing it, and that's what gaming's all about.

[maxlords]

I LOVE THIS GAME! I played it back in the day when it came out and I was an instant Treasure convert forever. 2 Players.....AMAZING. The heights they pushed the Genesis to with this game just blow me away still....I'd swear it had actual 3D in it :) Just....wow. ANYONE who can should play this game, and not only that, play it with a friend, and keeep playing it till you've beat it, then play it some more! :D

[Bratwurst]

It's good, but your character runs SLOW and jumps sluggishly. It could just be me, but everything in the game as a general rule isn't as quick paced as Contra Hard Corps, which I ultimately prefer for that reason. That said, I'm still looking for a copy of this game- it's still very fun and an excellent showcase for the Genesis' ability to handle large sprites and other graphic tricks.

[Packerfan66]

I've always been a super snes fan from the beginning and I could never figure out what was so great about genesis games. I first played Gunstar heroes the year it came out and after 20 seconds i said, "What the Hell's so great?". Well I kept reading about Gunstar heroes so last week I decided to give it another try. I kept playing until I got familiar with the controlls and after 30 minutes of trying to beat the first level I was hooked. I could not put the controller down until I beat this game. This game is absolutely brilliant and I can't believe I passed this up when it first came out. This has gone up as one of my favorite games and I think it deserves a 10. Well maybe a 9 because there is slow down. Are there any other shooters that are this fun? The metal slug series?

[Gamereviewgod]

I've always loved it, but also always found it to be too easy. I've never beaten Contra on the Genny at that says something. The effects in this one are stunning. I'll never forget seeing the first stage boss in all his walking box glory for the first time. The weapons system never gets enough credit either. This one SOOO needs a sequel.....2-D sequel that is.

[NE146]

I forget what made me buy this game when I spied it during a video run at the local Blockbuster, but I think it was from reading a gushing writeup about it in Diehard Gamefan. What more can be said about this game that hasn't already been written. I loved it. It was an amazing push of the Genesis hardware to a point where it hadn't really been before.. those guys knew what they were doing. I give it a solid 10 in the Genesis realm :)

[Dire 51]

My favorite Genny game of all time. :) I recall a friend of mine wanting to go check it out when it first came out... I had never heard of it until then. Anyway, he rented it, and when I dropped by to check it out, I couldn't believe how good it was! For some odd reason, though, I didn't pick it up for another year or so. Beats me as to why... I'm still trying to figure that one out.

Anyway, here's what I had to say about GH on my Top 100 at the OPCFG (it placed at #3, btw):

"My favorite Treasure game ever - and one of the best games I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Combine Contra style gameplay with Mega Man-esque character designs, a dash of Double Dragon and a huge dose of originality - and you'll just be starting to come close to what Gunstar Heroes is."

[GrandAmChandler]

gunstar rocks, I dunno what else to say except that the combining of weapons was my favorite part about the game..

[Raccoon Lad]

Along with Primal Rage and Thundercats, Gunstar Heroes is one of the legendary TecToy games for the Sega Master System that almost certainly doesn't exist.


...but it did come out for the Gamegear in Japan.

[DEBRO]

This game is what the Genesis is all about! This was my favorite game. I remember reading about it in Diehard Gamefan but I couldn't find it anywhere. I found it in my local game store by accident. I remember it being priced really low for a new game.

I love the 2-player action. My old college friend and I would play this game for hours. Our favorite stage was the board-game stage. We sould spend a lot of time throwing each other instead of the dice LOL Oh and when you finally beat the level and the boss guy would give you the bomb! That was great. We would sit there and shot him until our fingers got tired.

I was really surprised when the game took off into outer space. I just knew we beat the game and there were more stages. It just kept giving and giving!

Another thing to note about this game was the music. It really added to the game experience.

[Raedon]

Great game! I had a SNES when I was alive during that period of console history. But lots of people had Gennys and those who liked Sonic usually had this game :) Fun two player.

[ubersaurus]

Back in the day, my aunt was the one with the genesis, and I'd spend weekends over there to play on hers. Well, one day she went to the store, wanting to buy a new game, and I saw Gunstar Heroes on the shelf for 10 bucks, It looked interesting, and had that fruit roll up in it, and I certainly couldn't argue that, so she got that. I popped it in, and found it to be one of the absolute sweetest games I'd ever played over there.

She still has that genesis hooked up, and whenever any of her nephews or neices come by, Gunstar is always the first game they put in, and it stays in almost the whole time. That should just attest to its quality.

[Sotenga]

I got three games along with my Genesis. Sonic the Hedgehog was one of them. Streets of Rage was another one. The third game? Bingo, Gunstar Heroes. Contra... on HYPER-STEROIDS!!! There's just so much innovation crammed into this title, like the Dice Palace, and every individual space takes you to a completely original challenge, and then all of Green's stage is constantly auto-scrolling, and the climax with Seven Force is godly, especially if you're on Hard difficulty! The majority of the sixth stage is a shmup, and you have to deal with countless asteroids, turrets, soldiers, and the return of Seven Force, and then the boss of that stage, the Guardian of the Core... I especially like the Running Man form. And then, you take on all the bosses at the end, but they're not rehashes, and they got all new machines and strategies, and Orange and Green are especially painful to battle, and then the final boss, Golden Silver... he doesn't look like much, but with 9999 hit points, a very unorthodox way of movement, blinding fast attacks, and the gems (his Achille's Heel) make this battle especially difficult when they join in to kick your ass... HOLY FREAKING CRAP, I love this game so much!!! Can't remember the last time I played it... I'll get around to it later. :)

[AB Positive]

This is one of the few Genny games I need to get for playability reasons. My friend came over a few days ago with it and we played it for an hour, getting to the third boss before finally succumbing to the insanity. I love these types of games, while not quite as good in my opinion as Metal Slug, it's really really REALLY damn close.

-AG

[ManekiNeko]

If you're a fan of run 'n gun shooters, it doesn't get much better than Gunstar Heroes. Even Metal Slug, a fantastic Contra derivitive in its own right, doesn't approach Gunstar Heroes' level of perfection.

JR

[SoulBlazer]

Uh....

I've never played this game. :embarrassed:

I guess I need to find it and fire it up.....

[Raedon]

Uh....

I've never played this game. :embarrassed:

I guess I need to find it and fire it up.....

Noob

[SoulBlazer]

What can I say? I've always played Nintendo systems. I only started fooling around with Sega systems in the last two years.

[kainemaxwell]

I love this game! it's one the few games I cna play without remembering what I did last and get really into it, and then continue playing it! I can usually do great until the Dice Maze, then i start going downhill unless I get lucky with the dice throws.

[Balloon Fight]

Gunstar Heroes- What can i say that hasnt been said before? The game is absolutely one of the best shooters around, and is hard to put down. This and Dynamite Headdy are my two favorite games. Pick it up and have a blast.

[Daniel Thomas]

Gunstar Heroes is just one of those great "kitchen sink" moments when a group of creative people are finally given the freedom to do everything they've ever wanted. It almost seems limiting to think of it as a run-and-gun shooter.

I remember that this was a game that was a holy grail for the hard-core gamers; especially the zine crowd. Why did most Genesis owners never see it? What was the deal with the Fruit Roll-Ups? Who passed up the original box art for the American version? What the hell was Sega thinking? I remember this was when they were busy pushing the Sega CD and 32X, just before the Saturn arrived. It's funny now to realize just how incompetent they were at that time. You'd think the executives were deliberately trying to tank the company.

Anyway, Gunstar Heroes the GAME. Fabulous, wonderful, everything a videogame aspires to be. What do I think of when I think of Gunstar? Wonderfully fast, loads of explosions, mix-and-match weapons, jump kicks, diving, sliding, blocking, cartooney bad guys, suicide bombers, blowing up the green houses, killer bees, dice mazes, space ships, morphing robots, rice and curry, the giant smiley face that doesn't fight back, the villain who looks like M. Bison, said villain who hurls his own soldiers at you, the other villain who looks just like Jesse Ventura (or the General from "Akira"), said villain's "fart attack," Green's morphing machine, characters named after colors (!), the wildest visual effects of the 16-bit era (possibly ever), the sharpest soundtrack ever heard on the Genesis, the final level's "through the TV set" effect, the Final Fight-"smash the vehicle" bonus stage (with a soldier stuck inside)...

Did I miss something? Yeah, probably did. I can't imagine that anyone who frequents this website hasn't played it to death. Those who haven't really should make some sort of pennance. How many "Hail Mary's" should that be?

[scooterb23]

I can't add much that hasn't been said. When I show friends this game, I usually have to show them where to go buy a Genesis and a copy of this game. That probably says it all actually...

[gamergary]

One of my favorite genesis games. Side scrolling shooter in full glory.

[kainemaxwell]

The graphics may age, but the gameplay never ages.

[le geek]

I really dig Gunstar Heroes...


Gunstar Heroes takes the basic "Contra" senario to new heights with Anime style characters, excellent music, super weapon setups, amazing special effects, and excellent, varied gameplay. The tasks never get too repetitive and the overall effect is similar to playing a Japanimation movie. IMHO, one of the best Genesis games.

While my old review is pretty weak, this game (along with Diehard Gamefan) got me started with my Obsession with Treasure (Currently have 12 of there games).

Cheers,
Ben

[dreamcaster]

I just bought this game today and am also playing it for the first time too.

Dear god...... @_@

This is easily the most amazing Mega Drive game I've EVER played - it easily tops the list as my favourite Mega Drive game. It's also my first Treasure experience too, which has prompted me to hunt down their other games too.

The game has also significantly lifted my opinion of the Mega Drive from "SNES wannabe". This game really shows that the Mega Drive was every bit as good as Nintendo's 16-bit'er.

[Kid Ice]

Simply one of the very best games ever made. That's not faint praise coming from someone who has played thousands of games in over 25 years.

[Nz17]

You would think that with all of SEGA's releases of Gunstar Heroes (Genesis/MD, Game Gear, Android, iOS, 3DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Windows, Macintosh, and now, PS4 and Xbox "One"), that the price for the original cartridge would have plummeted to the $5 zone. Not so! And surprisingly enough, it seems the price has increased quite a bit in the last six years: $40 - $50 for cart-only, $120 for complete North American copies.

(Sorry for all of the "Look at the price!" posts lately. It's just that I've noticed a few games of mine with outstanding prices, and I was really surprised by this one.)

[bb_hood]

You would think that with all of SEGA's releases of Gunstar Heroes (Genesis/MD, Game Gear, Android, iOS, 3DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Windows, Macintosh, and now, PS4 and Xbox "One"), that the price for the original cartridge would have plummeted to the $5 zone. Not so! And surprisingly enough, it seems the price has increased quite a bit in the last six years: $40 - $50 for cart-only, $120 for complete North American copies.

(Sorry for all of the "Look at the price!" posts lately. It's just that I've noticed a few games of mine with outstanding prices, and I was really surprised by this one.)

Understandably so, its one of the very best Genesis titles.. arguably the BEST genesis title (although I think Dynamite Headdy is cooler).

And yeah, its really not a rare but people/collectors want originals..

[RPG_Fanatic]

I was just looking at all the people that use to be on this site (in this post) and how most quit coming to Digitalpress in 2016/2017.