Gunstar Heroes: One of the Best Genesis games

Gunstar Heroes on the Sega Genesis is one of the games that I’m not sure when I bought. I know that I did because it is in my collection, but no clue how it got there. It is in a similar situation to the pile of Atari Pac-Man games that I own.

I also don’t know when I first heard about the game. A part of me wants to put this on my friend Drew, but I have no idea if that is true. So, I’ll just say that I bought it back in the 2000s at some point, and promptly forgot all about it.

This game was developed by Treasure and published by Sega in 1993. There is a whole story behind Treasure, which is something that I’ll probably put in another video. It also points me back to my friend Drew as the source for why I know about this game.

For a few years, he was obsessed with the company. He would do this from time to time after he found a game that he liked, and I’m sure he wasn’t the only person out there who acted this way. Drew was convinced that everything Treasure made was amazing! I did a similar thing with Atlus, so I can’t really judge him too harshly.

Anyway, I never really got into games like this after the early 1990s. Side-scrollers aren’t really my thing, but I’m going to push forward. Let’s see what this game has to offer.

TLDR: A Fun little run and gun shooter that might be a bit short for me.

Narrative

Gunstar Heroes is one of those games that doesn’t need an elaborate story. All the player needs is to know who the bad guys are and why your characters are doing what they’re doing. Even those aren’t as necessary as the gameplay. They’re really just things that are nice to have.

Our story takes place sometime in the future and centers around the Gunstar family. These are the people who protect the planet and have done so for generations. While doing this, they defeated a robot and took the four gems that were its power source. Instead of dismantling the robot, like a smart person would’ve done, they imprisoned it on a moon.

This is where Colonel Red comes into play. He kind of looks like M. Bison from Street Fighter. Anyway, he gets the four gems, mind controls one of the Gunstar brothers, and tries to power the robot back up. You have to stop him.

This is a brief explanation of what is in the game’s manual (Link). The story is perfectly fine for what it is. I don’t really have anything to complain about.

Gameplay

This is a run and gun shooter. This is a similar genre to Contra and Metal Slug. There is nothing wrong with this type of game, and they tend to be more fun for me than games like Mario and Sonic.

The gameplay is pretty good. There isn’t much here that stands out to me, but everything is done well. It has good controls, bosses aren’t overly difficult, and there aren’t one hit deaths.

The game throws plenty of power ups at you, which is always nice. You don’t automatically pick something up when you walk over it. This is a double-edged sword, as you won’t lose a weapon that you like, but you also won’t automatically get health power ups.

The levels feel like they get shorter as the game goes on. This probably isn’t the case, but that is how I felt as I got closer to the end. I do like how the game handles continues and mid point saves. Gunstar Heroes feels like it respects the player’s time in a way that other games don’t.

The level design feels a little basic. Some of the weapons felt overpowered at times, especially in some boss fights. There were a few boss fights that felt way too easy on the first attempt.

Overall, Gunstar Heroes has solid gameplay. It might be a little too easy for some players, but it is worth your time. I enjoyed this when I sat down to play it.

Visuals

Gunstar Heroes has very good graphics. Character sprites look good, the bosses are a little lacking, and the stages look great. There are a few minor things in this game that I don’t like too much.

I like the player characters. They look very good and sort of make up for the lack of variety in the enemies. You end up fighting the same or very similar enemies in each section. This was a little disappointing for me.

The bosses don’t look all that great at times. While they’re big and you can figure out their patterns quickly, I don’t think they have the best design at the time. There are a few that look rather uninspired.

The levels look okay, but they’re quite short. Depending on the weapon you’re using, you can just run straight ahead. A few of the levels throw something different at the player, but nothing was overly challenging for me. I really wish the levels were designed better because they look excellent.

Overall, the graphics are very good. There are a handful of things that I wish were better, but there is nothing that breaks the game or hinders the gameplay. This game does look like a simple version of Metal Slug in some ways.

Reviews at the Time

Most of the reviews for this game were overwhelmingly positive. Edge magazine was the only outlier, as they gave the game a 6/10. Every other publication gave the Genesis version of the game over a 9/10.

GamePro gave the game a 4/5. The reviewer liked just about everything about the game. The only criticism of the game was that it didn’t do anything new.

Mean Machines gave the game a 93/100. The reviewers called it a “stunning title in appearance and gameplay.” They went on to say that Gunstar Heroes set a new standard for the MegaDrive (Genesis).

Computer and Video Games gave the game a 92/100. The reviewers really enjoyed this game, saying that “It’s fast, it’s fierce, and it’s totally brilliant.” There are a lot of words in his rationale for liking the game, but few of them add anything beyond this.

I wasn’t expecting to see this sort of thing. Most of the reviewers loved this game! I wish the review for Edge had been archived better, because I really wanted to see if they reviewed the Genesis or Game Gear version. The latter received much lower scores than the home console version of the game.

8/10. This is a fun game. It isn’t something I would go back to, but I can see why people like it. If I had played this as a kid, then I might have a higher opinion of it. This feels like it could be a fun alternative to Contra or Metal Slug.

Pros

• Good controls
• Lots of power ups
• Good Graphics

Cons

• A little short
• Repetitive

Conclusion

I wasn’t too sure if I was going to like this game or not. There is something about this genre that is a little hit or miss for me. After playing through the game, there are some wonderful things in it.

I’m not as high on the game as some of the reviewers back in the early 1990s, but I do think this is a great game. At this point, it has a place on my list of the best Sega Genesis games. When I revisit my list next year, this will be on it.

Gunstar Heroes isn’t as good as a few of the other run and gun shooters on the console, but it is very good. I still like Contra Hard Corps a little better. Both are great, but I like one of them more than the other.

If you liked this post, please check out some of my other posts. Such as Adventure Island or Ikari Warriors.