N-Philes

Gunstar Super Heroes

Posted February 25th 2006 by Curtis Brunet.

I have a secret.

It's a secret I have kept from my peers, my friends, and even my co-workers here at N-Philes for a long time now. It's something that I'm ashamed of, and something that I have tried to keep hidden deep down where no one would ever find out.

Ladies and Gentlemen: I did not own a Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

I know, shocking. I did eventually go back to the system and play the many amazing games that any gamer who calls himself a gamer must play, but my real source of joy during that era was my Sega Genesis. The one game in particular that took hold of my life was a fun little gem by Treasure titled Gunstar Heroes. For those of us lucky enough to have played it, Treasure has brought us a gift in the form of Gunstar Super Heroes on the Game Boy Advance.

The game begins by telling the back-story of the Gunstar Heroes. A tale of two men, who battled the evil Empire and destroyed the God of Ruin known as Golden Silver. Our two new heroes, Blue and Red, take the new spot of these ancient heroes, while another character, Yellow, commands them. The player is given control of either Blue or Red, and must try to battle the evil Empire once again. Destroying them before they can once again resurrect the Destructor though six intense levels and multiple boss fights.

The game is a throwback to the original title, right down to storytelling, graphics, sound effects, music, controls, level design and even boss fights. In fact, it's so familiar, that most levels can be breezed by if you have any recollection of how the previous games were played. The game also plays exactly like the original, going everywhere from a side-scrolling shooter to your basic shoot-em-up, where you must jump into vehicles and fire at various enemies.

The game looks gorgeous running on the Game Boy Advance, but occasionally things can become so incredibly hectic that it's hard to tell what is being shot at you and from where. The game has so much going on at times, that you can be killed without even understanding what just happened. This is most true in the stage against "Green" on one of the many moons. You're speeding through caverns and the game unleashes swarms of enemies, turrets, trains, bosses and explosions. It can be rather challenging to focus on a specific goal with so much chaos around you. Fortunately, besides these small nuisances, the game runs smoothly with no hiccups or slowdown.

The music and sound is another replication of the original title. I found the opening music to be same, or at the most it was slightly remixed. The same is true with game's level and cut scene music. Sound effects are also the same, with kicks, hits, enemy sounds, and even boss effects sounding like they were ripped directly form the original title. Although this isn't a problem, as the original title did have some incredible effects, it would have been nice if Treasure had updated some of the more plain sounds or removed them completely.

Speaking of removing things, the second I jumped into the game, I was dead within seconds. Why? I'll tell you why. They changed the controls on me. No longer do you collect and mix different weapons. This is changed to both Blue and Red having a single weapon difference (‘Force' for Red, and ‘Lightning' for Blue), and sharing two other weapon types (‘Chaser' and ‘Fire'). This is a HUGE mistake on Treasure's part. Trying different weapons for different situations, and mixing their powers was one of the greatest parts of Gunstar Heroes, and they washed that out by simply giving players specific weapons to use with no choice in the matter. Not only this, but they've also, for some odd reason, removed the ability to throw enemies and bombs. On many occasions have I jumped into the air to try and catch a bomb only to have it explode in my face, killing me instantly. I again do not know why they have removed this ability. Is it the lack of buttons on the controller versus the Genesis controller? No it's not. Perhaps they thought it was too complicated of a move, but it was easily the best way to do any damage, along with the drop kick, which luckily for me, was still in the game. Added on the other hand, were the uppercut and downward drill kick, which were welcome additions to go along with the melee attack.

The game itself is short. There are multiple difficulty levels, but it's more just in variation of what the enemies can do rather then the level itself, which is a disappointment. With so few levels, and those levels being quite short, the real meat of the game comes in the boss fights, which, if you don't already know, also includes a fight against the greatest boss ever to grace any console. Yes, that is a bold statement, but until you face Seven Force, you have yet to face a real boss fight. Green and Seven Force make their triumphant return to try and foil Red and Blue's attempts to stop the Empire. With new attacks, and most importantly, new forms, Seven Force is a boss fight you don't want to miss. But not even Seven Force could save this level, as it is again plagued with being the exact same level we played in Gunstar Heroes. After playing the game for a little over an hour, I was already facing the final boss in an all too familiar situation.

Slight Pulse - Not quite so super afterall.

Gunstar Heroes is one of my favorite games from the 16-bit generation. I remember spending hours with my brother, curled up in front of our TV, trying to get to Seven Force, trying to figure out the best ways to attack him, and the best combination of weapons that works the best on him and the other bosses throughout the world. What they were thinking with this sequel I'll never know. They removed the multiplayer, they removed the ability to mix and match weapons, they removed some of the nicer melee attacks. Most importantly, they removed the fun.

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