Gunstar Heroes

Gunstar Heroes is a run and gun video game released in 1993 by Treasure Co. Ltd for the Mega Drive/Genesis and the Sega Game Gear. In many aspects, Gunstar Heroes is considered innovative. It combined a linear, side-scrolling shooter with plot elements, a combo-based weapon system, a dice game, recurring bosses, and combat strategy. It remains one of the most popular games of the 16-bit console, and is often found being traded for relatively high prices. In the console's later years it was re-packed in Sega's Classic Pack along other games such as Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, Altered Beast and Flicky.

Story
The Gunstar family has been the protector of the planet Gunstar 9 (G-9) for generations. Professor White Gunstar, in his youth, defeated Golden Silver, a destructive android that traveled millions of miles to suck G-9 dry of all its resources. Professor White was able to extract the four famous Mystical Gems (The robot's power source), and imprisoned the robot on one of G-9's moons.

But now, years later, a new menace has arisen. Colonel Red, a vicious dictator (and a very bad dresser), found out that the Gunstars know the location of the Mystical Gems. One day, The Colonel kidnapped the Gunstar twins' older brother Green and used a mind control machine to make Green obey his orders.

With Green's help, Colonel Red has amassed all four Mystical Gems, has turned Gunstar 9's peaceful worker droids into deadly menaces, and is now preparing to leave for Gunstar 9's moon to reactivate Golden Silver. As one of the Gunstar twins, you must fight your way past Colonel Red's Empire Army and retrieve the Mystical gems, or Golden Silver, the Destructor will rise again and destroy your world! Are you heroic enough for the task?

Characters

 * Gunstars Red and Blue - Player 1 and 2, respectively. There is little information given about these characters other than they are the Gunstar Heroes, twins of a family which protects the Gunstar 9.
 * Gunstar Green - Brainwashed by the Empire, now he is working to collect the Gems that can reawaken Golden Silver. He also has possession of the giant mech, "Seven Force".
 * Gunstar Yellow - A navigator for the Gunstars, she gives them short briefings on the levels.
 * Dr. Brown - Also known as Professor White Gunstar, he deactivated Golden Silver in the past, but is too old to do so again; instead, he helps Red and Blue as their mentor.
 * Pink - A well-known bounty hunter hired to stop the progress of the Gunstars.
 * Kain - The tall member of Pink's group.
 * Kotaro - The small member of Pink's group.
 * G.I. Orange - Head of a huge warship, Orange loves melee combat, and attacks with his incredible fighting skills and strength... and, in desperate situations, bright blue plumes of flatulence.
 * Dr. Black - A gambling fanatic, he awaits the Gunstars at his fortress, which is filled with many treacherous traps. (And goodies if you're a good gambler!)
 * Smash Daisaku - Also known as Colonel Red, he is villain who aspires to reawaken Golden Silver. He is eager to face the Gunstars, but he, in fact, answers to...
 * General Gray - Little is known about Gray, other than the fact that he is in charge of the Empire. He doesn't make an appearance until Stage 5, however, and is never actually fought.
 * Golden Silver - A 1000-year-old robot, programmed to go across the universe and suck the energy out of planets. He was deactivated by the Professor earlier, but now an uprising threatens to reawaken him with the Gems taken from him.

Weapons
When the game begins, players can choose to play with either Fixed Shot, or Free Shot.
 * Free Shot - Allows the player to move while firing (Similar to the Contra series), and can do a diving attack on enemies. The sprite for a player using Free Shot has short dark hair.
 * Fixed Shot - The player must stop to fire, but may fire in all eight directions while standing. In addition, he performs a flying kick, which can be directed forwards or downwards. The sprite for Fixed Shot has lighter and slightly longer hair, held back with a headband (resembles Gunstar Blue in Gunstar Super Heroes).

The weapon system gives each player space for two weapon shots. The player can then combine any two simple shots to form a combo shot. This isn't to say that the player is forced to use the combination; with the press of a button the player can choose to rotate from the combo to only one weapon, then to the other, and finally back to the combo. Generally, though, the combo shots are more powerful.

Although players choose their main shot at the beginning of the game, the weapons are dropped very frequently from bird-like robots that fly by during the heat of battle. If the player only has one slot selected, then they can choose to swap that weapon out for the new one, creating entirely different combos.

In addition to all the weapons, it is also possible to grab enemies that get too close, and toss them into other enemies, damaging both enemies involved. This can be risky since several enemies are capable of melee attacks, but is an effective last resort. Less risky but also useful is the sliding tackle movement, which allows the player to dodge and attack a nearby opponent at the same time. The characters can also use a jumping attack that depends on the character used, and a long-range skid attack that's good for destroying boxes.

Ports
Shortly after its original release, Gunstar Heroes made its way to Sega's handheld machine, Game Gear. The port was handled not by Treasure, but by development house M2. As the console's power could not be matched to that of the Mega Drive/Genesis, the game was significantly scaled down, stripping its multiplayer mode, among other minor changes, such as graphic effects. It does, however, add in a few new features such as a jetpack level and the chance to drive one of the walker robots from later in the 16-bit version. Today, the Game Gear version is extremely difficult to find due to its Japan-only release, which makes it a rare treat for all Treasure Co. Ltd game collectors.

A Sega Master System version, ported from the Game Gear, was thought to have been published in Brazil by distributor Tec Toy, as it had turned up in auctions on eBay. However, many in the Master System fan community are sure it is a hoax.

There is also a version available for the Nintendo Wii through the device's Virtual Console. It is essentially the Genesis game run on an emulator.

Legacy
The android Golden Silver makes an appearance in the Sega Saturn release Guardian Heroes as one of the many enemies you'll fight. Defeating the character allows you to play as him in the multiplayer melee mode. The character Ginjirou Ibushi is similar to Gunstar Green in Gunstar Heroes, lending further credibility to the theory that the events of Gunstar Heroes and Guardian Heroes take place on the same planet. Further supporting this theory is the appearence of a younger Dr. Brown in Advance Guardian Heroes.

On October 6, 2005, Treasure and Sega released a sequel, Gunstar Super Heroes for the Game Boy Advance, which made a few changes, such as having a fixed weapon selection (instead of allowing players to pick their favorite combination) and the addition of overpowered attacks controlled by the trigger.

On February 23, 2006, Sega released a Treasure-oriented entry in their Sega Ages series for PlayStation 2. Named Treasure Box, it contained Gunstar Heroes prominently (to the extent of it being on the front cover), along with Dynamite Headdy and Alien Soldier. "Treasure Box" also contains the various versions of these titles (such as Game Gear versions, or versions from different countries), as well as digital manuals and other bonus materials.

Gunstar Heroes was released December 11, 2006 in North America on the Wii Virtual Console and December 14, 2006 in Europe.