Welcome to this faaahhbulous review thread. It's me, TheFadedWarrior again with my 5th review in total (and my 2nd review this day, Avenging Spirit being the first). I am going to review the well-known game Gunstar Heroes. I hope you enjoy! I warn you that this review has a really weird writing styleGraphics
For a Sega Genesis, these graphics are pretty good. You look at other Genesis games, and they have good graphics for the current era. But then, there's those select games, such as Gunstar Heroes, that have great graphics for the era. There's all this cool gunfire flashing on the screen, with these armored dudes that shoot you and stuff. So, yeah. off to a bad review start I give the graphics an 8.Sound
I really like the music and sounds in this game. The sounds your character make are pretty annoying ("Hwuh!"), but when you listen to the music, you're like, "Oh, this is rather pleasant sounding, mhm." My personal favorite tune is the music you hear in Black's Palace (the board game). You can find the full OST (official soundtrack) here. It all sounds pretty good, amirite? I give the sound another 8.Gameplay/AddictivenessGunstar Heroes is a game where you play as a seemingly 14-year-old kid with a gun. It's sort of like Contra, but a lot easier and with vitality, rather than lives.
There are 4 main gun types - Energy, Lightning, Chaser, and Flame. Energy is a rapidfire baster that is basically just a normal machine-gun. This is pretty much an all-rounder gun. Lightning is a thin laser that pierces through your enemies, so you can hit many with one shot. This is helpful if you're fighting a group of enemies. Chaser is a gun that shoots homing particles of energy (which I am going to call bullets from now on). This is helpful if you are too lazy to aim. It's pretty powerful, too. And finally, Flame is a gun that's basically a flamethrower, as it has little range. This is useful in close combat, as it has a very short range, yet it deals a good amount of damage. You can have 2 gun types at the same time to create combos, which are very useful. A little tip: Probably the best combo is Chaser + Lightning. When you use it, you shoot a square laser that homes in on every enemy, rapidly dealing major amounts of damage, and lasts until you let go of the shoot button.
This game is much more fun with 2 players. If you or a friend has the Netplay Item, I definitely suggest that you try out Gunstar Heroes together. The game becomes a lot easier, but there are some annoying results, too. Sometimes, the other player likes to be rude and steal all of the powerups. If you've played Gunstar Heroes on Co-Op before, you've probably been expecting the next one. If you hold the directional pad in any way, then press the attack button when at least 1 pixel of your character is touching your partner, you will throw the other player across the screen, depending on which direction you held. This happens accidentally very often, and in some cases, Player 2 will think you did that on purpose, then get revenge on you (sometimes resulting in a throwing-fight).
With all of that said, this game is really fun and addictive. The fact that there are 15 possible gun types (including both combos and base gun types) is pretty awesome. I give the gameplay/addictiveness yet another 8.
Sorry, I don't know too much about the story. I mean, I know a bit, but sadly, I'm too lazy to explain it. The story gets a 7. Woohoo.
Depth
This game is fairly long. First, there are the first 4 levels. When I first played Gunstar Heroes, I was thinking the game was pretty short (maybe a 4 or a 5), but nooo. They game is pretty tough, which adds to the depth, and there's also an extra boss lair "level", which is pretty long. I'd say it would take you maybe 3 or 4 hours to complete the game. The fact that there isn't a save feature is pretty stupid, but not too many games had save features back then, especially on the Sega Genesis. Of course, here on Vizzed, we have emulators so we can use save states and load states (F2 and F4). I give the depth another 7.
Difficulty
The game is actually pretty tough. The bosses can get a bit annoying and frustrating sometimes (especially the never-ending boss battle in the underground level). There's also Black's Palace, a "board game", which can get really frustrating, as it contains some of the toughest bosses in the game, and you have to try to beat it over and over again because of how hard it is and the "go back to the start" spaces. I give the difficulty yet another 7. (Three 7s in a row. Do I win the Viz Jackpot?)
Overall
Gunstar Heroes is a great 2D shooter game. The graphics are great, the music is great, and it's really fun and addictive. The fact that there is a Co-Op mode and 15 gun types adds to the gameplay addictiveness. The story is nice, the game is fairly long, and the game provides a nice challenge. If you've never played Gunstar Heroes, now's your chance. We wouldn't want you to die before you play it, would we? I give the game an overall 8.
I hope you enjoyed my review. Thank you for reading, and feel free to criticize it.
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good grammar and nicely spaced out. I loved this game as a kid, and I still do! I have been meaning to get around to playing it here, and refresh my childhood memories of it 
