What do you do when you want to play some Contra but all you got is a Sega Genesis? Well you can play a million of other games like it, but one of them might be Gunstar Heros! And I wouldn't blame you if you did because its a pretty fun and 'hip' game! In 1993 the developers Treasure released this lovely game on the Sega Genesis on September 10, 1993. Its another one of those wonder stories where a developers first game is a great one! While this might not be a Skyrim or anything like that its a very solid Shoot Em' Up that can be replayed many times alone or with a buddy! So buckle into your colorful spandex and choose your favorite wacky looking and colored weapons, as we tackle Gunstar Hero's!

{Story/Difficulity}
The story of the plot of this wild shooter is a bit well...... bland, well there is a bit of a story here, more than I ever knew existed, but anyways. You have to choose between two different 'brothers' to play as. One being red and the other being blue, both are Gunstar Hero's. There's this random scientist dude named Professor White Gunstar who defeated an evil dude named Golden Silver (must like Pokemon) and stuck him inside a moon for safe keepngs! When he did that he also sealed them off with four different colored gems and all was well. That was until one of the Gunstar Bros, the Green Gunstar got brainwashed by an evil guy named Colonel Red. Who wants to release Golden Silver from his captivity. And obviously you have to go on a journey as one of the two remaining brothers (or both) and take one everything from the normal bosses, to your Green brother to the Colonel Red. The plot isn't really that thing you want to play for it, but I do kinda like how they bring the Dice Palace into the actual plot and not just a random level gimmick or whatever. But there is a bit more to the plot then the random red dude we had to take out and a random green dude that was one of us. There is also Yellow Gunstar Sister who doesn't do much but is at least a bit of something to mention. But like I said you definitely don't really play this game for this random plot that is colorful is the most literal term of the word! The difficulty isn't really either. In fact when I replay the game I try to make it as easy as I can, not that its super hard but its also not super easy. And when your doing the Dice Palace of the game then you can get a pretty switch up in difficulty if you get bad random dice luck. Really I think that all the biggest difficulty come from the kinda vast array of different bosses you cant get into. All I gotta do is say Seven Force and everyone will start screaming! Curry and Rice can make me scream as well, as they cant be fought normally, and they can sometimes be fought multiple times as well. Pinky Roader can also suck if I just can hit her, same with green gunstar dude. Its also fairly easier when you got another set of guns blazing around on the screen, and if you both have different combos of weapons then you can just defeat almost anything that/s not Seven Force or Golden Silver! So for the difficulty ill say that at the lowest its probably a 5 and at highest its like an 8 so normally ill say its a 6 out of 10. And for the Story ill give it a 1 out of 10. The plot ain't keeping anyone entertained really.

{Graphics/Sound}
Gunstar hero's I think looks mostly great. To say my biggest problem I have is that it can be kinda hard to see who's who when you're playing multiplayer as both characters look the same minus the blue/red on certain parts of them. But the backgrounds look great and each level is very varied and different from the last. I think the background scrolling looks great in some of the levels, like when your sliding down the side of something, or something along those lines. And just about every single boss looks super great and super memorable. I mean come on Melon Head is such a cool looking boss, I even wish there was a cool boss look at Melon Head in a modern day game! Also Melon Head would make a great band name, like MushroomHead for kids! Pink Lobster might be a dumb boss name but its a pretty cool looking boss at least! I also really like the blue bird thing that the Seven Force can turn into you know when its not kicking my butt! In terms of best looking levels I really like the tropical look of the first level and the underwater level is probably the best looking one, if once again I'm not the greatest at it. But really that's all I got to say about how the game look, if only Red and Blue Gunstar dudes didn't look like Gunstar twins then I'd like it a lot more, as when your playing with a friend you can easily get mixed up and end up dead as you think your looking at Red but he's just shooting at a wall getting shot him own self! If I just said that the Sound was just Genisis goodness, then I'd basically just be doing my job! The music is just great, as is the boss themes, and just the sound effects in general. I really also like how the sounds of the explosions are. But really at the same time I have a hard time just saying what songs are the best and which to listen to, I really like the Jungle music and the desert music as well. There isn't any voice acting in the game nor are there any sound effects from any of the menus or anything that i remember. So that's all i really gotta say for the sounds of Gunstar Hero. For the graphics ill give it a 7 out of 10, a pretty solid looking game minus the samey looking main cast. And for the sound ill give it also a 7 out of 10. Its a pretty good soundtrack all around and sound effects.

{Addictive/Depth}
Just like most other Shoot Em' Ups from this time period I feel that both the depth and the addictivness of this game depends on the friends at hand, but unlike that random dice roll, there are others, like the literal dice roll of the Dice Palace. That part alone means that there is like an infinite amount of playthroughs you can go through. Really though I feel the Dice Palace is usually not super fun, but I get what can be so potentially replayable of the Dice Palace. You can be in this place for just a few Dice rolls, or you can be in there for what feels like its never going to end. Luckily if you have a friend who can help you out then its not that bad, but the palace can for sure over stay its welcome, The two main playthroughs you'll probably do is just a solo and multiplayer one, but the different kind of weapons I feel make it worth a few more as well, From the homing weapon, to the short ranged fire weapon, to the quick fired machine gun kind, there is enough to play again, and when you stack another ability onto the first then you have what feels like infinite combinations! And if your anything like me then you'll play with a bunch of different types of combinations by the end of just one single playthough. While all that is good, I feel like the urge to replay this game for any of that isn't all that high, just one playthough is enough for me for a long time for me. It's really fun until I gotta go the Dice Palace, then one bad toss and I'm ready to not finish the game really. But if you get past all that and you want to play the game again, then find a troubled soul to torment in the BlackJack Palace for a while and go at it again. If you get a good run all around with no rigged dice and a half decent Seven Force run then Id give the addictiveness a 8 out of 10, As for the depth I'll give it a 7 out of 10. I keep going on about the Dice Palace, but really that's a big thing to make me pick the game up, its kind of like a weird random version of a Mega Man game almost like, and when its not ramming your head into the same wall I feel its a pretty unique game concept.

And that is the very special, very wacky, very unique Gunstar Heros. A very one of a kind game that was later released as part of the Sega 3D collection for the 3DS, and on other things like the Wii shop channel back in the day. So realistically there aren't a million different ways to play this game, but if you can find a way to play it then for sure pick it up as you cant be too disappointed really. And like I said this was the first game from the developers Treasure, so it's a pretty solid first attempt that can't be nothing but commended in my book! I'll give it a fairly solid 8 out of 10 in my own opinion.