Memories #5: Gunstar Heroes

The first time I'd read anything about Gunstar Heroes was a special issue of Electronic Gaming monthly from 1998. It had a special feature or retired game systems like the Saturn, SNES and Genesis. At the top of the list of the ten best Genesis games to play was Gunstar Heroes. "Really," I thought, "the best Genesis game wasn't Sonic the Hedgehog 1 or 2? It was a run 'n' gun shooter? That's crazy." Now I'm a fan of the Contra series and I love me some Metal Slug now, but at the time, I'd never heard of Treasure's masterpiece, so I was just another ignorant gamer.

On a Friday night in March of 2001, I was in Funcoland with my dad, browsing the used games bin, in particular the Genesis section and there it was, Gunstar Heroes for just $9.99. I remembered what EGM said about it and decided to pick it up.

From the very first level, I was blow away. The detail of the sprites, the amount of action, the explosions, it was all simply amazing. It quickly dawned on me why EGM thought so highly of this game. Just the first stage and I was already in love.  I thought it was cool how you could select your weapons before staring out and then combine them with other weapons. The seeker has always been my favorite. Of course offensive tactics weren't just limited to shooting. I found that I could also slide into enemies, block, throw and kick. Nice to have some variety.

M. Bison's day job.

My experience with Mega Man X and Donkey Country had prepared me for crazy mine cart stages so the second level, in which you use a handy mine cart that can can shift gravity, while not too insane, was still very memorable and fun. At about midway through the level, Smash Daisaku (the M. Bison knock off) saved millions of dollars in ammo and started throwing his own soldiers at me. They weren't super effective, but props for originality. As if stage 2 weren't entertaining enough, the boss is easily remembered as one of the greatest in the history of gaming. When I got the boss warning bell, it said that "Seven Force" was approaching. Before I could really ponder what a Seven Force was, it quickly came running behind me in the form of a giant mecha. After I depleted his energy, I thought "Yeah!" as if I'd defeated him. But he quickly changed, taking the form of a pistol. I had to admit that was pretty sweet and like a real pistol, after firing six times, it had to reload. Thinking I'd taken him down, it changed forms AGAIN! "How many forms does this guy have?!" I thought. I was actually starting to sweat a bit. Thankfully, I finally beat him and got the second gem. That stage clear music tasted so sweet after such a grueling battle.

My favorite level in the game.

The fourth level started out like your typical run 'n' gun stage. Then mid-way through the level, I was hit with the mother of all unexpected gameplay changes. In the background was what looked to be a board game and a die dropped in front of me. I picked it up, rolled it and was whisked off. I don't remember where I went to first, but I do remember most of the games I ended up playing. One had me fighting some Pong-like boss, another had me navigating a single screen maze to the end. A particularly nasty area pitted me against a small soldier, that I quickly discovered was quite powerful in spite of his diminutive stature. The board game section made this may favorite stage out of the whole game and out of the four selectable first stages, I always save this one for last.

Gunstar Heroes is easily one of the
Genesis' most visually stunning titles.

I ended up playing Gunstar Heroes for a few hours that night, finishing the game on the easy setting. I could not believe that I managed to score such an incredible game for just $9.99. The levels, the music, the graphics, the gameplay changes; it all adds up to one of the best games from the 16-bit era and one of my favorite Genesis titles. Man, what a rush Gunstar Heroes is. It ended up being the very first Genesis game I downloaded for the Virtual Console last year. How could I have missed out on this phenomenal game in the Genesis head day, I honestly do not know, but I am ever so thankfully that I picked it up that Friday in March ten years ago.