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Unsung Heroes
In the 90's gaming companies Treasure and Sega created "Gunstar Heroes," a superb but low-key title for the 16-bit Sega Genesis. Now both companies are at it again with "Gunstar Super Heroes," the part-sequel/part-remake of the cult classic, for the GBA.

You play as either Red or Blue, two different warriors with basically the same techniques and weaponry. With the help of pretty assistant Yellow, you must stop the nefarious General Gray from unleashing an unspeakable evil. While this game obviously doesn't have a flair for names, the story is more interesting with each level of difficulty. While it seems like your average sidescrolling shoot 'em up, reminiscent of titles like "Metal Slug" and "R-Type," the challenges players face in GSH range from the fairly easy to the freakishly hard. So you have the option of either lowering the difficulty or skipping levels. But with only 6 levels of play (2 which are inaccessible through skipping), there isn't much to skip in this game. Bottom line: if you're a gamer who's easily frustrated, forget it!

Aside from the 3 inexhaustible weapons at your disposal, you can raise their firepower with the R button and perform fighting moves with the D-Pad and jump button, adding some alternatives to simply holding the shoot button. But besides that, not much else is added, not even the two-player co-op mode that came real handy in the original game. But what is probably GSH's biggest setback is that not many players bought the game despite the rave reviews, condemning it to the same fate as its predecessor. So if by any chance you still own a GBA and you come across this game, grab it! You will thank yourself later.

This game is rated E10+ for ages 10 and up: Violence.

Another Treasure Gem
This is a sort of single player remix of the seminal Gunstar Heroes for the Sega Genesis (recently re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console). Every real gamer should give this a shot just to see what these guys managed to do on the GBA hardware. The original Gunstar Heroes made a big splash because Treasure managed to do in software what the SNES was doing in hardware - massive sprite rotation and scaling with no framerate hit. With the GBA's beefed up processor and hardware routines, these guys really go wild - massive pseudo-3d full-screen bosses, super-fast scrolling, highspeed chase fights from the top of an airplane - the action is blistering and non-stop. Aside from being single player only, fans of the old game may be slightly disappointed in the new weapons system, as they have dropped the old random, combo-based system for a fixed selection of 3 weapons, a la Contra: Shattered Soldier. However, this change does not really hurt the game much; it's still a blast to slide, kick, shoot, punch, and jump through the widest variety of environments and gameplay that have ever been smushed into the shooter format.

Great if you have the gameboy adapter for Gamecube
It would receive a 5 out of 5 if the hand held play felt as good as playing it on the adapter. The 360 degree shooting is less fun with a directional pad.

The greatest game of 12 years ago finally gets a sequel...
In 1993, disatisfied game programmers from companies like Konami grew tired of making endless sequels and being told what to do. These programmers split off into the independant developer known as "Treasure" and for a while became a 2nd party developer for Sega.

Using what they learned as programmers and the freedom to create whatever they wanted to without being tied down by the wishes of some corporation they spawned Gunstar Heroes, a Contra clone with 500 times the fun and 1000 times the sheer awesomeness. They bent the Genesis hardware to their will,doing things like 3D rendering which people said were impossible on the genesis and creating the smoothest, funnest gameplay to grace the system, all while giving the game a sketchy sense of humor that would become their trademark. The original Gunstar Heroes became one of the greatest games of all time, however it was unfortunately a sleeper played by few and worshipped by the hardest of the hardcore.

A dozen years and dozens of original twists on oldschool, hardcore, gameplay later and Treasure has become the hardcore gamer's company, offering original features and excellent gameplay in old style games. Orginally they planned to release their first sequel ever, a new Gunstar Heroes for their tenth anniversary. Unfortunately the game was pushed back and a sequel to their Saturn Game "Guardian Heroes" came first and it's now their twelth anniversary.

In any case, "Gunstar Super Heroes" is the long overdue sequel to Treasure's first game, Gunstar Heroes. The game takes place in the future of the original, the moon which was destroyed in the original game is now split into four different moons (which become the game's four main levels). General Gray, or a decendent of the original General Gray, has returned to once again try to resurrect the God of Ruin, Golden Silver, and destroy the Earth for their Tyrrany against the four moons and to accomplish this goal he's built a fifth artificial moon and recruited who are generally the same boss characters from the original game. It's up to the new generation of Gunstar's Red and Blue, the Gunstar Super Heroes, to stop them.

The gameplay is simple run and gun action but the control is so tight and fantastic, like the original game, that you just can't stop playing. Thought not as wide open as the original there's still so much carnage going on at any given time that it's almost unbelievable, but then again this is a Treasure game (Bangai-O anyone?). The two characters play generally the same and instead of the weapons system from the first game you have three set weapons. The only difference being one unique weapon for each character which are almost the same weapon anyway. Although the original Gunstar Heroes' weapon system simply rocked, these set weapon armaments work well enough. All the melee attacks are intact including the slide however the throw has been replaced with a Metal Slug style knifeing. As an added bonus each weapon has super attacks which aren't neccessary but are a blast to use and make the bosses a bit easier. Sometimes the game will also derail completely (in a good, WarioWare esque way) and it will have you different tasks that keeps things fresh and keeps you awake. Some of these segments are genius and some of them are barely passable however.

I didn't even mention the graphics yet which are downright spectacular. Every trick in the book of 2D has been used here and even some 3D. The GBA is truly pushed to its limits without going over them, something that Treasure is a master at doing. The bosses are big and are built out of multiple sprites, including the return of the incredible Seven Force battle from the first game which is worth the price of this cartridge alone.

Unfortunately the game is short like the original, and it even feels shorter but that's a good thing or it would risk becomming monotonous like Alien Hominid (Awesome game but it's so long for a shooter of its type). This really doesn't effect the longevity as you'll definately play it again and again and Treasure realized they were making this game for an "on the run" portable experience. Hardcore gamers will certainly not rest until they've mastered all the difficulty levels with both cahracters. This brings me to a major problem, lack of multiplayer support. Part of the fun of the original game was tackling it with a friend but I suppose the screen is so small and busy that a two player mode might've been detrimental.

In conclusion this is one of the funnest games on the Game Boy Advance and definately the best shooter in years. It's Gunstar Heroes, what else can I say that would be higher praise than that? It's not as good or as classic as the original but some of the fun has rubbed off and statically clinged itself into this little cartridge. This whole review could be summed up in two words for the Hardcore Gamer... "GUNSTAR HEROES."

Buy it, play it, Treasure it.

Fun Sidescroller for Casual Gameplay
Gunstar Super Heroes is a new game based on a traditional Sega sidescroller. With unlimited ammo and unlimited enemies, this is a fine way to kill time in line.

You choose from two team members - Red or Blue. Both are young boys. One is the honorable, straightforward type and the other is the rebel, whiny type. Really, it has little effect on gameplay besides the dialogue spoken and a few other situations.

The plot is pretty meaningless. In essence you have to go through level after level of enemies, slaying them all with your choice of 3 weapons. One shoots straight blue beams, one shoots circular red ones, and the third shoots zig-zag green ones. You can pop between them at whim and as all have infinite ammo, you can just blast away.

The sound is fine, a loop of tinny music that keeps you moving along through the missions. Sometimes you're jumping on platforms, sometimes you're running down tunnels. You spin in circles, look for enemy weak spots, and the "GO" arrows keep you moving in the right direction.

I wish they could have had room to put an actual health bar for yourself and your enemy. Instead they show a countdown of actual digit numbers (say 100 vs 42) and you have to watch those count down to zero. Since you are often in massive 100-on-1 battles with hordes of creatures, it'd be easier to glance up at a bar vs reading a tiny number.

Also, some of the backgrounds are exceedingly (and unnecessarily) busy, meaning that the character doesn't stand out very well against them. It's hard to see your character amidst all the color-jumble behind him. A game should be a challenge of skills, not a challenge of picking out the pixel-pieces that represent you.

Finally, the game is REALLY short. I think they could have fit several more mission levels easily into the set, to give us more playing time.

That all being said, Gunstar Super Heroes is quite a fun mindless blasting game that's easy to put down and pick up. It's perfect for playing on a bus or train ride, or while you wait around for any reason.

Well recommended.