Gunstar Heroes
There are games that save their ideas for the sequel — and then there is Gunstar Heroes, which dumps them all out in the first five minutes and then adds more. The debut of studio Treasure from 1993 is literally an explosion of creativity, one of the best run & gun titles ever and a gem that made owning a Mega Drive worthwhile.
Treasure was founded by former Konami employees who had had enough of endless sequels and wanted to make bold, creative action. That is evident in every pixel of Gunstar Heroes. Each level stands on a different idea — one moment you're hurtling forward, another you're solving a board minigame on a gaming die with bosses, another the game flips over entirely. Boredom simply doesn't get a chance here.
The heart of the fun is the combat and weapon system. There are four basic weapon types that can be combined with one another, giving rise to unique kinds of fire — from guided lasers to devastating streams of flame. You can also choose between free and fixed shooting, which changes the play style and opens room for experimentation. The combat is fast, readable and incredibly satisfying, especially in co-op.
And then there are the bosses. Treasure downright feasted on them: huge, multi-phase, full of animations and surprises, including the already-mentioned bizarre die with minigames. The game also pushes the Mega Drive's hardware to its very limit — the amount of objects on screen, effects and animations feels as if the console were about to explode with enthusiasm along with you.
Gunstar Heroes laid the foundation of studio Treasure's reputation as masters of inventive action and is to this day celebrated as one of the peaks of the genre. It is a game that never slows down and never repeats itself — and that is exactly why players return to it decades after release.
Why play it: A dazzling debut from studio Treasure — an endless supply of ideas, combinable weapons and crazy bosses make it one of the best run & gun games of all time.
Game 5 of 151 for SEGA Mega Drive
The same title elsewhere (1)
The SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis original is celebrated as a technical showcase by Treasure - the screen handles dozens of moving objects, huge bosses and fluid action without slowdown, which is why it ranks among the best run-and-gun games of its generation. The version for the handheld SEGA Game Gear had to cut back heavily due to the smaller screen, limited memory and weaker hardware - levels are shorter and simpler, the color palette is more limited, the action is slower, and fewer enemies appear on screen at once. It plays more like a curious handheld side note for fans than a real substitute for the original. To experience Gunstar Heroes at its best, with the pace and chaos Treasure intended, the Mega Drive/Genesis version is the clear choice.
