Gunstar Heroes

n/a

Mega Drive Game Gear
Gunstar Heroes
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Game Gear, PlayStation Network, Virtual Console, Nintendo Switch Online, Xbox 360, Steam, iOS, Android
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Treasure M2
Distributor: Tec Toy (BR) Samsung (KR) Consumer Electronics (ZA)
Sound driver: SMPS 68000 (Treasure)
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-2 1
Official in-game languages: English 日本語 日本語
Release Date RRP Code JP 1993-09-10 ¥6,8006,800 G-4103 JP (Jitsuenyou Sample) 199x US 1993-09-09 $49.9949.99 1077 EU 1993-09-10 1077 DE 1993 DM 110110 1077 UK 1993-09-10 £39.9939.99 1077 AU 199x BR 199x 044780 KR 199x GM94008JG ZA 199x JP 1995-03-24 ¥3,8003,800 G-3349 JP 199x ¥? ? JP ▼ 2006-12-02 600pts600 US ▼ 2006-12-11 800pts800 EU ▼ 2006-12-15 800pts800 DE ▼ 2006-12-15 800pts800 AU ▼ 2006-12 800pts800 JP ▼ 2021-10-26 SUBsub US ▼ 2021-10-25 SUBsub EU ▼ 2021-10-26 SUBsub UK ▼ 2021-10-26 SUBsub AU ▼ 2021-10-26 SUBsub JP ▼ 2009-06-10 400MSP400 JP ▼ (Otameshiban) 2009-06-10 FREEfree US ▼ 2009-06-10 400MSP400 US ▼ (Trial Game) 2009-06-10 FREEfree EU ▼ 2009-06-10 400MSP400 EU ▼ (Trial Game) 2009-06-10 FREEfree DE ▼ 2009-06-10 400MSP400 DE ▼ (Trial Game) 2009-06-10 FREEfree UK ▼ 2009-06-10 400MSP400 UK ▼ (Trial Game) 2009-06-10 FREEfree AU ▼ 2009-06-10 AU ▼ (Trial Game) 2009-06-10 FREEfree KR ▼ 2009-06-10 400MSP400 KR ▼ (Pyeong-gapan Game) 2009-06-10 FREEfree JP ▼ 2009-09-19 ¥762 (800)762 (800) NPJD-00012 US ▼ 2009-06-11 $4.994.99 NPUB-30078 EU ▼ 2009-06-11 €4.494.49 NPEB-00096 DE ▼ 2009-06-11 €4.494.49 NPEB-00096 UK ▼ 2009-06-11 £3.693.69 NPEB-00096 AU ▼ 2009-06-11 $6.756.75 NPEB-00096 KR ▼ 2010-07-27 ₩6,0006,000 NPHB-00243 JP ▼ 2010-11-26 ¥333 (350)350i 9+ US ▼ 2010-11-22 $2.992.99 9+ US ▼ (Sega Forever) 2017-12-20 FREEfree 9+ EU ▼ 2010-11-22 €1.591.59 9+ EU ▼ (Sega Forever) 2017-12-20 FREEfree 9+ UK ▼ 2010-11-22 £1.991.99 9+ AU ▼ 2010 $2.992.99 US ▼ 2011-01-26 $2.992.99 71117 EU ▼ 2011-01-26 €2.492.49 71117 DE ▼ 2011-01-26 €2.492.49 71117 UK ▼ 2011-01-26 £1.991.99 71117 AU ▼ 2011-01-26 $3.493.49 71117 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 71117 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 71117 DE ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 71117 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 71117 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 71117 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 71117 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 71117 DE ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 71117 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 71117 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 71117 US ▼ (Sega Forever) 2017-12-20 FREEfree EU ▼ (Sega Forever) 2017-12-20 FREEfree DE ▼ (Sega Forever) 2017-12-20 FREEfree AU ▼ (Sega Forever) 2017-12-20 FREEfree

Gunstar Heroes (ガンスターヒーローズ) is a Sega Mega Drive run and gun game developed by Treasure and published by Sega. First released in Japan, the United States, and Europe in September 1993, the game was a critical and commercial success, and is one of Treasure's most fondly-remembered original titles.

In March 1995, Gunstar Heroes was ported to the Sega Game Gear exclusively in Japan courtesy of developer M2. A European version was listed for release in the UK's Sega Pro magazine, but failed to materialise.

Story

Gunstar Heroes' story differs depending on the region it was released in:

International versions

The Gunstar family has watched over the planet Gunstar 9 (G-9) for generations. In his youth, Professor White Gunstar had defeated the evil robot Golden Silver, a terrible machine that travelled millions of miles to suck the planet dry of its resources. White removed the Mystical Gems from the robot and sealed it on one of the planet's moons.

However, years later, the evil dictator Colonel Red has found the locations of the Mystical Gems, and intends to reactivate Golden Silver. He kidnaps the oldest Gunstar Sibling, Green, and put him under mind control, and with his help he has acquired all four Gems and turned Gunstar 9's peaceful worker droids into killing machines, and is now preparing to depart for Gunstar 9's moon to reactivate Golden Silver. It is now up to the Gunstar Twins, Red and Blue, to defeat Colonel Red's Empire Army and retrieve the Mystical Gems to prevent Golden Silver's reawakening.

Japanese version

Long ago, the Earth was pushed to the edge of oblivion by the god of destruction, Golden Silver, until the four Gunstars, Red, Blue, Green and Yellow, appeared and sealed it on the moon. Fearing its eventual revival, the Gunstars put themselves into cryogenic sleep so that they may stop Golden Silver once again when the time comes. Time passes and everything remains peaceful, until one day when General Grey appears to seek Golden Silver's four power crystals, and sends an excavation unit to the moon.

Dr. Brown, charged with leading General Grey's excavation unit, uncovers the four Gunstars at their resting place, learns of the events of the past, and vows to help them put a stop to Grey. However, Green has lost his memory, and General Grey tricks him into helping revive Golden Silver. This leaves Red and Blue to bring back their misled ally and stop General Grey from reawakening the terrible destructor.

Gameplay

Gunstar Heroes is a run-and-gun game played from a side-scrolling perspective similar to games such as Contra and Midnight Resistance, either in single player or co-operative play. Assuming the role of Gunstar Red or Gunstar Blue, players go through 7 stages against waves of enemies by using weaponry and a variety of melee techniques that can be performed with button combinations, and defeating a variety of mid-bosses and bosses. Stages vary in bosses and gimmicks, ranging from riding mine carts to playing a board game.

The Gunstar Twins each have their own firing stance, which the player(s) can select when starting a new game along with a starting weapon. Red's firing stance is "Free Shot", which allows him to move and shoot at the same time. Blue's firing stance is "Fixed Shot", which prevents him from moving and shooting simultaneously, but allows him to fire in all eight cardinal directions while standing still.

Players have a number that measures their remaining vitality, which starts at 100 at the beginning of the game. If all vitality is lost, the player(s) must retry the stage from a previous checkpoint, but in a co-op game, a player that has fallen can borrow half the surviving player's vitality to continue, providing they have at least 2 points left. Vitality can be increased by picking up Vitality-Up items acquired by shooting boxes, specific enemies, electronic ducks or sometimes found just lying around. After clearing each level, the player's starting vitality is permanently increased by 20 points, reaching a maximum starting value of 220.

Mega Drive version

Players move around using and , and can duck by holding . The three face buttons on the Control Pad perform a specific action: One for changing weapons (defaulted to ); one for shooting the Gunstars' firearms (defaulted to ), which can be aimed by holding any of the eight directions on the D-Pad while the fire button is held; and one for jumping (defaulted to ). Each of the face buttons function can be changed at the options menu.

Game Gear version

The gameplay of the Game Gear version is similar to the Mega Drive version, but adapted to use the Game Gear's and face buttons plus the  START  button — such as making the change weapons and pausing the game functions share a single button (the  START  button by default), with pausing the game now requiring to press and hold the change weapons button.

Items

There are a variety of items that can be found inside boxes, dropped by enemies, or just lying on the ground. Items can be picked up by pressing plus the fire button when standing underneath an item on the ground, or when hovering over an item while airborne.

	Force
	Equips the Gunstar twins with the Force weapon.
	Lightning
	Equips the Gunstar twins with the Lightning weapon.
	Chaser
	Equips the Gunstar twins with the Chaser weapon.
	Fire
	Equips the Gunstar twins with the Fire weapon.
	Vitality-Up
	Increases the Gunstar twins vitality, with the vitality increased varying with item to item.
	Bomb
	Bomb is an item that cannot be collected. Generally being thrown or dropped by enemies, the bomb explodes when colliding with the ground or with the walls, with the explosion hurting both the Gunstar twins and other enemies.

Weapons

The game's biggest gameplay mechanic is its weapons system. There are four types of weapons, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The player(s) will start out with one type of weapon selected at the start of the game, but they can pick up other types of weapons through item drops, and swap their current weapons for other ones. A player can only hold two weapons at a time, which by pressing the weapon select button can either be selected individually, or combined for a more effective type of weapon. The weapon icon that isn't flashing is the one that's currently in use.

	Force
	A machinegun type weapon that fires in a straight line. By holding the fire button, it fires shots at long range and in a continuous manner, but has the lowest damage per shot of the four.
	Lightning
	A laser weapon that fires in long interval bursts. Lightning's shots can pierce through walls and rows of enemies.
	Chaser
	A homing type weapon; Chaser fires shots can chase after enemies. Chaser's firing rate is limited by the number of bullets fired, with a maximum of 8 bullets being able to be onscreen.
	Fire
	A powerful flamethrower weapon that can hit multiple enemies, but that has a short range.

Levels

Mega Drive version

The first four stages in the game can be played in any order chosen by the player(s), while the last three are played in a linear order.

	Stage 1 - The Ancient Ruins
	The Empire Army's minions have been despatched to attack a peaceful village full of tiny natives in search of the blue crystal. With easy waves of enemies and the simple mid-bosses Papaya Dance and Bravoo Man, this is an ideal stage to start with. At the end of the stage, the player(s) must fight Pink and her flunkies, Kain and Kotarou, who ride a large battle mech known as the Pinky Roader, which they have used to mine for the gem.
	Stage 2 - The Underground Mine
	This level has the player(s) ride a specially modified mine cart provided to them by Professor White/Dr. Brown in pursuit of Green, who has found the green gem. Once they enter the mine, the player(s) can switch gravity by pressing the jump button twice to ride on either the floor or the ceiling. Enemy droids will attack from their own mine carts or from the large train commandeered by Smash Daisaku. At the end of the stage, Green attacks the player(s) in the Seven Force, a multi-phase boss that is one of the most remembered boss fights of the game. The boss has seven forms to attack with, with the Soldier Force always being the first one, and the other six being fought in a randomised order. The number of forms that must be defeated varies by difficulty level, with three forms on Easy, five forms on Normal, and all seven forms on Hard and Expert.
	Stage 3 - The Flying Battleship
	Captain Orange is departing in a battleship with the grey gem, and the Gunstars must pursue him on-board. Once they make it on board, they must deal with a swarm of droids and the Swapping Reg, then fight Smash Daisaku, who flies around and tosses bombs, on the blades of a helicopter. Afterwards, Orange will appear and deal with the Gunstars personally, attacking strictly with melee attacks and even riding the helicopter blades to cause damage. He is susceptible to melee throws, and takes the most damage from being thrown directly onto the helicopter, losing up to about 400 points when attacked that way.
	Stage 4 - Black's Dice Palace
	Black has secured the red gem, and has built a silly dice maze for the Gunstars to get through. Upon entering the base, the player(s) must throw the die to move across the board, and complete whatever space they land on. Landing on a "FIGHT!" space will make the player fight a mini-boss or complete a specific challenge within a time limit, while landing on a "TAKE AN ITEM" space will send the player to an enemy-less room full of items. Landing on the "THE WAY BACK" space will send the player all the way back to the start, but won't reset any cleared spaces. In a two-player game, both players advance separately from one another, and only one player will play a challenge at a time, and the game may only allow a specific player to throw the die. If a player loses all their vitality in a challenge, that player must start again from the beginning of the board if they choose to continue using the remaining player's vitality. If the player(s) make it to the goal, they will fight Black in the Black Beat Stepper, a mech that moves about using a die, and uses different attacks depending on what space it stops on. Once Black is defeated, he will toss a fake gem in a last-ditch attempt to catch the player(s) off-guard, so they must avoid it and shoot him for the real gem. This stage is not present in the Game Gear version of the game.
	Stage 5
	After having recovered all four gems, the Gunstars return to find that Professor White/Dr. Brown has been tied up, and Yellow has been kidnapped by the Empire Army, demanding all four gems for her ransom. Tasked with saving Yellow, the player(s) must make it through a very long and very large swarm of enemies to reach the Empire Army's ship. At the very end of the level, the player(s) will fight Smash Daisaku for the final time, with the Gunstars being forced to surrender the gems to General Grey in order to save Yellow's life.
	Stage 6
	Yellow has been saved, and with the Empire Army having headed for the moon with the gems, Professor White/Dr. Brown has supplied the Gunstars with a spaceship that they can use to give chase with. This stage changes the gameplay to that of a space shoot-'em-up in which the player(s) pilots the spaceship to avoid asteroids and take out waves of enemies. By using the D-Pad and pressing jump, the ship can boost in a given direction. In a two-player game, one player controls the main ship while the other controls a weapon satellite for added firepower, and the players can choose who will control the main ship before the stage begins. If both players press jump at the same time, they will perform a stronger boost that offers the ship invincibility frames. After defeating the Seven Force a second time, the player(s) will leave the ship and infiltrate the Empire Army ship as it lands on the moon, and fight the Core Guard System with three phases: Unit of the Hammer, Unit of the Dragon, and Unit of the Runner.
	Stage 7
	The final stage in the game. This stage is a gauntlet of short platforming sections and multiple boss fights, with each core member of the Empire Army watching the Gunstars' progress on a giant screen and joining in the fight one after the other. In order, the player(s) must fight Kain and Kotarou in the Duck Battalion, Pink and Kotarou in the Pink Lobster, Orange, Black in the Black Fly, and Green at the end of the gauntlet. After defeating all of these bosses and reaching General Grey's control room, the player(s) will face the final boss, Golden Silver. To defeat Golden Silver, the player(s) should focus on attacking the gems to inflict damage.

Game Gear version

The Game Gear version is missing one of the four initial stages, and also features slightly different stage layouts.

	Stage 1
	Stage 2
	Instead of riding a specially modified minicart, the player now flies around using a "floater", which is a type of propeller backpack.
	Stage 3
	Stage 4
	Stage 5
	Stage 6

Achievements

Main article: Gunstar Heroes/Achievements.

History

Legacy

Gunstar Heroes was later re-released as part of Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 25: Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box in the Sega Ages 2500 series, alongside Dynamite Headdy and Alien Soldier. Interestingly, a prototype version of the game was included as an unlockable bonus.

In 2015, it was released for the Nintendo 3DS as 3D Gunstar Heroes. The same 3DS port was later included in Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives 3: Final Stage.

The game was later announced to be one of the first games to be included in the Mega Drive Mini, and is available in all regional variants of the system. Likewise, the Game Gear version was later included in the blue model Game Gear Micro.

Development

Gunstar Heroes was the second game developed by Treasure, behind McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure. However, Gunstar Heroes was published first, and has commonly been referred to as the company's first game regardless.

During development, Gunstar Heroes was was known by the early titles Blade Gunner and Lunatic Gunstar.

Versions

Emulated versions of the game have been released on the Wii Virtual Console, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, iOS and Steam. The iOS version was removed from sale on iTunes in 2015. In 2017 the game was rereleased on iOS and Android as part of the Sega Forever brand.

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Gunstar Heroes	Gunstar Heroes
English (US)	Gunstar Heroes	Gunstar Heroes
Japanese	ガンスターヒーローズ	Gunstar Heroes
Portuguese (Brazil)	Gunstar Heroes
Korean	건스터 영웅	Gunstar Heroes

Version history

Main article: Gunstar Heroes/Changelog.

System	Version	Size	Date	Comment	Ref	Icon
	0000040000010000010000000000004.1.1	56MB	202001092020-01-09				(info) (56.2 MB)
	0000020000000000010000000000002.0.1	45MB	201906032019-06-03				(info) (44.86 MB)
	0000020000000000000000000000002.0.0	44MB	201901312019-01-31				(info) (44.04 MB)
	0000010000010000020000000000001.1.2	43MB	201811022018-11-02				(info) (43.36 MB)
	0000010000010000010000000000001.1.1	42MB	201808062018-08-06				(info) (41.62 MB)
	0000010000000000000000000000001.0.0	42MB	201712202017-12-20	Sega Forever			(info) (41.88 MB)
	0000040000010000010000000000004.1.1	144.5MB	202001092020-01-09
	0000040000000000020000000000004.0.2		201906032019-06-03
	0000040000000000000000000000004.0.0		201901312019-01-31
	0000030000010000020000000000003.1.2		201810312018-10-31
	0000030000010000010000000000003.1.1	133MB	201808062018-08-06
	0000030000000000000000000000003.0.0	132MB	201712202017-12-20	Sega Forever
	0000020000000000000000000000002.0	6.7MB	201211302012-11-30	iOS6 Support
	0000010000000000000000000000001.0	5.7MB	201011222010-11-22

Downloadable content

Main article: Gunstar Heroes/Downloadable content.

Production credits

Main article: Gunstar Heroes/Production credits.

Digital manuals

• 

  Steam manual

• 

  Mega Drive Mini US manual

• 

  Mega Drive Mini EU manual

• 

  Mega Drive Mini JP manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Gunstar Heroes/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in (JP) #1993-09: "September 1993" (1993-08-07)

Print advert in (JP) #1993-10: "October 1993" (1993-09-08)

Print advert in (ES) #17: "Septiembre 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
also published in:

• (ES) #24: "Septiembre 1993" (1993-xx-xx)

Artwork

• 

  Unused cover art

• 
• 
• 

  Sega Forever icon

• 

  Logo

• 

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source (UK) 88 №10, p74-76 (UK) 92 (UK) 88

	89
Based on 3 reviews

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score (RU) 60 (JP) NTSC-J 83 (FR) 92 (RU) 40 (UK) 92 (UK) 60 (US) NTSC-U 90 (UK) 95 (JP) NTSC-J 73 (IL) 89 (US) NTSC-U 99 (IT) 80 (US) NTSC-U 90 (DE) 80 (UK) 90 (US) NTSC-U 78 (US) NTSC-U 92 (JP) NTSC-J 90 (ES) 85 (AU) 88 (FR) PAL 88 (DE) 87 (UK) PAL 64 (UK) 90 (DE) PAL 86 (FR) 89 (DE) PAL 80 (UK) PAL 95 (UK) PAL 93 (AU) 92 (FR) 94 (UK) 81 (DE) 83 (DE) 82 (UK) PAL 94 (UK) PAL 73 (UK) PAL 87 (UK) PAL 94 (UK) NTSC-J 94 (RU) 86 (JP) NTSC-J 88 (UK) PAL 80 (ES) PAL 89 (RU) 80 (DE) PAL 85

	84
Based on 45 reviews

Gunstar Heroes

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, JP (Jitsuenyou Sample)
Cart

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, PT
Cart

Mega Drive, GR (Zegetron)
Cart

Mega Drive, AU
Cover

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Manual

Mega Drive, KR
Cover

Mega Drive, ZA
Cover
Cart

Game Gear version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score (JP) NTSC-J 55 (UK) 80 (UK) NTSC-J 85 (JP) NTSC-J 70 (JP) NTSC-J 82

	74
Based on 5 reviews

Gunstar Heroes

Game Gear, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Play version

Mega Play,

Technical information

Main article: Gunstar Heroes/Technical information.

External links

• Sega of Japan Virtual Console pages: Mega Drive
• Nintendo catalogue pages: US, UK, AU
• Gunstar Heroes on Xbox Marketplace: JP, US, UK, AU, KR
• Gunstar Heroes on Steam
• Gunstar Heroes on iTunes: UK, US, JP
• Gunstar Heroes on PlayStation.com: JP, KR
• Gunstar Heroes on PlayStation Store: JP, US, UK, AU, KR
• Gunstar Heroes on Google Play

References

Gunstar Heroes series of games
	Gunstar Heroes (1993)
	Gunstar Heroes (1995)
	Gunstar Super Heroes (2005)
	Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 25: Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box (2006)
	Gunstar Heroes (2006)
	Gunstar Heroes (2009)
	Gunstar Heroes (2009) | Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 25: Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box (2012)
	Gunstar Heroes (2010)
	Gunstar Heroes (2011)
	3D Gunstar Heroes (2015)
	Gunstar Heroes (2017)
Gunstar Heroes related media
	(1993) | (2005) | (2017)