Review #751: Gunstar Super Heroes

 It ain't jump and shoot, it's SUPER jump and shoot..

 While Treasure seems to be resting on its laurels during the current generation of videogames, they sure were prolific on the Gameboy Advance. I've already covered a few of their games here, but one that avoided me for a while was Gunstar Super Heroes, a sequel to a beloved Sega Genesis classic.

 I'll be the first to admit that I never finished Gunstar Heroes, truth be told, I never found it much fun. Regardless, this game seems to be a sequel to said game, although you might be forgiven for thinking it's a reboot since it borrows so many ideas, stages and concepts from the original game. Characters were given personalities, and there's a plot about collecting 4 different gems, but they are just window dressing. In the game you can play as either Blue or Red, both are pretty much identical except for the fact that their slides look different and they each have a different weapon. Remember how the original had about 4 different types of guns? Well, Blue and Red share two of those weapons(The homing beam and the explosive rounds), but they each get a unique type: Red gets the machine gun while Blue gets the laser beam. That aside, there are 3 different difficulty settings per character, as well as 6 different missions shared between characters. The game is very short, but very tough, I only just managed to beat the game on Easy, finishing Normal would require a bit more time investment, learning patterns and what not, and I just didn't want to bother. I didn't really need to either, I got more than my fill of the game on Easy and I really enjoyed my time with it, but it's not a game I'd care getting good at.

 The game offers a ton of mobility and techniques to style on your enemies. A is your jump button, but couple it with Down on the D-Pad and you'll perform an offensive slide, tap A on the air to produce a flying kick, press Up on the D-Pad with A to perform a Shoryuken or tap down and A while on the air to stomp on the ground. You can even link a slide into a Shoryuken into a stomp, it's pretty smooth, simple and quite stylish, although being careless with these will only result in you getting hurt. L button toggles between your three guns, B lets you move and shoot while R will shoot while locking you in place, in case you need precision aiming. Each weapon also gets a gauge that fills as you kill enemies, once filled you can double tap R to use a super version of your shot. Lastly, tapping the B button instead of holding it down will let you use melee attacks. Training yourself to shoot with B or R depending on the situation takes a while, but there's no denying that your moveset is pretty neat, and it makes for a very stylish game.

 Level design is... well, your mileage may vary on these. Most stages have at least some sort of vehicle section, be it an overhead helicopter stage or a stage in which you roll a ship around the screen while evading missile and shooting down enemies. Can't say I enjoyed those, the game is definitely at its best when you are on the ground, running, jumping, styling and shooting. Stage 4 also has a bizarre board-minigame thing that feels more like a waste of time than a challenge. I really, really could've done without that section. While there are no traditional checkpoints, each stage has multiple sections, and if you die you can restart from another section, with the small caveat that you spawn with whatever health you had when you reached that checkpoint. If its too low, you can just replay the previous section, or sections, and try to arrive with more health. It's an interesting system to be sure.

 Gunstar Super Heroes is a bit of a mixed bag. The gameplay is brilliant, your moveset is fun... but I think they went a bit too hard on unnecessary vehicle sections that actually took a bit away from the game. And it's a bit of a shame, because if it had had more on-foot sections the game could've been a little gem. Regardless, it's a fun game, but not without a few dull moments.
 7.5 out of 10