Heroes of Gunstar still fresh in modern wars

CONTRA bombarded gamers with a dilapidated post-apocalyptic world and won gaming commercialness the instant it hit console. Then along came the contra clones.

However, one game remained uncontested and established itself as a true cult status among nerds who are in the know.

Treasure, established in 1992, released Gunstar Heroes, their first game, and received praise from review critics, building a massive fanbase overnight.

Gunstar Heroes gave gamers a taste of a quirky shoot 'em up adventure which never took itself seriously but had some subtle complexity to it.

Simply; "think Contra ... then think extra technique, a faster pace, no cheap one-hit deaths, and customisable weapons of sheer rapid-fire death," says Jeremy Parish in his article "Retro Roundup: Gunstar Heroes and Zelda vs Castlevania".

"Then imagine the most incredible fake 3D you've ever seen on Genesis. That's Gunstar Heroes."

Its uniqueness came from customisable arsenal which can be formed into different weapons with awesome abilities, clever level design and awesome boss fights.

Players were then thrust into a world where they shoot their way through endless waves of henchmen, who are characters in their own right.

The variety found during the boss fights is so exceptional that it ranged from fighting robotic crabs to throwing dice and who can ever forget fighting a transforming aircraft/robot/gun/tiger nemesis in a narrow claustrophobic tunnel?

It was how the enemies just filled up the screen that was awesome.

And in all the chaos and explosions, you stood in the middle and wondered how the Sega Genesis could push out all of that insanity in one go.

"Treasure harnessed the power of the Mega Drive like no developer ever had before, wringing every drop of power from its 7.61 Mhz 68000 processor to throw remarkable amounts of sprites around the screen," states Benjamin Turner in his article "13 Years of Treasure: Retrospective".

"Often regarded as the pinnacle run-and-gun shooter even better than any of the Contra games," wrote Jeremy Parish and Sam Kennedy in their article "Retronauts Presents: Contra Series Roundup".

As the popularity of Gunstar Heroes rose, fans demanded a sequel, even as the original team had gone their separate ways.

The result was Gunstar Super Heroes, which did not have the same effect as the original.

"Super Heroes barely works up the energy to mimic its source material. It's a cover band, and fans are expected to nod their heads to the beat of nostalgia," said Robert Ashley, Electronic Gaming Monthly reviewer.

To be fair, Gunstar Super Heroes did fairly well when it was launched for the Gameboy Advance, but gamers were treated to a fairly different chaos.

Now, gamers who had missed playing the game can thank Nintendo Wii Virtual Console for releasing the game in November 2006 as a downloadable game, rather than making them hunt for an elusive copy or download it illegally.

Playing Gunstar Heroes now, it seems that the gameplay is still as fresh as it ever was 15 years ago.

It's fast paced and enjoyable to the last shot.

Treasure really did make a gem of a title and has carried on with the tradition of making quirky games, which included Guardian Heroes, Astro Boy and Bangai-O.

Not bad for a bunch of disgruntled Konami employees who decided to quit the company and start their own because they wanted more creative freedom.

The Brunei Times