Gunstar Heroes

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Sega Game Gear 0 subscribers

63K plays 1993 #Action#Platform#Shooter

Gunstar Heroes is a 1993 run and gun video game developed by Treasure and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. It was Treasure's first developed video game. The premise is centered around a pair of characters, the Gunstars, in their efforts to stop an evil empire from recovering four powerful gems. The characters can fire guns and perform a series of acrobatic maneuvers to fight enemies across each stage. There are four weapons which can be combined with one another to create different shot types.

Development on Gunstar Heroes began among a team of staff working at Konami in 1991. Following an unwillingness of Konami to embrace their original game ideas, the team quit in 1992 and formed Treasure to see their project through. The team wanted to develop their game for the Genesis because of the system's powerful Motorola 68000 microprocessor. Sega initially rejected their proposal, but later granted approval after they worked for Sega for several months on McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure (1993). Treasure worked on both games in parallel, and released Gunstar Heroes as their first game in 1993.

From Wikipedia's article Gunstar Heroes, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Keyboard controls

Game GearPlayer 1
D-pad↑↓←→
Button 1Z
Button 2X
StartEnter

Hotkeys

  • 1 Quick save state
  • 2 Quick load state
  • 3 Change save slot

Gamepads are detected when you press a button. Remap any key from the emulator’s Controls menu (gear icon).

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Keyboard controls

Game GearPlayer 1
D-pad↑↓←→
Button 1Z
Button 2X
StartEnter

Hotkeys

  • 1 Quick save state
  • 2 Quick load state
  • 3 Change save slot

Gamepads are detected when you press a button. Remap any key from the emulator’s Controls menu (gear icon).

Emulator help & troubleshooting

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Pixel Verdict

Gunstar HeroesGame Gear

4.5 Great job!

Critics 85 · 9 reviews

What the reviews talk about

Key wordsfranticstunningoriginaldifficultexcellent

What the critics said

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly agreed, with a critic calling it "one of the most intense games I've seen on the home video game scene."

    — Electronic Gaming Monthly, 1993

  • Mean Machines Sega agreed, praising the variety in level design and the "frantic, high-density blasting mayhem."

    — Mean Machines Sega, 1993

  • GamePro called Gunstar Heroes "chaos in a cart" with "murderous action, excellent controls, and imaginative game design."

    — GamePro, 1994

  • The graphics were highlighted by several critics, with GamePro calling it "an assault on your senses."

    — GamePro, 1994

  • A critic from Electronic Gaming Monthly called it "one of the best looking carts I've seen from Sega in a while."

    — Electronic Gaming Monthly, 1993

  • Mean Machines Sega wrote that Gunstar Heroes was setting a new standard for action games on the Genesis, calling it "a stunning title both in appearance and the gameplay it offers."

    — Mean Machines Sega, 1993· about another version

From the Reception section of Wikipedia's Gunstar Heroes article, under CC BY-SA 4.0. The words are the critics'; their full reviews are on the publishers' pages.

Scores

  • Computer and Video Games 1993 92%
  • Edge 1993 6/10
  • Electronic Gaming Monthly 9/10, 9/10, 9/10, 9/10
  • Game Informer 1998 9.25/10
  • GamePro 1994 18/20
  • Mean Machines Sega 1993 93%
  • Sega Force 1993 94%
  • Sega Magazine 1994 94%
  • Famitsu 1993 Genesis: 8/10, 8/10, 7/10, 6/10 ; ; Game Gear: 6/10, 4/10, 6/10, 6/10

From the review table of Wikipedia's article. The face takes, first that applies: the Metascore for this platform, GameRankings' archived average, our average of the critics (one number per publication, a panel averaged), one review alone, the players' rating. Critics and players are never mixed.

Players' rating: 84/100 · 188 votes

Full reviews

Face key

  1. 1.00+
  2. 1.540+
  3. 2.050+
  4. 2.560+
  5. 3.068+
  6. 3.575+
  7. 4.080+
  8. 4.585+
  9. 5.090+

5.0 Outstanding! · 4.0 Great job! · 3.0 Good job · 2.0 Could be better · 1.0 Wake me up when it's over · A thumbs-up adds half a point. Our own drawings, in the spirit of the faces GamePro magazine used in the '90s.

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