With several consecutive months of solid game lineups, and its best to offer just around the corner, the Nintendo DS has proved to be the featured Nintendo handheld as of late, eclipsing the lessening library of its older cousin, the Game Boy Advance. With that being said, is the best-selling system of recent time finished with its successive reign of mind-blowing portable titles? With Treasure’s recently released sequel to a critically-acclaimed 1993 Genesis classic, ironically enough since the GBA is primarily known for its SNES ports and remakes, the Game Boy Advance shouldn’t be counted out anytime soon. Not a port nor a remake, Gunstar Super Heroes raises the bar for portable action games. This a new game that brings some of Gunstar Heroes’ classic feel, but also hauls along with it a long list of special effects and challenges that are nothing short of greatness.


Facts and Features:

• Side-scroller action title sequel based on the 1993 Genesis classic
  
• Two selectable heroes: Red or Blue
  
• Alternate weapon schemes and supercharged attacks
  
• Varying types of shooter gameplay including Mode 7 and Top-Down views
  
• Wonderfully designed levels and bosses
  
• Battery Save and Completed Stage Select
  
• High-Score and Time-Trial w/ initial records
  

Simple On Story
The fact that Gunstar Super Heroes’ storyline and plot aren’t overly important elements to its success is easily recognizable when you pick up the game. In fact, this is expected simply because it’s an action game. However, there’s enough depth to at least know what you’re fighting for. In the Genesis game Gunstar Heroes, the main culprit was Golden Silver, also known as the God of Ruin. The two heroes then destroyed Golden Silver on the Moon, resulting in an explosion that formed four new moons, consequently the initial levels of the game. Gunstar Super Heroes picks up directly where the original game left off - pitting our two heroes against the evil Empire in attempts to stop the resurrection of the God of Ruin. This elite team of soldiers must save the world and foil the Empire’s plans by recovering a mysterious artifact.

The whole storyline's sequences are portrayed in cartoon cells that show the portrait of each character speaking in text. Sure, there’s other instances during gameplay that blurt out short voice samples combined with text, but they’re usually limited to boss encounters only. The game really doesn’t need any well-developed characters or plotlines at all, because the challenging gameplay just about outweighs everything else.

Bigger On Gameplay Variety
The game will give you two character choices, Red or Blue. They are only slightly different in character design, so both of the heroes will suit any gamer quite well. What makes them different, and obviously based on user preference, are their arsenal of weapons. Each of the characters can select between three weapons each. Each of them has two default weapons, but each also has one exclusive weapon only selectable through their character. Red uses the Force weapon that shoots plasma energy in rapid-fire, and Blue has a lightning weapon that constantly shoots beams of electricity. For the most part, Red and Blue’s campaign is near identical, with few storyline and sound effect tweaks.


Shoot enemy robots, dodge missiles, and pilot a spacecraft at the same time!

When pressing the L button, each character will change from their defaulted force or lighting weapon to one of the two other weapons. The first is a fireball blaster that explodes in short distances, but is put to good use by its area of effect damage. The second weapon is a chaser beam that homes in on the nearest target. As you defeat enemies, the supercharge gauge at the top of the screen fills up gradually. Once filled to a certain degree, each hero is able to unleash a supercharge attack by tapping R twice. When initialized, the supercharge attack can be shot rapidly. These special attacks are unique to each weapon, varying from huge fireballs to streams to energy that flies around the screen (chaser weapon). The game also equips each character with spectacular melee skills, which can be used in close encounters by either pressing B rapidly (slash attack) or pressing A in mid-air towards a specific direction (multiple kicks). Other actions available include hanging from ledges, rapidly jumping against walls, picking up health and supercharger items, and maneuvering the myriad of vehicles in the game. All in all, there’s plenty of ways to counter-attack the multitude of enemy types in the game. You'll truly need all of the skills to decisively progress through each level.