The legend
The most common phrase in such cases is "this game needs no introduction", but, since it came out more than twenty years ago, when most of the modern gamers were yet to be born, we will not fail to introduce our readers Gunstar Heroes.
Gunstar Heroes is Treasure's first feature, software house entered the Olympus of videogames thanks to many other cult-games, including Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga and Sin & Punishment. It debuted in 1993 on Mega Drive, obtaining numerous awards from the specialized press, which regularly continues to include it in the various lists of the best video games of all time. The genre chosen by Treasure is that of run and gun, in those years consecrated by series such as Contra; that said, we must recognize a remarkable freshness to Gunstar Heroes, which allowed it to have its own identity, far from Konami's stylistic features, thanks also to some clever variations on the theme (such as the bizarre Dice Palace and the spatial level).
When he was there ...
… The games were more difficult! Between the Eighties and the Nineties, the average difficulty of video games was quite high, and Gunstar Heroes is certainly not among the most forgiving titles of the time.
From the very beginning, the player is faced with some choices that have a significant impact on the playthrough and which, obviously, are irreversible. The first concerns the firing mode: Red and Blue, the two protagonists, can shoot in the race (free shot) or shoot in the eight canonical directions, but only when stationary (fixed shot). Next, you have to choose one of the four primary weapons, with very different characteristics. The characters have two weapon slots, the second of which is used for those that are collected in the levels; In this way, the player has a secondary shot available and also a combined shot (primary + secondary), for a total of fourteen different firing modes, some more useful than others, it comes by itself: you have to experiment, or consult some guide. Further possibilities of offense come from melee moves, carried out with the same button as the shot when the enemy is very close. The next choice, much less demanding, concerns the first four levels: as in Mega Man, they can be tackled in the order preferred by the player.
After a few moments of play, it becomes clear that Gunstar Heroes is not a health walk, although some aspects - mere contact with enemies does not harm the characters, who do not die after two or three hits, but when they run out of life points - could make it seem easier than the colleagues. The action is fast and chaotic, due to the huge number of enemies on the screen, who never stop running. Bosses and mid-bosses are frequent and very dangerous, and checkpoints are not always placed as we would like (think of the nasty Underground Mine).
To meet newbies, M2 has decided to add two benefits, entirely optional and cumulative with each other at any level of difficulty: the first is the Mega Life Mode, which doubles the initial HP (from 100 to 200); the second is the Gunslinger Mode, which gives the player all four basic shooting modes, as well as the ability to switch on the fly between free shot and fixed shot; in fact, this mode eliminates the choice factor of the original version. Finishing the game also unlocks the Mega Shot Mode, alternative to the Mega Life Mode, which doubles the damage of weapons. In my opinion it is a great way to bring even those people who are afraid of being frustrated in a moment they dedicate to leisure to a rather grumpy game. By combining these additions to the difficulty level selection, 3D Gunstar Heroes becomes an experience accessible to everyone, more or less.
When you age well
In addition to the playful component, even the audiovisual one has aged quite well, to the point of not disfiguring even more than twenty years later, especially on a portable console - not too powerful - such as Nintendo 3DS.
The graphics, colorful, pyrotechnic and very fluid, benefit from the higher resolution (although not by much), as well as from the small size of the screen, which however partly affect the gameplay: in my humble opinion, it is advisable to play at least on Nintendo 3DS XL, even if on New 3DS 3D Gunstar Heroes is not unplayable. The faithful conversion gives new brilliance to the excellent original material, which twenty-two years later takes on a pleasant retro coloring, especially in relation to the dated anime style. The addition of 3D - as usual available in two modes: "fall in" and "pop out" - turns out to be welcome, but not particularly incisive, also because the game lends itself little to the stereoscopic effect, in the opinion of the writer : some passages enjoy an excellent yield (think of the space battle), but overall I preferred to deactivate the feature. Much more forgettable is the mode that simulates viewing from a cathode ray tube TV.
The sound is very faithful to the original version for SEGA Mega Drive. In accordance with the standard of the SEGA 3D Classics line, the player can select two different emulated versions; this is certainly not an indispensable option, but still welcome, as it confirms the care that has been placed by M2 in the realization of these ports / remakes. The soundtrack, composed by Hanzawa, remains at excellent levels for the duration of the game; moreover, always in proportion to the length of the game, it is really full-bodied, with almost an hour of good music, lively and melodic at the same time.
An hour or a life?
That of longevity is a vexata quaestio in the context of games of this genre, characterized by a blatantly arcade structure; when these titles are re-proposed, the problem is always the same: which parameter to use to evaluate longevity? I prefer to avoid unbalancing myself, and present the contents of 3D Gunstar Heroes as “aseptic” as possible.
The game consists of seven stages, which can be completed in the usual hour / hour and a half by a shrewd player, who however has two rather high difficulty levels (Hard and Expert). Ordinary mortals will be content to play Easy or Normal, and will not proceed at such a rapid pace. One of the most interesting features is the cooperative mode, which certainly could not be missing in this revival; however, it only works locally and only with two (digital) copies of the game. There are no online leaderboards either. Among the extras is the Japanese version of the game, characterized by a different storyline (they tell me, since I don't know Japanese, Ed).
In short, these € 4,99 must be paid out or not? The answer to this question cannot be separated from another question: do you already have another good version (not the iOS one, for example) of Gunstar Heroes? If so, purchasing 3D Gunstar Heroes is absolutely unnecessary; otherwise, based on the gaming platforms you own, evaluate which version is right for you. Personally, I would have preferred a larger screen size for this adventure, but at the same time, I benefited from the new user friendly modes.
