As you all must know, the original Gunstar Heroes was fantastically smooth, polished and fun. In terms of good, tight control, I'd say it's up there with, say, Kirby Super Star.
What they did, and why it's good
The game is still smooth as hell, and even smoother graphics-wise. Probably the best sprites on GBA since Chain of Memories.
Stylistically, the game is almost a mish-mash of past Treasure exploits. While, of course, the Gunstar-style is intact, each of the characters have a bit of a new edge. Red, who is a girl now, looks like a bit like Marina from Mischief Makers, without the giant thighs and shoulders. The new cutscenes are also reminiscent of the ones used in Astro Boy: Omega Factor, with text appearing on the top and bottom of the screen with character portraits popping in and out on the sides.
Another thing that's changed visually is the game's scale. Much like the transition from Smash Bros. to Smash Bros. Melee, the characters are now bigger, which makes the environment (or at least the environment viewable on-screen) seem smaller by comparison. It's hard to say if this is good or not. I supposed that since the game is strictly single-player this time around, they figured we didn't need as much space.
Control-wise, the best advantage the GBA has over the Genesis is that it has a greater amount of buttons - ONE more! And that's all it takes, apparently, to improve the controls on a game that already had great controls. Whereas on the Genesis, you had to choose whether to use free-aim or fixed-aim for the entirety of the game, on the GBA, you can do both. The B button lets you shoot with free-aim, and the R button shoots with fixed-aim. By pressing both, you can fix your aim in one direction and move in another (like, shoot right and run left).
Gameplay-wise, there HAVE been a few little changes to differentiate Super Heroes from Heroes. The Gunstars are no longer capable of throwing their enemies if they get too close. Instead, they have a range of new melee tactics. Now you can use a SWORD, just by tapping the B button - as opposed to holding the B button to fire (yes, two different actions are assigned to the same button, but because it's Gunstar, it works near-perfectly). Also, by pressing a direction along with the A button, you can pull off all kinds of acrobatic attacks, like sliding, jump kicking, drop kicking, wall kicking, and even an uppercut. These new attacks flow together incredibly well, allowing you to pull off almost Dante-esque maneuvers (as well as one can in 2D and on a Game Boy).
One of the coolest things people remember about the original Gunstar is the ability to collect and combine different types of guns to make new weapons that combined the features of the individual ones. People are understandably upset when I tell them that this feature has been abolished. Both playable Gunstars now have a preset arsenal of three different guns, each of which has it's own power gauge which fills up as you attack your enemies with it. When it's full, or mostly full, you can use that gun's super-powered up attack. It works kind of like the power meter is Street Fighter, or the limit gauge in FFVII... or, more appropriately, the power guage in Ikaruga. It's hard to say if this new feature makes up for the old one, but it certainly works.
Though Super Heroes boasts that it's a sequel - what with it's new story and character designs - it really is a remake, and that's not bad at all. All the levels have been revamped to fit the game's story, as well as its look, though a few new areas have been added, as well. Pink's stage now has a kooky baby chick-saving minigame, Black's stage has many more trap rooms, and two stages now include top-down shoot-em-ups (though one is much better than the other) and also Mode-7 foreground-to-background sequences (think Neon Night Riders from Turtles In Time).
What they didn't do, and why they should've
Though I have said that I would have been satisifed with just a port, even with the new additions, the game is still too damned short. I don't really know what they could've done to make it longer, but if they're gonna act like it's a true sequel, maybe they should've put some entirely NEW levels and enemies into the game. The game DOES attempt to boost the replay value some; each time to replay the game on a different mode of difficulty, the story changes slightly, giving you more insight into its workings. Three difficulties for both characters means that the game has six different ways of telling the story. Having beat the game five times already, I can say that they're pretty much all the same, save for the last time I beat it, which actually was quite the twist.
This would probably mean something if the story were anything but a slightly fleshed-out version of the story of the original game. They try and trick you by referring to the exploits of the original Gunstar Heroes, but really, it's pretty much the same thing. The story is sadly much less compelling than, say, the story in Astro Boy.
But, ****, it's Gunstar. You're not playing for the story.
Something I didn't realize until I read it in another review was the lack of a multiplayer-mode. This doesn't mean much to me, being alone and friendless (and even then, I'd need somebody with a GBA AND another copy of the game) but the idea is awfully cool. I never played the original with another person, and I'm sure it must kick ass.
My biggest complaint, though, is the total lack of a retry option. It only make SENSE to have a RETRY/QUIT screen, considering all the times you die in this game. Instead, I have to press Start through all of the company logo screens and the title screen again. It's not a BIG deal, but it costs precious seconds!
In conclusion, I do not regret purchasing Gunstar Super Heroes at all. In fact, I'm glad I did.
What they did, and why it's good
The game is still smooth as hell, and even smoother graphics-wise. Probably the best sprites on GBA since Chain of Memories.
Stylistically, the game is almost a mish-mash of past Treasure exploits. While, of course, the Gunstar-style is intact, each of the characters have a bit of a new edge. Red, who is a girl now, looks like a bit like Marina from Mischief Makers, without the giant thighs and shoulders. The new cutscenes are also reminiscent of the ones used in Astro Boy: Omega Factor, with text appearing on the top and bottom of the screen with character portraits popping in and out on the sides.
Another thing that's changed visually is the game's scale. Much like the transition from Smash Bros. to Smash Bros. Melee, the characters are now bigger, which makes the environment (or at least the environment viewable on-screen) seem smaller by comparison. It's hard to say if this is good or not. I supposed that since the game is strictly single-player this time around, they figured we didn't need as much space.
Control-wise, the best advantage the GBA has over the Genesis is that it has a greater amount of buttons - ONE more! And that's all it takes, apparently, to improve the controls on a game that already had great controls. Whereas on the Genesis, you had to choose whether to use free-aim or fixed-aim for the entirety of the game, on the GBA, you can do both. The B button lets you shoot with free-aim, and the R button shoots with fixed-aim. By pressing both, you can fix your aim in one direction and move in another (like, shoot right and run left).
Gameplay-wise, there HAVE been a few little changes to differentiate Super Heroes from Heroes. The Gunstars are no longer capable of throwing their enemies if they get too close. Instead, they have a range of new melee tactics. Now you can use a SWORD, just by tapping the B button - as opposed to holding the B button to fire (yes, two different actions are assigned to the same button, but because it's Gunstar, it works near-perfectly). Also, by pressing a direction along with the A button, you can pull off all kinds of acrobatic attacks, like sliding, jump kicking, drop kicking, wall kicking, and even an uppercut. These new attacks flow together incredibly well, allowing you to pull off almost Dante-esque maneuvers (as well as one can in 2D and on a Game Boy).
One of the coolest things people remember about the original Gunstar is the ability to collect and combine different types of guns to make new weapons that combined the features of the individual ones. People are understandably upset when I tell them that this feature has been abolished. Both playable Gunstars now have a preset arsenal of three different guns, each of which has it's own power gauge which fills up as you attack your enemies with it. When it's full, or mostly full, you can use that gun's super-powered up attack. It works kind of like the power meter is Street Fighter, or the limit gauge in FFVII... or, more appropriately, the power guage in Ikaruga. It's hard to say if this new feature makes up for the old one, but it certainly works.
Though Super Heroes boasts that it's a sequel - what with it's new story and character designs - it really is a remake, and that's not bad at all. All the levels have been revamped to fit the game's story, as well as its look, though a few new areas have been added, as well. Pink's stage now has a kooky baby chick-saving minigame, Black's stage has many more trap rooms, and two stages now include top-down shoot-em-ups (though one is much better than the other) and also Mode-7 foreground-to-background sequences (think Neon Night Riders from Turtles In Time).
What they didn't do, and why they should've
Though I have said that I would have been satisifed with just a port, even with the new additions, the game is still too damned short. I don't really know what they could've done to make it longer, but if they're gonna act like it's a true sequel, maybe they should've put some entirely NEW levels and enemies into the game. The game DOES attempt to boost the replay value some; each time to replay the game on a different mode of difficulty, the story changes slightly, giving you more insight into its workings. Three difficulties for both characters means that the game has six different ways of telling the story. Having beat the game five times already, I can say that they're pretty much all the same, save for the last time I beat it, which actually was quite the twist.
This would probably mean something if the story were anything but a slightly fleshed-out version of the story of the original game. They try and trick you by referring to the exploits of the original Gunstar Heroes, but really, it's pretty much the same thing. The story is sadly much less compelling than, say, the story in Astro Boy.
But, ****, it's Gunstar. You're not playing for the story.
Something I didn't realize until I read it in another review was the lack of a multiplayer-mode. This doesn't mean much to me, being alone and friendless (and even then, I'd need somebody with a GBA AND another copy of the game) but the idea is awfully cool. I never played the original with another person, and I'm sure it must kick ass.
My biggest complaint, though, is the total lack of a retry option. It only make SENSE to have a RETRY/QUIT screen, considering all the times you die in this game. Instead, I have to press Start through all of the company logo screens and the title screen again. It's not a BIG deal, but it costs precious seconds!
In conclusion, I do not regret purchasing Gunstar Super Heroes at all. In fact, I'm glad I did.
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