A another Red Guard will fight you here.

Keep shooting upward, moving only to avoid harm.

This Mid-Boss is a tree that drops bombs and uses a giant inchworm to help him.

Grab him and throw him repeatedly against the sand bag pile, then move on.

A tough Red Guard will meet you here and you can't continue until he is destroyed.

Gunstar Heroes is a certified Genesis gun star.

This game doesn't blast open new territory, but it soups up a standard shoot-out game with murderous action, excellent controls, and imaginative game design. Crystal clear gun blasts and explosions will rock your house. For example, one imaginative stage is a board game, where you roll dice, move to a square, and warp to a boss challenge. On the other hand, there are some truly creative stage designs. Although slowdown is infinitesimal, blocks of pixels sometimes disappear from your sprite during heavy fighting. The character sprites aren't very sharp, and during the riotous two-player contests, you're hard-pressed to distinguish your Gunstar from your friend's. The game's graphics wage their own battle against good and evil. Run with the Duck! Sometimes you can score an extra Vitality.

You can rebound off the sides of the screen to jump a little bit higher.

You can use two separately or combine them into one awesome blaster. Periodically an Electronic Duck flies in to drop four energy weapon power-ups. You need superior firepower to survive, and the game obliges nicely. You select four difficulty levels, where even Easy is nasty hard. The bad boss 'bots run the gamut from weird, Erector-set rejects to teeny, tiny, mechanical terrors. The Gunstars fight through a spaceship/shooter stage. Colonel Red's droid horde comes charging at you on land and in the air from both sides of the screen. The Gunstar twins are out to retrieve the Gems and cream the Colonel. Colonel Red, a vicious dictator, has stolen four Mystical Gems, which can revive a long-dead, planet-killing robot. But be advised: This Genesis action/adventure game is an assault on your senses as well as your trigger finger. If you're itching for classic side-view shooting action, Gunstar Heroes wants you.

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