Gunstar Heroes = Genesis version of Contra: The Alien Wars

Paul Campbell · Postby **Paul Campbell** » January 22nd, 2007, 1:18 pm

I just downloaded Gunstar Heroes onto my Wii and played it for the first time the other day, and after a while I realized that it is very similar in many ways to The Alien Wars on the Super Nintendo, but I have not heard anyone mention this before. It uses alot of the same gameplay and explosions and weapon types and stuff. Definitely a great game, but definitely borrowing alot from Contra.

Atarifever1 · Postby **Atarifever1** » January 22nd, 2007, 2:54 pm

Man, when are you SNES fans going to stop this "Genesis stole our games" stuff.

andrew · Postby **andrew** » January 22nd, 2007, 3:07 pm

Just played the rom for about ten minutes then deleted it to conform with the rule that a rom you don't own should be deleted from your computer within 24 hours. Anyway , while it has some similarities, the level of control of the character is more limited, the worlds are less interesting, and weak bosses resulting in an overal lack of excitement. Having an enemey numerical energy bar is pretty weak too. Another weakness is that you can't run while shooting. Being ablle to throw eneimes off of you was nice though as it eliminates the cheap hits found in the contra games. Overall a pretty average game c-.

Zenzerotron · Postby **Zenzerotron** » January 22nd, 2007, 3:11 pm

Good God Paul!!

This is your first time playing Gunstar Heroes!!??!!

Better late then never I guess.

I've always had the impression that Gunstar Heroes "borrowed" from Contra Hard Corps, the only Contra game to appear on GENESIS.

Why??

machine gun+machine gun=Fang's "A" weapon
laser+machine gun=Ray's "A" weapon

Those are two examples of the exact same weapons being used in both games.

Also, both games use the same programming techinque of having bosses being composed of several seperate sprites linked together.

On a side note, ever heard the Bowie/Eno instrumental "Speed Of Life" off of the "Low" album?? This track always makes me think of Gunstar Hero's first stage.

Atarifever1 · Postby **Atarifever1** » January 22nd, 2007, 3:42 pm

[QUOTE=andrew]Just played the rom for about ten minutes then deleted it to conform with the rule that a rom you don't own should be deleted from your computer within 24 hours. Anyway , while it has some similarities, the level of control of the character is more limited, the worlds are less interesting, and weak bosses resulting in an overal lack of excitement. Having an enemey numerical energy bar is pretty weak too. Another weakness is that you can't run while shooting. Being ablle to throw eneimes off of you was nice though as it eliminates the cheap hits found in the contra games. Overall a pretty average game c-.
[/QUOTE]
Wow. I mean, wow. You only used a few seconds of that 24 hours right? You realize every second enemy is a boss right? That's why they seem easy, because there are a million of them, so they can't all be Dr. Wily here. You also realize there's a difficulty setting, and if you think Seven Force or the Dice Palace are easy on a hard setting, you sir, are a cyborg. Also, you can run while shooting. It explains which of the characters can do that right there on the character selection screen. It gives you the choice, because some little Nancy boys need to be able to run while shooting. I prefer the good old dig in and shoot accurately plan myself.

bluemonkey1 · Postby **bluemonkey1** » January 22nd, 2007, 3:57 pm

Actually you can run while shooting. There are two control methods.

I haven't played Alien Wars but I have played the original Contra. Is Alien Wars very different because there isn't really any similarity between Contra and Gunstar Heroes?

Paul Campbell · Postby **Paul Campbell** » January 22nd, 2007, 4:39 pm

[QUOTE=Atarifever]Man, when are you SNES fans going to stop this "Genesis stole our games" stuff.
[/QUOTE]

Actually, I am no more a SNES fan than a Genesis fan, I am just a big ALien Wars fan and noticed sooooooo many similarities in the two that I had to say something.

I know Zen. I actually felt a little embarassed making the post, actually.

Zenzerotron · Postby **Zenzerotron** » January 22nd, 2007, 4:45 pm

The only real similarity I see between Gunstar Heroes and Contra Alien Wars is that in Alien Wars, you carry two guns at once. However, unlike Gunstar Heroes, you can't combine your two weapons together.

a1 · Postby a1 » January 22nd, 2007, 4:48 pm

I've never played the game, so I'm not defending it, but you can't judge it from a rom. You can't review a game you've played on your computer. If you played it on a collection or on Wii that's fine, but you need a tv, a controller, and a game that isn't constantly slowing down. I hate when people base their opinions of games off of emulations.

Michael Danehy · Postby **Michael Danehy** » January 22nd, 2007, 5:09 pm

[QUOTE=a]

I've never played the game, so I'm not defending it, but you can't judge it from a rom. You can't review a game you've played on your computer. If you played it on a collection or on Wii that's fine, but you need a tv, a controller, and a game that isn't constantly slowing down. I hate when people base their opinions of games off of emulations.

[/QUOTE]

If your game's slowing down then make sure you have "thread priority" turned on within your emulator's options. That should fix it. Kega Fusion seems the best and fastest Genesis emulator and ZSNES the fastest SNES.

For a controller I use a Microsoft Sidewinder. Works for me. I managed to get to Nick Bruiser in "Super Punch-Out" today with the ol' Sidewinder. He kicked my butt in no time, of course.

An emulator with a good graphics filter turn on is sharper than a TV anyway. It's weird playing NES games with the graphics totally smoothed over.