Gunstar Super Heroes

• Title — Gunstar Super Heroes • Developer — Treasure • Publisher — Sega (JP/NA) THQ (EU) • Director — Tetsu Okano • Producer — Masato Maegawa • Designer — Hideyuki Suganami • Programmer — Kazuhiko Ishida • Artist — Tetsuhiko Kikuchi • Writer — Tetsu Okano • Composer — Norio Hanzawa • Released — October 6, 2005October 25, 2005November 4, 2005 • Genre — Run and gun • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Game Boy Advance

The gameplay makes a number of changes from the original Gunstar Heroes. The controls for Red and Blue no longer distinguish by the Free and Fixed Shot, and both have more advanced, equal, and versatile controls. The Throw from the original is taken out, and various melee attacks are now performed by using the A and B buttons in combination with the D-pad. The ability to combine different weapons is temporarily absent - instead, the player has the option to select from three weapon types at any time in the game. The game also uses a supercharge meter that fills as the player defeats enemies. Using this energy allows the player to fire a powerful attack.

Taking place after the destruction of the "God of Ruin" (also known as Golden Silver, the final boss) at the end of Gunstar Heroes, the explosion created four moons orbiting the Earth. However, many years later, the creation of a fifth moon reveals a plan to resurrect the malevolent Empire and Golden Silver once again. Protagonists Red and Blue, named as such in tribute to the legendary warriors from the original Gunstar Heroes, combat the Empire as part of an organization called "The Third Eye". Together with Yellow, the Gunstars must travel to the moons, stop the resurrected Empire, and recapture the Treasure Gems, four mystical stones with an unknown power that drove the story of the previous game. Super Heroes has different storylines based on the difficulty chosen and which character the player is playing as. Most of Gunstar Super Heroess characters are named after characters from the original Gunstar Heroes, and while many of these new characters bear distinct resemblances to the equivalent characters from the first game, one notable exception is Red, who is female, unlike the original Gunstar Red, who was male.