3D Gunstar Heroes (Nintendo 3DS) Review

As a strange mix of Contra and Mega Man, 3D Gunstar Heroes brings an interesting collection of ideas together. Like Contra III: The Alien Wars, it's possible to have two weapons, but, in a neat twist, both weapons can be active; their effects are then combined in various ways. Combining the laser with the rapid-fire weapon produces a fast-firing laser, but it isn't always clear what effect the combination has, or whether the combined effect is as good as either of the weapons by themselves.

The Contra series was far more of an influence on the original than Mega Man, although being able to play the stages in any order is a clear shout-out to the Blue Bomber. Defeating bosses doesn't earn their weapons, but there are plenty of weapons to be used, anyway.

3D Gunstar Heroes is certainly not bad, but it does have a few notable problems whose existence should have been noticed and fixed before its release. The most glaring is that there is only one chance to choose having the character stand still while firing, and this option comes before the game has even started. While it will seem to most players that being able to freely move while firing is the no-brainer, obvious, and best choice, it's deadly in 3D Gunstar Heroes. Choose "Fixed Shot."

Using one of the otherwise-unused shoulder buttons as a toggle to temporarily hold the character in place would have been nice, because Fixed Shot really isn't much better - with Fixed Shot, the character has all the mobility of an average bologna sandwich. Moreover, it also makes the stand-in-one-place-holding-B-and-rotating-the-analogue-stick strategy a little too viable.

Unlike Contra - hopefully, that will be the last mention of that series - enemies don't automatically damage the player by touch; an enemy has to actually attack to do so, which gives the opportunity for melee attacks. These are executed with the same button that shoots, which can often lead to hip-tossing an enemy that isn't a threat, rather than shooting an enemy that is.

Between these two flaws, there is a lot of propensity for damage that gamers don't really deserve, but there is a health system, which is represented by a numeric Vitality score, since health bars are so 1989. This is actually a shame, because a Mega Man-esque health bar would have looked great, and perhaps the useless Score should have been eliminated and replaced with one.

Overall, 3D Gunstar Heroes is a big bag of fun. Players run, jump, and shoot through levels in an order of their choosing, but the second level is inordinately difficult to the extent that it nearly ruins the game altogether. It consists of a three-round boss fight, with no checkpoints. There are also no invincibility frames, although certain bosses get them, which can lead to stun-lock deaths against bosses with annoying regularity.

More needs to be said about the Underground Mine, because it's absurd. It really is a three-round boss fight, with no checkpoints or health drops. Worse, there is a random factor: the first round is always the same, but every round after can present a different boss. It might take two tries to win down the first round, and then three tries to take down the second, which will have players fighting that first boss five times at that point, assuming 3D Gunstar Heroes doesn't randomly choose a different one to fight after the player has figured out the strategy on the other. This repeats for a while, and each main enemy has to be fought on each attempt. Even on Easy difficulty, this is a laborious and needlessly difficult task.

The graphics are pretty goofy, because all the characters are super-deformed, but that's part of the appeal. The visuals also have that distinct SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis look to them, and are complemented by a great soundtrack, with boss music in the Underground Maze sounding like it came straight out of Contra III: The Alien Wars, which is high praise indeed.