I've been playing a lot of Platinum Games lately, and I couldn't stop thinking about how Platinum Games are kinda like the modern version of Treasure Games, where action, style, mechanics and replayability take front row over any other factors in their games.

I'm a big fan of retro games, but having this thought I just realised I have not played any Treasure titles, besides the original Sin and Punishment. So going through their catalog, as I am now playing through a lot of Platinum titles, I will also be playing through Treasure titles alongside them, and there is no better place to start than their first title Gunstar Heroes.

I really liked Gunstar Heroes. It's like any other run and gun like Metal Slug or Contra, but the chaos is dialed up to 10. There's is just so much happening on the screen with shit exploding and effects everywhere that you can't help but feel so much dopamine rush through your brain.

The game has more of a focus on shooting and dodging bullets however, rather than platforming. There is next to no platforming in this game, so it is safer to say this is closer to something like a shmup than it is to Metal Slug/Contra. There are even some cool shmup sections. The bossfights themselves feel like something that was designed in cuphead. So much fun, but definetly more forgiving than Cuphead.

Speaking of difficulty, like every other retro shmup, I was expecting something hard. But surprisingly I never got a game over and just beat the whole game on my first playthrough on Normal difficulty. So I can see myself giving this another try on hard mode.

There's nothing too deep about Gunstar Heroes, it's just pure mindless run and gun action with a lot of effects happening on screen. Where you'll have the most fun is with the bossfights as it requires some level of thinking as you'll need to understand boss patterns in order to dodge their attacks. What a great little arcadey title that I can see myself replaying. I look forward to playing more of Treasure Games.