Note the "Super" in the middle.
Gunstar Super Heroes is a 2005 run-and-gun game for Game Boy Advance developed by Treasure, and a sequel to its 1993 game Gunstar Heroes. The European release was released as Gunstar Future Heroes.
Many years has passed since the events of original game and the destruction of Gold Silver. In meantime, a new Empire has rised again and reveals a plan to bring in the second Gold Silver for its use. Under Doctor Brown's order, two protagonists Red and Blue, along with their handler Yellow, are sent to stop the disaster the Empire is about to initiate, retriving the mystical gems and fighting the Empire's various subordinates Pink, Smash Daisaku and Green, the last of which seems to have even bigger plan in mind. If this sounds familiar, it's because this is basically a remake that has all of the original game's story beats, with some minor differences and Story Branching depending on selected difficulty mode.
Tropes used in this game:
- Advancing Wall of Doom: There's one space on Black's boardgame where you need to get to the bottom of a shaft before you get crushed to death by a tombstone.
- A.I. Breaker: Green often gets stuck in a short Teleport Spam pattern.
- All There in the Manual: The only source of Red's gender in Super Heroes, as far as Japanese media goes, is in magazine previews and interviews.
- Ambiguous Gender: Red's gender was never given in the Japanese version of Super Heroes, not helped with the somewhat boyish voice the character was given which could swing in either direction, and further muddied by masculine speech patterns which are somewhat unusual but not entirely unheard of for female characters. Western versions of the game averts this by explicitly referring Red as a girl.
- Bittersweet Ending: Super Heroes has multiple endings, and four of them are this. In both Easy Mode endings and one Normal Mode ending, Green still sacrifices himself to stop Gold Silver from blowing up Earth. In another Normal Mode ending, Yellow is the one who sacrifices herself using Seven Force to stop Gold Silver.
- Changed My Mind, Kid: At least based on the Megalith's opinion of them. When Golden Silver begins to fly towards Earth to destroy it in suicidal anger at the end of Blue's Hard campaign, the Megalith says that it won't help the Gunstars stop it, and neither will the other Treasures as they have no stake in the fate of this universe's Earth. This turns out to be untrue as the Treasures intervene to save the Gunstars' lives after they crash their ships into Golden Silver, saving them from death.
- Char Clone: Green in Super Heroes. Green is the son of the Empire's first governor, and in order to get revenge he works for his father's usurper.
- Company Cross References: Some of the dialogue includes references to previous Treasure games.
- In Red's story, Golden Silver claims to be "a mere silhouette mirage" of her.
- Black explains he used his gem to hire "alien soldiers" from another dimension.
- Darker and Edgier: The plot and dialogue become this as you move up the difficulty levels. Death toll gets higher, Chronic Backstabbing Disorder happens a lot, and so on.
- Deletion as Punishment: One Advancing Wall of Doom area in the original Japanese version of Super Heroes has the game warn you that if you fail it, your save data will be erased and tells you to take precautions due to this. It's all a lie, though, and this warning isn't present in the localized versions.
- Demoted to Extra: Smash Daisaku was a formidable boss who is fought twice in Gunstar Heroes, but in Gunstar Super Heroes Smash only has one easy optional battle in the dice maze.
- Do Not Run with a Gun: Unlike the previous game, Gunstar Super Heroes consolidates both fixed firing and free firing into one mode; whichever fire button you press determines your movement freedom. It also offers a third firing mode that lets you fix your aim direction but still move.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: With a touch of Gainax Ending. On most difficulties, both Red and Blue's endings are all bittersweet, generally with Green sacrificing himself to stop Golden Silver from destroying Earth (with Yellow doing it instead in one ending.) But on Hard Mode, particularly in Blue's ending that seems like it'll be bleakest (with Blue, Red, Green, and Yellow all planning to sacrifice themselves), we see them apparently survive thanks to the crystals they had collected (and fought). On Red's Hard Mode ending, it's still just Green that sacrifices himself, but he is also apparently saved by the crystals.
- Easy-Mode Mockery: Super Heroes does this in an inventive way, as the story is affected not just by what character you play as, but the difficulty as well. On Easy, all villains are robbed of their depth to become one liner-spouting Saturday morning cartoon villains, while on Hard they become more tragic, while more of the plot is revealed and more plot twists are involved.
- Face–Heel Turn: If you play through Super Heroes as Blue on hard mode Yellow eventually joins Green and the two of them take over the Empire.
- Fission Mailed: The File Crash stage in the second game threatens to erase your game if you fail in the Japanese Super Heroes. Of course, turns out it is an empty threat. And said threat has been removed in North American and European releases for no reason.
- Flash of Pain: In Super Heroes, taking damage has this happen to your character, along with a small flinch.
- Generation Xerox: The characters in Gunstar Super Heroes all share names and likenesses with the ones from the original. Fully lampshaded at one point.
- Greater-Scope Villain: In Super Heroes, the Megalith, the self-proclaimed secret fifth gem, represents an entity known as Outside Space.
- Hard Mode Perks: The story of Gunstar Super Heroes gets more fleshed out the higher the difficulty level you're on.
- Last-Minute Hookup: In Blue's Hard mode ending, after they decide to ram their ship to the God of Ruin, Blue tells Red that he loves her.
- Market-Based Title: This sequel is named Gunstar Future Heroes in Europe.
- Multiple Endings: In Super Heroes, the ending depends the chosen difficulty level and the character you are playing as. On Easy mode, the story is simple ('kill the bad guys!'); on Normal mode, the story gets a bit more serious, and there are hints of darker forces; and Hard mode has a dark story. Also, Red's path is generally more idealistic while Blue's is cynical.
- Navel-Deep Neckline: Pink in this game wears a skinny outfit that has a plunging v-shaped neckline in her portrait.
- Same Plot Sequel: While formally a sequel to Gunstar Heroes, it recycles almost every level, boss fight, plot point, and music track from the original game.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: The final boss in Super features a homing green projectile flying around at all times. It is practically impossible to dodge... but doesn't actually deal damage. You'll want to get hit on purpose to trigger Mercy Invincibility and have an easier time dodging the other attacks.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In Blue's Hard Mode ending, the Megalith reveals its true colors, but it is undealt with as the story ends right after Golden Silver is destroyed.
