Video Game / Gunlord

Jump, Shoot, Explore.

Gunlord is a 2012 Run-and-Gun Platform Game developed by NG:DEV.TEAM for the Neo Geo, and later in the same year for the Sega Dreamcast, long after production had ceased for both consoles. An Updated Re-release, Gunlord X, was released in May 2019 for the Nintendo Switch and in December 2019 for the PlayStation 4. The stages are much larger and include new enemies, bosses, and an extra level.

At the end of Last Hope, the lone pilot Vanessa Gaiden succeeded in destroying the evil empire. However, her victory was short-lived as she went missing in action and never made it home. As her newlywed husband Gordian Gaiden searches for her, a new evil arises in the form of a demonic planet lord known as "The Master", who can create and control beings made of steel and enslave people by absorbing their souls. Detecting this evil, Gordian frees himself from capture and flies to Kairos II to destroy this evil and hopefully find his wife.

Donning the Gunlord armor, Gordian starts with a Spread Shot ability but can find power-ups such as Phoenix (a large fireball) and Bounce (bullets that ricochet off the walls). His gun also allows him to shoot a beam that he can move in any direction that destroys most enemies and bullets fired from them. Gordian can also roll into a ball that renders him invincible to most weapons and can drop bombs with it, but has limited use as rolling shares the same gauge as the beam, which refills automatically when not being used. Lastly, the Side Wave is a powerful attack that covers nearly the whole screen and can clear out most enemies. He'll need to fight his way across 10 stages (11 in X), navigating and exploring stages while shooting every enemy in sight.

Also see the Turrican series, which the game draws heavy inspiration from.

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Gunlord contains the following tropes:

• 100% Completion: The results screen after every stage displays how many diamonds, big diamonds and 1-Ups were collected in every stage. The only way to 100% the game is to collect every single one in a single playthrough.
• 24-Hour Armor: Gordian is always shown wearing the Gunlord armor, even when he's relaxing on the beach.
• Advertised Extra: Vanessa is featured in a lot of promo art, but doesn't appear until the ending and isn't a playable character.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Some of the bosses are absolutely huge. Look no further than the mechanical abomination that serves as the first boss or the giant mechanical dragon that serves as the second.
• Auto-Scrolling Level: The second level, Air Stride, justified by being a horizontal shoot'em up level, Stage 6: Acid Pipe and the new Stage 10 in Gunlord X, Electric Drive, in which Gordian is wearing a rocket pack.
• Badass in Distress:
  • Gordian's adventure begins with him searching for his missing newlywed wife Vanessa, who had just destroyed the evil empire after a dramatic battle all by herself.
  • The opening scene has Gordian captured and being sentenced by three men, but manages to free himself and escape.
• Big Bad: The Master is spreading chaos and despair throughout the galaxy and Gordian takes it upon himself to destroy him.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: Due to the development team being based in Germany, there are quite a few grammatical errors in the cutscenes that tend to get changed with each release, but it gets the job done.
• Boss-Only Level: The final level is solely dedicated to fighting the last boss.
• Boss Warning Siren: Every boss is accompanied by the announcer saying "Warning: Boss Encounter" before each battle, with the exception of the last one.
• Bowdlerize: The opening in the original Neo Geo version included gore and some profane language, and each release had it toned down. By the time of X, none of it is present at all. The Golden Ending even omits a comment on how hot Vanessa is.
• Bridal Carry: Gordian carries his wife in his arms like this in the ending, appropriately enough.
• Bullet Hell: Many bosses tend to fire several shots that cover the whole screen. Fortunately, most of them can be cleared out with Gordian's beam weapon. And the Shoot 'Em Up levels are filled with them.
• Collection Sidequest: Diamonds and extra lives are counted on the results screen. In X, by collecting all of the big diamonds in one stage in one run, the player is given an extra permanent continue. Have fun exploring!
• Collision Damage: Gordian will take damage upon touching most enemies, but some of the aerial bomber types can be used as platforms, which is required to collect some big diamonds and powerups. Some of the smaller enemies can be stomped on and can also be destroyed if Gordian rolls into them in ball mode.
• Degraded Boss: Hope you enjoyed the boss of stage 4, because it becomes a regular enemy at that point.
• Down the Drain: Stage 6, Acid Pipe take place in the sewers.
• Elevator Action Sequence: The boss of stage 4 and the lead up to it takes place in an elevator.
• Eternal Engine: Stage 4: Techno Dungeon, Stage 8: Factory Five and Stage 9: Electric Climb are filled to the brim with techno goodness.
• Excuse Plot: You're saving the world from destruction by shooting everything in your path. You might even forget that you're searching for your wife until the ending.
• Eye Scream: One of the captors that Gordian shoots to pieces in the opening has his eyeball flying out. This was removed in X.
• Fanservice: Vanessa shows off her butt in a thong bikini in the Golden Ending. Her clothes are also torn and showing skin when Gordian saves her in the regular ending.
• Flunky Boss: Many of the bosses are accompanied by enemies or create them during their fight.
• Game-Over Man: The game over screen presents you with the Master's ugly mug.
• Giant Hands of Doom: The Master possesses these during the final battle.
• Golden Ending: An extra scene is added to the ending if Gordian manages to collect all of the big diamonds, showing him and his wife relaxing on the beach next to the skull of the Master, surrounded by diamonds.
• Goomba Stomp: Gordian can destroy some of the smaller enemies by jumping on them.
• Happy Ending Override: Of sorts. Vanessa was seen as the galaxy's last hope and succeeded in destroying the evil empire in her game, but instead of heading home to celebrate her victory, she went missing. Fortunately, Gordian receives a distress signal in the ending, tracks her down and reunites with her.
• Hero of Another Story: Vanessa Gaiden, Gordian's newlywed wife, is the protagonist of NG:DEV.TEAM's previous title, Last Hope. This game starts where hers ends.
• Invisible Block: The stages are filled to the brink with them, and can only be revealed if Gordian shoots where they're hidden. Not only do they provide power-ups until they're destroyed, but they often lead to hidden items.
• Load-Bearing Boss: Defeating the stage 4 boss causes the elevator you're on to malfunction and descend, sending you to the next level.
• Marathon Level: Many of the stages in X have been turned into this, and if you're hunting for the big diamonds for extra continues, one stage can take about a half hour to complete.
• Nintendo Hard: The game provides plenty of lives and continues, and you're gonna need them. The screen can be filled with enemies that will attack the moment they appear, and on top of hard bosses and precision platforming, the game can be pretty tough. The Neo Geo and Dreamcast versions also need to be beaten in one sitting. Lose all your lives and continues and it's back to the title screen.
• One-Word Title: First announced as "Gun Lord", then became "GunLord" and then Gunlord.
• Our Dragons Are Different: The boss of the third stage is a dragon. The boss of the second stage is a mechanical beast that resembles one as well.
• Platform Game: Along with a lot of enemies to shoot, there's a lot of tight platforming involved.
• Powered Armor: The Gunlord armor counts as this and allows Gordian to roll into a ball.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Gordian pulls one in the opening where he escapes from captivity and shoots his captors. It varies between each version.
  (Neo Geo): Bitches! Die in hell!
  (Dreamcast): Your are cute! Die in hell!
  Gunlord X: You are cute! I am the Gunlord! Have a nice day!
• Retraux: The game's graphics are designed to resemble older arcade shooters from the 80s and 90s, despite being released in 2012.
• Rolling Attack: Similar to Turrican, Gordian can roll into a ball and destroy some smaller enemies with it, and can drop bombs in this mode. He's also immune to most attacks and using this is necessary to discover secret paths that lead to some hidden items.
• Ruins for Ruins' Sake: The first and third stages take place in ancient ruins.
• Save-Game Limits: X finally allows you to save your progress, but you're only allowed one save slot. Until you beat the game, you can replay any level you've already beaten and you're shown whether you've collected all of the big diamonds for each stage. The save is deleted upon beating the game, but whatever continues you've obtained is permanent and carries on to future playthroughs.
• Scenery Dissonance: In the Neo Geo and Dreamcast versions, after going through two Eternal Engine levels, the final boss was fought in a rather out of place and plain-looking church. The background was changed in X to a more colorful lair in space.
• Skippable Boss: The mid-boss in Stage 3 can either be skipped by Sequence Breaking by jumping past some platforms early on, or going through a tunnel in ball mode right above the area where it's fought in.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Gordian uses his suit to teleport a gun into his hands in the opening cutscene to shoot his captors.
• Spread Shot: Gordian's default shooting style is the initial burst. Many bosses and enemies in the shoot'em up levels are also given this.
• Unexpected Shmup Level:: The second level is a traditional horizontal shoot'em up level where players control Gordian's ship. The new level in X is another one, but has Gordian on a jetpack. And yes, both levels are filled with Bullet Hell.
• Updated Re-release: The Neo Geo version had a 1.1 update, which along with some minor tweaks, added a vocal narration to the opening scene (and is the only version of the game to feature one). Gunlord X is almost an entirely new experience, as the stages have been expanded, new bosses and enemies appear, and even a new stage has been added. The screen's horizontal output has also been slightly expanded.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: The Master possesses the ability to absorb people's souls.