It was Treasure's debut game, originally released on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in 1993.
The game's premise is centered around a pair of characters, Gunstar Red and Gunstar Blue, in their efforts to stop an evil empire from recovering four powerful gems. The characters can fire guns and perform a series of acrobatic maneuvers to fight enemies across each stage. There are four weapons in the game which can be combined with one another to create different shot types.
Gunstar Heroes was a critical success, being praised for its frantic action and advanced graphics. It helped establish Treasure's place in the industry, and introduced several design conventions which would become characteristic of their later work such as large bosses and a unique sense of humor.
Sega released a "Gunstar Heroes Treasure Box" in 2006 in Japan, a compilation of Treasure games for the PlayStation 2 as part of their Sega Ages 2500 series. Included on the compilation were Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy (1994), and Alien Soldier (1995). The Japanese and international versions of each game were included, along with the Game Gear ports of Gunstar Heroes and Dynamite Headdy, and a Genesis prototype of Gunstar Heroes. It was released digitally on the PlayStation Store in 2012.
