Gunstar Red

Gunstar Red is one of two playable protagonists in Gunstar Heroes.

Appearance
Gunstar Red has spiky brown hair, a white and red uniform, brown boots and wrist bracers. In Gunstar Super Heroes, Gunstar Red's gender was changed to female.

History
Gunstar Red and his siblings Gunstar Blue, Gunstar Yellow and Gunstar Green were planetary defenders. The evil god of ruin known as Golden Silver was destroying cities on Earth from the moon, and fueled by a righteous anger and a desire to stop Earth from being destroyed, travelled to the moon to confront the mad god. After a lengthy battle the Gunstars managed to come out on top, sealing Golden Silver in the moon.

To make sure Golden Silver could never revive again they took the source of it's power; four mystical gems and hid them in various locations on Earth. Having been pushed to their limits, the four exhausted Gunstars put themselves into a cryogenic sleep and prayed the people of Earth could rebuild from the destruction.

Generations later, Earth had built a new civilization, but the tales of Golden Silver lived on. General Grey, the leader of a dictatorship known as The Emprie, desired this power for his own. and set about reviving the god of ruin. Whilst on an exurcsion to the moon to search for the power gems, Dr. Brown, an Empire scientist, came across the Gunstars in stasis, and revived Gunstar Red alongside his siblings Blue and Yellow.

Red was shocked to discover Green had lost his memories somewhere along the way and was now being used by General Grey to further his own plans. Red, determined not to let Golden Silver be revived teamed up with Gunstar Blue and went to defeat The Empire's soldiers and generals; Pink, Green, Orange and Black in order to get back Golden Silver's gems and prevent it from being revived.

Unfortunately upon returning to base Red and Blue are shocked to discover Dr. Brown has been tied up and Yellow has been kidnapped by Empire general Smash Daisaku. After defeating Smash, Red is forced to give up the gems to General Grey in exchange for Yellow's life.

With all four gems in General Grey's hands, he and his generals fly to the moon to begin reviving Golden Silver. Red and Blue pursue the Empire with one of Dr. Brown's spacecrafts and after fighting their way through Pink, Orange, Black and Green once more, they make they manage to find and corner Grey.

Unfortunately Golden Silver is revived and Red and Blue are forced to engage it in battle once again. Unable to harm Golden Silver himself, the twins instead destroy the gems with their shots to put an end to the maniacal god once and for all.

Trivia

 * Gunstar Red's gameplay style is a style referred to as 'Free Shot', allowing him to run and gun which gives him the ability to fight and travel far quicker than Blue. The downside is it's far harder for him to land difficult shots due to having less directional abilities than his brother.
 * Red's weakness can be somewhat mitigated by the Homing Shot ammo which will follow opponents meaning aiming isn't a necessity.
 * Red is featured in the Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics collection alongside Sonic the Hedgehog, Axel Stone, Gilius Thunderhead, the Centurion, Joe Musashi and ToeJam and Earl.