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The first four stages of the game can be played in any order from a stage select screen. Unlike most games in the genre, the player has life in the form of a numerical health counter. However, the player only has one life, although there are unlimited continues. The game's main focus is on its [[Boss (video gaming)|boss]] encounters, which are often made up of multiple [[Sprites (computer graphics)|sprites]] allowing for fluid movement and simulated scaling and rotation. There are often multiple bosses per stage, each with their own special moves and abilities.
== Plot ==
The game's backstory concerns an evil organization that created an extremely powerful robot, Golden Silver, for use as a weapon to destroy civilization from the moon. Through the efforts of the Gunstar family: twin brothers Red and Blue; sister Yellow; and older brother Green, Golden Silver is defeated and the four gems that served as its power source were taken and hidden throughout the Earth. The Gunstars, exhausted, seal themselves in stasis pods on the moon while civilization rebuilds itself. As time passes, Golden Silver begins to be seen as a God that will lead righteous people to paradise. General Gray, leader of a dictatorship known as the 'Empire', sends an expedition to the moon in order to excavate the four gems and awaken Golden Silver, so that he can use the android's power to rule over the planet. There, the leader of the expedition, Professor Brown, finds the Gunstars in stasis. The Gunstars learn of the Empire's plan, and learn that Green is helping the Empire to resurrect Golden Silver. The Gunstars convince Professor Brown to betray the Empire and help them stop the revival of Golden Silver.
Red and Blue journey to recover the gems with the aid of Yellow and Professor Brown. In their quest to obtain the gems, Red and Blue encounter and defeat General Grey's four lieutenants: The diva Pink and her henchmen Kain and Kotaro at an archaeological dig site; the mind-controlled Green and his shape-shifting robot Seven Force in an underground railway mine; military-man Orange at a launch base, and inventor and gambler Black in his mysterious Dice Palace. Grey's second-in-command, Smash Daisaku, continually challenges Red and Blue throughout the game.
After securing the last gem, the Gunstars return to base to find Professor Brown tied up and Yellow kidnapped by General Grey, who demands the gems in return for her safety. The Gunstars fight their way to the launch bay of the Empire's capital space ship, the Ark, where Smash Daisaku challenges Red and Blue to a final fight. He is defeated, but manages to get Yellow at gunpoint. Red and Blue surrender the gems to Grey, who releases Yellow and sets off on the Ark for the planet's moon, where Golden Silver is sealed away. The Gunstars commandeer a small ship to chase after the Ark, and after defeating Seven Force again, board the Ark just as it lands on the moon's surface. Red and Blue destroy the ship's core, and make their way to the bridge, where Grey once again sends his lieutenants to defeat Red and Blue. Each of the lieutenants is defeated, culminating in a final duel with Green. Red and Blue knock him unconscious, and his mind control device is destroyed. Grey, cornered, attempts to use the Gems to fight the Gunstars, but the gems attack Grey and fly into the chamber where Golden Silver was sealed. Golden Silver awakens and fights Red and Blue, but is ultimately defeated but the robot flees in an attempt to destroy the planet. General Gray and the Empire attempt to stop it, but are obliterated. The Gunstars begin to panic until Green, in his Seven Force and no longer mind-controlled, chooses to fight Golden Silver to atone for his actions while mind-controlled. The Seven Force and Golden Silver collide, and both Green and Golden Silver disappear in the explosion.
== Development ==
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