
	Platform NES Genre Shoot 'Em Up Publisher ASCII Developer Compile Released 1991
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Gun Nac

In the early 1990s, gamers’ attention was quickly shifting to the Sega Genesis, and SNES. Better graphics, blast processing, and Mode 7 were all the rage. Unfortunately, this also lead to some gems being overlooked on the NES as that console entered its latter years. One such title that slipped through the cracks for many people was Gun Nac, a shmup developed by Compile.

Taking place in IOTA Synthetica, a prosperous, artificial solar system, this region of space got hit by some strange cosmic energy field one fateful day. When this happened, inanimate objects sprang to life, and animals grew into hulking, violent creatures. This made the region incredibly unsafe, and the only way to save IOTA Synthetica was to destroy this energy field, and there was only one person for the job: Commander Gun-Nac (controlled by you, of course).

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From a gameplay perspective, Gun-Nac was typical of the genre at the time. Players soar through vertically scrolling levels, blasting up enemies, and getting power-ups to improve, or change their weapons. These weapons ranged from a spread shot, to a flame thrower, a wide beam shot, a homing attack, and a powerful circular shot. These could all increase in level up to 5 times. There were

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also four different types of bombs in the game, each more powerful than the one before, and destroying enemies in different ways. There was a fire bomb that made a large, circular blast, an ice attack where a wall of ice traveled back and forth across the screen, a thunder bomb utilizing lightning, and a water bomb that rained away the enemies. All of this blasting up of baddies took place over the course of eight levels.

While this all may sound pretty straightforward, what made Gun-Nac work was the joyful, silly way that this all played out. Seeing the enemies that Gun-Nac had to take on was a welcome alternative to the more serious fare out there, as we blasted at bunnies, and other cute baddies. Also, the layout of the levels, enemy attacks, and types of power-ups all worked quite well together. It was a nice mix of challenge and fun.

It was obvious that the NES was showing its age when Gun-Nac came out, as there was the occasional flicker in the graphics, and parts of the music would cut out when things exploded in-game. However, the game still looked pretty decent for its time, and the music was actually quite good. When gamers think 8-bit shmups, series like Gradius, and R-Type spring to mind quickly. Gun-Nac deserves to be mentioned right along side these games. It’s just that good.

Mr. Nash
June 17, 2009