top captains and eventually reaching their hideout, where they confront the Master, who already has the Valkiry in her possession. Using the Valkiry to power herself, the Master engages Axel and Ruka in a decisive, final battle, but is eventually destroyed and the Valkiry is freed. The ending differs for each character: if Axel defeats the Master, he is joined by Ruka, who in her excitement takes the Valkiry and runs off, with the weary Axel only barely managing to keep up with her; if Ruka defeats the Master, she accidentally drops the Valkiry and it shatters, and in her frustration, she vows never to hunt for treasure again, although a caption mentions that she eventually stayed in the business with Axel. Release Rapid Reload was released in Europe and Japan but not in North America, reportedly due to Sony Computer Entertainment America's policy against releasing 2D games for the PlayStation. Reception On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored the PlayStation version of Gunners Heaven a 26 out of 40. The same version also received a 27 out of 40 from Famitsu PS. American magazine Next Generation reviewed the Japanese version of the game as an import, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Aside from hand cramps sure to come from mashing the fire button for three straight hours, it would be extremely difficult not to enjoy playing Gunner's Heaven." Computer and Video Games gave the game an 89% score, considering it one of the best "platform blasters" while praising the "lush background, great spot FX and excellent game design" but said it is not as great as Gunstar Heroes. Maximum gave the PAL conversion a mixed review, describing it as a poor clone of Gunstar Heroes and elaborating that the "movement of the sprites, the enormity of the bosses, the ingenuity of the gameplay - in every respect the lowly 16-bit Sega title trounces this game. Rapid Reload doesn't even feature the simultaneous two-player mode of Gunstar ..." They also criticized the sloppy PAL conversion, and scored the game two out of five stars. Notes References External links Gunners Heaven at Hardcore Gaming 101 1995 video games Media.Vision games Multiplayer and single-player video games Science fiction video games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation Network games Run and gun games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists Single-player video games Video games