Sunset Riders (Arcade, Mega Drive, SFC) (1991, 1992, 1993)
Developer: Konami

Review by Faididi and Co.

More fun than watching cowboys eating pudding

Story: Average

Steve, Billy, Bob, and Cormano are four good friends working as bounty hunters in the Wild West. There's no real story here, other than the heroes going after lots of bad guys, but at least the quirky main villains are memorable.

Gameplay: Excellent

Konami's Sunset Riders is an action shooter along the lines of the Contra games, because its heroes also fire in the eight cardinal directions as they run and jump through 8 side-scrolling stages. Of course, there are huge changes that go beyond replacing the evil space aliens with evil outlaws.

First off, bigger thrills are made possible by the 4-Player support (with the appropriate cabinets) and the interesting differentiation among the heroes. Steve and Billy wield revolvers that fire narrower but quicker streams of bullets, while Bob and Cormano use shotguns that unleash slower but wider bursts of lead. Although the types of power-ups in this game are fewer than those in Contra, the gunshot-doubling and the turbo-fire upgrades are more than enough, considering that all regular enemies die with a single hit, just like the heroes themselves.

That brings us to the compact yet detail-rich level and enemy designs. The stages are briefer in length, but the unique bosses, the varied environmental hazards, and the seldom-repeated backgrounds make every scene impressive. For example, in the first stage, our heroes must avoid stampeding oxen on their way to a cowardly robber baron who takes cover behind destructible barrels. Or, in the fourth stage, they immediately face the twin bosses who'll proceed to blast the entire room with explosives. Then, in the fifth stage, the heroes fight forward across a moving train, watching out for the wooden arms of passing posts and for dynamite traps that will detach the cars. There are also two bonus stages where the heroes get to blow away harmless targets for fun, and the Players will earn tons of bonus points together if they manage to strike all the targets.

Going through the stages is made more enjoyable by the new moves, which add greatly to the heroes' agility. Steve and his friends crouch down on their knees instead of lying prone like Bill and Lance, but they have a cool sliding maneuver that can help them dodge enemy fire. Borrowing from Namco's Rolling Thunder, they can leap between lower and upper floors, letting them bypass obstacles and gain a better angle of fire at the bad guys.

Controls: Excellent

The controls are almost identical to those of Contra, which means that the heroes can aim in the eight cardinal directions just as easily. Walking, crouching, and jumping are all a breeze to do, and the new moves are seamlessly integrated with the rest of the controls. The 4-Player cabinets place the buttons for Steve in an unusually skewed layout, but becoming familiar with it isn't a real problem.

Graphics: Excellent

The bold, colorful visuals bring the Wild West to life in Sunset Riders. The characters are drawn large and animated fluidly, while the backgrounds are heavily textured. Tiny details abound, from the way the heroes holster their guns when idling to the stylish entrance of every boss. A lot of humor can be seen in the animations, too. For example, the characters get squished flat if heavy objects fall onto them, and they turn into ash if they touch fire.

Audio: Excellent

The gunfire is loud, and the explosions go off with deafening booms. During the horse-riding scenes, the pounding hooves of the heroes' galloping mounts eventually become drowned out by the roaring engines of the trains that overtake them. The vocal effects are crisp and clear, whether they're painful death groans or cheesy lines of dialogue. Despite several stages sharing the same tunes, the music is inspired and catchy, and each boss comes with his very own theme.

Overall: Excellent

Sunset Riders is a top-notch action shooter that's essentially another Contra classic, but with twice as many Players and with even more memorable heroes and villains. The superb controls smoothly join the eight-way aiming with the new sliding and floor-changing moves, and the highly creative level and enemy designs set every scene apart from the rest. Fans of the genre, needless to say those who love Bill and Lance's games, will feel right at home here.

Port: Above Average (Mega Drive)

In a clever approach to its platform's limitations, the Mega Drive / Genesis version of Sunset Riders is a heavily redesigned take on the arcade game. It's still a side-scrolling action shooter, with 2-Player support, but it makes changes across the entire board. This port cuts out Steve and Bob, leaving only Billy and Cormano as available playable characters, and four of the original bosses are absent. The level design is completely reworked, and that includes the bonus stages, which now provide actual power-ups for the heroes to nab. The controls allow a second fire button to be used to aim in any direction while standing in place. Although the animations are simplified, the redrawn spritework for Billy and Cormano contains details unique to this port, and some new music can be found, too. Finally, there's a brainless versus mode where Billy and Cormano can blast each other for fun.

As interesting as the exclusive features may be, they don't totally make up for the loss of half the original cast, the removal of the scenes associated with the missing bosses, and the reduced animation quality. This port may still be a decent action shooter, but it's not for those who want a close arcade-to-console translation.

Port: Excellent (SFC)

In contrast to its Mega Drive counterpart, the SFC/SNES version of Sunset Riders sticks tightly to the original material. This port also has 2-Player support, but it retains all four heroes, as well as all of the bosses. The level design sees relatively few modifications, skipping little more than the separating cars in the train stage, the wooden lifts in the canyon stage, and the gatling guns in the final stage. Aside from the missing humorous animations for being squished by barrels, being roasted by fire, and stepping on pitchforks, the visuals are taken straight out from the arcade version (including the gorgeous ending). This port adds subtitles for the dialogue, but they're unnecessary, thanks to the crystal-clear vocal effects.

In short, the SFC/SNES version keeps the full cast of characters, generally preserves the level and enemy designs, and features most of the same awesome graphics and audio effects. This port is a great choice for action shooter aficionados, especially those seeking a relatively faithful arcade experience on the consoles.