Overall 9.4 Graphics 7.3 Sound 7.3 Addictive 9 Story 7.3 Depth 7 Difficulty 5.7
10
Kiss-Kiss-Bang-Bang! Jamal999
-Genre: Shoot'em'up (Run and Gun)
-Developer and Publisher: Konami
-Year: 1991 (arcade) - 1993 (SNES)
-Players: single/multiplayer co-op (arcade= 1-4 players, SNES 1-2 players)
-In a fistful of dolla... Sorry, I mean, "in a fistful of words": brilliant. Have you ever dreamt of being a Far West hero, kicking bandits' hind ends, being a bounty hunter, gaining reward's money, kissing saloon ladies and all? You're welcome in Sunset Riders, where You can do all the good old Clint Eastwood stuff...In a cartoon style!
Introduction:
"Bang! Get your sombrero down, Cormano!" Ok, let's go. Four characters (and a fantastic and chaotic 4-players mode!), thousands of bandits, eight bosses, 380.000 Dollars from their rewards (plus other little monetary awards). A bunch of Saloon Chicks waiting for your kisses and floods of tequila or whiskey. What else. Oh, yeah: riding your horse in the sunset (or in a bandit train assault...). Enjoy!
Plot:
Four bounty hunters and one mission: eat every single dollar of the American most wanted rewards. And They'll do it pretty good! Yeah, not a great plot, but I know that if You try the game, this little thing wouldn't matter any more. I'm sure of it. "Gimme some dynamite, Billy!".
Aesthetics:
The cartoon style and the country music are the perfect mix for an epic Far West game. And, I don't know why, but sometime I feel like in a Kill Bill movie...Never mind of my strange feelings, let's see the potential of this game.
Graphics:
You will live a West cartoon or comic. The Japanese designers (directed by Hideyuki Tsujimoto) fortunately didn't made it all in a manga style, but they decided to make it a little bit more "western". So, I think something like 70 or 80 % "western" and 30 - 20 % "manga" will fit the description of the final results. A well balanced choice, for both Japanese and "western" players. A little defect: the first three playable characters seems to be too similar (that's why I love Cormano...or because he has a cool sombrero and a beard...like me?), Steve and Billy above all. And putting down Bob's hat wasn't an original move...But, this is not a noticeable problem. The backgrounds will become more complex going through the entire game and each level's got a personality, a style, an interpretation. Of course, the bosses characterization is one of the best things in the game. From the first to the last most wanted, from the first to the last level You will be surprised!
Sound:
Can You hear (electronically created) banjo, guitar and trumpet's sounds? Yes? Can You feel the Western country music flowing through your veins? Can You smash the buttons following the rythm? You're one of us, You dirty bounty killer! For real, I think that the music has a significant role in the success of a game. And in Sunset Riders, You can feel like a true bounty hunter listening to a very good soundtrack, while You're punishing bandits and villains. Finally, the game's musics follows you through the game like a good guide: You will hear them, but They won't distract You. And yes, of course, sounds are well programmed too, from the gun shots to the explosions; from the characters voices to the rampant oxen. "But... Hey, where are the buffaloes? Just behind my back! Let's run!!!".
Game play:
Take your gun and fight all the top wanted bandits. That's it. Ok, going deeply, You can select 4 players:
-Steve: A blond cowboy with yellow pants. He loves his revolvers...
-Billy: A blond professional gunman (you see the strings under the sleeves? Seems VERY professional).
-Bob: A...BLOND (something to do with Clint Eastwood?) man with long hair. And a long rifle too.
-Carmon: The Mexican with the sombrero, the rifle and the beard. The sombrero hides an enormous cannon. No, just kidding pal. He wears a sombrero because he's bald...No, I was kidding again. Never trust me. I'm a bounty killer.
The bullets will fly all around the screen, but pay attention to your enemies' bullets...Don't let'em touch You, otherwise, You'll lose your life. And if you haven't got enough coins, You can't play (uhm...We are not in my little old arcade. Never mind).
Eight stages and eight bosses. I never reached the end of the game (I only got to the fifth level until now. And I spent floods of cash for coins XD ) so I need to ride over my ignorance with the great and glorious help of Wikipedia. Here's the list of all the bosses (and their respective rewards):
-Level 1: Simon Greedwell (10.000$). A "greedy" and deceitful rancher;
-Level 2: Hawkeye Hank Hatfield (20.000$). An agile and fast gunman.
-Level 3: Dark Horse (30.000$). A terrible horse rider with a fashionable Yankee official hat.
-Level 4: The Smith Bros (40.000$). Two sick bombers.
-Level 5: El Greco (50.000$). A Mexican with a great shield. And, If you want to know, I always ended my coins trying to kill this guy. Soon I'll have my revenge!!! XD
-Level 6: Chief Scalpem (60.000$). A deadly native American shaman, He uses knives and magics.
-Level 7: Paco Loco (70.000$). He's a fat man. But he has got a machine gun. If You want, You can contradict him...
-Level 8: Sir Richard Rose (100.000$) An English big boss. He's a devil: fast, agile, he wears a bullet proof armor...And He's blond (phew, again...I have nothing versus blond persons...But this game is full of blonds XD)..
There are two bonus levels where You have to shoot (in first person view) to different targets (they will not shoot at You). Here You can earn a bit of money.
About the weapons:, there are two upgrades (when You die, You lose all the upgrades): the gold and the silver star medal. The former makes you a fast-fire guy, the latter gives you a second weapon (another pistol or another rifle). You can find these stars in many different ways: entering a Saloon, killing the bandit with a sack on his back...
The enemies are gunmen (the green are normal, the blue are fast, the violet fast and intelligent, so pay attention to the differences), women that throw dynamite, guys with knives...And wild herds of oxen chasing your back...
The controls are easy, but some boss battles are really though and You could hit the wrong button and...Game over.
You will even ride a horse, chasing a train...
AND IMPORTANT; REEEEAAALLY IMPORTANT: PAY ATTENTION TO THE FIRST RAKE ON THE GROUND... YOU WILL REALLY ENJOY IT XD ... What are You waiting for?
Conclusions:
Get your sombrero/hat, wear your western outfit, take your revolver/rifle and...Get ready to earn your dirty fistful of dollars, You cowboy/bounty hunter! Good luck. May the gunpowder force be with you!
Your newbie-newbie reviewer, Jamal999
Graphics 9 Sound 9 Addictive 10 Story 6 Depth 10 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 4.4/5
Submitted: 01-20-13
Review Replies: 0
10
Feel like a hero GOTHwarCHILD
This game brings back many memories for me. I never did finish it on the arcades so I was glad to get back to it. The game its self is a side scrolling game, but there is depth to the platform as you can often jump up to a higher level or walk into doors for cash awards or weapon up grades. The game is a western style theme and as such, the 2 weapons up grades give you a upgrade to your shoot power and lets you carry two weapons. The 4 players you can choose from vary from hand gun to shot gun and the upgrades effect each weapon differently. I have had 3 players on this game so its nice to know this is not the 2 player version that was in many arcades when I was a kid.
This is an old game, but we know that, that's why we are all on a retro gaming site. For its time the graphics are good. The sound can be annoying. Something I don't remember from back in the day. The sound is not broken. I just have old ears now. Its a pretty basic story line. You are a bounty hunters going after different people for there rewards. Is the game gets on there are parts where u have bad guys popping up all the time, but there stages are short. so it does not equal more game play. Well I am glad to say I did finish the game and its not a hard game., this is helped along by infinite credits of course. It does have replay value though. I think I will be challenging my self to finish the game with the max of 254 lives u can have for pumping in the credit
The controls are very simple. Its the basic for directions and 2 buttons. I have my PS3 controllers connected to my pc witch works flawlessly with every game on this site to be fair. The buttons are a jump and a shoot button. There is the ability to slide across the ground by walking in a directions and pulling towards the ground as u want to slide, This is a very useful skill to get away from bullets. That is pretty much the aim of the game. Stay alive and keep shooting. The game style graphics and simple controls makes the a good game to play with the kids. There is no gore of any kind. My daughter had fun playing this with her mom and dad.
This games value is in the playing though. Its simple and addictive. Sad there was never a squeal to this game. I'm sure I would have played it.
Graphics 7 Sound 5 Addictive 10 Story 7 Depth 5 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 3.3/5
Submitted: 01-30-13
Review Replies: 1
9.5
Sunset Riders for MAME classgame
You know what I like most about playing MAME games online, the Shift button allows for the player to
insert as many coins as you wish and you won't have to worry about losing any REAL money. This may be the cure to the Cactus McCoy sized void in my heart (thanks for nothing flash, though I'm still hoping the internet archives Flash gaming center will pick it up one day)
Gameplay and Story: In this game you are one of four bounty hunters (but since you can't really change the settings on RetroArch you HAVE to play as the default character) you are out to kill many bosses including the Big Bad Richard Rose, you collect money from the enemies you kill, drink beer, and flirt and rescue many women. I wish we could play as a different character as the gun for the default seems kind of weak
Graphics: well I'm pretty sure that MAME has better graphics than most games do
Sound: Okay I really do like the Level complete music in this game, I feel like I've heard it somewhere else before like as if it were included in a stage musical or pop song, it sounds similar to something I just can't figure out what
Addictive: Well I played through the whole thing, I guess because since this is a mame and unlimited coin
inserts means I would have a stronger chance of finishing the game
Depth: Hard to tell, I haven't finished the Genesis version
Difficulty: I'd say about Medium, easier than the console version
Overall: I can't believe how quick and easy it is to finish a MAME game, considering that I've played Superman for MAME awhile back and I finished it in under 90 minutes
I'm going to give this a 9.5 since I finished it for the first time today
Graphics 6 Sound 8 Addictive 7 Story 9 Depth 6 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 01-28-21
Review Replies: 2