Recommended Sega Genesis Game of the week: Sunset Riders

The Wild Wild West - 16-bit style.

Sunset Riders was picked out by accident back when I blessed with an affinity for making bad judgments on selecting new video games.

I had no idea what it was about nor did care what it stood out for, it was a Sega Genesis Game that seemed to have a pretty awesome cover and also the ability to satiate my unexplained obsession for anything old western.

But after the dust settled down, my 13 year old self fired up the game and I fell in love with it ever since.

Originally released in the Arcades by Konami in 1991, the game typically plays out as a shoot first then shoot some more style of gameplay.

In 1992, the game was released for the home console, the Sega Genesis and the SNES. I am just gonna focus on the Genesis version before coming back to the latter.

You take your pick between two hombres, a six shooter named Billy and poncho wearing shotgun wielding Cormano. Together you and your gun (no reloading required) go through several western themed stages as you carve your path made out of bullets, coins and dead corpses in a bid to reach and kill some British guy named Sir Richard Rose.

The final seconds before Cormano turns the gun towards you

When you reach the boss, the gameplay shifts as you try to figure out their attack patterns whilst also try to pump in as much lead as you can before the other player does to earn the bounty and thus earning you the bragging rights for that stage for being an awesome shooter.

 So you while you are doing all of that, you will also be rocking out to some really memorable tunes as you mow down everybody with no hint of remorse.

In that sense, the game is pretty straightforward and would take half an hour to wade through the henchmens and bullets spraying all across the screen.

And that's what makes Sunset Riders so charming, its simplicity. This was back when Contra and many of its knock-off (except Gunstar Heroes) tried to claim their rights to be the King of Shooters. When you compared that to Sunset Riders, with their colorful schemes, rough deserts and other settings, you can tell this game is all about having fun and blasting everything in sight without any moment of hesitation (or moral compass, for that matter).

Similarly, the SNES version, admittedly, does sport better graphics, two extra characters, few more bosses as well as more missions settings, but it does not capture some of the sex (quickie to be exact) and violence (burnt alive, anyone?) and somewhat gritty feel that the Genesis version retains uncompromisingly.

Without taking too much time, try the game and see for yourself how much mindless fun you can have in 30 minutes.

There's a sunset, and they're riding....Sunset Riders, get it?!