04. Sunset Riders

(Arcade/Various Home, Konami, 1991)
Howdy stranger.
Cowboys will always have a place in videogames. From FMV shooters to Grand Theft Auto style sandbox games, the wicky-wicky-wild wild west is an setting often re-visited as much action, danger and excitement abounds. Anyone who has watched one of those live shows where people get shot off rooftops and flip into perfectly positioned hay bales can attest to the excitement of watching hat wearing grizzled guys murdering each other for our children's entertainment.
Personally, I believe the ACTUAL wild west was less like The Lone Ranger and far more like Unforgiven.

Sunset Riders takes place in the most colourful West you've ever encountered, where bulls are red, horses are pink with green hair and bandits all have palette swapped clothing. Into this incredibly fruity rendition of deathsville stride four equally colourful bounty hunters, each running and gunning their way through the game's fast-paced levels, blasting off glowing neon lead at all and sundry, stopping only to drink beer, receive kisses from showgirls and rescue damsels in distress.

"You are listing my broken dreams."

After taking down a series of wanted criminals, enjoying some horse rides and suffering the dullest bonus rounds known to man, our intrepid gunslingers come up against the aristocratic Richard Rose in a battle to free the land from, well.. crime I guess.

Sunset Riders is a classic and well-known arcade and has been experienced by many, many people. Basic in style and design, it is still fun and incredibly chaotic to play with friends as an old fashioned dose of straight, no-brainer entertainment. Konami obviously realised they were onto something good, as they blatantly ripped off their own game for Mystic Warriors sometime later.
Sunset Riders isn't anything astounding to write home about, but it has fun, cartoony graphics and very cool music and sound. There's something about the games basic appeal and retro style that brings to mind a great era where arcades were being churned out ten a week and as long as the quality was at least reasonable, then it was good enough to warrant your loose change.

So lets "Saddle up" and "Round up the wagons" and erm.. "Westwood Ho" or something. By completely ignoring the fact that the West was a nasty, violent, disease-ridden, back-stabbing and bloodthirsty place. Sunset Riders puts the "Fun" into "Fundamental anachronism"

And I got through this entry without a single tired Brokeback Mountain joke.