Sunset Riders
Sunset Riders is a run and gun arcade game created by Konami
in 1991. It revolves around four bounty hunters who are out to claim
rewards given for eliminating the most wanted outlaws in the West.
There is no true "storyline" aside from collecting progressively larger
rewards. At the beginning of each level the player is shown a wanted
poster, showing the criminal and the offered reward. At the end of
each level the cash bounty is distributed amongst the players in
proportion to the amount of damage they dealt to the boss.
Sunset Riders is similar to other run and guns, such as Konami's Contra, but with less emphasis on jumping and a greater focus on shooting. The game includes a total of four playable characters to choose from: Steve, Billy, Bob, and Cormano. The characters are slightly different: Steve and Billy use revolvers while Bob and Cormano are armed with shotguns. The shotguns shoot somewhat slower than their revolver counterparts, but have a wider spread, making them ideal for taking out enemies without too much precise aiming. On the full-size arcade cabinet up to four players can play simultaneously, each as a different character, as in the original Gauntlet.
The player can fire in 8 directions, slide to avoid, and perform surprisingly acrobatic jumps to and from rooftops, offering additional vantage points from which to fight. This particular rendition of the wild west also features plenty of opportunely placed boulders, barrels, and explosives that happen to reside above the heads of enemies and can be used to the player's advantage. Unlike Contra (but similar to Metal Slug), colliding with enemies does not kill the player; only bullets, pits and other obstacles are fatal.
Many enemies utilize stick-dynamite as a weapon; a quick player can pick up the dynamite and throw it back. Once initially thrown the dynamite will start to blink at an accelerated pace, which represents the remaining length of the fuse. When it explodes it will eliminate both players and enemies, even if the enemies initially threw the dynamite.
Throughout the levels there are doors that can be opened, as in Rolling Thunder and Shinobi. Enemies may come out of some doors, while others yield power-ups. When the player emerges from one of the doors containing a power-up a short animation plays, showing the protagonist being kissed on the cheek by a female bar fly or taking a swig from a bottle of liquor. (Wikipedia)
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