Sunset Riders

n/a

Sunset Riders

System(s): Sega Mega Drive

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Konami

Original system(s): Arcade boards

Sound driver: Konami/Hyperstone Heist

Genre: Action

Number of players: 1-2

Release	Date	RRP	Code
US	1992-12^[1]	$?	T-95026
UK	1993-04^[3]	£39.99^[2]^[3]	T-95026-50
FR	1993-04^[3]	?F	T-95026-50
DE	1993-04^[3]	DM ?	T-95026-50
ES	1993-04^[3]	?Ptas	T-95026-50
PT	1993	?PTE$	MD85026
AU	1993	$?	?

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Sunset Riders is a 1991 arcade run-and-gun by Konami, ported to the Sega Mega Drive and SNES in 1992 and released only in the US and Europe in 1993. This port was heavily remixed in terms of stage layout. The small rom size likely made a true to source arcade port impossible.

Gameplay

You play as one of two (reduced from four in the arcade version) American Old West bounty hunters, Billy and Cormano, who seek rewards for catching bandits and saving girls. Billy is armed with a peacemaker and Cormano with a shotgun that fires rather large shots; is used for stationary fire and is used to fire and walk at the same time, and both can collect various weapon upgrades along the way.

Aiming is done in the traditional Konami fashion (hold D-pad buttons diagonally to move while firing diagonally, hold to shoot straight up, hold and to shoot straight ahead while moving, or hold to shoot straight ahead while crouching). jumps; you can latch on to ledges and climb up, pressing + to get back down. + and either or slides. Score is measured as currency; each gold coin is worth $200, while larger red coins with dollar signs on them are worth $2000. You will lose $1000 for dying, and you die with one or two hits.

Similar to often used practise in arcades, the game punishes players who stay in same spot for far too long, as the bird will fly on top of the screen and then swoop down at you. You can jump over it.

Note that the guns are removed from the PAL box. This is also done on the SNES PAL version. A case of the Sega Europe censorship and strict German laws probably.

Multiplayer

The game supports multiplayer for 2 players, which is less than on Arcade version, on same screen both in cooperative mode and competitive one.

To play competitive mode, just select "Versus" mode. The game will be played in few rounds, arenas changing slightly. Each player has a health bar and much lower rate of fire than in normal game, while a bird periodically coming in to drop extra items. Players have to shoot each other down in this mode.

To play cooperative mode you can either select "2 Players" mode or start the "1 Player" game and press on controller of the second player. Though the first method is preferable, as it doesn't take away a continue point. There is no friendly fire and continue points are shared.

However, due to bug, if both players have Six Button Control Pad then "Versus" and "2 Players" modes will not be selectable, despite being higlighted in menu. Another player can still join during "1 Player" mode play. Hold button when booting up the system to switch to 3 button mode and fix this issue.

Production credits

Program: K.Toyohara, K.Endoh
Graphic Design: H.Matsuda, N.Takemoto
Sound Design: M.Ikariko, H.Inoue
Package Design: M.Yoshihashi
Special Thanks: I.Akada, AC Team

Source: In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Sunset Riders/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Sunset Riders/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average

Publication	Score	Source
Consoles + (FR)	68	^[4]
GameFan (US)	94
GamePro (US)	80	^[5]
Game Power (IT)	71
GamesMaster (UK)	60	^[6]
High Score (JP)	60
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK)	82	№9, p62/63
Mega (UK)	79	№8, p44/45
Mega Action (UK)	82	№1, p38
MegaTech (UK)	87	№16, p38-40
Mean Machines Sega (UK)	84	^[7]
Player One (FR)	65	№30, p98
Power Unlimited (NL)	80
No results	86
Sega Power (UK)	68	№42, p42/43
Sega Pro (UK)	87	№18, p24/25
Sega Zone (UK)	84	№6, p36-38
Sega Force (UK)	86	^[8]

	78
Based on 18 reviews

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart File:Sunset Riders MD US Manual.pdf Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, FR

File:Sunset Riders MD FR Manual.pdf Manual

Mega Drive, SE (rental)

Technical Information

System

Hash

Size

Build Date

Source

Comments

✔

CRC32	ac30c297
MD5	19cdf861c543f9c9cd9c8b6b70adeb1c
SHA-1	b40ea5b00f477d7b7448447f15b4c571f5e8ff0d

512kB

1992-12

Cartridge (US)

✔

CRC32	0ff33054
MD5	cc60b5cd7295df626d81a3ecd30c4133
SHA-1	4a4f2cf397ade091e83e07bb3ffc7aa5862aeedd

512kB

1993-03

Cartridge (EU)

References

[:File:GamePro_US_040.pdf_p199-1] GamePro, "November 1992" (US; 1992-xx-xx), page 199

[:File:SegaForce_UK_19.pdf_p72-2] Sega Force, "July 1993" (UK; 1993-xx-xx), page 72

[:File:GamesMaster_UK_004.pdf_p52-3] 3.0 ^3.1 GamesMaster, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-18), page 52

[:File:ConsolesPlus_FR_019.pdf_p112-4] Consoles +, "Avril 1993" (FR; 1993-xx-xx), page 112

[:File:GamePro_US_043.pdf_p52_.2850.29-5] GamePro, "February 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 50 (52)

[:File:GamesMaster_UK_004.pdf_p52_.2852.2F53.29-6] GamesMaster, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-18), page 52/53 (52)

[:File:MeanMachinesSega07UK.pdf_p68_.2868-70.29-7] Mean Machines Sega, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-26), page 68-70 (68)

[:File:SegaForce_UK_19.pdf_p70_.2870-72.29-8] Sega Force, "July 1993" (UK; 1993-xx-xx), page 70-72 (70)

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