Sunset Riders

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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 T-95026 EU 1993-04 T-95026-50 PT 1993 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 a bug, if both players have Six Button Control Pad then "Versus" and "2 Players" modes will not be selectable, despite being highlighted 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 GameFan (US) 94 GamePro (US) 80 Game Power (IT) 71 GamesMaster (UK) 60 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 Player One (FR) 65 №30, p98 Power Unlimited (NL) 80 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

	78
Based on 18 reviews

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, FR
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)