Nintendo Switch ARCADE ARCHAEOLOGY: Sunset Riders (1991)
With the 7th anniversary of the Nintendo Switch approaching, a lot of nerd palms have begun sweating more than usual in anticipation of the console’s inevitable successor. This means you’ll likely see plenty of retrospectives popping up here and there looking back at all of the great games that have released for the hybrid over the last now near decade. And while there are of course plenty of top shelf first and third party titles to praise, in this series let’s look back even further. Having gone through and selected some personal favorite arcade ports, I’ll be spotlighting some true must haves for anyone who misses the old days of having their sneakers stuck to God knows what on those outer space themed carpets.
Welcome to the first installment of Arcade Archaeology!
Let’s kick things off with Sunset Riders, a true classic of an action title devoloped by Konami and released back in 1991. Following up on their tremendous success with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cabinet in 1989 (which we’ll of course get to), the developers once again deliver a highly addictive 2, 3, 4 or in my case 1 player gaming experience. Sure, the two games share a highly stylized cartoonish aesthetic but this time instead of a gritty side-scrolling combat brawler, we’ve got ourselves a theme appropriate shoot-em up.
Upon popping in your virtual quarter, the game immediately impresses with fun character designs, fantastic graphics, catchy tunes and excellent controls. Players familiar with just about any shooter ever made will be right at home here; your character is essentially a walking death machine shooting every moving target in sight and collecting power ups to enhance your pistol. You know how a lot of these games used to make you constantly tap the fire button resulting in super fun hand cramps? Well, it isn’t long before you’ve collected several upgrades allowing you to simply hold that thing down, your rapid fire bullets painting the town red.
The stages themselves are all exactly what you’d expect to see: old one-street towns, saloons, valleys, mountains and railroad tracks. It all looks great, like something torn right out of those iconic John Severin drawn western parodies in Cracked magazine. The majority of the action is an on-foot blasting deal, but every so often you’ll find yourself on horseback in thrilling high speed shootouts.
There’s even the occasional mini-game of sorts where you’re suddenly thrown into a first person perspective, rapidly moving your crosspad or analogue stick in all directions attempting to hit enemies as they pop up, Wild Gunman style.
The real star of the show here though is the sense of humor. This is a genuinely funny title that actually had me laughing quite a few times during my playthrough. Either through hilariously animated deaths and celebrations or memorably scripted last words from defeated boss encounters, Sunset Riders exudes light hearted charm. And yes there is admittedly some…ohhh not so politically correct bits here and there, but in my opinion it kinda adds a bit of audacity that I can appreciate.
There’s certainly no shortage of great games on the Nintendo Switch, many of which are high-definiton versions of retro classics I never thought one would be able to enjoy in the comfort of their own home. The system is truly a treasure trove of gaming history and Sunset Riders is a grade A all timer of its genre that deserves to occupy a little space in that SD card of yours.
“Yippee Ki‐Yay, Arcade Game Enthusiast.”
