In 1990, Konami was wiping up the arcade industry with its massively popularity Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beat-em-up. The draw was more than just the license - it was also the four player simultaneous action. With that in mind, Konami created Sunset Riders, a Wild West-themed run and gun. It expands from the same formula as Surprise Attack (and by extension, Rolling Thunder and Shinobi) by having two-tiered stages you can jump between. There are even doors you can run into to get power-ups. The major difference is that you can shoot upwards, downwards, and even diagnolally. This versatilty, along with the looser controls and faster pace, makes the action feel a bit more like Contra. That game was crazy enough by itself, but when you have four players firing bullets at nearly half a dozen enemies, coming out from all angles, and it gets pretty chaotic, especially since you die with a single hit. Each of the eight stages begins with a "WANTED" sign, showing off the boss of the level, each of whom has some unique distinction. One of them is a rich tycoon that cries out "BURY ME WITH MY MONEY!" Another is a Native American, who is protected by sister before delivering the final blow, claiming "DON'T KILL HIM. HE WAS ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS". To which your character replies "OKAY MA'M, WE WON'T SHOOT HIM.". (Despite the fact that you spent the whole battle shooting at him, but we'll disregard that.) The final boss is a British gentleman, who fakes his death after several hits, removes a bulletproof plate from under his shirt, and proceeds to take more damage before dying for real, when he dramatically tosses his rose lapel aside. The whole thing is obviously very tongue-in-cheek and adds a lot of personality. The four characters wield slightly different weapons - GET THESE. There are items increas the rapid fire capabilities, or upgrade it to an improved form. The handgun wielders get duel pistols, firing two shots at once, with one at an angle, and the shotguns and rifles simply get more powerful. There are lots of cool little features which fit in with the Old West theme. The first stage has you trying to avoid stampede by running on the backs of thebulls, a few other stages have you riding horses. Running inside certain doors will grant you some whiskey for extra points, or "refreshments" (!!) from one of the town ladies. Certain enemies will throw dynamite, which can be picked up and thrown back at them, if you're quick enough. There are also a few first person shooting galleries that act as bonus stages, foreshadowing the light gun game Lethal Enforcers 2. One entire stage is a boss fight in a saloon, which ends with a Can Can dance show as a reward. The SNES version is remarkably faithful, though not quite perfect. The four player functionality is gone. Most of the graphics have transitioned well, although some of the fancier effects are absent. It's quite a bit easier, with less going on screen at any given time. The music is almost perfectly replicated and all of the voice samples are in, subtitled so they're easier to understand. More interesting are the things that were censored. The female enemies - the ones that tossed in the dynamite in the arcade version - are now male. All references to alcohol are gone. All of the girls now wear slightly more wholesome outfits. One of the levels in the arcade version consists entirely of Native American enemies. This was changed in the SNES version so they're all regular bad guys, probably to avoid any of uncomfortable genocidal overtones. The end level boss, another Native American, remains mostly unchanged, although his name was changed from Chief Scalpem to Wigwam. The Genesis version is so completely stripped down that it's almost a completely different game. There are only two playable characters, and a total of four stages. The level themes include the town, train, mountain and mansion levels. The layouts themselves are different and quite a bit longer, being divided into halves. The only remaining bosses are Simon Greedwell, Paco Loco, Chief Scalpum and BRITISH DUDE. The graphics are heavily downgraded, with a solid black status bar at the top of the screen. The music also takes a bit, although it still sounds okay, but nearly all of the voices are gone, too. The bonus stages have been replaced with horse riding segments, where a girl tosses items from a covered wagon. There's also a new two player versus mode, for all the good that does. If this were a standalone game, it wouldn't be too bad, because it technically plays just fine, but it's so downgraded from the other versions that it feels like a waste. Aliens Considering that James Cameron's Aliens is one of the best action movies of all time, it's pretty surprising that there's technically only one video game based off of it. That game was developed by Konami and released solely in the arcades in 1989, a few years after the release of the movie. You play as Ellen Ripley and some unnamed Marine (why not just name him Hicks, Michael Biehn's character?) as you fight through an infested industrial compound. The game plays like a combination between Contra and a beat-em-up - while it's all shooting action, you can move up and down in the scenery, and you have a life bar. You can jump, but you can duck and fire, making you a smaller target. Your default weapon is a machine gun, but you can find rocket launchers and, of course, flame throwers. There are also grenades, which are found in limited quantities, and there are a few choice areas where you get to climb into the loader suit (from the end of the movie) and awkwardly battle enemies. There are also a few segments where you climb through an enclosed tunnel, and a radar appears on the top of the screen. It's useless in the first encounter, considering you can see the enemies coming directly at you, but it's more interesting later on when the aliens start bursting through the ceiling. A few stages are punctuated with first person scenes where you're driving the armored vehicles and shooting at aliens in the road. It captures the feeling of the movie perfectly, and it's always fun tearing apart legions of vicious aliens with machine gun or setting them ablaze. Although it was never ported and there technically aren't any sequels to it, Capcom's Alien vs. Predator is somewhat similar, although it's closer to a beat-em-up than a shooter. Surprise Attack Surprise Attack is basically a Shinobi clone - you shoot at bad guys, jump between levels or backgrounds, and are killed in a single hit - except it's set in outer space. Instead of rescuing children, you need to grab bombs, which congratulate you with an inane "U DID IT" message when you grab one. The attention to detail is kind of cool - your characters and the enemies wear helmets when outside but take them off when indoors. When you grab a certain power-up, your character becomes temporarily electrified, allowing him to fly around the screen and shoot bad guys with lightning. The bonus rounds consist of trivia questions regarding both science facts and pop culture science fiction, which feel more than a bit out of place. Otherwise, it's an average and not particularly notable game. Cowboys of MOO Mesa Based off the mostly-forgotten cartoon series about a bunch of anthropomorphic cows in the wild west, Cowboys of MOO Mesa may as well be a sequel to Sunset Riders. Obviously, this one is a bit sillier...not that Sunset Riders even took itself seriously. The basic gameplay is more or less the same - four player simultaneous action, tons of enemies - except with the addition of a stampede maneuver, which can be used to bowl over enemies or break certain rocks. After the first stage, you can choose any stage you like, although there's no benefit to following them in any particular order. Most of the levels feature two boss encounters which are usually quite inventive, per usual Konami protocol. One is a vulture who uses a shovel, whose backend doubles as a shotgun. GET OTHER ONES. There are also a few shoot-em-up segments where the cows are carried by some particularly strong birds. The music was supplied by Michiru Yamane, before she began work on the Castlevania series, although most of it's forgettable. Despite some of the weirder enemy design, it somehow lacks the charisma of Sunset Riders and ends up only feeling adequate. The only major issue is that many of the bosses were clearly designed to be fought with multiple characters, because they tend to take way too many hits in single player mode. Mystic Warriors Moving away from the western theme of Sunset Riders, Mystic Warriors is a takeoff on cheesy 80s martial arts movies. Up to four players can pick from five different characters - GET THESE - although functionally, they're all identical. The fifth unchosen character ends up being kidnapped by the enemies, providing the motivation for our heroes to jump into action. Locales range from city streets to ski resorts to undergrounds mines to airplanes - all of the usual video game locations, all illustrated with bright colors. It certainly has more visual variation than Sunset Riders (which it pays tribute to on a drive-in movie theater in the background), although the music isn't quite as memorable. It has all of the typical Konami over-the-top flair, like when the first level boss crashes through the scenery in a huge truck and sets the background on fire. It has an interesting twist roughly halfway through the game, where your characters are dehabiliated, only to be saved by the fifth, kidnapped hero, who gets himself killed in the process. The action is roughly the same as Sunset Riders, right down to the power-ups that double your firepower. Mystic Warriors borrows a few more elements from Shinobi, most notably the melee attacks that will automatically execute when you're close to an enemy, and the ninja magic that lies around the stage. These will either kill all of the enemies on the screen or make you temporarily invincible. They're activated as soon as you pick them up, though, making their use rather limited. It's also bit easier than most other arcade run and games, because you can take three hits before dying, which lets you preserve your powered up weapons longer than normal. It's a pretty fun game, which only goes unrecognized because Konami never ported it. Labyrnyth Runner This obscure run and gun is full of weird anachronisms and bizarre enemies. You play as a knight fighting through a vaguely medival-looking kingdom, except you're armed to the teeth with guns, lasers, and grenades, in addition to magic spells. Taking place in the land of Vegetaria, your goal is to rescue the Princess Papaya from the evil "Devil", although the final boss instead looks something like a robotic meatball. Despite some of these offbeat designs, Labrynth Runner is pretty dull looking. Compared to other shooters at the time like Ikari Warriors, the sprites are awfully small and the layouts pretty boring. You can switch between any of three weapons, each of which can be powered up multiple times. You can also activate the screen clearing magic by hitting both buttons at the same time. It's hard to upgrade weapons, though, since they reset when you're killed. Like many early Konami games, you're also sent to an earlier checkpoint upon death, and it's quite tough, especially considering you can only take a single hit. There's also a rather aggravating mine cart sequence near the end of the game, which requires several deaths and memorization to actually beat. The Japanese title is Labrynth Runner, while the standard World ersion is called Trick Trap. Neither of these names really make any sense - there's a maze level, but that's as close as you get to a labrynth, and there really aren't any "tricks" nor "traps" to speak of. Devastators The 3D over-the-shoulder corridor sections were definitely the weakest part of the original Contra - so much so that Super Contra ditched them completely - but that didn't stop Konami from evolving on the idea anyway. Devastors (named as Garuka in Japan) essentially takes commandoes that look identical to the Contra dudes and places them on long 3D battlefields. Rather than advancing screen by screen, you can walk forward by holding Up, as the background slowly scales toward the screen. It's a cool effect, especially since you can see your goal way in the horizon, as it slowly gets larger as you march towards it. The landscape is filled with sandbags and other bits of debris that can be used as cover, although strangely, you can shoot and walk right through it, putting you at a distinct advantage. Your arsenal is strangely limited, consisting only of a standard rifle, a series of grenades, and a rocket launcher, which is used automatically on certain enemies that are outside of your normal range. Most boss fights require the use of the rocket launcher, but your ammo is limited, requiring that you take out smaller foes constantly to refill your supply. It's not a bad game, but the action is curiously slow paced. Your commandoes don't walk very fast, nor do they have any evasive manuevers - you can't even jump - so it's hard to dodge enemy fire. And since you seem to only barely inch forward, it seems like you're running at a mere snail's pace. GI Joe Konami was practically the king of licensed arcade games back in the early 90s, striking gold with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bucky O'Hare, and X-Men. Instead of going the beat-em-up route like all of these, GI Joe is more like an evolution of Devastators.