The Sunset Riders SNES port, a two player Konami western brawler. Solid and fun, ideal in local coop for tasty retro sessions.
Your verdict
Category
Action2 players12+
Co-op
Description
Action game featuring cowboys hunting outlaws in Wild West towns. Published by Konami, released in Europe in 1993. Four playable characters including an Indian and a female sheriff, Wild West levels, lasso shots and two-player co-op. SNES port of Konami's Sunset Riders arcade.
Sunset Riders review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
A colourful Wild West of cartoon charm, flamboyant outlaws and teeming settings: Konami unfurls a run-and-gun of delightful liveliness. The roundness of the design and the energy of the clashes overflow with panache. This visual direction, polished and joyful, illustrates the golden age of the arcade action game.
Festive and frenzied, Konami's music plunges the outlaw hunt into a supercharged western atmosphere, between banjos, brass and galloping rhythms. Each level pulses with a joyful energy perfectly in tune with the action. This colourful sonic identity gives this run-and-gun classic all its charm.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
Drawing in a colourful Wild West, gunning down outlaws and facing larger-than-life bosses: this Konami run'n'gun overflows with energy and humour. Two-player co-op, the frantic pace and the cult lines make it a gleeful blow-off. Colourful, snappy and bursting with personality, an arcade classic that comes into its own two-player, trigger in hand.
The European PAL SNES edition of the 1993 Konami Western beat'em up, an arcade port with strong spaghetti Western references. The PAL cart is rarer than the US version, and PAL boxed CIB in the original cardboard box is valued for the coherence of a Konami arcade-port SNES PAL collection. The cote climbs hard, sustained by physical scarcity and by the cult aura of the arcade game whose port remained one of the few period ways to play it at home.
Better with friends
A western run-and-gun where two cowboys draw side by side against waves of outlaws, in colorful co-op. Mutual aid is a joy: covering each other, splitting targets and freeing hostages together paces the advance and multiplies the laughs. Spectacular and full of swagger, it rewards coordination and makes two-player sessions a cheerful shootout you restart without being asked twice.
Is Sunset Riders still worth playing in 2026?
Sunset Riders is the SNES adaptation of the Konami run and gun set in a spaghetti western, namely side scrolling free aim with two playable characters out of four. The local co op still hits the mark, the handling stays readable and the staging, despite a few censorship cuts compared with the arcade board, keeps its proud humor. Recommended to fans of atmospheric run and gun and to retro duos hunting for a convincing co op western to discover together on 16 bit cartridge.
