A four player platform shooter from
Konami, later ported from the arcade to the
Sega Mega Drive and (I presume) the
SNES. Each player takes the role of a different brightly-coloured cowboy and has to shoot their way through a series of levels interspersed with minigames (think
Contra meets
The Magnificient Seven). The standard platform levels are dotted with many
hazards and set-pieces: you can leap up onto balconies, shoot down suspended
barrels to drop on enemies, step on
rakes, leap over the backs of stampeding
cattle and enter saloons for powerups (dispensed by authentic
Wild West prostitutes).
The gunplay is almost as frenetic as Robotron in places, and not as frustrating as Contra (aided by the fact that with two guns, you can shoot in two directions at once). Other levels have you traversing the top of a train, riding oddly-coloured horses, swinging from chandeliers and (naturally) an into-the-screen shooting gallery.
This game is, in my opinion, an overlooked classic. The level of detail and the way almost every gameplay element doesn't break the setting are impressive, and the gameplay is a fast and furious to boot.
The arcades were saturated with multiplayer scrolling shooters and beat-'em-ups at the time, so there are plenty of other games of similar or better quality, but this is still worth a quick blast.