User Reviews

This game is somewhat fun, but somewhat too hard. Then again, a lot of the earlier games were hard as a means to extend the play time of games, but still, come on! Basically a run in gun game that is a bit on the rails as progress continues whether you want it too or not. Like a space shooter, but instead of a ship you are a cowboy, one that can shoot to the left, middle and right, but not behind! This proves to be the area that needs improvement, because it is not fair to have foes coming up from behind when you cannot shoot them!

The story, you are a bounty hunter who has come to the town of Hicksville where a bunch of wanted men are terrorizing the town. Your mission, go after them and collect the bounty! Though it costs more to buy their wanted poster than the reward you receive for taking them out...

The game play, as I said, is akin to a space shooter only you are in the wild west. You have various power ups to help you on your way including a horse that can take a lot more hits than the cowboy and weapons like the shotgun which shoots in multiple directions, the machine gun which is self explanatory and the magnum which would not have existed back then. You proceed through the level trying to either find a wanted poster or buying one and this leads to a boss encounter. Failure to do so results in a continuous loop of the stage!

It has its moments, but gets way too hard after the second level as that is when the bad guys start appearing behind you which makes things absurdly difficult. I only managed to get through this thing with an emulator and save states as I could get to a place where the bullets were not all over the place and save and continue onward to the inevitable boss battle! I have the arcade game on the emulator too, so when I play and when that one I will report how it is compared to the NES version.

Cool features to this game include the theme, some upgrades, variety of foes, and boss fights. Everyone gets excited when you've gotten the horse upgrade. Control scheme is good, three directions to shoot and fairly maneuverable. Ending screen was very nice though, definitely worth seeing and have an elevated respect for Capcom.

There's a lot of 'cheap deaths' here, just a harassing amount of stuff on the screen most of the time. This could've been countered with better power-ups or specials. After the first two bosses, the game begins to feel labourious. There's probably not much that could've been done with scenery being the wild west, but more variation here would've made the journey better as well. Music was forgettable, and even a bit awkward in some instances. More story would've certainly helped. Biggest problem with the game is the lack of continues from where you were gunned down.