The home versions were only released in North America and Europe. Two years later, the arcade version was reprogrammed to two home consoles.
Sunset Riders has been originally released for arcades in September 1991. The game is over when the player runs out of lives, although the game can be continued by inserting more credits. When that happens, he will lose any power-ups he has obtained on his next life.
The player will lose a life if he gets shot by the enemy, trampled by bulls, caught in an explosion, and so forth. Once the final stage has been cleared, the player proceeds through multiple endless loops where the difficulty is set on the hardest level hereafter. There are a total of eight stages in the game. In addition, there's a bonus minigame at the end of Stages 2 and 5 where the player must shoot at enemies from a first-person perspective coming from eight different positions before time runs out. While most of the game has the player moving on foot, Stages 2 and 7 both begin with a segment where the player fights against bandits on a horseback. When more than one person are playing, the player who deals the most damage at the boss will be the one awarded with the stage clear bonus. The objective of the game is to reach the end of each stage and defeat the outlaw awaiting at the end. Should the player defeat this boss, Cormano will be seen claiming the defeated boss's sombrero and wearing it for the remainder of the game. An easter egg in the game is if Cormano is selected and facing the Level 6 boss. Other weapons that can be used by the player include dynamite sticks carried by female bandits (which can be thrown back at the enemy before it explodes) and a mounted Gatling gun available only in the last stage. Both power-ups can be equipped at the same time. The power-ups comes in the form of a golden sheriff badge that gives the player's weapon auto-fire, and a silver badge that grants him a second gun (allowing him to shoot at two directions at the same time). Power-ups and bonus items can be obtained by entering saloons or defeating certain sack-carrying bandits. There's also a slide move that allows the player's character to avoid enemy fire by pressing the jump button while the joystick diagonally downwards. The player can jump between higher and lower floors by holding the joystick up or down while pressing the jump button. The controls consists of an eight way joystick for moving the character and aiming their guns, and two buttons for shooting and jumping. Steve and Billy wield revolvers, while Bob uses a rifle and Cormano uses a shotgun. In the two-player version each player can choose which of the four bounty hunters (Steve, Billy, Bob, and Cormano) to play as at the start of the game, while in the four-player version each character is assigned to a different control panel. Sunset Riders can be played by up to two or four players, depending on the version of the game. At the beginning of each stage the player is shown a wanted poster. The game, which is set in a fanciful version of the American Old West, revolves around four bounty hunters named Steve, Billy, Bob, and Cormano who are out to claim rewards given for eliminating the most wanted outlaws in the West. Gameplay screenshot showing Steve on the game's third level Home console versions of Sunset Riders were released for the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) in 1992 and for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993, to a positive reception. The coin-op version was released in two variants: a two-player version and a four-player version. The game is set in the American Old West, where the player takes control of a bounty hunter who is seeking the rewards offered for various criminals. Sunset Riders ( サンセットライダーズ, Sansetto Raidāzu) is a side-scrolling run and gun video game developed and released by Konami as a coin-operated video game on the JAMMA arcade platform in 1991.