In this, the final edition, of Super Nintendo versus Genesis titles, it's time for a showdown at high noon between the two versions of Sunset Riders. Originally released in arcades, Sunset Riders may be one of the most popular scrolling shooters of the 16 bit era, so saddle up, partner, and let's find which game is better in this here, rootin' tootin' edition of Genesis vs SNES (I'm so sorry for that sentence).
Development
Sunset Riders was released in arcades in 1991 and was a fairly big hit for Konami at the time. Since the publisher had seen a great deal of success with previous arcade ports to home consoles, it seemed like the logical next step to send Sunset Riders home with a release on the Sega Genesis in 1992 and a Super Nintendo version released just one year later. Due to its more powerful hardware, the Super Nintendo version was a much closer representation of the arcade release, bringing back all four characters from the arcade as well as major levels that were missing from the Genesis version.
What's the difference?
Both versions of Sunset Riders have nearly the exact same gameplay; however, the Genesis version of the game has more frequently spawning enemies, and is therefore much more difficult than its Super Nintendo counterpart. It balances this difficulty by allowing the player to resume the game exactly where he or she died when using a continue, allowing for more forgiving boss battles. Also, a certain, unfortunate level in the game had the player gunning down Native Americans for no real reason as the story in the game is never really outlined with a final boss whose name is so horrible, it's surprising that any version of the game shipped with it in place.
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| Uncharted 2 has got nothing on this. |
The Super Nintendo version, on the other hand, was a much closer representation of the arcade game. The enemy placement was less frequent, and as a result, there weren't as many bullets flying on screen at once. The game balanced out this easier difficulty by having the player restart the entire level when he or she died. This helped make shootouts intense in both versions of the game. More levels return from the arcade version as well including the bonus shoot out stages. Additionally, the Native Americans are swapped with more generic enemies, making the game a little less insensitive even if the final boss of that stage is the same as the Genesis version.
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| Thankfully the enemies in this stage were swapped for the SNES release. |
Which is better?
Usually with games as old as these, it depends on which one is the most nostalgic for the player. Either home version of Sunset Riders is a fine game. They both have excellent shooting and balanced difficulty levels. Unfortunately, the Genesis version of the game is just a little too stripped back to be as complete of an experience as the Super Nintendo version. Additionally, the wildly insensitive portrayals of Native Americans in the Genesis version solidify it as being the inferior game.
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| These bonus stages were the only ones found in the Genesis version. |
The Genesis version's difficulty and pace as well as its exclusion of certain bonus stages make it the more focused game, but the Super Nintendo's hardware power gave Konami the chance to more closely recreate the arcade version. This gives the players more to do and by extension is more fun.
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| The first levels in both games are nearly identical. |
The Verdict
The Genesis title was simply not able to do as much to emulate the arcade version of the game as well as the Super Nintendo version. The Genesis game trades levels and characters from the arcades for a more punishing difficulty. This difficulty is still present in the Super Nintendo version, but often the Genesis version devolves into trial and error even if it balances this with a more lenient continue system.
So that's it for Genesis vs SNES. Even though the Super Nintendo took home the most wins in this month's feature, it's important to remember that each console had tons of unique, exclusive games that helped make those systems great, and there's no reason at this point to deny that both consoles were and still are awesome.
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