Review A Great Game Day: Wild Guns (SNES)

For "Review A Great Game Day", I decided to do a review of one of my favorite games for the Super Nintendo: Wild Guns. I also put this up on the One More Castle site here.

Rootin', tootin' action, battlin' bad ol' robots in the Wild West. Yee-haw!

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System has a massive library of games. With such a library, there are many games that have become classics and must-plays: Final Fantasy 6, Earthbound, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, F-Zero, Starfox, etc.

Such a library also includes its fair share of hidden classics, one I wish to speak about.
Wild Guns.

Published in 1994 by Natsume, Wild Guns is the story of Annie, who hires a bounty hunter named Clint to help her get vengeance on a villain for murdering her father. The game is essentially True Grit...if the Old West in that film had modern weaponry and robots.

Choosing either Annie or Clint (There really doesn't seem to be any real difference in the characters speed or damage-wise), you play through six levels, including a futuristic train, an ammunition depot, and even a mine. The levels have some element of destructibility, which makes the game a bit more fun.

The game is a third-person shooter in the vein of a shooting gallery one can find at fairs, you having to move your character's crosshairs around to aim, but you can also move the characters to help them dodge. Dodging and leaping are good skills to master, as one hit is fatal.

There aren't really much in the power-up area, you can shoot gems and moneybags for points, but occasionally, you can get a power-up that switches Annie and Clint's default guns for various other temporary guns, like shotguns and machine guns, but you can also get a peashooter, that temporarily renders your weapon useless. If there are too many enemies on the screen, both Annie and Clint have bombs that they can use to clear the screen, but they only have three, so use them wisely.

The ultimate weapon in the game is the Vulcan Cannon. This can be obtained by filling up an energy bar. This is done by shooting down enemies' bullets before they hit you. In a nice bit of fairness, this game will warn you when a bullet is coming towards you, in the form of the character having a "Look Out!" word balloon appear. You're going to have to think carefully when it comes to shooting down enemy fire. When you get the Cannon, you're also temporarily invincible. Getting the Vulcan Cannon is a blast, as it does more damage than any other weapon in the game.

The soundtrack of the game is incredible, fast-paced, gets you pumped, but also has the Western feel to it. My personal favorites are the Boss Fight and the Final Fight tracks.

The only complaint I can really say about this game is that it is a bit short at only six levels. It's still a lot of fun to play. The cartridge is rare, but the Virtual Console service for the Wii has this game, and I believe it is also obtainable for the Wii U's Virtual Console service. This game is great for hardcore players and fans of shooters, as it can be a bit difficult for casual players.