I've played the recent remake of Wild Guns on-and-off, but decided to stop and play the original through to the end, just to better understand the initial game. And, frankly, it works! It works a lot better than I expected it to.

I was a bit miffed by the idea of a rail shooter with a d-pad, but this team designed the game around that, for obvious reasons. And they nailed how to make it feel good while keeping the confrontations challenging. It's easy to see what's coming at you, but will you make the leaps and jumps to avoid enemy fire, or risk yourself in order to land more damage? The gameplay has a certain rhythm to it, and it'll be really alienating to anyone that's played similar games with a lightgun, but it's pretty easy to understand and have fun with it! The whole game is a shooting gallery, after all, which fits the Western style perfectly.

Speaking of which, I also adore the aesthetics, which went for a tech-Western feel. I like how most of the machinery and robotic foes aren't too slick, but just really goofy and sometimes dressed as ol' West outlaws themselves! Everything is so big and bulky, feeling more steampunk than sci-fi to me.

My only complaint is it's just a tad too short. Even for a game this challenging, I was a little surprised that I was able to complete the game fairly quickly. I'm not sure if that calls for more of a challenge (guess that's what hard mode is for) or longer stages.