As someone who doesn’t have any sort of nostalgia for Natsume’s ambitious SNES shooter Wild Guns, I was hoping that Wild Guns: Reloaded would make me realize what gamers found special about the 20-year-old game. After all, these sort of re-releases give developers a shot at both celebrating a game’s legacy, and introducing a whole new audience to a game. It’s how I’ve experienced a lot of classic titles over the years such as Konami’s The Simpsons and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, so there’s definitely plenty of value in these updated ports.
My first impression with Wild Guns: Reloaded wasn’t a particularly favorable one as I unsuccessfully searched for any sort of instructions in the menus. I eventually found a way to look at the game’s controls, which explained that this was a three button game (shoot, jump and special), but I didn’t exactly know what I was doing. I figured it couldn’t be too complicated, though, so I jumped into my first attempt at saving the game’s Steampunk-themed Wild West.
This first attempt didn’t go well. I ended up choosing an adorable dog as my character (since why would I choose anyone else"), and that ended up being a mistake as enemies quickly shot my cute dachshund until I was staring at a game over screen. In Wild Guns, it only takes one bullet to cost the player a life, so defense is just as important as offense. That was my first lesson, ...