Tin Star (video game)

Tin Star is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Software Creations and released by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in North America in November 1994. Starring anthropomorphic robot characters, it follows a seven-day adventure of the titular sheriff who fights the criminal Bad Oil Gang from taking over the town of East Driftwood. "Tin Star" includes both third and first-person stages, and players can control the reticle either with a standard Super NES controller, Super Scope or the SNES Mouse. "Tin Star" was the third Software Creations-developed game to be published by Nintendo, after "Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball" (1994) and (only in Europe) "Plok!" (1993) Critics' reviews for "Tin Star" were generally positive, with praises towards the presentation (especially the graphics and humor) but criticism against the monotonous gameplay and lack of challenge.
Gameplay.
"Tin Star" is an arcade-style shoot 'em up game. It is compatible not only with a standard Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) controller, but also with the Super Scope and the SNES Mouse, making it the first SNES game to be playable with all controllers. It takes place on seven days, from Monday from Sunday, and each one consists of shooting practice with a jug, action stages, and a fast draw with a Bad Oil Gang member. The amount of levels total 31, unusual for a shoot 'em up game at the time of its release, according to "Nintendo Magazine System". 
While all sequences involve the player controlling the gun reticle on screen, they differ in gameplay style, featuring side-scrolling stages in the third-person, and first-person sequences a la "Lethal Enforcers". The third-person segments take place on rides, stampedes, and in town; while the first-person levels are located in jails, banks, and saloons. Tin Star fights the Bad Oil Gang involved in various activities, such as robberies of trains and banks, prison breaks, and shootouts.
Cash is collected by shooting enemies in any stage, with wasted bullets and town damage subtracting the amount. Cash is used to save progress, and its amount determines the ending of the story. There are also objects to hit, such as canteens that regain Tin Star's hit points and parts of the scenery that if hit an enough number of times, will trigger a Secret Bonus stage; in it, points are obtained by shooting stars that surround a woman on a spinning disk.
Summary.
Characters.
Tin Star, a six gun-armed sheriff with Mo Crash as his sidekick and Aluminum as his horse, tries to save the town of East Driftwood from an overthrow by the criminal Bad Oil Gang. Led by Black Bart, its members include four Johnson brothers, Tiny, Bugsy, Lucky, and the Kid; and two Oil brothers, Snake and Crude. Black Oil members have different strengths and incapacities, such as Snake Oil being fast with the gun but having poor aim, and Tiny Johnson being the opposite. East Driftwood's mayor is Judge Soy Bean, whose daughter Maria is Tin Star's love interest. The town's undertaker counts the player's score, adding and subtracting Tin Star's cash after each level.
There are characters that frequently appear in cutscenes. Mo's bigger brother, Schemp, occasionally informs Tin Star of a Bad Oil member about to arrive for a showdown. Mo has been at odds with Schemp ever since childhood, when he had to pay protection cash and felt his mother received less attention than Schemp. However, when Schemp is dying after being shot in an altercation, the brothers reconcile. An unnamed old lady, who helps with Tin Star's luggage while he rides to East Driftwood, is obsessed with men taking off hats in front of her. When they arrive, the sheriff asks the lady repeatedly if he could carry her luggage, but she angrily declines pushing him towards Tiny's prized geranium that breaks on impact; the other Johnson brothers quickdraw with Tin Star in revenge for ruining the geranium. Town residents such as Billy, Sundance, and Butch, also come in contact with Tin Star to give him exposition and praise him.
Plot.
Tin Star's journey is chaotic from the start; a coach ride to the town is surrounded by criminals trying to shoot him; and when arriving at the town, he is instantly bombarded with missions of stopping the Bad Oil Gang's shooting of a saloon and cattle stampede. The town has just built its first road, its routes to other prisons for the town's criminals to be sent. Many of the Bad Oil Gang members are sent to jail following multiple attempted train robberies; however, as Tin Star places the gang's Snake Oil in the slammer following a showdown, the inmates escape by wearing disguises and digging the ground for exits. 
The Bad Oil Gang return to East Driftwood and shoot up the town disguised as women, taking advantage of the "Good Guy Code of the West" which restricts lawmen from shooting women and children; try to rob a bank; take over another train; and trigger another cattle stampede. He dissolves all the incidents, in the process loophole-ing around the women-and-children rule by stating it applies only when unarmed females and juveniles are together; however, Tin Star is still unable to capture the group.
Tin Star is threatened with another quick draw by the Bad Oil Gang's The Kid Johnson; however, Tin Star faces the "Good Guy Code of the West" again, as The Kid, although an experienced gunfighter, cannot be shot due to being a child. The Kid goes away without any injuries; however, the gang's leader, Black Bart, requests the kid disappear, and hires a town civilian to spread misinformation about Tin Star murdering the child. Tin Star is convicted of shooting a child and has his sheriff badge revoked, only to be taken by Black Bart replacing him. He is then knocked out by Mo's big brother and enemy, Schemp, and the Big Oil Gang dumps the body in the middle of the desert. 
Tin Star awakes to find his love interest and the mayor's daughter, Maria, informing him Mo has been kidnapped by the Bad Oil Gang, which is also terrorizing the saloon. Tin Star rides back to town disguised in a mask and saves Mo, stops a town shoot-out, finds The Kid and shows the residents he's still alive, successfully finishes off Black Bart in two quick draw encounters, destroys the Black Oil Gang's headquarters, and gets his sheriff position back. What happens with Tin Star and Maria differs depending on the final score. Having below $750,000 results in Maria refusing in marrying Tin Star, $750,000–$999,999 the same with her instead marrying Mo, who inherited a million from his brother's will. If Tin Star has more than a million dollars, Maria is revealed to be Black Bart in disguise; Bart reasons that he wore it to learn Tin Star's secrets.
Development.
"Tin Star" is the third Software Creations-developed game published by Nintendo, after "Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball" (1994) and (only in Europe) "Plok!" (1993); Nintendo hired the Manchester developer to work on a light gun title for the SNES in compensation for not giving the duties to work on a follow-up to "Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball", which went to Rare. The game was developed out of founder Richard Kay's concept of a Western shoot 'em up with robot characters, inspired by "Westworld" (1973). Software Creations was the first developer to hire professional artists, their catalog including games with a hand-drawn animation style (which Kay was a fan of); "Tin Star" was one of them, as its team included animator Scott Pleydell-Pearce and background artist Deborah Graham. After being one of six games featured by Nintendo at the 1994 summer Consumer Electronics Show (CES), it was released only in North America in November 1994.
Reception.
Critics called "Tin Star" fun, easy, and suitable for young players. It was considered unique from other shoot 'em up titles for its comic nature, cartoon graphics, and quick draw bosses, which "Última Generación" declared the best all-time aspect of games in the genre. It was found to be very playable thanks to its perfect control and ability to modify cursor speed and difficulty. "Computer and Video Games" called it the best game to use the Super Scope, while critics from "GamePro" and "Total!" claimed it was the easiest to play with the Super Scope and Mouse. The graphics were frequently lauded and called by "Total!" journalist Frank the best on the SNES; noted aspects include the varied styles, colorfulness, jocularity, interactiveness, and attention to detail. The music and sound effects were praised for capturing a wild west aesthetic, and the humor and story was enjoyed by many critics minus a couple.
However, reactions towards the gameplay were mixed; some reviewers thought the levels were diverse, while others found the general experience monotonous, limiting in challenge, lacking in replay value, and taking under a day to finish. Although stressed by the quickdraw bosses, "Super Play"s Markus Hawkins lamented the recycled enemy placements and not being able to shoot at certain instances. "", on the other hand, found it much harder with easy segments in scarcity; while an "Última Generación" writer criticized a difficulty spike from the fifth to the sixth day, also finding it tough and annoying to kill small enemies. Some reviewers also disliked the absence of a two-player mode.