 Let's dive in one more time into the world of laughably expensive NES games. Here we have Cowboy Kid made by Pixel, a dev team that had a hand in a few other NES titles like World Champ, Fantasy Wars and Baseball Stars 2. However, those cartridges haven't adopted the moniker of collector status symbol the way cowboy Kid has, with that cartridge going for around $250 dollars loose and $500 dollars complete in the box. So what is this game and is it actually any good. Cowboy Kid is very similar in structure to the Ganbare Goemon games on Famicom. You probably know those better as The Legend of the Mystical Ninja series on Super Nintendo, and Cowboy Kid takes the same top-down viewpoint and adopts very similar beat-em-up and shooter mechanics with a few weapons to choose from, starting with this comically oversized knife, but you eventually get a handgun and a rifle, both with unlimited ammo. This game is also two-player co-op, which is nice, and also similar to the Goemon games is that you visit shops, talk to townsfolk, and pick up tips on where to go, what to do, and how to do it. The way the structure is set up here is that you have kind of an introductory stage that helps, uh, introduce the game and gives you a notion as to what to expect. Go into the first door here, and the guy gives you a knife. With that, you can open up treasure chests, which seemingly give you an unlimited amount of money you can collect, just leave the screen and come back, and they're full again. Okay, whatever. You eventually get to the last door, and you've been doing such a great job so far that you're immediately made sheriff. Well, that was easy. From there, you've got six different outlaws you can go after that have all settled in six different areas. Defeat those six, and you've got one last outlaw to capture. You collect money in these chests here, and buy items that can help you reach new areas, or just keep you from doing too much backtracking. In one instance in Slash Joe's area, you have to go down into this basement and find a key, and once you find it, you can use the ladder to warp out of there instead of going all the way back, so that's a nice touch. You don't have to buy these items, you can play as is, but they are helpful. Also at the stores, you can buy health replenishments, armor upgrades, and a map of each area, which is really helpful and kind of uncommon for games of its time, so I really appreciate that it's here. Just press start, and then the A button to see it. Just like the Goemon games, it doesn't even matter if you defeat any of the enemies on screen here, they just kind of hop along and get in your way. You also have the ability to bust open these barrels and find extra money, and these stars. Collect five of those, and they increase your hit points, but sometimes the barrels can give you something that can do damage, so you have to be careful. There's this town folk you run into that give you helpful hints, and there's also tons of minigames here to earn more money. There's a shooting range, a test of strength, and good old fashioned blackjack, just to name a few. You could sink a ton of time into these minigames alone. You pick up clues to the whereabouts of that level's particular outlaw. In the case of Slash Joe, he's trying to leave on a train, so you head to the train station, hop along cars seemingly forever, until you get a one-on-one showdown and defeat him. And in a nice twist, you actually get a time bonus here, so this could be a potential's fun speedrun game, if that's what you're into. The game goes on from there, collecting keys and other items through six more levels, with the gameplay occasionally switching to a traditional 2D side-scrolling viewpoint, tracking down that level's particular outlaw. No saves or passwords here, but you do at least get to keep all of your items if you get a game over. There are some flaws here I need to address, however. One is that the hit detection in this game is absolutely awful, especially in the top-down areas. Thankfully, this game is very forgiving when it comes to damage and health, but geez Louise, getting hit by all these randos is seemingly, well, random, especially when you have the knife to start with. It's really a downer. I will say combat does get to get better when you get the gun later on. Another flaw is that this game is crazy unbalanced, remember the stars I mentioned earlier? You can sit there and grind and knock open barrels, leave the area, come back and keep knocking open those same barrels until you've got your full allotment of health, right when you start the game. You can do the same thing with money as well, so, uh, yeah, if you're expecting a challenge, there's not much of one here, because that kind of stuff is so easily exploitable. I will say for what it's worth, some of the boss fights can be really tough regardless of how much money or how many upgrades you have. I also want to point out quickly the cover art here that North America received. What is this? The early 60s? Were they trying to appeal to the gun smoke and bonanza audiences? Because they were about 30 years too late. Meanwhile, the Japanese cover is filled with action and movement, with the villains lurking in the background. It's just yet another one of those cases where the Japanese artwork was much more interesting than what we got here. Anyway, yeah, Cowboy Kid has a lot going for it. It's a really fun romp through a wild west motif. The minigames are great, the music is fun, and the art style is like a cross between Goemon and River City Ransom. But like I said, the hit detection sucks, certain parts of the game can really drag, and money practically grows on trees, and that takes away a lot of the challenge here. This game could have been a lot better balanced. Either way, this is still a fun playthrough, so file this one away in the category of, play this one, anyway you can. And I want to thank you for watching, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.