Express Raider

The American Wild West was a popular video game theme in the 1980s, and Data East's 1986 Express Raider is one of its most action-packed takes. The player takes on the role of a cowboy robbing a treasure-laden train while fighting through car after car full of gunmen, brawlers, and other hazards. The game combines the side view of a classic platformer with shootouts and fistfights, giving it a fresh pace compared to purely shooting-focused titles of the time.

Besides the fights inside the train, Express Raider also offers horseback sequences where the player gallops alongside the track, trying to reach the roof of the cars or escape pursuers. Alternating between these two gameplay layers - on-foot action and horseback riding - was one of the more imaginative solutions of the time for keeping the player engaged and preventing the game from becoming repetitive. Visually, the game benefits from colorful western scenery, cacti, and burning wagons that nicely evoke the atmosphere of a Wild West movie.

Express Raider never became as iconic as the major franchises of its time, but among western-themed arcade machines it remains one of the most playable. Its mix of fistfights, shooting, and horseback riding shows how creatively Data East could blend genres together in the 1980s.

Why play it: For its fresh combination of fistfights, shootouts, and horseback riding, wrapped in the western atmosphere of a train heist.