Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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A playthrough of Romstar's 1992 action game for the NES, Cowboy Kid.

Cowboy Kid, a localization of the Famicom game Western Kids (ウエスタンキッズ), was created by Pixel, a developer who at the time was probably most notable for their notoriously awful X-men game youtu.be/IcmTMZRBcJY. Thankfully, it seems that they leveled up considerably in wake of that disaster.

What we have here is essentially a knock-off Goemon game set in America's wild west. You are the new sheriff in town, and it's your job to clean up the streets for the decent folk who are trying to make lives for themselves on the frontier.

There are eight stages in total, and after clearing the intro area, you're free to choose which of the six outlaws on the wanted list you'd like to pursue. Each is a self-contained adventure with its own unique map, objectives, and action setpieces, and your money, weapons, and items carry between them. Once you've cleared the wanted board, you get the opportunity to take on the biggest baddie of all, Scorpion Master, "the ruler of nature."

Most areas plunk you down in a town where you'll chat with the locals, play minigames, and complete tasks that'll get you closer to your target, but there's a lot of variety in how the scenarios play out. You'll battle indians as you run along the top of a speeding train, dam up a river in order to gain access to a cave hideout, ride a mine cart through the center of a mountain, and chase bandits on horseback through a lawless town. There's all sorts of fun stuff to see and do, and no two stages feel the same.

The game is simple, not particularly difficult, and the perspective causes some hitbox wonkiness, but Cowboy Kid's silly sense of humor and brisk pacing keeps things light and fun throughout. The only thing that you really need to know before diving in is that the order in which you tackle the stages will have a huge impact on your overall experience. If you try to play them in the order that they're presented, you'll quickly find yourself frustrated as you try to fight through the hardest stage in the game armed with nothing but a knife.

What I liked most about Cowboy Kid was its presentation. The translation work is solid, and the graphics and music are excellent by NES standards. The enemies' facial expressions are hilarious, every area is bursting with color, and the soundtrack is full of memorable themes that nicely capture the spirit of the western theme.

Cowboy Kid isn't an easy game to come by - it was a late NES release with a limited print run - but if you have access to a copy, I'd recommend giving it a try.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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