Gun Frontier

About

Gun Frontier casts you as a pilot battling space pirates in a sci-fi Western world. This vertical shooter drops you into the sky above Gloria, a gold-rich planet where settlers clash with marauding lizard-pirates. You pilot a gun-shaped fighter, trading fire with enemies modeled after classic revolvers and shotguns while collecting coin-based power-ups. Spend earned cash to upgrade your weapon or detonate explosive gold-bar bombs, balancing offense and survival as waves of enemies descend. The game’s aesthetic blends frontier grit with retro-futurism, turning ammo pickups into spinning dimes and hazards into cartoonish bandit ships. Though its 1990 release date makes it a relic of early arcade shooters, its tight controls and escalating challenge keep it fresh for fans of old-school run-and-gun action. A sequel followed, but few captured the original’s punchy mix of gimmick and skill.

Storyline

The year is 2120: Earthlings have spread beyond their galaxy and have started to colonize uninhabited planets in different solar systems. One such planet to be colonized was the Earth-like planet Gloria which happened to have an enormous natural supply of gold. This discovery became pivotal to Gloria's emigration, so much that emigrators would be impoverished by the cost of reaching the planet. Because of this, life on the planet thrived in a setting similar to the American Old West. Though poor, the gold trade aided the Glorians in advancing technology and knowledge, so much that among the inhabitants lived talented inventors and engineers. However, the Glorians were not the only ones who were tempted by the planet's gold: Space pirates known as the Wild Lizards quickly invade Gloria and decimate the towns of the people and enslave those who survived in an attempt to deplete the planet's gold supply. Two inventors of Gloria who were a part of the planet's development teams decide to strike back at their invaders using two fighter planes in the shape of giant revolvers with plane wings.