The Sundown Kid
“It's been a long time... since I had the chance to do something good and decent. That's reward enough.”
—The Sundown Kid
The Sundown Kid, also known simply as Sundown, is the protagonist of the Wild West chapter, The Wanderer. A soft-spoken vagrant who aimlessly roams the American frontier, he is given a chance for redemption after coming across a victimized community.
Profile
Appearance
Sundown appears to be in his mid-thirties to late forties. He has light, long brown hair and a thin beard. He wears an old brown cowboy hat, a poncho that has a zig-zag pattern with dots, and a pair of brown chaps. Under his poncho he wears a brown vest and a white shirt. Around his waist he wears two brown leather belts, with a gun holster and ammunition bandolier respectively. In the SFC version, he is depicted as a cigar smoker.
Personality
The Sundown Kid is very reserved and stoic, a man of few words; the archetypical "mysterious gunman" and "lone wolf". Not much is known about him besides his origin story, but it is known that he feels guilt for not being able to protect his home town. Though he travels alone, his apparent need for companionship seems to be the main reason why he hasn't killed Mad Dog, and though he is initially wary of the protagonist following him in the Final Chapter, he eventually offers to join forces.
Biography
The Wild West: The Wanderer
In his youth, the Sundown Kid was well-known as the fastest gun in the West. His legend inspired many naïve gunslingers to seek him out and challenge him in the hope of making a name for themselves. Eventually, his notoriety led to his hometown being raided and massacred by a vengeful gang of outlaws. To appease his guilt, he assumed his current identity as the Sundown Kid, a wanted outlaw with a bounty on his head, and wandered the desert on horseback in search of a place to die. During this time, he acquired a persistent adversary in bounty hunter Mad Dog, who sought to claim his apparent reward. The two would tangle many times, though Sundown would always come out on top and leave Mad Dog in the dust.
After one of his usual duels with Mad Dog, the Sundown Kid finds himself wandering into Success, a small former gold-rush boomtown. He stops inside the local saloon, where he is met with wariness by the townspeople. As he takes as seat at the bar, he is soon accosted by Pike, a member of a vicious gang of outlaws that frequently terrorize the town, the Crazy Bunch. Sundown chases Pike out of the bar after he begins to harass the townspeople, aweing them with his sharpshooting skills, particularly the young Billy. At that moment, Mad Dog enters the saloon. He reveals Sundown's identity to the people of Success, and challenges the Kid to a showdown in the street.
Sundown and Mad Dog prepare for their final duel, but at the last second are interrupted by more members of the Crazy Bunch, who the pair see and shoot down before anyone else. With a all-out attack now imminent, the townspeople plead the skilled pair to help free the town from the Crazy Bunch once and for all, to which they agree. The group concoct a ploy to take on the entire gang at once; throughout the night, Sundown, along with Mad Dog, searches around the town in search of tools, which the townspeople may use to construct traps for the outlaws.
At the first sign of sunrise, the Crazy Bunch storms into town. As the gang's leader, O. Dio, demands total surrender, Sundown and Mad Dog ready themselves to confront him. With parting encouragement from Billy, Sundown and his ally step outside the saloon and face Dio in a turbulent shootout which they ultimately win, liberating the people of Success. Despite everything, however, an unfazed Mad Dog insists he and Sundown resume their final duel. The Kid may choose to either put down his rival for good, or flee from the battle, sparing his life.
His duty complete, the Sundown Kid prepares to leave Success, as the townspeople bid him farewell. They offers him their gold as payment, but he turns it away. Through this experience, Sundown had remembered what it was like to do good, and he rides off with a new conviction. If Mad Dog was spared, the two partake in one last regular duel in the frontier before the Kid wanders off once more.
Final Chapter: The Dominion of Hate
The Sundown Kid, along with the other six heroes, is transported to the Dominion of Hate by the will of Odio. He is initially found outside the former cabin of Hasshe on the Last Hero's Grave. If he's not the leader, it will take several tries to get the wanderer to join the heroes, ignoring the heroes when spoken to before moving to another location in Lucrece, from the Last Hero's Grave to the Seat of the Betrayers, with his whereabouts indicated by the direction he is moving towards. He finally confronts the party as they leave the castle town, where he's finally persuaded to join.
Sundown's Trial is the Trial of Time, located in the southern region of the Silent Wood. Akin to Sundown's time in Success, the party must gather as much treasure as possible before their time runs out. Sundown's ultimate weapon, the .44 Magnum, waits at the Trial's lowest point.
After Odio is defeated once and for all in the true ending, Sundown, if chosen as the primary hero, confronts Oersted over his actions. While he too had left his life behind and sought to escape from people, he explains, eventually he had come to miss the values of company and a place to call home. Moved by his words, Oersted at last returns the seven heroes to their original time periods with his final breath. Sundown's fate afterwards is based on the outcome of his duel with Mad Dog after the fight with O. Dio. If Mad Dog was killed, the Kid rides alone through the desert, before removing his hat and staring wistfully into the distance. If he was spared, the pair ride side by side, seemingly having formed a friendship.
Bad Endings
If he's the one to finish off Oersted after Purity of Odio's defeat, he can only take off his hat and bid him "Adios." Since Oersted was killed too early, the Lord of Dark's hatred is free to continue the cycle, and Sundown along with the other six heroes are presumably trapped in Lucrece.
If Oersted is chosen as the primary hero for the Final Chapter, Sundown is instead fought as an enemy against O. Dio, in an alternate outcome of their showdown in Success where Dio comes out on top, leaving Success to ransacked by the Crazy Bunch.
Etymology
The word Sundown means the time in the evening when the sun disappears or daylight fades. His alias was likely inspired by "The Sundance Kid", a historical outlaw and member of the Wild Bunch.
Trivia
- The Sundown Kid is the second oldest of the main characters, behind only the Earthen Heart Shifu.
- Sundown's design and personality are based on the Man with No Name played by Clint Eastwood in the Dollars Trilogy.
- The $5,000 bounty on his head is a sizeable sum by 1880s standards; today it would be equivalent to roughly $150,000.
- He shares a name with the movie The Sundown Kid and its titular protagonist.
| The Wild West: The Wanderer |
|---|
| Characters |
| The Sundown Kid • Mad Dog • Annie • Billy • Sheriff • The Crazy Bunch • O. Dio |
| Locations |
| Success (Crystal Saloon) |
| Enemies |
| Pike • Pike Brother • Dutton Brother • Duo Salvajo |
| Music |
| Wanderer • Under the Fake • The Wilds • Sancho de Los Panchos |
| Transcripts |
| 2022 (English) • 1994 (English, Japanese) |
| Final Chapter: The Dominion of Hate |
|---|
| Characters |
| Pogo • Earthen Heart Master (Yun Jou • Lei Kugo • Hong Hakka) • The Sundown Kid • Oboromaru • Masaru Takahara • Akira Tadokoro • Cube • Oersted • Odio |
| Locations |
| Seat of the Betrayers • Silent Wood • Condemned Village • The Last Hero's Grave • The Archon's Roost • Trials (Instinct • Skill • Time • Keys • Power • Heart • Wisdom) |
| Enemies |
| Xavier • Polydectes • Oedipus • Daedalus • Teil Queen • Pawnbert • Ruby Tyrant • Cerberus • Lightbringer • Souleater • Dreadbulb • Phantom Rider • Deathfist Disciple • Chrono Legionary • Ravenous Bear • Nekomata • Mecha-Satake 98 • Earthshaker • Entomophilia • Claustrophilia • Babaliyan • Grand Visages • Dragon Killer • Ishtar • Glasya Labolas • Tsunayoshi • Pup Lord • Grammoth • Pistachio • Titanblood • Riftwalker Genzaemon • Roly Poly • Ship of Horrors • Acrophilia • Scotophilia • Hygrophilia • Helios Hound • Darkwall • Shadow • Lucretius • The Bountiful Heart • Jaggedy Jacks • Apophisphilo • Euraokos • Death Prophet • Headhunter • Eyes of Odio • Maw of Odio • Brow of Odio • Purity of Odio • Arm of Odio (Left) • Arm of Odio (Right) • Sin of Odio |
| Music |
| The Dominion of Hate • Silent Labyrinth • Illusion • Pure Odio • Armageddon • Live over Again • Live for Live • Gigalomania |
| Transcripts |
| 2022 (English) • 1994 (English, Japanese) |
- Characters
- Male Characters
- Human Characters
- Playable Characters
- The Wanderer Characters
- Protagonists