Although my PC still obstinately and obdurately refuses to be repaired (I’m still languishing on a library computer 
), I haven’t been wholly shorn away from the blessed and majestic world of computers because shortly before my PC imploded I took delivery of a new Saturn, to replace my old brave warrior which finally gave up the ghost after a decade of dedicated and commended service and even survived having my brother pour vaseline into its CD reader… Plays The last Post :’(
In the interim, therefore, my old Saturn games have been enjoying quite an intensive revival, and none more so than those shoot-'em-ups par excellence, one of the many great triumphs of AM2 that is the Virtua Cop series, which has now sustained a fair amount of punishment in my CD Drive. 
Whilst I was mercilessly and ruthlessly deluging vile and incontrovertible polygon perpetrators with the infra-red rounds of Justice and Liberty, however, I rediscovered a great way to enliven both Virtua Cop - and indeed, House of the Dead and Confidential Mission as well - with what I affectionately dub the…
[size=100]COWBOY MODE![/size]
Hence the thread title. 
‘Cowboy Mode’ is a one-player variant for Sega shoot-'em-ups (Of course, the split-screen nature of Namco’s Time Crisis II and III renders it unsuitable). It is quite simple to engage, but I find that it gives shoot-'em-ups a brilliant and marvellous new lease of life once you’ve mastered all of the attack patterns and are seeking something new. To play it, follow these instructions.
**-Plug two light guns into your Saturn or Dreamcast.
-Start up the game as normal.
-If you’ve got a friend, banish him to the other side of the room so he can spectate at your
P|-|34r5()//\e 4ki^^8] 5ki11z.
-Select a standard two player option. However, instead of giving the second gun to your companion… wield it yourself.**
It’s a simple idea, but trust me in that it’s immense fun. ‘Cowboy Mode’ adds a whole new layer of challenge - you’ve got twice as much to concentrate on - and you can start instroducing new objectives for yourself, such as shooting enemies alternately with each gun, or trying to inflict double the obliteration with a simulateneous three-point shot! You’ll soon start cackling like a maniac when you begin firing from the hip like John Wayne, shooting with guns horizontal as in gangster films, or shuffling about the room in slow-motion as you pretend to be in the Government Lobby from The Matrix.
Give it a whirl… it’s brilliant! ;D