Lethal Enforcers

The game is viewed from a first-person perspective. 357 Magnum, a semi-automatic pistol, a combat shotgun, an assault rifle, a submachine gun, or a grenade launcher. The submachine gun and grenade launcher can only be used once while other weapons can be reloaded like the service revolver. Losing a life reverts the player's weapon to the revolver.

The game ends when all lives are lost, unless the player chooses to continue. Along the way, extra lives can be earned per 2,000 points (1,000 in console ports) scored. There are bonus points (10 each) for destroying certain targets. 8 points per enemy shot.

The player assumes control of a Chicago Police Department (CPD) officer named Don Marshall in Chicago, Illinois, who is at a donut shop for a break. While sipping the last drop of coffee, he gets a call from his dispatcher. They realize that a major crime organization has invaded town, and they need his help on the double. He is one of the two survivors of the elite group of officers.

The rest have ended up in the hospital or killed. Once the call ended, he decided to check out the bank. From that point on, he is going to experience the toughest job that he would have during his years in the police force. He has been assigned and agrees to help stop a growing crime wave that puts the city's security in serious jeopardy, along with a helper (a second player can join in).

In the United States, RePlay listed the game as the third top-grossing upright arcade game in November 1992, and then as the top-grossing upright arcade game from December 1992 to January 1993, before becoming one of the top five highest-grossing dedicated arcade games of 1993 in the United States. In Japan, Game Machine listed Lethal Enforcers as the top-grossing upright/cockpit arcade unit of December 1992. It was later the top-selling Sega CD game of November 1993 in the United States.

GamePro gave rave reviews for the Sega CD, Genesis, and SNES versions; for the SNES version, they cited the accuracy of the Konami Justifier, the realistic graphics, and the "appropriately hyper music". Electronic Gaming Monthly scored the SNES version 24 out of 40 (6 out of 10 average). Though they noted that the port was technically impressive, they felt the brutal violence was toned down to the point where the spirit of the game was lost.

Lethal Enforcers popularized the use of digitized sprites and backgrounds in light gun shooters. Its release coincided with the release of another popular game using digitized sprites around the same time, Mortal Kombat (1992). Lethal Enforcers subsequently became the yardstick by which later light gun shooters were compared to up until the mid-1990s. Digitized sprites also became the most popular graphical representation for light gun shooters up until the mid-1990s, with the arrival of Sega AM2's Virtua Cop (1994) which replaced them with 3D polygon graphics.

A level in Konami's shooter Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius is modeled after Lethal Enforcers and has the player character avoiding moving crosshairs. Both the blue and pink Konami Justifiers appear at the bottom of the screen during the stage.