Mini Review: Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind] (Switch)

Rendering Ranger R2‘s original release is a layered story of mystique and intrigue. Developed by Manfred Trenz of Turrican fame, it was only ever released in Japan after its American and European incarnation, Targa, was cancelled. With only 10,000 copies produced, it’s one of the rarest Super Famicom games and by far the most valuable.

An unusual run-and-gun/shoot-em-up hybrid, its graphics were switched in beta from traditional spritework to a pre-rendered flavour in an attempt to capitalise on the Donkey Kong Country wave. Its platform stages play much like Contra, dropping Turrican’s sprawling layouts for more linear fare, while its shoot-’em-up sections play similarly to Thunder Force. Action-packed throughout, there are plenty of weapons to swap between, and you can power up your shot types through several levels. Should you take too much damage, your weapon power takes a hit in turn. You have three bombs available that function differently depending on the weapon you’re using, and interestingly they operate on a reheat basis, meaning the game allows you to be quite liberal in their usage.

In platform mode, the ‘L’ and ‘R’ buttons let you shoot diagonally up or down from a fixed position, and you’re graced with a gravity-defying jump. Graphically, it’s all very nice, showboating with giant Mode 7 sprite swoops and spinny spaceship takeoffs. One wonders what the original sprite work might have looked like, although hints remain in stage six’s rather splendid mothership assault and various backgrounds.

The game switches regularly between platform action and shoot-’em-up blasting, your weapon switching and power-upping working well in either format. The shoot-’em-up stages are exciting and well composed, although visually confusing at times.

The real issue with Rendering Ranger R2 is that it suffers from a little of that old Amiga irritation. Hit boxes and movements are a tad loose, knockbacks and recovery just shy of sufficient, and certain enemy placements and obstacles can grind one’s gears. The stages are inordinately long in places, occasionally in danger of overstaying their welcome, and it takes approximately two hours to put the whole thing to bed. It defaults to Hard, too, so watch out, as it can be tricky even on Normal.

With this [Rewind] edition, Limited Run has kindly included the unreleased Targa localisation, which is just a bearded sprite swap, as well as options for screen adjustments, rewind features, and CRT filters. For some inexplicable reason they didn’t include a continue option, instead requiring you to excruciatingly type in passwords to return to previous levels; and, the limited rewind function continues recording while the game is paused, which is really boneheaded, and completely defeats the purpose of the feature if you’re unlucky with your timing.

There’s plenty to like in Rendering Ranger R2, and if you learn it thoroughly it’s twice as rewarding. Turrican fans will love it, and the shoot-’em-up stages look great, even if they’re a tad Euroshmuppy in places. The hybrid is a novel idea, and the weapons system and perpetual bomb recharges bring variety to the table. It’s not as good as Contra nor Thunder Force, but it’s certainly an enjoyable action game in its own right, despite the odd niggling annoyance.

And you can now own it for less than a thousand quid, which is nice.