Rendering Ranger: R² [Rewind] (NS)

by
Evan Norris
, posted 3 hours ago / 321 Views

After a troubled, tumultuous development period, the SNES shooter Rendering Ranger: R² released in Japan on November 17, 1995, amidst little fanfare. It’s estimated only 1,500 copies were sold before the remaining stock was liquidated in order to make room for the big 1996 releases, making it one of the rarest Super Nintendo titles of all time. Now, roughly 30 years later, the game is back on current consoles, in a modernized package called Rendering Ranger: R² [Rewind]. So, is Rendering Ranger a hidden gem, a lost classic that can go toe-to-toe with the best of the fourth generation? Or does it deserve its obscurity and cult status? The answer, as is so often the case, lies somewhere in the middle.

Rendering Ranger: R² takes place in the far future. Aliens of unknown origin have attacked Earth, overrunning the combined might of the entire planet and turning once prosperous cities into smoldering wastelands. With little hope in sight, the leaders of the world turn to a secret organization known as Rendering Ranger, made up of international soldiers with amazing reflexes and fighting abilities. One soldier, known only as R², is of particular interest. As a last-ditch effort, Earth assigns R² two missions: capture a high-performance enemy spacecraft and destroy the enemy stronghold.

Designed by Manfred Trenz of Turrican fame, Rendering Ranger: R² is a side-scrolling run-and-gun/shoot-’em-up hybrid. Unlike a lot of action-platformers that tack on one or two flying segments to break up the on-the-ground gameplay, including Trenz’s own Turrican II, Rendering Ranger divides the game almost evenly between Contra-esque soldiering and Thunder Force-like space shooting. On the ground, you move left and right, jump, aim in eight directions, and fire four different weapon types, each with its own “mega weapon” secondary fire; and in space you follow the action to the right, using the same four weapons.

In both phases, Rendering Ranger is fairly good. Stripping away its visual component (more on that later), the game is perfectly competent. On the ground, shooting is responsive and satisfying, and there’s a nice mix of vertical, horizontal, and even backtracking stage designs. In space, the action is intense, and the ability to turn your ship in the opposite direction — which is essential in one stage when you circle a giant battle cruiser — adds a little tactical flavor.

There are several little flaws, however, that drag down the production. It’s difficult to distinguish your shots from enemy projectiles in the shoot-’em-up levels. Stages in general tend to outstay their welcome, sending repetitive enemy waves and hazards your way. At times, in the Contra-like areas, it’s hard to see ahead of you or above you, so it’s easy to get surprised by a stray bullet. Finally, while there are four different shot types — vulcan, laser, mirror, and wide — switching between them is not all that important on the ground. The story is different in space, however, where you absolutely need that laser beam mega weapon to make short work of bosses.

Speaking of bosses, they’re diabolical in Rendering Ranger. With huge reservoirs of hit points and lots of deadly attacks, they mean serious business. If you happen to encounter one with an under-powered arsenal, which will happen if you die in the middle of a stage and don’t collect enough power-ups, it’s game over. Overall, Trenz’s game is exceedingly difficult; this is one of those fourth-gen games that, in theory, could be beaten in a couple hours, but will actually take a fortnight of trial and error. That said, the steep difficulty is mitigated somewhat with health pick-ups, extra lives, and a password system. It’s also helped by the rewind and save functionality unique to this re-release.

In addition to rewind and save states, the re-release arrives with a few other bells and whistles, including screen size, filter, and border options; a music player with original tunes from Stefan Kramer and Jesper Olsen; and a museum filled with box art, manuals, and original artwork. It also comes with the unreleased North America and PAL version of Rendering Ranger, Targa. Note that this version is more or less identical to Rendering Ranger, except the hero goes without a helmet, Marcus Fenix style.

What this modern port hasn’t altered — thankfully — is the graphics engine of the original game. While Rendering Ranger might be merely decent in terms of gameplay, it’s overwhelmingly great when it comes to visuals, thanks to Trenz’s ambition & programming genius and a collection of spectacular pre-rendered assets.

According to Trenz and gaming historians, the developer spent three years meticulously coding what would become Rendering Ranger, creating amazingly big sprites and incredibly fast scrolling on SNES, all without slowdown, despite the system’s lower CPU clock speed. Then, with the game 75 percent complete, publisher Softgold, having been wowed the year before by Donkey Kong Country, prompted Trenz to embrace state-of-the-art pre-rendered designs, sending him back to the drawing board. The results are phenomenal. Simply put, Rendering Ranger is one of the most technically-impressive productions on SNES, and remains one of the console’s most visually-striking games to this day.

Despite its eye-popping visuals, Rendering Ranger: R² isn’t a lost classic. Due to some overlong, tedious stages, a steep difficulty curve, and a few minor annoyances, it doesn’t compare favorably to the better run-and-gun and shoot-’em-up titles from the fourth generation. That said, it’s an absolute work of art from a technological and artistic point of view. If you’re interested in the history of game design, especially in SNES assembly coding and pre-rendered 3D graphics, and you love tough-as-nails 90s-era shooters, this new release has a lot to offer.

This review is based on a digital copy of Rendering Ranger: R² [Rewind] for the NS, provided by the publisher.

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