Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind]

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There are two ways to talk about Rendering Ranger: R2, a hybrid run ‘n gun platformer and shmup (shoot ‘em up) from German developers Rainbow Arts released only for the Japanese Super Famicom back in 1995. The first would be to discuss the game on its merits, specifically how Rainbow Arts attempted to push Nintendo’s 16-bit hardware further than most in a time when the switch to newer 32-bit consoles was well underway.

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German developer Rainbow Arts was known primarily for their excellent work in two genres; run ‘n gun platformers (Turrican) and shmups (the recently re-released X-Out Resurfaced), and led by Manfred Trenz (infamous for The Great Giana Sisters, the game that cloned Super Mario Bros. so closely Nintendo sued), Rendering Ranger would attempt to blend the two seamlessly into one action-packed package while showing what the aged Super Famicom could do.

Perhaps more importantly is its place in rare game collecting, considering how few physical copies were ever produced (reports have it around 10,000, some less). Genuine Super Famicom copies of the game can be found on eBay for hundreds of dollars, and while Limited Run Games produced a new run of physical cartridges for the SNES back in 2022 (also on eBay, substantially cheaper) they aren’t the real deal.

Now it’s back with Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind], another barebones re-release of an older title for modern platforms who’s notoriety is based more around scarcity than actual quality that we’ve seen a lot of lately. This one has been a long time coming, as a planned release for the North American SNES (retitled Targa) never happened and Rendering Ranger quietly slipped into cult status, though it regularly makes YouTube compilations of “the best looking SNES games”. There’s been little conversation about the game on its actual merits, and for good reason. Rendering Ranger: R2 wasn’t very good.

As mentioned above, Rendering Ranger blends two genres; a run ‘n gun platformer and horizontally-scrolling shmup. In the former our hero blasts endless waves of baddies, able to shoot in 8 directions (not not while standing still). Your life bar can be replenished with stars, but take too many hits and it’s game over man. Grabbing different colored orbs will grant new weapons like spread and ricocheting shots, etc., and there’s a charge meter that can unleash a powerful super attack that changes depending on which weapon you have equipped. Sometimes levels require backtracking, which isn’t always evident, though boss battles are frequent and often.

The shmup levels are easily the game’s raison d’etre, the best looking (and sounding), and where Rendering Ranger really shines brightest. You’ll pilot your ship, again blasting endless hordes of baddies, though you can change your direction from left to right. Collecting the same colored orbs and stars gives you basically the same weapons and power-ups from the platforming levels, but there’s a larger focus on destruction as your ship will take damage or explode if you touch a no-go space. Given the questionable hit-boxes, this is bound to cause frustration in experienced shooter fans.

While having two parallel gameplay styles makes things interesting, the bland gameplay doesn’t, which isn’t helped by the inconsistent pacing. Levels run long to the point of exhaustion, enemies soak up way too much damage, and battling mundane bosses again and again quickly loses its charm. Sadly, Rendering Ranger falls victim to the same malady too many games from the era of “let’s prove what the hardware can do” did (see: Batman and Robin, Contra: Hard Corps on the Genesis), which is to emphasize visual effects over solid gameplay, resulting in wild difficulty spikes and later levels only seen by the obsessed (and cheaters).

Even by 1995 standards we’d seen more impressive platformers on the hardware, albeit few that seemed geared toward the audience Rendering Ranger was aiming for. I found it hard to believe this game was from the same designer as Turrican. Less hard was to see why this game never left Japan.

Does Rendering Ranger look good? I suppose you could say yes, on a purely technical level, but not artistically. The sprites have that extremely chunky (and dated) ‘pre-rendered’ aesthetic that was popular in the mid 90s, a style only Donkey Kong Country seemed to pull off. While your main character has decent running animation, everything else looks flat and lifeless, with poor use of Mode-7 effects on bosses for scaling and rotation. At least the backgrounds shine, with multiple parallax layers scrolling by at breakneck speeds while scads of enemies litter the screen with very little slowdown. These are effects we regularly saw on the Genesis, but rarely on the SNES, and seldom running so smoothly.

Again, it’s easy to appreciate many of the game’s technical feats, but none of these effects are in service to the gameplay. Instead, they feel pasted onto the screen for you to interact upon, but never with. There’s a disconnect with your character and ship that never quite gels, the controls feel slippery, and the inconsistency of level design and pacing makes what should have been an exciting mashup of Turrican meets R-Type feel boring. I’d argue the soundtrack (credited to Jesper Olsen and Stefan Kramer) holds up better, as do the bassy sound effects and explosions that are still impressive.

Bonus features are scarce, but there are some. Apart from basic options for CRT filters and some wallpapers, there’s a music player and digital museum where you can view the original Japanese game manual and the cancelled US release. Speaking of which, the renamed Targa is here, complete with your character’s flowing luxurious locks in lieu of helmets. There’s also some welcome biographical research on Manfred Trenz and the game’s development, and some additional artwork.

Interestingly, there’s a parallel story of a group of upstart developers with expertise in both run ‘n gun and shmups attempting to squeeze every last ounce of power from an aging platform. They would be Treasure, a Japanese developer formed by members of Konami (creators of Axelay and Contra III: The Alien Wars, among others), and their debut game on the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis would be Gunstar Heroes, a hardware-pushing extravaganza considered one of the best examples of 16-bit game development. Treasure would, rightfully so, amass a huge following and enjoy a long career upending hardware expectations.

Given the quality of the actual game and lack of special features in this re-release, it’s hard to recommend Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind] on the merits. While lauded for its apparent technical wizardry, Rendering Ranger (the game) just isn’t good enough to get that excited over while this edition isn’t the collector’s item only the real deal could satisfy. On a purely historical basis, it’s worth looking into the game’s development, if only to appreciate a sincerely ambitious effort to prove what the Super Famicom was capable of when developers still gave a damn.