Now Rendering Ranger is back 30 years later on PC, Playstation, and Nintendo Switch courtesy of Ziggurat Interactive and Limited Run Games, retitled as Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind]. The game switches back and forth between a run n’ gun and a horizontal shmup with solid but challenging mechanics for both. In run n’ gun levels, you’ll control an armored soldier with a gun that can aim in any direction. Enemies come at you fast and furious from all directions with pits to jump over, airborne enemies to avoid, and a plethora of powerups to acquire. You have five weapons and each one has multiple power levels, slowly building as you play through the game, Spread shots, reflect, lasers, and more will help you on your way, as well as some rather useful bombs that recharge over time.
You start with 5 health points and they can drain awfully quickly. There’s no continuing in Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind], so don’t count on credit feeding here. Instead you can regain health and even shields (if you don’t take hits) by collecting stars that drop from some enemies, powering you back up to continue the valiant fight against powerful alien enemies. They don’t call it rewind for nothing though. Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind] is hard. Really, spectacularly hard, and fortunately, there’s a rewind feature built into this version, allowing you to skip back and correct mistakes, significantly dropping the difficulty level even if the game is still outrageously challenging.
After a couple of stages, you’ll climb into a space fighter and continue the game as a shmup. You also have 5 different weapons and some excellent bombs here but this time you have a third set of shields as well (if you don’t get hit) and your weapons are particularly effective. If you’re using the rewind system and powered up, you can practically stroll through enemy fire fields and leisurely take out almost any enemy. The shmup portion of the game has a unique reverse button as well, allowing you (and often requiring you) to flip your ship around and attack enemies behind you. You won’t need it at first but there’s no question you’ll need to master this, as Manfred Trenz’s level designs force you to backtrack and reverse more than you might expect.
Bosses are straightforward in Rendering Ranger: R2 and you’ll find mostly that getting their life bar to start dropping is the big problem. Their bullet patterns are simplistic but they have to be to make up for the blazing speed that bullets fire at and the slightest twitch will get you hit because the hitbox here is absolutely ridiculous. Prepare for a lot of cheap shots because you’re going to get hammered by the slightest out of bounds movement and with high-speed tight corridors for ship combat and almost shoulder-to-shoulder laser defenses in run n’ gun levels, you’re guaranteed to need the rewind feature unless you have spectacularly steady fingers!
There are only nine stages in Rendering Ranger: R2 but you’ll be struggling through the last few even with rewinds unless you’re an absolutely elite gamer. The button layouts won’t help you either here. Button mapping isn’t the best and hitting the bomb button or switching weapons can be difficult if you don’t want to let go of primary fire for long with the massive enemy presence in later levels. That being said, learn to bomb strategically and watch those bullets and you’ll be ok most of the time.
Rendering Ranger: R2 isn’t the only game on this collection though. Targa, a North America/Europe verison of Rendering Ranger: R2 is also included. Unlike the limited Japanese release, Targa was never released physically and has always been relegated to ROMs and repros until now. While Rendering Ranger: R2 is the definitive version of the game, Targa is extremely similar with the primary difference being a different sprite for the main character in the run n’ gun sequences. There are no other really noticeable changes in the game, though playing through Targa after Rendering Ranger: R2 felt slightly easier. That might be attributable to a ton of practice rather than an actual difference in difficultly however.
Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind] is a visual feast for the eyes regardless of which version of the game you play however. Trenz did a lot of tweaking directly in assembly in order to get the game to work properly and there is no slowdown in the original cart or this new release on Switch. That makes for an even more challenging game, but with the massive amount of Mode 7, pre-rendered sprites, and parallax scrolling, Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind] has a depth of visuals that is rarely seen in SNES era games. It’s honestly an absolutely spectacular game, if only you had the time to actually look at the visuals without getting immediately slaughtered. Regardless, the 3D effects are still incredible to this day and very few games from this era look anywhere near as good.
The music from the game is also excellent with a thumping soundtrack that constantly has you hyped up and ready to rock. In addition to solid chiptunes that evoke a sense of 90s hair bands, there’s also an excellent music player embedded in the game menu and unlocked right from the get-go so you can rock out to your heart’s content whenever you feel like it. It’s always nice to have little inclusions like that and Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind]’s soundtrack is definitely worth taking some time to enjoy!
The other quality-of-life improvements here are excellent as well. There’s a small HD image library that includes the Jp box and manual (complete with box wear since it’s impossible to get a flawless original copy of the game now) and a bit of key art, a nice touch that was fun to flip through. The biggest thing is the in-game menu though, triggered by the shoulder buttons and allowing you to save anywhere, load anytime and fiddle with screen functions. There’s a CRT filter, several different aspect ratio options, and some border art if that’s your thing. There’s just enough here to really let you play around a bit and you can even change the button configuration to one of the other presets (this isn’t a fully mappable release). It’s all enough to really improve the experience and make Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind] that much more enjoyable.
The only real flaw in the game is that there are some visual dropouts of your ship and character occasionally. They are hard to capture on screenshots but essentially, your ship and/or character will disappear in short bursts, flickering in and out. While irritating, this isn’t a full dealbreaker and only has a limited impact on gameplay so don’t sweat it, but it’s important to know that there are a couple of flaws. The other is that there’s really nothing that tells you how to save, something this reviewer didn’t figure out until halfway through the game.
All in all, for $10, this is one hell of a vintage experience with a few extras and a rewind function that make the entire experience both intensely satisfying and eminently playable. There’s no question that Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind] is worth your time and deserves to be in your collection and at a bargain price, a multi-thousand dollar experience can finally be yours!
This review is based on a digital copy of Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind] provided by the publisher. It was played on a Nintendo Switch in both docked and undocked modes and played equally well on both. Rendering Ranger: R2 [Rewind] is also available for PS4, PS5, and PC on Steam and GOG.
Nate Van Lindt has been a gamer since the days of yore (aka Commodore 64), and has played a bit of virtually everything out there. He's also an avid comic book collector, both vintage and current, and reads a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. On top of that, he watches a fair number of movies and TV shows as well. Oh, and he has a family, a full-time job, and lives somewhere in the urban wilds of Southwestern Ontario, Canada, foraging for old video cables and forgotten game soundtracks.