Rendering Ranger: R2

Rendering Ranger: R2 is a run ‘n gun/shoot ’em up developed by Rainbow Arts for the Super Famicom in 1995. It was released only in Japan and has gone on to be one of the rarest Super Famicom titles out there.

Players control the Rendering Ranger, a special forces soldier tasked with defending the Earth from alien invasion. Blast across a sci-fi future on foot with an assortment of guns and power-ups and then race through space in your ship destroying anything that moves.

The game was developed by Manfred Trenz, director of the Turrican series, and although it was a Japan exclusive, it’s almost entirely in English. The unreleased PAL/North American version of the game was to be called ‘Targa’, according to Trenz, stating it initially featured hand-drawn graphics but changed to a pre-rendered look following the success of Donkey Kong Country — hence, the name change. By the time the game was finished, the only company interested in publishing was the Japanese branch of Virgin Interactive.

Upon release, the game was scored a 22 out of 40 by a panel of four reviewers at Famicom Tsūshin. Eurogamer writer Tom Massey described it as “Turrican meets Contra” and complained of screen inertia. Nintendo Life scored it 90/100.