Rendering Ranger™: R² [Rewind] Review

Some retro games become legendary because everyone played them. Rendering Ranger: R² became legendary because almost nobody did. Originally released for the Super Famicom in 1995, the game was created by Manfred Trenz, best known for the Turrican series. It was originally planned for a Western release under the name Targa, but that version never made it to stores. Instead, Rendering Ranger: R² received a Japan only release with just 10,000 copies produced, eventually turning it into one of the most sought after Super Famicom games around. Three decades later, Ziggurat and Limited Run Games have finally made it widely available through Rendering Ranger: R² [Rewind], released on March 20, 2025.

Going into this one, I was curious whether there was actually a great game underneath all that collector hype or whether Rendering Ranger had simply become famous because it was rare. After spending time with it, I can understand why people kept talking about it. There are definitely elements that show their age, but when Rendering Ranger gets moving, especially during its shoot 'em up stages, this thing can still be ridiculously entertaining.

The story is about as straightforward as you can get. You play as Double R, the Rendering Ranger, a special forces soldier defending Earth against an alien invasion. That is essentially all the motivation you need because this is not a game interested in stopping every few minutes for dialogue, cutscenes, character development, or complicated lore. The setup exists to get Double R onto the battlefield and give you something to shoot.

Normally, I want more story in my games, but I do not think the simplicity hurts Rendering Ranger. This comes from an era when plenty of action games gave you a paragraph explaining that aliens were attacking and then expected you to figure out the rest with a controller in your hands. The environments and escalating destruction actually do more storytelling than the narrative itself. Earth feels like it is being overwhelmed, and the constant enemy attacks give the adventure a surprisingly frantic atmosphere.

Gameplay is where Rendering Ranger earns its reputation. The game alternates between traditional side scrolling run and gun stages and horizontal spaceship shooting sequences across nine levels. You have several weapon types that can be upgraded, bombs that recharge, jumping, diagonal aiming, and the ability to switch weapons depending on the situation. The mechanics are not overly complicated, but that simplicity works because the game constantly throws enemies and hazards at you.

The run and gun portions immediately reminded me of games like Contra, although Rendering Ranger has its own rhythm. Double R can take multiple hits, so you are not instantly dead every time something touches you, but do not mistake that for the game being easy. Enemy placement can become brutal, projectiles can fill the screen quickly, and later areas expect you to remember what is coming. There are moments where the difficulty feels less like pure reaction and more like learning through failure.

Thankfully, that is where the Rewind portion of the title becomes extremely useful. This version adds rewind and save functionality, which completely changes how approachable the game is for someone discovering it today. The original experience could be unforgiving, especially with limited lives and no traditional continue system, so being able to reverse a mistake or create a save makes learning the levels much more enjoyable. Purists can ignore these features and experience the challenge as originally intended, while everyone else can actually see the later portions of the game without wanting to throw their controller across the room.

The biggest surprise, though, is the horizontal shooting stages. These sections are fantastic. Your character jumps into a ship and the game suddenly turns into a fast moving shoot 'em up with enemies pouring onto the screen from multiple directions. You retain the weapon switching system, but the movement and encounter design become much faster. You can even flip the ship around to attack enemies approaching from behind.

These stages are where I started wondering how they pulled some of this off on Super Nintendo hardware. There can be a ridiculous amount happening on screen, with bullets flying everywhere, enemies moving in different directions, backgrounds scrolling rapidly, and huge bosses appearing without the game completely falling apart. I actually wish there were even more of these sections because they are easily the strongest part of the entire package.

That creates one of the game's biggest weaknesses. The run and gun stages are good, but they rarely reach the same level as the spaceship sections. Every time I finished one of the shooting stages and returned to the ground, it almost felt like the game had taken something away from me. The platforming portions can also become a little stiff compared with modern action games, and certain enemy placements feel designed around memorization rather than giving you enough time to react.

Visually, Rendering Ranger is fascinating. The game was created during the period when pre rendered graphics were becoming a major selling point, and that influence is everywhere. Characters, enemies, and especially bosses have that unmistakable mid 1990s computer generated appearance that immediately brings games like Donkey Kong Country to mind, although Rendering Ranger uses the technique for something much darker and more action focused. Several of the gigantic bosses were created from pre rendered 3D models before being converted into sprites.

Some of the artwork has obviously aged, but technically this remains an impressive Super Nintendo showcase. Explosions cover the screen, enormous objects move through the background, enemies attack in large numbers, and the shoot 'em up sequences move at an impressive pace. It is one of those retro games where part of the fun comes from looking at what the developers accomplished with hardware that should probably be struggling much more than it does.

The soundtrack is less memorable. Nothing here annoyed me, and the music does its job during the action, but there were not many tracks I found myself thinking about after putting the controller down. When the visuals and gameplay are pushing so hard, I wish the music had that same unforgettable personality.

One thing I really appreciate about this release is that it preserves more than just the Japanese game. Rendering Ranger: R² [Rewind] also includes the unreleased version of Targa, giving players a chance to experience the abandoned Western variation of the game. The Carbon Engine release also includes rewind and save functionality along with modern display options.

I do think the presentation surrounding the games could have gone further. For something with such an unusual development history, I would have loved an extensive museum filled with production material, developer commentary, prototypes, interviews, concept art, and a deeper exploration of how this game disappeared for so long. There is enough here to preserve the game, but the story behind Rendering Ranger is almost as interesting as the game itself, and this release could have celebrated that history more aggressively.

Rendering Ranger: R² [Rewind] is a great example of why retro preservation matters. This was once the kind of game most people could only read about, emulate, or spend an absurd amount of money trying to own. Now it can finally be played legitimately by a much larger audience, and more importantly, the game underneath the mythology is actually worth playing.

The run and gun stages can be uneven, the difficulty occasionally relies too heavily on memorization, the soundtrack does not leave much of an impression, and the overall collection could have offered more historical material. None of those problems erase what Rendering Ranger does well. Its massive bosses, impressive pre rendered visuals, responsive shooting, frantic action, and especially those phenomenal spaceship stages show exactly why people remained fascinated with it for decades.

This is not just some rare cartridge people brag about owning anymore. It is finally a game people can actually play.