People keep on talking about Streets of Rage 2, as if it actually were the best retro side-scrolling beat-'em-up you could ever play in the comfort of your home. How very odd! We all know that Target; Renegade on the ZX Spectrum was better, don't we? And affordable too. And released back in 1988 by Imagine, all those years after Ocean had already gotten said publishing label for itself. Oh, and it also was a truly rare instance of a sequel to an arcade that didn't get an arcade sequel, meaning of course that it was the sequel to an 8-bit arcade conversion; the aptly named Renegade.
Now, assuming not everyone has (had) a Spectrum or a capacity for vivid memories, let me briefly remind everyone what Target; Renegade was all about. You, the player, entered the 80s shoes of ridiculously-named Renegade in a mission to avenge your brother's death. This of course would turn out to be a particularly violent mission, as the game would take you for a brutal fight through the gritty locales of Scumville in search of Mr. Big, a gang-lord and a murderer, whom you would then have to beat to death; preferably with a snooker cue. Not Dostoevsky exactly, I know, but these games can't be judged by their plot, can they?
So, why care about Target; Renegade then? Easy. The game features some great, impressively varied graphics, a lovely selection of baddies that cover everything from ladies of the night and shooters to Beastie Boys fans, excellent controls, excellent pace and five -yes, excellently- characterful stages to battle through. Oh, and, yes, it plays brilliantly (and in a most excellent manner) and is as addictive as, well, a particularly addictive thing. In a nutshell, it's an absolute classic and it hasn't aged a day!
Only problem is it's a multiload, but -in our age of the emulator and the mp3 player- that shouldn't really bother anyone...
Other, by definition inferior (though some might argue with that), versions of Target; Renegade have appeared on the CPC, the Commodore 64 and even Nintendo's very own NES. Oh, and if you have a 128k Speccy prepare yourselves for some fantastic music too.
Where to get it:
Target; Renegade (all formats): eBay.com, eBay.uk
Free Download (Spectrum version): World of Spectrum
Remakes: Target; 2006, Target Renegade Remake
More info on Target; Renegade:
Sensible Soccer (Commodore Amiga)
Berzerk (Atari 2600/VCS)
Posts
I had a hard enough time with Double Dragon!
ReplyDeleteLOL! of course theres a woman involved!!
As always my friend, as always. BTW, love the emerging new site design of yours...
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteI'm still chipping away at it... just wanted to get it up.
Hey she's got cleavage!!
Who?
ReplyDeleteHeh... as if you can compare the mono crappy Speccfy version to the CPC glory... :D
ReplyDeleteYou may take our treasured machines but you can never take our pride away. Colours FTW!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, that's fine by me. Gimme a 6128 and I'll give you all the pride you could ask for. Colours? Baaah...
ReplyDeleteShush, little rubbery, bleepy, monochromatic gnome. Shush. Let the grown ups play.
ReplyDeleteAye.
ReplyDelete(Sits in the corner and sulks)
Got to hand it to you, I'd expect a (cordial) flame as a response given past experiences with Speccy fans. So I'll extend my hand and admit that some games are fun on the Spectrum.
ReplyDeleteHm, some.
If you turn the sound off.
Btw, since we're at it: I'm buying a small digital frame with a resolution of 320x240px to run a slideshow of 8-bit screens on it. I've got a CPC screenies archive, and I think I've also got the c64 one, but where could I find some screens from Speccy games? I know WoW has ftp access to their archive, but limitations are too strict...
(stops sulking, turns sound off, bites extended hand)
ReplyDeleteHa!
That's an absolutely brilliant idea! I'll get meself one too. Well, eventually. What a sorry copycat, eh?
Anyway, I'm pretty sure you mean WoS, right? If not do try http://www.worldofspectrum.org/.
Quite a few piccies can also be found at http://www.therubberbeermat.co.uk/
Oh, and I've got some Zenobi loading screens here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnomeslair/sets/72157605119355029/show/with/2506487876/
(snapping gnome's head off with tape lid)
ReplyDeleteYou can find 3" or 3.5" frames for quite cheap. Around the 30 euros mark at most.
And, erm, yes, I meant WoS of course - wow, what conditioning... :D
Thanks for the suggestions. The problem is that in each case I need to save each separate image, which will get tiresome after the first few hundreds... And WoS's FTP only allows up to 250 downloads daily :(
Thanks anyway!
Hmmm.. 30 euros is ok... And if I come up with a lovely zip of Speccy screens I'll let you know...
ReplyDelete(picks up head and leaves)
(that's right, take your crying head and go, Barbarian style.)
ReplyDelete(Oh, wait, it was the gnome-thing that played with the head. Nevermind)
Take a look here, for instance: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14489 . And the good thing at this size is that they have the proper resolution, too :) (they have free shipping at DX, too)
It'd be really nice if you could dig some zip up - maybe, if you do have the WoS archive, you could zip up the screens dir?
I really wouldn't know, but guess I could actually go on and create an art & screens zip myself...
ReplyDeleteNice frame, mind.
Well; if you ever do create an archive for yourself please do recall this discussion :)
ReplyDeleteI definitely will... Cheers
ReplyDelete