Developed and published by Imagine in 1988.

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Foreword: The original video of Target Renegade was one of the first I uploaded. It was low resolution and poorly cropped, therefore I decided to record a new, high-definition version that also includes the loading screen/music!

Target Renegade is a pseudo-sequel to the Renegade arcade game by Taito. However, Target Renegade featured exclusively on home computers/consoles and did not feature in the arcades.

The story is one of revenge. With your brother murdered and girlfriend kidnapped, you're on a mission to take down Mr. Big and his thugs. The game is set across a number of urban backdrops, from a municipal car-park, to dirty back-streets in the red light district. Each level throws different opponents at you, all of which will be trying to bring you down.

Combat is simple, but unsatisfying due to some clunky collision detection. The flying kick is used purely to split up pairs of enemies, as it's the only thing that disrupts their attack pattern. In fact, the only challenge the game offers is doing some pretty complex finger gymnastics to string flying kicks and crouch punches together.

The music, by Gary Biasillo, is very catchy and possibly the best thing about the game. The in-game artwork is also pretty good, although some of the sprites have pixels out of place, which tend to make the sprites look like they have flies buzzing around them.

Target Renegade is one of those games that is very different depending on the version that you play. Despite having the same theme, the Spectrum version plays much more like the arcade original, yet the C64 had a scrolling playfield with a maximum of two enemies on-screen at a time.

The status bar at the bottom of the screen with the eyes that react to the player getting hit is a great feature. The way the eyes bulge when the player is kicked in the groin is a nice touch!

Despite being a bit rough around the edges, I still look on this game fondly and might even go as far as calling it a classic, something that cannot be said of it's sequel, Renegade III.
#retrogaming