Target Renegade

01 · Introduction

Fighting through Scumville

Renegade’s brother Matt has been caught investigating gang boss Mr. Big. The manual makes revenge your reason to cross Scumville, beginning in a multi-storey car park and ending in Mr. Big’s bar. Between them lie a night-time street, a park, and a shopping mall. Each place brings another group of opponents, including motorcyclists and armed attackers.¹

A joystick supplies the fighting moves. Move without fire to walk around an opponent; hold fire and the direction chooses an attack. Facing matters: a horizontal direction can produce a front attack or a back kick. Upward directions bring jumps, while down and fire lets you duck or pick up a dropped weapon. The challenge is choosing a move while keeping yourself in position to land it. Try the direction and facing demonstration.

Motorbikes make that positioning especially visible. On the ground, a rider can run you down. Get into the air at the right moment and you can knock the rider off. Elsewhere, enemies can work together, with one holding the fighter while another attacks. See how the fighting works.

02 · Introduction

A sequel made for home computers

The first Renegade began as a Technos Japan arcade game in 1986. Ocean published its European home-computer conversions through the Imagine label, then used a sequel option in the licence to make Target Renegade. This sequel appeared on the C64, Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC.³⁴

Writing in Commodore User in April 1988, Mike Pattenden reported that Ocean had taken its sequel proposal to Taito. He presented programmer Dave Collier’s appointment as a reason to expect an improvement over the first conversion, pointing to Collier’s earlier work on Arkanoid and Green Beret.¹⁰

The C64 release cost £8.95 on cassette and £12.95 on disk. The Hit Squad budget reissue followed in 1990 at £2.99.²

03 · Introduction

The people behind the fighting

The title screen credits Dave Collier with programming, John Palmer and Martin McDonald with graphics, and Gary Biasillo with music. The manual also names D.C. Ward as producer.¹

Biasillo, whose interview appears under the name Gari Biasillo, remembered Collier working in the next office at Ocean and teaching him programming tricks. For Target Renegade, Biasillo recalled having “no specs as to what the music should be like”. That freedom made the assignment challenging and rewarding, and he singled it out as his favourite music from his 8-bit work.¹³

Biasillo said he composed the music and sound effects, then enlisted Jon Dunn to help adapt the music for the Spectrum’s buzzer sound system as the release deadline approached. Listen to the C64 title music and stage tunes.¹³

04 · Introduction

Two pictures, different credits

The loading picture preserved from the supplied disk names a different programming and graphics team from the game’s own title screen.

Biasillo’s recollection establishes Dunn’s involvement in the Spectrum music. The reason for these credits on the C64 picture remains unresolved. Compare the credits and evidence.

05 · Introduction

Admired animation, disputed fighting

Mike Pattenden awarded Target Renegade a C.U. Screen Star and 8 out of 10 in Commodore User. He praised both its appearance and its play, calling it “hugely entertaining and ample justification for a sequel”.¹⁰

Zzap!64’s reviewers agreed about the visual improvement. Julian Rignall saw the sprites as an immediate sign that the sequel surpassed its predecessor. The magazine awarded graphics 93% and the game 84% overall.⁹

Their accounts of the fighting were less settled. Gordon Houghton described an initially frustrating demand for precise timing, followed by growing enjoyment with practice. Paul Glancey thought the action varied less than the scenery and found repeated punches effective against many opponents. Learning when to strike could become the attraction, or leave the fights feeling repetitive.⁹

06 · Introduction

Looking inside

The code gives those encounters a more specific explanation. Ordinary enemies occupy two slots, allowing the paired attacks described by reviewers. Fighters are assembled from smaller pictures, and the game reflects stored components to make them face the other way. Try reflecting a fighter component.

Even the promise of an extra life has a small qualification. The first threshold is 50,000 points, but the game awards the life only after the score passes it. At exactly 50,000, the counter stays put. Try the extra-life demonstration.

The five-stage map browser shows the backgrounds beyond the fighting window. The About page records the historical sources and the edition examined here.

07 · Introduction

Later games

Renegade III: The Final Chapter followed in 1989. A separate NES game called Target Renegade came from Software Creations in 1990.³