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Renegade
PUBLISHER: Taito
DEVELOPER: Technos
RELEASE DATE: Apr. 17th, 1987 (JP), Feb. 1988 (US)
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: Amiga, Apple II, Arcade, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, Switch, Master System, Atari ST, Xbox One, ZX81/Spectrum, Virtual Console (Wii, 3DS, Wii U)
Beat-em-ups are usually a cathartic genre. Who among us hasn’t arrived home from a hard day at school or work, fired up Double Dragon or Streets of Rage II and felt the stress melt off as we punched countless goons in the face?
Renegade is that rare, unfortunate thing: an unfulfilling beat-em-up. Common thugs take six hits to take down, even on the easiest setting. Executing your moves feels slow and clunky. Your foes are considerably faster and more adept than you. And worst of all, even when your enemies disappear, there’s always a couple more waiting to smack you down.
Like most early beat-em-ups, Renegade is as straightforward as they come. Fools come at you. You smack them down with your limited moveset. Punch forwards, kick backwards, throw them, knee them in the groin, run at them, or jump kick. No matter what you do, your protagonist (who has no name in the NES port) controls like his limbs are dipped in cement. Constant button-mashing is the only way to hopefully get the upper hand, and even still, sometimes the enemy is just too fast.
I tried to get past level 2 several times, and friends, I just couldn’t do it. Not only because the game is hard. This is an NES game in 1988, I expect it to be hard. No, Renegade just provides no sense of accomplishment for your actions. Even after you clear the screen of ne’er-do-wells, the next level just provides another horde of jerks for you to hit, and they’re all quicker and stronger than you. Combine this with the protagonist’s unnaturally laborious movements, and you have a discouraging mess of a game, less a beat-em-up, than a let-me-have-it.
Indeed, Renegade’s history is more interesting than the actual game itself. In Japan, Renegade is known as Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun, the first entry in the long-running Kunio-kun series. The NES received several entries in this series, although, like Renegade, none of them have Kunio-kun in the title. The most well-known and beloved would have to be River City Ransom, a beat-em-up with RPG elements. Super Dodgeball and Nintendo World Cup are both excellent (and ridiculous) dodgeball and soccer games respectively.
Contra
PUBLISHER/DEVELOPER: Konami
RELEASE DATE: Feb. 9th, 1988 (JP), Feb. 1988 (US), Nov. 1990 (EU)
ALSO AVAILABLE ON: Arcade, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, MSX, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, Switch, Windows Mobile, Xbox One, Xbox 360, ZX81/Spectrum
Contra is one giant testosterone shot, injected right into your adrenal glands. Your heroes glide across the screen, their near-shirtless bodies, glistening biceps, and exceedingly large firearms propelling them forwards into all the danger.
Once the game starts, you feel the power. Bill Rizer (code name “Mad Dog”) is a lithe, graceful being, capable of running without growing weary, somersaults at the drop of a hat, and eight-way directional firing. He’s a joy to control, and every time he dies from a stray bullet, you feel bad for letting him down.
At first, you’re in The Jungle, sweat dripping from every which where. Soldiers clad in red fire bullets at you, while power-ups fly above and below you. Get the Rapid Fire or the Spread Gun and stay alive. It is a joy to lay waste to your enemies.
The Base is next, a confined space that forces you to spray with reckless abandon behind electrified fences. A seemingly limitless supply of insane men in green tights taunt you with their ridiculous outfits and acrobatics. Shoot to kill.
With each successive area, Bill’s challenges grow. Skyscraper-sized aliens tower above you and launch fireballs from their mouths and appendages. Large spiky machines roll slowly towards you, with you unable to do anything but fire as fast as possible and hope they explode before they run you over. Fire streams launch from broken pipes, while soldiers in turrets have an unlimited supply of bullets.
Against this onslaught, you have three options.
1) Get good. Practice, memorize enemy layouts, and don’t let Game Overs get you down.
2) Put in the infamous Konami code before the title screen comes to a complete stop. You know the one, but if you don’t, here she is: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start. 30 lives and a chance at beating the game is your reward.
3) Find a friend and assign him the role of Lance Bean, code name “Scorpion.” Two guns are better than one, as the old saying goes.
Run-and-gun shooters waved hello to NES players before Contra via games like Commando and Ikari Warriors. But Contra remains the one that millions of gamers remember. The excellent controls, the propulsive music, the insane (at the time) setpieces, the co-op experience, the feeling of being the most infinitely cool badass soldier of all time despite the fact that you only take one hit to die. How is that even possible?! Konami found a way.
Yes, if you are a gamer who loves gaming history, you must play Contra if you haven’t already. My personal recommendation would be the Contra Anniversary Collection for Steam, PS4, Xbox One, or Switch. The collection comes with ten classic titles from the series, including the NES iteration and can often be found on sale for $10 or less. A steal for what you’re getting.
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Renegade (and its protagonist) walked so Double Dragon could run.
Contra is one game I’ve been meaning to get into. It’s one of those titles that originated in the arcade but became way more famous for its NES port.
I agree with you totally on Contra. The game strikes a good balance between making the player feel strong and vulnerable. I think the heart of Contra is in its jumping. It's very fluid and responsive, and players can shoot when they're jumping so they don't feel too vulnerable mid-jump.
Renegade was a pioneer of the beat-em-up genre, but like you said, it was a flawed pioneer. Still, we can be thankful that it led to the excellent River City Ransom.