Rendering Ranger R2

Some games are etched into memory by their quality, others by their price — and Rendering Ranger R2 manages both at once. This technically unhinged action game is among the most expensive and hardest-to-find SNES cartridges of all, and anyone who has ever seen it run understands why collectors crave it so much.

Behind the game lies the remarkable story of one man. A large part of it was programmed by Manfred Trenz, a name that should light up the eyes of any fan of home-computer action — he's the author of the legendary Turrican. And it shows at every turn: the game squeezes the SNES to the extreme, hurling effects, enemies, and explosions onto the screen on a scale that many a more commercially successful title couldn't manage.

In terms of play, Rendering Ranger R2 elegantly alternates between two modes. One moment you're on foot in the middle of a dense run & gun massacre in the style of the genre's classics, and the next you're sitting in a ship and the game turns into a fast shmup. This constant switching keeps the pace brisk and unpredictable — and it's also a superb demonstration of how versatilely Nintendo's 16-bit hardware could be bent when a true master of his craft commanded it.

The problem is availability. The game was released in a tiny print run and almost exclusively in Japan, so a physical cartridge today lands in price ranges that make it more of an investment artefact than something to play. For the vast majority of players, then, the only realistic way to enjoy it is emulation — and in this case it's definitely worth it.

It's a title that works as proof of two things at once: that a single talented programmer can wring miracles out of hardware, and that rarity can turn a good game into an almost mythical legend. If old-school technical feats are your thing, this one deserves a spot on the list.

Why play it: A technically stunning run & gun and shmup from the author of Turrican that pushes the SNES to its limit — and an otherwise unobtainable collector's rarity.