Late at night and stranded on the subway amongst a group of thugs? That's what your feet and fists are for!!
This game consists of four missions, within each of which there are a number of levels you must pass in order to fully complete said mission. In the first mission there are three levels. In the first level you are on a subway platform and must take down a number of thugs dressed in black pants and white wife beaters (some of which are carrying wood boards as weapons). In the next level you move in to a subway car and must take down more of the same thugs. In the third level you pop out on to another subway platform and must fight the mission's boss, a guy named Jack. He's a scary looking number too, kind of looks like one of the Baseball Furies out of the Warriors!!
The second mission is a bit longer, consisting of four levels. In the first level you are at a dock and must defend yourself against a number of purple suited ninjas, some of which are equipped with nunchuks. In the second level some guys who look like Elvis impersonators attack you while on dirt bikes, you must kick them off. In the third level you steal one of these dirt bikes and hit the highway, duking it out while rolling along at a good clip. The fourth level is another boss fight, this time against a mohawked biker looking dude named Joel.
The third mission is actually very short, consisting of three levels (only needing to beat two to advance), but it gives you a bit of a choice. In the first level you must take on a bunch of hard luck ladies in red dresses, in some manner of urban neighbourhood. All of them are equipped with weapons, either giant purses or chains! After completing this level two doors open up for you. The door on the left leads you in to a bar where you have to fight another score of these same hard luck ladies. Beat this level and the mission is complete. If you choose the door on the right after the first level, it takes you up to an apartment where you will fight the mission's boss. She is a mountain of a lady named Kim and will slap you silly if you're not on your toes. Beat this level and you've also completed the mission. It's kind of like the Choose Your Own Adventure books!
The fourth mission is the most complicated by far and gives you a healthy number of choices to make. In the first level you are on the street in the middle of another type of urban neighbourhood, you must take down a horde of the same thugs from the very first couple levels of the game. After you beat this level two doors open up for you. Whether you take the one on the left or right it doesn't matter, they ultimately lead you to the same destination. However, the hard part is that the rooms you advance to after this first level all have either two or three doors to choose from after you beat them, you must find the right sequence of doors in order to advance and fight the end boss. In total I think there are about thirteen different rooms that you will see as you advance through these levels of the fourth mission, and a lot of them are really tough. In a number of them you fight just the generic enemies, but in quite a few of them you must re-fight the game's earlier bosses, and not just one at a time either, sometimes there are two or three bosses in the same level! But keep plugging away at it and find the right route and you'll soon find yourself victorious.
This is a spoiler alert! If you want to know how to get to the end guy, here are your two routes. First, by choosing the door on the left after beating the first level you'll find the longer route to the end boss, seven levels in total. When you choose the door on the left you will be taken to a room with three doors and some purple suited ninjas. Go through the door on the right and you'll then be taken to a room with two doors and some black pants/white wife beater wearing thugs. Here you go through the door on the left, which takes you to a room with two doors and two of the Jack bosses. After defeating them go through the door on the left. You will then be in a room with three doors and some dirt bike thugs, beat them and go through the door in the middle. This will take you to a room with two doors and some more dirt bike thugs. Defeat them and proceed through the door on the right and you've reached the end boss, a green suited, gun toting Schwarzenegger wannabe!
By choosing the door on the right after beating the first level you'll be on the shortest route to the end boss, six levels in total. When you go through the door on the right you will then be in a room with two doors and some black pants/white wife beater wearing thugs. Here you go through the door on the left, which takes you to a room with two doors and two of the Jack bosses. After defeating them go through the door on the left. You will then be in a room with three doors and some dirt bike thugs, beat them and go through the door in the middle. This will take you to a room with two doors and some more dirt bike thugs. Defeat them and proceed through the door on the right and you've reached the end boss. It's the same sequence of rooms, by going through the door on the right originally just saves you a level.
There aren't many things to watch out for while playing this game, but there are a few. My personal favourite is the "P" power up. When a flashing P shows up on the screen, grab it and for a limited time whenever you hit an enemy they'll go flying across the screen like they've been shot out of a cannon! So much fun . . . and funny! The "hamburger" power up is a little trickier. Every once in a while if you do a jump kick at a wall it will release a hamburger. Grab said burger and it will replenish your health. Heart icons are the final power up and are difficult to use. If you grab a floating heart it will add a computer controlled Renegade to the screen who will help you out for a short time. However, you have to collect the heart only when there are certain numbers displayed on the timer for it to work. I'm actually not sure if I've ever done it to be honest!
This game's presentation is very good, for the time it was released the graphics were great! It's somewhat of a side scroller but also has a bit of depth to it as you can move up and down on the screen as well. The soundtrack is pretty intense and fitting to the storyline, coming in the form of Nintendo's famous analog beep boop sound effects! Brilliant. As for the controls, they are spot on, and back then there were no such things as camera angle problems, so this game is pretty much spot on!
The controls in this game are pretty easy to use once you get used to them. The control pad is what moves your character around the environment. Double tap to either the right or left to make your character run in the respective direction. Pressing the A and B buttons together makes Mr. K do a jump kick. If you run at a wall and do a jump kick against it, he will spring off it and do a jump kick back the way he came from. Here's where it gets a bit tricky, the rest of the controls depend on which direction your enemy is approaching you from. If your enemy is on your left hand side you use the B button to punch and the A button to throw a back kick. Once your enemy is stunned you can move close to him or her and grab them. Once you grab hold of them use the B button to knee them in the groin and the A button to perform and over the shoulder throw. If you have an enemy laying prone on the ground, press down to mount them and then the B button to punch. If your enemy is on your right hand side it is exactly the opposite. You use the A button to punch and the B button to throw a back kick. When you grab hold of a stunned enemy the A button is used to knee them in the groin and the B button will make you throw them over your shoulder. When an enemy is lying prone, the A button will make you throw a punch after you've mounted them. Lastly, when you're riding the dirt bike in the second mission, the A button is what you use to throw kicks at your enemies.
As for pros and cons . . . the pros are many and the cons are few! The thing I really like about this game is it's innovation for the time. The types of fighting moves you can perform in this game are plenty and quite varied, the fighting remains fun because you can execute so many different sequences and take your enemies down in all sorts of different ways. It was also innovative because the levels themselves were quite varied. Most of the time you were fighting with your feet on the ground against hordes of enemies, but then there are the other levels like when you have to jump kick thugs off of their dirt bikes and even ride your own dirt bike at one point. This form of mixing things up helps make the game fun and keeps it fresh at the same time. The last innovation I really enjoyed in this game is the circular route you can partake in on the last mission. Going through all those rooms trying to reach the end boss tests your skills as a Renegade player, as well as your memory and wits when trying to find the right path out of there! I love the simple nature of this game, the authentic Nintendo stamp put on it with the graphics and soundtrack, this style of game is what I remember as being the staple of my childhood! Needless to say the fun factor is through the roof and is another of the game's major pros. As for the cons, despite the roundabout nature of the last mission, when you take it level by level from start to finish, the game isn't all that long (either 15 or 16 levels, depending on the path you choose). The only other con I found, and this is why I'm giving the game a 9.5 and not a 10, is the lack of a 2 player mode. You can choose to play 2 players from the main menu, but it is not a cooperative style mode where you are on screen at the same time playing together. In this game's 2 player mode you take turns playing your own instalment of the single player game. That's too bad because this game would have been so hilariously fun with two people!
In terms of tips and tricks, I do have a few. First, whenever you're in an environment with a deadly feature built in, use it to your advantage. For example, in the very first level of mission one you are on a subway platform. Move close to the edge and shoulder throw guys over it to an instant death. Same goes for the first level of mission two, when you're near the water at the docks. This is an easy way to get rid of enemies fast and avoid taking needless damage. Also, use the shoulder throw to take out guys on the other side of you. Enemies will approach you from all sides, when there's a lot of enemies on screen shoulder throw one of them to take out all the others who are in his or her's path while they are airborne. Lastly, use jump kick as your main move when initiating contact with an enemy. Punching is a crap shoot, you'll take as many as you dish out, only use it when you know it's a safe bet.
This game is a true classic, one of my favourites of all time! Despite the fact that it's missing a significant 2 player mode the fun and good times up for grabs just can't be denied!!