Published:
Summary
Target: Renegade (1988) strutted in like a street brawler with a bad attitude and a worse neighborhood. You punched, kicked, headbutted and occasionally just hoped the enemies would take a tea break. Weapons were everywhere, thugs came in gangs, and the difficulty loved cheap shots. Still, the chunky sprites and brutal momentum made every stage feel like a playground fight with rules written in chalk. It was a home-computer sequel to Renegade, and it wore that gritty swagger proudly. In two-player, teamwork lasted about ten seconds before someone stole the good weapon and blamed you anyway.
What it does well
Hard-hitting pace, satisfying weapons, gritty style, memorable stages, and great two-player chaos when teamwork survived.
Where it falls short
Cheap hits, heavy memorisation, uneven balance, and difficulty spikes that could feel more mean than fun.
Verdict
A punchy, unfairly addictive brawler that nailed backstreet attitude, especially when played with a mate.
Target Renegade - version notes
Version-specific observations from the gameplay video. Tap a time to jump straight to that moment.
Amstrad (2 Beats)
- Press success: Amstrad Action gave it an 86% review score, and it later became the lowest-scoring "Mastergame" in the magazine's history.
- One-player structure: unlike some brawlers of the period, the CPC release keeps the focus on staged progression rather than co-op chaos.
Commodore 64 (2 Beats)
- European naming quirk: It was released in Germany simply as "Target", even though the in-game title still used "Target: Renegade".
- Design: The first level is considered the most polished amongst the C64 community, with later stages feeling emptier or more repetitive.
NES (2 Beats)
- Late console arrival: the NES version did not appear until March 1990, making it a much later reinterpretation than the 1988 UK micro originals.
- Publisher shift: on NES it was published by Taito America, not Imagine, which gives it a noticeably different identity from the UK computer releases.
Spectrum (2 Beats)
- UK release details: the Spectrum version was published by Imagine in 1988 for 48K/128K machines.
- Protection trail: The original tape release used SpeedLock 7, a very period-specific bit of UK loader/protection tech.