The 16-bit Arcade and Console Era (1990-1995) - Ranger X

RELEASE DATE: 1993

DEVELOPER / PUBLISHER: GAU Entertainment / Sega

BEST VERSIONS: Genesis/Mega Drive

Going into this series, I never really regarded the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive as being a console with a lot of great exclusives, in part because my attention in the 1990s was focused so much more squarely on the Super Nintendo but also because a lot of the best Genesis games that didn’t start with Sonic the or Streets of really didn’t receive the attention they deserved. One I’m particularly sad not to have experienced until recently is Ranger X, an absolutely incredible mecha based run and gun shooter that’s quite honestly one of the finest games I’ve ever played… once I could get used to its innovative control system, that is.

You see, Ranger X uses a rather baffling control system where you push one button to fire right and another to fire left while a third button launches whatever special weapon you have equipped in the direction you’re facing. If you want to jump, you push up. If you want to fly, you continue holding up until your boosters overheat and you have to land somewhere to cool them off. It’s an unusual system that reminds me a bit of the odd control scheme in Namco’s 1989 mecha game Finest Hour, but unlike that game, which prioritized speed over trying to annihilate every enemy, Ranger X is a much slower affair, encouraging you to take your time to use your wits to defeat the evil Rahuna empire.

And unlike a lot of run and gun games, you also have help in the form of two vehicles called Couriers. One is a motorcycle called Ex-Up Indra that you can either ride atop or merge with to unlock a homing cannon. The other is a floating platform called the Ex-Up Eos that floats high and has an auto-targeting laser it can use to blast enemies. The Couriers are also vital for allowing you to switch out your special weapons, a mechanic that’s a little clunky at first but which helps to set the pace of the game – if you’re trying something and it’s not working, returning to your Courier, switching weapons and trying again is a great way to take a breath and think your way through the problem.

And that’s part of what makes Ranger X truly great. It’s an action-oriented game with a lot of shooting, sure, but several of the levels involve hunting down powerful units and destroying them, often by first disabling shields, turrets or energy beams rather than just charging through and absorbing massive amounts of damage. Your special weapons include a flame thrower, a grenade-style mine, diagonal lasers, a seeker bomb, a firebomb wave and an awesomely powerful beam attack, but they’re not always useful and there are definitely times where you need to match your attacks to the enemies onscreen. Your Ranger X suit even has the ability to shove and kick some enemies around, which is very useful when they’re armed with large metal shields and you need to open them up to concentrated fire.

The storyline for Ranger X isn’t anything special – you’re part of a group of tribes whose homeworld is facing invasion by a faction called the Rahuna – but how it’s presented is definitely unique. The Sega Genesis/Mega Drive hardware wasn’t built for 3D graphics and it’s rare to see a game on the system using any sort of rendering. But Ranger X presents its mission briefings in a cool wireframe mode that helps to establish a heavy science fiction atmosphere while also conveying useful information about where you’re going and what you’ll be doing. When you arrive in an area, you’re given a moment to take stock of what’s going on before you leap into action, scrolling the screen either right or left, up or down as you work your way through your missions.

The first encounter requires you to take out several large battle station cannons that are attacking a city in the background and you have to use your radar to locate them and understand how many targets you have left. This concludes with a gigantic boss battle where you have to take down a mechanized walker. Just finishing that first level isn’t easy until you master the controls, but once you begin to understand the pace and how to avoid taking damage by jetting around enemy attacks, it’s actually a piece of cake, especially since you get a full shield recharge at the end of each segment.

Even so, mastering the first stage is only preparation for the greater challenges that lie ahead. The second stage offers something completely different as you enter a cave and disable power generators to gain access to some targets that seem to be generating earthquakes. This leads you to an impressive hangar where you have to battle departing aircraft and a sinister boss that looks like a combination between a robotic centipede and a dog-shaped robot with multiple segments. The third stage takes you through a forest where you destroy dropships and battle some sort of strange sea monster, and the fourth has you scale a skyscraper and take out its defenses. The fifth and sixth stages wind through an occupied city and its tunnels before heading into the enemy base to battle what I can only describe as cyberpunk Cthulhu as the final boss. Every single moment of the game is epic and interesting, bolstered by some of the most impressive graphics I’ve ever seen on the Genesis/Mega Drive, including a stunning color palette that never feels limited.

This all should lead us to wonder, “who the heck was GAU Entertainment and why didn’t they make any other games?” The answer is that the team was made up of former members of Wolf Team, the developer that developed interesting but somewhat flawed Genesis games like Earnest Evans, El Viento and Arcus Odyssey before becoming more heavily involved in Namco’s Tales series and eventually being renamed Namco Tales Studio. And GAU Entertainment quickly rebranded to Nextech for their next big game, Crusader of Centy (also known as Soleil), and they continued under that name until the studio was closed in 2016 while providing support for dozens of games and even receiving credit for titles like Time Crisis 3, Time Crisis 4, Shining Tears and Shining Wind.

But aside from Crusader of Centy, none of Nextech’s later games can rival the originality or finesse of Ranger X. It’s a title that ought to be regarded as a classic today, and it really deserves a lot more attention than it received in the 1990s or in the modern era. Sadly, it’s not an easy one to track down and play legally – Sega published the game but has never re-released it, and while the cartridge is not a highly sought-after collectible, it’s still expensive. So, your best bet is to fire up your favorite emulator, find a game ROM and enjoy it knowing that you’re going to have a great time. Hopefully, it’ll see an official re-release one day.

We’re moving on to the 1990s console and arcade games to cover one of the golden eras of video gaming as gaming shifted to 16 bits at home and true 3D in the arcades!

We’ll cover shoot ‘em ups, run and guns, fighters, brawlers, RPGs, platformers and, of course, strategy games, sports games and more. Take some time learn about great games you may have missed like Power Blade, Ranger X, Thunder Fox, Liquid Kids, Alligator Hunt, Arabian Fight, Crystalis, Popful Mail, Alisia Dragoon, Kid Dracula, Little Samson, The Space Adventure, Rocket Knight Adventures, Rolo to the Rescue and even oddities like The Haunting Starring Polterguy and The Ooze!

If you missed my series on the hundreds of 1980s PC, console and arcade games you probably never played, you can find the entire archive at https://greatestgames.substack.com.

Anything I don’t share here will be in my upcoming book, tentatively titled The Greatest Games You (Probably) Never Played Vol. 3. Subscribe to this newsletter so you won’t miss it!

If you missed my previous series on the hundreds of 1980s console, arcade and PC games you probably never played, you can find the entire archive at https://greatestgames.substack.com.

Anything I don’t share here will be in my upcoming book, tentatively titled The Greatest Games You (Probably) Never Played Vol. 3. Subscribe to this newsletter so you won’t miss it!