Renegade

Denham Springs, Louisiana's Terry Walker has provided us with a tip for starting from Stage 4, but it requires you to have two controllers plugged in. You might need some help from a friend for this one. While holding U on Controller 2, hit D, D, U, U, R, L then START on Controller 1. Nice hint, Terry!

The player is the renegade in Taito's latest arcade release. His mission is a favorite theme for compu-heroes: clean up the streets and rescue gorgeous Lucy from the ominous Mr. Big and his gang.

Renegade must conquer five different levels in order to reclaim his lost love. Each of the five is infested with a different street gang wielding unique weapons. There are a variety of offensive moves Renegade may use to deal with his opponents. Some of these moves seem much more efficient than others. The punch, for example, is actually dangerous to use because it is only effective at very close range, and it takes two hits to knock down an opponent.

The flying kick is effective yet also dangerous. If Renegade misses, he'll land right next to or on top of his attacker, who will usually knock him down immediately. To use the flying kick effectively, make sure Renegade is on the same horizontal level as the opponent, and begin the kick when our hero is about two inches from the enemy.

The back kick seems to be the most effective of the three maneuvers for a couple of reasons. This kick will work at a greater distance than a punch, yet it also operates well at very close range. As a matter of fact, the back kick will even succeed if an opponent is right on top of Renegade. But there is another advantage to the back kick: it will connect a much higher percentage of times than the flying kick, because the opponent does not have to be on the same level as Renegade to register a hit.

If Renegade is grabbed from behind, immediately make a move left or right to elbow the attacker. If grabbed by a thug directly in front, first make an attack motion to the lower left or right to knee the oncoming thug, then elbow the rear assailant One slight problem here is that sometimes, even though the attacker is elbowed and falls down, the game will keep Renegade stuck as if he were still being held. If this happens, use the elbow or jump move to free Renegade.

The last move can be the most important of the game. The crouch punch is used to hit a floored attacker. Although it's a dirty move, it's the key to survival. On these streets Renegade will find it next to impossible to knock down the gang leader in the allotted time using only kicks and punches. Instead, hit him with a kick and immediately position Renegade with his knees over the thug's stomach area. The game is a bit fickle here and will land a crouch punch only if Renegade is in this area. Once positioned, hit the button and watch the leader's energy level rapidly decrease. If it does not, Renegade is not positioned correctly, and the player should move out of there immediately. If Renegade does not move in time, the leader will get up and knock our hero down before he can respond.

A Word on the Levels

Level 1 is pretty straightforward. Simply fight hand-to-hand and remember to take out the thugs wielding weapons first.

At the start of Level 2, the street gang comes at Renegade on motorcycles and attempts to run him down. The secret here is to get on the same horizontal level as a bike, run at it and use the flying kick about one inch before Renegade hits the front wheel. This knocks the attacker off the hike. Once they're all dethroned, the game proceeds in a manner similar to Level 1.

The women on Level 3 carry whips which have a slightly longer range than the nunchucks; otherwise, everything is the same. Level 4's gang is a bit tricky because they come out three at a time and attempt to surround Renegade. Here, our hero must keep moving and use the back kick to take out the guys who try to sneak up from behind.

Level 5 is actually not as bad as Level 4. Just remember to use the back kick wherever possible. Once you down Mr. Big, don't waste time. Immediately jump on him, and pound his ugly lights out.