Ranger X

7 April, 2020

Back in University, I used to drop by one of few Op Shops in the CBD of Liverpool, NSW after finishing a routine shift at McDonalds.

Normally I’d look through the CDs, tapes and vinyl for last season’s selection or discarded classics. One day I happened to stumble upon a few Mega Drive titles for $2 a piece – most Op Shops are monitored by people looking to flip products and this was just before every store used eBay as a price guide for everything. I managed to grab Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday and Ranger X.

It also happened to be Chris’ birthday and I was going over for lunch, Chris was a Mega Drive obsessive, loved Sonic and Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine and was a McDonald’s Treasure Land Adventure apologist.

Chris was pleased with the selection, but perplexed by Ranger-X – “Did you buy this for yourself?” he asked jokingly. At the time I was confused but now I know all too well, Chris isn’t a fan of mecha, he largely sticks to martial arts (Dragon Ball Z, Naruto) Shippūden, fantasy (Full Metal Alchemist, Buffy) and sci-fi (Stargate – but no mecha?).

He put a little time into Ranger-X before moving on; I thought it looked crazy! Each level has a 3D wireframe display of the mission’s objective, you not only control this exoskeleton with a jetpack but also the vehicle Indra which you can ride like a skateboard!

Just recently I bought a Mega Drive and Mega EverDrive to play through some Master System games my girlfriend adores such as Alex Kidd, Mickey Mouse’s Castle of Illusion and Cloud Master.

Of course, I loaded Ranger-X and gave it a proper run. Simply put, I really enjoyed playing it, this is a great mix of traditional platformer with shooter elements with varied levels that challenges your memory of stage designs. Collecting the sub-weapons on each stage is key to your success and while playing with a 3-button pad is acceptable, this game really glides using the 6-button pad to control Indra during the initial few missions.

Visually it is impressive for a Mega Drive game, one boss fight has a faux 3D impression with scaling backgrounds with enemies that fly towards the foreground. I really do wish this received the 3D Sega Classics treatment on 3DS because it really would be a pleasure to see again. Alas it seems like it was under-appreciated at the time and at most a curio of the Mega Drive library.