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When it comes to highly celebrated beat-'em-up arcade conversions, Renegade was one of the ground-breaking early titles to make a big impact on the 8-bit micro scene, so must so it's spawned its own sequels exclusively to the home systems. Based off The Warriors-inspired original Nekketsu Kha Kuniokun, later altered to Renegade in the west, Ocean took this game by the horns and really made a big effort not only on the Amstrad, but also the Spectrum. Both versions are now widely renowned for the respective platform. The forerunner to Double Dragon, we see our martial arts expert hero attempting to rescue his girlfriend from a motley gang of thugs, ending in a showdown with their suited, gun-toting boss.

Five stages of flip-screen action await, with a whole host of enemies and their behaviours, backgrounds and tactics. It may appear to be a short game once you have the timing right, but it's a high-scorer's heaven with its endless loops and increasing difficulty.

Renegade made popular the typical mechanics that were to go into the future, more well-known scrolling brawlers such as Final Fight and Streets Of Rage, albeit in a primitive form.

Combination attacks, clever AI, challenging bosses and multi-directional movement... All are present here on the CPC version, which is one of the finest examples of a beat-'em-up on the system.

Visually, Renegade is outstanding to witness. Great use of colour for the backgrounds and sprites, which are all well drawn and animated. Nothing ever looks brash or out of place and each stage is well designed.

The audio offerings are some of the best on the CPC and each stage has different music and sound effects. It's really impressive to have all the movement, melody and graphics working together with barely a hint of slowdown, even when over five sprites are on screen at once.

The control system is a bit of a sticky point, depending on the player as it emulates the arcade three-button experience, which some will find very awkward to master. Once you do however, the responses are sharp as a knife, with a slick and reliable feel to the game.

Although some feel this control method is degrading to the experience, it still doesn't stop it being the classic it is. One of the best fighting titles on the CPC.