The Creators

Manfred Trenz is the sole designer and programmer of the original Turrican (1990), Turrican II: The Final Fight (1991), and Rendering Ranger: R2 (1995). He is widely regarded as one of the most technically gifted programmers of the Commodore 64 and Amiga era, capable of producing game experiences on home computers that rivalled contemporary arcade hardware.

Trenz began his career at Rainbow Arts in Gütersloh, Germany, where he first came to prominence with Katakis (1988) - a horizontally scrolling shoot-'em-up that attracted the legal attention of Activision Europe due to its resemblance to R-Type. The resolution of that dispute - in which Trenz was required to produce the official C64 and Amiga R-Type conversions in just six and a half weeks - demonstrated his extraordinary technical capability.

Turrican marked Trenz's creative breakthrough: a game that combined the exploration philosophy of Metroid with the graphical ambition of contemporary arcade games, running on hardware significantly less powerful than the coin-ops it visually challenged. Contemporary reviewers famously mistook early C64 Turrican screenshots for Amiga output - a testament to Trenz's ability to push the C64 beyond its apparent limits.

After completing Rendering Ranger: R2 in 1995, Trenz stepped back from the games industry. He has rarely spoken publicly about his work in subsequent decades, making him one of the more private figures of the retro gaming canon.

• Created Turrican C64 in approximately 18 months
• Produced the C64 and Amiga R-Type conversions in ~6.5 weeks
• Designed every level in Turrican I and II personally
• Created Katakis (1988), Turrican I & II, and Rendering Ranger: R2
• Named the planet Katakis in Super Turrican as a personal reference

Wikipedia MobyGames Profile

Factor 5 was a German game development studio founded in 1987 by Ludwig Kietzmann, Thomas Engel, Holger Schmidt, and Achim Moschallski. Based initially in Gütersloh and later in California, Factor 5 developed an extraordinary reputation for technical excellence across multiple hardware generations - from the Amiga to the Nintendo 64 and GameCube.

The studio's involvement with Turrican began through their relationship with Rainbow Arts and Manfred Trenz. Factor 5 handled the console ports and development of all four console Turrican titles: Super Turrican (SNES, 1993), Turrican 3/Mega Turrican (Mega Drive, 1994), Super Turrican 2 (SNES, 1995), and Rendering Ranger: R2 (Super Famicom, 1995 - designed by Trenz but developed in partnership with Factor 5's tools and infrastructure).

Factor 5 was among the first Western studios to use proprietary audio and compression tools to maximise console hardware performance - techniques that later served them well in the Nintendo 64 and GameCube eras. Their TFMX-derived audio tools, developed in collaboration with Chris Hülsbeck, contributed directly to the quality of the Turrican console soundtracks.

After the Turrican era, Factor 5 went on to develop the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series for LucasArts and Nintendo, cementing their reputation as one of the premier technical developers of the 3D console era. The studio closed in 2008.

• Founded 1987 in Gütersloh, Germany
• Developed Super Turrican, Mega Turrican, Super Turrican 2, Rendering Ranger: R2
• Later developed Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series (Nintendo 64/GameCube)
• Pioneered custom audio compression tools for console platforms
• Studio closed 2008 following Lair (PS3) commercial difficulties

Wikipedia MobyGames

Rainbow Arts was a German video game developer and publisher founded in 1984 in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia. The company became one of the most successful European software publishers of the late 1980s and early 1990s, known particularly for its Amiga and Commodore 64 catalogue and its willingness to invest in technically ambitious projects.

Rainbow Arts published the original Turrican (1990), Turrican II: The Final Fight (1991), and Turrican 3: Payment Day (1993). The company also published many other celebrated European titles of the era, including The Great Giana Sisters (1987) and numerous sports and action games across the 8-bit and 16-bit platforms.

The relationship between Rainbow Arts and Manfred Trenz defined both parties' creative output during the Turrican years. Rainbow Arts provided Trenz with the resources, time, and institutional support to realise his extraordinary technical ambitions - creating the conditions under which Turrican's groundbreaking level design and technical achievement became possible.

Rainbow Arts was acquired by Softgold in 1994 and eventually merged into other entities. The rights to the Turrican intellectual property have passed through several owners in subsequent decades, eventually residing with ININ Games for the modern re-releases.

• Founded 1984 in Gütersloh, Germany
• Published Turrican I, II, and Turrican 3: Payment Day
• Also published The Great Giana Sisters (1987)
• One of the leading European publishers of the Amiga era
• Acquired by Softgold 1994; IP eventually passed to ININ Games

Wikipedia MobyGames

ININ Games is a German boutique video game publisher based in Düsseldorf, founded in 2018. The company specialises in bringing classic and niche games to modern platforms, with a particular focus on retro gaming preservation and physical limited edition releases.

ININ Games acquired the publishing rights to the Turrican intellectual property and released Turrican Flashback in January 2021 - the first official modern re-release of the Turrican series in over 25 years. The collection brought four classic Turrican titles to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch with quality-of-life features including save states, rewind, and CRT filters.

Following the success of Turrican Flashback, ININ Games released Turrican Anthology Vol. I and Vol. II in 2022 - a landmark two-volume collection that brought eight Turrican and Turrican-adjacent titles to modern audiences, including the historic first official Western release of Rendering Ranger: R2.

ININ Games has worked closely with the Turrican fan community and with rights holders to ensure the releases honour the series' legacy. Their limited physical editions have been celebrated by collectors, and the digital releases have made the classic games legally accessible for the first time in decades.

• Founded 2018, based in Düsseldorf, Germany
• Published Turrican Flashback (2021) - 4 classic titles
• Published Turrican Anthology Vol. I & II (2022) - 8 titles total
• Facilitated first official Western release of Rendering Ranger: R2
• Specialises in retro gaming preservation and limited physical editions

ININ Games Official Site Wikipedia