Cosmic Relief: Prof. Renegade to the Rescue

About

Cosmic Relief: Prof. Renegade to the Rescue is a retro action-puzzle game where you race against time to stop an asteroid from smashing Earth. As a hired operative, your mission is to track down the reclusive Professor K.K. Renegade in Tibet, persuade him to abandon his self-imposed exile, and assist in constructing a giant deflector. Gameplay blends platforming, item-based puzzles, and arcade-style challenges, all viewed through a 1980s synth-driven lens. The controls and level design lean into the quirks of early 1990s home computers, requiring precise jumps and quick thinking to navigate caves, villages, and the professor’s eccentric hideout. Launched on December 31, 1987, this oddball sci-fi title spans Amiga, ZX Spectrum, and Commodore 64, platforms that handled its mix of side-scrolling and static puzzle rooms with varying success. While the story leans into absurdity (asteroids the size of U.S. states, anyone?), its charm lies in the retro aesthetic and the professor’s grumpy refusal to save the world. Fans of quirky 8-bit adventures and late-’80s sci-fi tropes might find it nostalgic, though modern systems lack the processing power to appreciate its original technical constraints. The game remains a footnote in the era’s genre-blending experiments, with minimal documentation but a cultish presence in retro forums.

Storyline

Forty years ago, Prof. K.K. Renegade predicted that an asteroid was rocketing toward Earth. No one believed him . . . then. But time, and a rapidly approaching piece of space rock the size of Louisiana, would change all that. Realizing that the only man who could avert the asteroid disaster was the same man who predicted it, the really important people of Earth decided to contact Prof. Renegade for help. But the Professor had become a recluse (no one likes his "Earth Is Doomed!" theory poo-pooed). The question now: where was Prof. Renegade . . . and could he be found in time!?!?