GamerEscape

If there’s a franchise that needs no introduction (but I’m gonna blather on about them anyway), it’s Power Rangers. Originally the brainchild of Haim Saban, he aimed at making an American adaptation of Toei’s Super Sentai series after finding himself exposed to a random episode of Choudenshi Bioman while in Japan back in the ’80s. He did attempt to make an adaptation of Bioman for American audiences, but this didn’t really gain any traction. Nevertheless, he kept on trying.

Without going too much into it, Saban did eyeball the military/bird-themed Chojin Sentai Jetman for adaptation. But this ultimately fell on the dinosaur-themed Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, which holds the distinction of being the first Super Sentai season to include a regular (ish) sixth member in the lineup. It couldn’t have happened at a better time, as much of Mighty Morphin’s success with their target audience largely wrapped up in the one-two punch of the American-ized Sentai formula. That and young millennials in the early 90s just really were into dinosaurs at the time.

Fast-forward to today, and the trajectory of the franchise was impossible to ignore. Despite its popularity waxing and waning over the years, many Sentai seasons often received a Power Rangers adaptation. Mighty Morphin alone was (and still is in a very limited scope) a media juggernaut, spawning countless games, absorbing multiple Sentai seasons (while still using the Zyuranger suits), and three movies largely featuring the same cast/characters. The franchise hasn’t really stopped adapting Super Sentai seasons until recently with the completion of Cosmic Fury. Which makes the arrival of Rita’s Rewind such an interesting time to surface. The fate of Power Rangers is very much in jeopardy. Even with the rather entertaining stories told in the Boom! Studios comic series, which is worth reading if you’re a fan of the series in any capacity.

There’s been no shortage of Power Ranger games over the years, either. But beat-’em-ups are a natural fit for a property like this one. Developer/Publisher Digital Eclipse likely took a look at Shredder’s Revenge and thought it would be worth letting the overbearing and overemotional teenagers from Angel Grove get their own shot at the retro-ish beat-’em-up revival. Not that I’m complaining about getting more games from a formerly neglected genre or anything, but I’m really enjoying seeing the space fill up with solid entries from beloved properties. Releasing on December 10, 2024, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind will be available on current and prior gen consoles (PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series S | X/Switch) as well as PC (Steam). The Steam version (played on a Windows PC and a Steam Deck) was played for this review.

Once and Again

Beat-em-ups aren’t exactly known for having deep stories, but Rita’s Rewind does play with the MMPR canon a little with its setup. It doesn’t necessarily require you to have watched the recent Netflix special Once and Always, but it’s worth a watch if you want to see (most of) your favorite MMPR Rangers suit up for presumably the final time. Opening in the modern day (where it is in relation to Once and Always isn’t made clear), the current team finds themselves locked into battle with Robo Rita. She taunts those Rangers (the lineup is different from prior seasons) and tells them that she’s going back in time to early 90s Angel Grove to take down the original lineup of Rangers once and for all. 

She goes through a time portal, and the modern team comes to the conclusion that the skill of the original team and the possible alterations to the space time continuum aren’t worth the risk. Once she arrives in the 90s, she teams up with her fleshier self on the moon and starts getting to work on their master plan to alter the timeline and emerge victorious. It doesn’t take long for the original team and Zordon to figure out Robo Rita’s plans. They quickly get to work on fighting through her hordes of Putties (guest starring the Tenga Warriors for fan service, I’m guessing), classic monsters of the week, and timeline related plots to finally kick her to the curb. 

What follows is something that’s caught between the light touch approach of Shredder’s Revenge and keeping the player engaged with the moment to moment happenings as each stage progresses. True to what it is, it often follows the plot structure of a common episode of the series. Which is usually wrapped up in silly one-liners, cracking jokes at their foes’ expense, Zordon and Alpha 5 keeping the Rangers focused on the task at hand, and Rita(s) doing her usual plotting and escalation. Since Robo Rita did choose to pick the earlier stages of her counterpart’s assault, longtime fans will recognize some of the story beats that came from Season 1 of the show. The only difference is that it’s remixed a little bit to fit with the plot of this game. 

Most folks don’t go into a beat-em-up like this expecting the plot structure of a modern AAA game, but I welcome seeing the effort into molding the story into something a Power Rangers fan would enjoy. It does mirror the approach Shredder’s Revenge used by framing the game as if it were an episode (or series of episodes) of the show, and I’m glad that they clung to that plot structure in a way that will easily please fans. 

From a genre perspective, the plot is more involved than a lot of popular titles. But it also doesn’t forget that it’s a Power Rangers game at heart, and Rita’s Rewind fully leans into the tropes and deep cut references that fans of the franchise will enjoy for what it is. Being a longtime fan myself, I was often pleased with how comfortable they were with simultaneously respecting the source material but also playing with the canon in a way that was fun and engaging. It does do more than most would expect from a beat-’em-up, but is also simple enough to follow and fun in its simplicity. It knows it’s having fun, and I appreciate that as a fan and player.  

Beatin’ Back The Future Past

Compared to a handful of years ago, I now find myself with choice paralysis when it comes to a fun beat-em-up experience. Given the relatively simplistic nature of the gameplay within the genre, this isn’t hard to pull off. But that doesn’t mean that people haven’t been putting their own twist on the experience, and Rita’s Rewind isn’t different in that regard. 

Using the established plot structure from the show, it manages to cram in several gameplay mechanics throughout your short playthrough. There is, of course, the beat-’em-up portion. There are also a number of rail shooter segments in the individual Zords or motorcycles that eventually culminate into the franchise standard kaiju battle, where you fight the monster of the week in the Dino Megazord. 

The bulk of the playthrough, as you’d expect, is wrapped up in the beat-’em-up portion. One thing to keep in mind here is that the combat experience with this aspect of the gameplay is the same regardless of what Ranger you choose. Core gameplay here is pretty straightforward, as you’re gonna find yourself using the usual punches and kicks to get through the waves of Rita/Robo Rita’s forces to progress. You do have the freedom to mix up your combat in relation to racking up your combos, and the additional move set is generally pretty easy to understand. What’s key here is utilizing dodges to keep those combos up, though this is more of a way to increase score more than anything else. 

Since you’re spending the most time here, I largely found myself enjoying the combat despite its simplistic nature. It does feel a bit stiff at first, but I quickly fell into a groove once I figured out a combat flow that worked for me. Rack up enough combat damage, and you’ll have a full super meter that allows you to unleash a screen wipe style of super attack. While I do wish that they would have implemented a special attack with the Ranger’s weapons to help maximize damage aside from the screen wipe, I got by just fine without it. Still would have been nice, though. With that limited move set, combat is generally tight and mechanics here are just solid enough to lay blame at the player’s feet if something goes awry. Aside from a boss or two that requires more precision than usual (with clunky execution), the core gameplay here is strong.

Once things shift into rail shooter mode, you’ll find yourself playing through either the zord segments or the motorcycle segments. The former just feels like you’re playing something out of Star Fox or Panzer Dragoon. You’re basically just holding down the fire button to take down enemies and obstacles while also maneuvering around the space. There’s some thought put into this, because you can’t just mindlessly fire into oblivion and expect to progress. The same could be said of the motorcycle bits, though. You’re gonna need some level of skill to get through these parts, though neither of these gameplay elements feel like they’re inferior segments of the overall game.

When it’s time to tap into some Megazord power, I have mixed feelings about this. The general gist of these battles generally revolve around landing enough hits to summon the Power Sword so you can deliver the finisher. How do you land hits? You play Ranger Rock-‘Em-Sock-‘Em Robots, which is supposed to be simplistic. It is simplistic, as you basically have to advance towards your target while dodging projectiles. However, it’s just clunky enough that you or your friends might end up frustrated trying to do just that (players take turns in multiplayer). The Megazord fights are usually the most exciting point in any episode, and it ends up being a mildly annoying experience more than I’d like it to be.

But taken in stride in relation to the total gameplay package, it ends up being just enough big silly fun to be excusable. This is designed to be a multiplayer-centric sort of game, as most games in the genre are. I personally find that said gameplay package should be more than sufficient to satisfy a group of friends gathered around a TV just wanting to have a good time. While your platform of choice will have an effect on just how many players will be able to do so, as anyone outside of the Playstation ecosystem will have access to six-player mayhem. PS4 and PS5 owners will be limited to four, but I’m hoping that will be increased to be on par with other platforms later on. There will be online play (limited to two players at launch, reported to be patched to more later), but I find that games like these are best experienced with friends gathered around your TV on the couch.

I do have some nitpicks here and there, but this is not what I would call a bad gameplay experience. Hell, I think it’s pretty damned good. In comparison to other MMPR games, it’s definitely something that stands above those that released on the Genesis and SNES with relative ease. Part of that might be attributed to the fact that the space has put out quality title after quality title recently. But the gameplay variety and willingness to not cling tightly to the genre it leans hardest onto worked out rather well. It has all the makings for a riot of a game, and I’m so glad that it is this comfortable in its own skin.

Neo Pre-Zeo

One perk of being exposed to much of the glut of beat ’em ups we’ve been lucky to have over the years often centers around what the developers seem to cook up in relation to the presentation. Streets of Rage 4 pulled off a hand-drawn look with ease, and it’ll likely hold up over the years. Other titles like Scott Pilgrim, River City Girls, and Shredder’s Revenge all decided to put their own spin on the pixel art style. Rita’s Rewind decides to largely wrap their art style around the latter, and it just feels like a natural fit for MMPR.

The visuals are reminiscent of something you’d see out of a Neo Geo game, caught between looking like a mix of a console and arcade game. Because of this, players will often find sprites and environments to be pretty detailed for this art style. With the latter being environments at or around Angel Grove, it does find itself falling into familiar genre locations like subways and elevators. But this is largely done in a way that seems to pay respect to that genre while also deliberately falling into the trope at the same time. It gave me a chuckle or two, but in a good way. There’s even a tip of the hat to Shredder’s Revenge by letting the Putty Patrollers get in on the fun a little bit.

When things stray away from the beat ’em up portions, we move into a deliberately pre-polygonal 3D art style (they call them “Super Scaler” segments) that encapsulates a very specific moment in gaming history that sparks some joy for me. You can tell that the folks at Digital Eclipse did their homework for this style, as it often reminded me of when I would get excited to see anything more detailed than what was on 16-bit consoles at the time. It often tickled that nostalgic part of gaming history for me, while also using an intensely nostalgic property.

Much of this is brimming with the cheesy personality that came part and parcel with MMPR. Which often found itself being a perfect encapsulation of the 90s while leaning into what fans find fun about the property in general. It’s always been silly fun with a penchant for over-the-top melodrama, and they didn’t forget that here.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the bulk of the audio presentation here as well. Sean Bialo makes his mark with the soundtrack, and he definitely understood the assignment when it came to the vibe of the property. This shouldn’t be a surprise to those who cracked into other beat-em-ups like the aforementioned Shredder’s Revenge as well as Double Dragon Gaiden, as he made contributions to the soundtracks of those games as well.

His version of the theme song isn’t quite a 1:1 recreation of Wasserman’s version, but it rocks hard all the same. Stage music has that expected 90s vibe about it, and Sean does lean into pre-established MMPR vibes pretty frequently. It’s good stuff, but just barely falls under where Shredder’s Revenge was in terms of overall quality. It’s definitely in the same room as it, but we know who holds the crown.

There is some voice acting here, but the choice to keep it limited in order to maintain the 90s vibe is noticable. Something worth mentioning here is that none of the surviving cast were tapped to take on these roles. But the folks that did step up in their stead clearly understood the roles and how much they mean to fans. Because of that, the delivery here is in line with the characters they’re playing. Unfortunately, many of their lines in combat are often repeated. I ended up tuning them out most of the time, but I do wish they were given more to work with so players wouldn’t have to hear the same one liner multiple times over in any given stage.

But everything wrapped together here just works out for what it is. People likely wanted a presentation that celebrates everything that came with the 90s, and they definitely succeeded here. What’s here clearly understood the assignment, and is just a great time overall despite my own grumblings about certain things. It knows its lane, largely maintains its position there, and has a good time in the process. Can’t really ask for more than that.

Just in Morphin’ Time

With the future of the entire franchise currently in doubt, seeing something like Rita’s Rewind come down the pike is a real treat. Yes, it’s another stab at something from the ever reliable Mighty Morphin team. But that doesn’t mean what’s here isn’t worth checking out. Beat-em-up fans and MMPR die-hards alike will really enjoy the love letter to the decade, show, and gaming genre that it spawned from. It’s confident in itself, is (mostly) a joy to play, and remembers not to take itself too seriously.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is a beloved tribute to a cherished franchise in video game form. It easily stands alongside some of the more standout titles that have emerged in the genre as of late, and everyone involved shows their reverence for MMPR in every frame. Anyone worried about the quality of this game can rest easy, as this is something I can happily point to as a great example of a good beat-em-up. I had a morphenomenal time with Rita’s Rewind, and I’m sure anyone fires this up will feel the same way. This game is far from a headache, so go-go give this one a shot.

~ Final Score: 8/10 ~

Review code provided by Digital Eclipse for PC. Screenshots taken by reviewer. Featured image courtesy of Digital Eclipse