RETRO REBOOT | Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (SNES)

For a few years, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was a staple of my childhood and one of the TV shows that defined the early 90’s. Along with UltraSeven (it ran on syndication briefly), it was my formal introduction to Tokusatsu As the adage goes, something is a success, so it’s mandatory that must get a video game!! This was the first of several Power Rangers to hit the 16 bit consoles and it’s the first time I’ve played the game in 16 years. How has it aged over the years? Well, it's fine. Not impressive by today's standards, but decent where it counts.

Developed by Natsume (now known as Winning Entertainment Group, who developed a good number of Power Rangers games, along with Rocky & Pocky, The Ninja Warriors, and Wild Guns), this was built off the same engine that would later be used for Shin Kido Senki: Gundam Wing Endless Duel, which was a pretty sick 16-bit fighter that was only released in Japan.

Yeah, suffice to say, this is a pretty fun game to play. As prototypical side-scrolling beat’em ups go, it’s simple, if not mind-numbingly repetitive, but easy to pick up and play. Knock the crap out of putties, avoid obstacles, and go right. You can choose between the five teens (No Tommy?!!), yet they don’t don’t have any real particular traits to aid your battle for better or worse, except maybe varying degrees of attack range (Trini blows. Unless you’re a fan, but her range is the worst and I don’t advise picking her).

Outside of that, you battle through a quarter of the stage until the monster reveals itself. This leads to the morphing sequence, which is pretty awesomely handled for the 16 bit era, and you beat the ever-living snot out of putties while the theme music plays in the background. Quite on-brand, if I say so. It’s similar to Double Dragon, where you lock into the direction you are leaping. It’s not incredibly frustrating, just a bit annoying. Putties are you primary enemy, and they can get pesky in groups. More accurately, it feels like X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse, but a little less smooth.

Dispatching enemies can be repetitive. Just get in close and wail on them, but the boss battles offer a refreshing change of pace with various patterns like teleporting and projectiles. The last two stages switch to battles in the Megazord, and while the control scheme is pretty much the same, at least both you and the enemy have health bars. Mega’s strikes are kinda slow, but effective once you get the timing down.

The visuals are pretty cool. All five Rangers in civilian mode are color coordinated and well defined. They each fight with martial arts traits from the TV show (Zack does break dance moves, Billy cowers while punching, Jason uses heavy strikes, Kimberly utilizes kicks, Trini fights with a kenpo variation). They look kind of bulky once they morph, but that’s just an aesthetic thing to emphasize the “power” aspect, I assume. perhaps I read to much into it.

The primary opposition are putties, as mentioned before, but to avoid making the wave of them too monotonous, they come in a variety of colors. It makes me giggle a bit, because it looks like I’m always beating up Power Rangers fruit snacks. The bosses, all from the show, look very good and attack with an array of patterns. One problem I have, and this is an issue with most games on the SNES and the Genesis, is when some games try to go for the illusion of depth and put obstructions in the foreground. Parallax scrolling is cool and all, but I’m trying to see what I’m hitting or trying to avoid, or jump over a gap. The level designs, while on the topic, are a little substandard. there really isn’t much to look at, but I can’t say the backgrounds are terrible. Each level is nicely designed, but when you stack it up to games like Mega Man X, Super Ghouls N’ Ghosts, and Super Metroid, it pales in comparision and lacks a certain visual flare most side scrollers have.

Only walking on one plain takes a lot out of it as well. I feel this game would’ve served better if done more like Final Fight and walking in thew third demonsion. The Zord battles look pretty sweet, even if one of the fights look like it’s taking place on the Godzilla stage from the old NES game.

While a repetitive game, it’s pretty damn enjoyable. MMPR is probably the best of the Power Rangers video games, especially that tournament fighter. In terms of depth, skill, and challenge, it may lack a little bit, but if you’re a fan of the franchise and want to take a trip down memory lane, this venture isn’t a bad route. But still, how in the bleeding hell is there no Green Ranger!?