Right, let’s get this out of the way early, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind sadly isn’t very good. I know, I know, I’m as disappointed as you are as this felt like it would be the second coming of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge just with Power Rangers – who are probably, maybe, just as awesome as our friendly neighbourhood heroes in a half-shell. A 2D side-scrolling beat ‘em up with retro arcade visuals and shoot ‘em up sections, I mean, what could go wrong? As it turns out, quite a lot.
First off though, in terms of what it does get right, Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind absolutely nails the aesthetic. The opening theme-music drips nostalgia and superbly sets the tone, giving you all of the retro feels. For people of a certain age, this is your childhood, but in 2024. Even better, the game itself has the sheen of a coin-up arcade screen overlaying the visuals, really cementing the sense of playing this game in your local arcade – you know, the one that no longer exists.
The chunky pixellated characters have a lot of charm, the Rangers themselves ninja flipping smoothly across the levels, whilst the never-ending horde of Putties you face are decent, if rather bland, punching bags. Thankfully, the look of the bosses is much more like it, correctly channelling the Saturday-morning TV shoddiness of the original much-loved Power Rangers series.
Smartly, the game is subdivided into a TV episode structure. Your team of Rangers face reams of goons, before battling a boss who, of course, runs off. You give chase in your Dinozord, blasting away in shooting sections that honour the almost-3D sequences of Sega’s classic game Afterburner. Then the boss gets biggified and your Dinozords combine to build the mech-like Megazord, resulting in a ginormous scrap.
Sadly, once you get to actually playing Power Rangers: Rita’s Revenge, things fall apart pretty quickly. Beat ‘em up sections are dull and pedestrian, with lacklustre collision detection proving a constant irritation. Think you’re lined up on the correct parallel plain to punch a Putty? Well, the game is pretty sure you are wrong, every time. Resulting in your Ranger unleashing a devastating flurry of fist-based pain on some innocent thin air.
Next to nothing of interesting or note happens across a level either; you pummel the same small selection of goons again and again and there are no weapons to pick-up or vehicles to control. Even local co-op fails to elevate proceedings, due to the Rangers themselves playing exactly the same. Sure, their disappointingly limited range of attacks look a bit different, but they have identical form and function. Unlike, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge you won’t find any levelling up or new attacks to unlock here, just the same paltry selection of attack combos, jumps and throws.
Even the ultimate attacks are basically just colour-pallet swaps; the lack of imagination here, considering the rich and varied source-material, is truly disheartening. Indeed, the only interesting occurrence as you walk from left to right is when a Putty comes out with a green time crystal that rewinds time – admittedly accompanied by neat VHS effects – until you destroy it. Though this one good idea is itself rewound and reused so many times that it is soon rendered dull.
Whilst the beat ‘em up section are serviceable but uninspired, the shoot ‘em-up sections are a mess. Visually incoherent with a smorgasbord of explosions and effects, it’s almost impossible to tell where your Dinozord is as it runs towards the horizon, let alone navigate all the obstacles and enemies heading your way. Unlike Afterburner, Outrun or other arcade titles from the era, these shoot ‘em up section fail to recreate any sense of depth, resulting in even more confusion as everything is given a flat appearance. Good luck trying to tell to how close a runaway truck is, as it supposedly careens its way into your path. Irritating and pointless, the shoot ‘em up levels of this game should have been made skippable.
Which just leaves the Megazord smackdowns, which, frankly, suck. Played from a first-person perspective, the players pass the controller and take it in turn to battle the villain of the week. Dodging attacks, finding an opening, punching the big baddy and charging up your sword is the format. It’s kind of interesting in your first encounter with Goldar, but the same boss-fight structure with a different character model is repeated ad-nauseum.
Controls here are loose and inexact, and the whole thing is frustrating and poorly conceived, with little sense of satisfaction if you emerge triumphant as your victory was likely more down to luck than any skill or intention. You know when players are choosing to skip their go, that this part of the game is a dud.
