As a seasoned gamer with decades of experience under my belt, I’ve played my fair share of retro-inspired brawlers and side-scrollers, so when I stumbled upon Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind, I was eager to give it a spin.
When the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers emerged as many Americans’ first exposure to the popular Super Sentai series, it was hard not to feel like it was riding the wave of Turtle-mania that defined the early 1990s. After all, it was a band of color-coordinated heroes who traded gentle quips and used martial arts to dispatch endless faceless baddies. I watched MMPR at the time, but I was also just cresting the age at which I felt a little embarrassed by its undeniable camp. Three decades later, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind once again feels a bit like it’s riding the turtles’ coattails. TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge was an excellent retro brawler throwback, and by comparison, Rita’s Rewind is a pretty good retro brawler throwback, but one with some of its own special charms–as well as its own frustrations.
Rita’s Rewind understands the flow of time, even identifying certain years. The original Power Rangers are still battling evil in 2023, now facing off against a mechanized Robo-Rita – a nod to the villain from the reunion movie, 2023’s Power Rangers: Once and Always. However, these modern Rangers seem outmatched by Robo-Rita, who has devised a plan to travel back in time and join forces with her human counterpart. The current Rangers deem it too risky to follow her through time due to potential paradoxes, so they can only hope their past selves are strong enough to handle the manipulations of two Ritas.
Placing Rita’s Rewind squarely in 1993 timeline implies it’s their initial meeting with characters like Goldar and the Green Ranger for the Rangers. The main change here is that this time, we witness Rita Repulsa arguing with Robo Rita about strategies.
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This self-referential style opens up opportunities for nods back to past characters, such as some of the original and memorable monsters from Power Rangers. The narrative is broken down into phases, yet simultaneously episodes, since a single monster often spans three stages to form a complete storyline within an episode. It’s a charming touch that subtly pays tribute to the classic, quirky TV series. At one instance, there’s even a witty reference to the groundbreaking game Final Fight.
In many stages, you’ll encounter typical battles for a brawler, where your selected Ranger squares off against various Putties (occasionally Tengas) using unique attack styles. For instance, light-blue Putties charge towards you with spikes, but if dodged correctly, they’ll collide into walls and be dazed for a few moments. Enemies may not be overly intelligent, but they are designed to outnumber you. Your arsenal is modest, consisting of basic attacks, jump-kicks, and dash moves, yet it usually suffices to manage the enemy swarms. In moments when you feel overwhelmed, there’s a powerful attack at your disposal, which can be unleashed once you’ve gathered enough Power Coins to charge it, and it typically clears the battlefield.
In their unique animations, the Rangers stand out distinctly, showcasing each character’s unique personality. For instance, Black Ranger Zack unleashes his power axe during his down-smash, whereas Pink Ranger Kimberly launches herself like an arrow and strikes a gymnastics pose. It’s quite adorable! However, it turns out that the power behind their individual attacks – be it strength, range, or speed – is surprisingly consistent. As a result, choosing your Ranger leans more towards personal taste than tactical considerations. Their super moves may have varying visual impacts, but when they clear the stage, there’s no significant functional difference.
Occasionally, during combat stages, a Time Disruptor device (which appears green) interferes, rolling back everything if you fail to destroy it promptly. This creative feature adds complexity because while battling Putties, you must also focus on damaging the Time Disruptor. If you don’t, you’ll need to fight the same Putties again. However, the Time Disruptor keeps any damage inflicted, allowing you to gradually weaken it across multiple rounds. At times, this can even benefit you – once I lost a life while a Time Disruptor was active, but after time rewound, I regained that life and improved my performance, keeping it in the end.
During breaks, you find yourself lounging at a neighborhood juicery, engaging in light conversations with fellow patrons or enjoying straightforward arcade activities. It’s a delightful interlude that adds to the nostalgic vibe of reliving an old Power Rangers show.
Most episodes culminate in a vehicle-chase segment with your individual prehistoric-themed robot, which in true Power Rangers fashion, usually then transitions to a big MegaZord brawl. These are rendered with a retro Mode-7-esque effect and are styled like arcade shooters, firing your weapons to get temporary power-ups to more swiftly take down the enemy ships flying towards you. The MegaZord battle is more akin to a first-person Punch-Out, as you shift left or right to dodge attacks and then wail on your super-sized enemy to charge up the Power Sword, which rains down from the sky to deliver your finishing strike.
The different stages appear designed to slow down the gameplay rhythm, but they frequently become annoying. The vehicle sections have inexact hit detection and it’s challenging to determine when you’re being hit due to the Mode-7-like visual effects, leading to unnecessary deaths or, even worse, collisions with geometrical structures. This results in losing a life. Unlike conventional brawler stages that allow you to pick up where you left off after death, these reset you back at a seemingly random checkpoint. If this occurs before a boss fight that you were almost defeating, it forces you to start over from the beginning with the boss fully restored to health. It’s easy to exhaust all three lives given, which then requires using a continue–a scarce resource on most difficulty settings, causing you to restart the entire stage from scratch.
In these MegaZord boss fights, something feels unusual and distinct. The dodging is unpredictable and lacks precision, while getting hit resets the gauge for charging your Power Sword. However, it seems like there’s no actual damage being dealt. It’s puzzling because, if death is possible in these segments at all, I’ve never witnessed it. There are lights in the MegaZord cockpit – green, yellow, and red – that appear to indicate damage, but they remain unlit. It’s plausible that these segments are designed to be unwinnable intentionally, with the only consequence being a delay, to give a sense of grandeur and empowerment. Yet, it also seems equally likely that, due to imprecise dodging that could make taking damage too aggravating, the developers chose to make you invulnerable instead.
Similar to traditional arcade-style beat-em-ups, Rita’s Rewind can be completed in just a few hours without much incentive for repeat play. However, it does offer an unlockable bonus character to experiment with, who plays somewhat similarly to the other Rangers. Unlike many games, these characters do not gain levels through experience and there are no currency or shop systems in place to purchase bonuses or extras. The stages do have optional objectives, but their rewards beyond personal achievement aren’t clear. There are varying difficulty modes to challenge your skills, and a Speed Run mode with an on-screen timer is available if you enjoy competing against your own best times.
Rita’s Rewind” seems somewhat fleeting and unsubstantial. It’s a generally enjoyable game that harks back to the brawler genre, and it effectively recreates the nostalgic feel of the classic Power Rangers series. However, the driving segments can be exasperating, and overall, the game lacks depth compared to other titles. Playing it brings a bit of cheesy amusement, but you’re likely to forget about it shortly after.
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2024-12-09 17:40