Dr. K's Waiting Room

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January celebrates two notable dates in science-fiction history: “National Science Fiction Day” on January 2 to coincide with the birth of world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and 12 January being when Arthur C. Clarke’s HAL 9000 was created. Accordingly, I dedicate January to celebrating sci-fi in all its forms.

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Quick Facts:
Cobbled together from the Japanese tokusatsu series Gosei Sentai Dairanger (1993 to 1994) and Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (1994 to 1995), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993 to 1996) was a cultural phenomenon back in the day whose violence outraged parents. After years of Power Rangers videogames of varying quality, Digital Eclipse produced this throwback title that was inspired by classic arcade titles and stood as another effort to honour the legacy of the franchise.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is a 2D, arcade-style beat-‘em-up that takes more than a few inspirations, graphically and mechanically, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (Tribute Games, 2022), to the point where I thought they were developed by the same people, and a similar 2D throwback brawler, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle (Bamtang Games, 2017). Inspired by Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always (Haskell, 2023), the game sees a robotic version of Rita Repulsa travel to the past to team up with her younger self and use her future knowledge to destroy the Power Rangers. Initially, players pick from one of the five brightly coloured Power Rangers and battle across multiple stages split into “Episodes”, encountering many recognisable enemies from the show. While all the Power Rangers control the same, some start with higher attack power and lower defence, some charge their special meter faster, and others deal less damage but are more durable. Defeating enemies and smashing stuff earns you points and Power Coins, which are tallied up at the end of each stage and used to upgrade stats, meaning the only thing that separates the Power Rangers by the end are their Dinozords and the weapons they bust out during combos (Zack Taylor/The Black Ranger, for example, briefly freezes enemies with his Power Axe). Gameplay couldn’t be simpler, with players attacking with X, jumping (and double jumping) with A, and dashing by double tapping the directional pad or control stick. Pressing X in mid-air executes either a flying kick or downward attack, pressing it while dashing unleashes a dash attack, and you throw enemies if you attack up close. Pressing up and X does a rising attack and pressing X and Y executes a power attack that drains your health if it lands. You can also press B to dodge attacks, which helpfully renders you invulnerable.

Attacking enemies builds your super meter, allowing you to perform a screen clearing attack with Y once it’s full that sess your Power Ranger call upon an airstrike from their Dinozord. You replenish health by collecting junk food found in crates and such and can temporarily boost your attack power and speed by collecting lightning power-ups. You can also use environmental hazards to damage or defeat enemies, smashing explosive barrels, hitting girders, tossing them into pits and graves and such (though these hurt you, too). While most of the gameplay is classic, mindless beat-‘em-up action, with you going from left to right or riding an elevator filled with waves of enemies, the loop is broken up in some stages. You’ll ride a rollercoaster in both 2D and from a third-person perspective, blasting Putties from the sky and destroying their projectiles, and race down highways on their Battle Cycles. These sections see you holding X to blast vehicles, jumping with A, dodging with B, and unleashing a super attack with Y. You can ride up ramps for additional power-ups, such as health, a shield, and limited, more powerful shots. These mechanics are mirrored in the Dinozard sections, which see you bounding through canyons (or flying over them with Kimberly Hart/The Pink Ranger) blasting enemies, projectiles, and structures. You can grab a faster double shot and some homing missiles to help you out, but these auto-running sections can be somewhat clunky, especially when you must hop over water or gaps or to platforms. While most enemies are optional in these sections, it’s recommended you clear out rocks and mechs to make life easier. You’re also forced to tackle Rita’s giant, arachnid diggers and destroy the generators powering her dig sites. You must also chase Rita’s enlarged minions and tackle them in awkward first-person battles that took me a while to get the hang of. These see you dodging projectiles and thundering towards your target, only for them to leap out of the way or dash in for a strike that can be difficult to avoid if you’re not paying attention.

Initially, there are three difficulty levels in Rita’s Rewind, with harder difficulties limiting your continues. I played on “Easy”, which gives you three lives and unlimited continues, though you must replay the entire stage from the start if you exhaust all your lives (however, any collectibles are saved). As if Rita’s nigh-inexhaustible Putty Patrol isn’t bad enough, you must dodge boulders, pits, falls off rooftops, and bombs tossed by Putties. Putties also toss “Time Disruptors” that rewind time if not destroyed, respawning enemies, and Rita and her minions also deploy similar devices to screw up level layouts for the Dinozords and Battle Cycles. At one point in the carnival, bombs drop before the Ferris wheel, invincible Putties charge across the football field in the “Park” stage, and brainwashed Tommy Oliver/The Green Ranger’s Dragonzord rains missiles and fires a massive laser from the background as you traverse the Angel Grove rooftops. Between stages (or by pressing Y from the map screen), you can visit the juice bar at the Angel Grove Youth Centre to chat with non-playable characters (NPCs), switch characters, and check out the mementoes you’ve found or play some arcade games (once you find their parts). These are simple distractions that mirror the likes of Mortal Kombat’s (Midway, 1992) “Test Your Might” sections and Spy Hunter (Bally Midway, 1983). Each stage has secrets and challenges you to finish it without dying and to achieve an S-rank for extra points and occasionally hides a “guest star” to rescue. Generally, Rita’s Rewind isn’t very challenging (on “Easy” mode, at least), though I did find the Dinozard sections and boss battles aggravating. They’re a strange mishmash of autorunners and rail shooters, meaning I often took damage or fell into water trying to blast stuff that was just out of reach. It also took me a while to figure out the Megazord fights, eventually having better luck by mashing A and X to pound the giant bosses and dodging when their eyes glow. Luckily, there’s no way to fail these battles as you have infinite health, but your Power Sword charge meter will deplete as you take damage, meaning the fight continues until you master the dodging and attacking.

Presentation:
Rita’s Rewind is absolutely top-notch in its visuals, which have the same chunky, well animated and colourful sprite work as Shredder’s Revenge. Each stage begins with the Power Rangers in their civilian forms and transforming before the action starts, each Power Ranger has an idle taunt (and a manual one, activated by pressing Y when your super meter isn’t full), and voice clips pepper the action. Cutscenes are brought to life using the in-game sprites, larger portraits, and dialogue boxes, with Zordon and Alpha 5 often alerting you of incoming threats and the story largely retells a condensed version of the first twenty-one episodes of the original series. The game starts with the five Power Rangers receiving their powers and defending Angel Grove from Rita’s forces and retells their first encounters with Goldar and their battles against the Green Ranger, before they head to the Moon to confront Robo Rita and safeguard the timeline. The game is filled with rocking tunes to punctuate the non-stop action, including an awesome rendition of the iconic Power Rangers theme for the Megazord battles and a remix of Farkas “Bulk” Bulkmeier and Eugene “Skull” Skullovitch’s slapstick theme. There are some fun little Easter Eggs peppered throughout each level, such as graffiti, Putties sitting in the bleachers or messing about at the carnival, four turtles wandering in toxic waste, and laundry being aired on the rooftops. The juice bar changes as you progress and rescue NPCs and even gets attacked during Episode 4, Punk Putties headbang to blaring boomboxes, and long-time fans should get a kick out of seeing the original series’ locations brought to life in colourful 16-bit. While the game performs incredibly well, offering non-stop beat-‘em-up action from start to finish, I was forced to do a soft reset when I got stuck on the environment during a transition on the subway train.

The game opens with an animated sequence and an unwinnable battle against Robo Rita’s forces in her grandiose citadel in a retelling of Once & Always that shows what might’ve happened if Robo Rita had succeeded in her plot. You then fight through the desert-like canyons outside of Zordon’s headquarters, passing cactus plants, tumbleweeds, train tracks, and falling boulders before reaching downtown Angel Grove. Putties emerge from garages, spray paint walls and storage containers, and hop from trucks. While fighting across the rooftops, you’ll pass by air conditioning units, billboards, and birds, cross gaps with wooden planks and smashing apart rooftop dining areas. This section is made more dangerous on your second visit thanks to the Dragonzord lurking in the background, while your second visit to downtown Angel Grove sees you head to the subway to battle through a speeding train, which makes regular stops to pick up new enemies and forces you to hop to each carriage to progress. You visit an industrial waste site where the sky is clogged with pollution, toxic waste is strewn all over, and enemies hop from overhead pipes and gantries. The carnival stage was probably the most visually impressive, featuring various attractions and rides in the background, such as shooting ranges and such, before featuring a high-octane autoshooter on a speeding roller coaster and transitioning to a foggy graveyard to battle Bones. Sadly, the Battle Cycle and Dinozord sections are very visually repetitive, taking place on speeding highways and in the same canyons, with Rita’s facilities being identical in each Dinozard section. Things are made a little more interesting when you’re chasing down the Dragonzord as you must blast past the drones blocking the blast doors and confront the Green Ranger and his mech on the beach (and partially in the sea). Rita’s palace may be somewhat simplistic in its gothic atmosphere, but the Earth (and space) looms in the background and the final boss arena gradually explodes and changes as you fight.

Enemies and Bosses:
Naturally, Rita’s army is mostly the Putty Patrol, bizarre, clay-like humanoids who come in various colours. The regular grey Putties are little threat, throwing punches and grabbing you if you get too close, but they can toss boulders, tyres, crates, and Time Disrupters. Their ochre-toned variants whip out time bombs, the cyan ones charge across the screen with blade arms, and the black Putties are much tougher, busting out combos and air attacks not unlike your own. Putties also race along the highways trying to ram you in cars, Punk Putties dance near boomboxes, and Clown Putties ride giant, inflatable balls. There’s also a bigger, tankier Putty who takes a lot of hits and performs a dashing grab, shaking and slamming you if they grab you, and a wrestling variant that looks strangely familiar. The Putties are often joined by Tengu Warriors, bird men who flutter above and try to slam onto you or fire their razor-sharp feathers in a spread. I had trouble hitting them in mid-air so found it easier to dodge their downward attack and fly in with a dash attack. A whole bunch of drones and aircraft appear in the Dinozord sections, with larger craft scooping up crystals and large, spider-like diggers tearing up the landscape. These cause earthquakes and fire a green laser from their central core, which you must destroy to progress. Similarly, you must avoid the indestructible laser drones guarding the generators powering Rita’s mines and awkwardly strafe left or right to target power nodes on the generators. Crabby Cabbie also appears in one of the Battle Cycle sections, requiring you to use the boost pads to chase him down and destroy him while dodging the landmines he litters across the road.

Long-time Power Rangers fans will surely recognise many of the bosses, three of which are fought in enlarged forms. Naturally, Goldar is first, attacking on the streets with sword swipes, fireballs, and a flaming ground attack later echoed by Chunky Chicken. Goldar’s enlarged form sets the standard for these encounters, with you first chasing after him in your Dinozord, blasting him and hopping over shockwaves or dodging projectiles before battling him in the Megazord. No matter which enlarged enemy you fight, these battles are always the same: you must dodge left or right to avoid their projectiles and dash attack (sometimes dodging to the opposite side when their eyes glow), landing blows when up close, charging in with your rocket punch, and finishing them off with the Power Sword by mashing buttons. The Dragonzord fight mixes things up by forcing you to blast the Green Ranger as he teleports about rocks in the water, which eventually lowers the Dragonzord’s shield so you can attack. Chunky Chicken first attacks on the ground, using portals to attack with his giant scissors, before teaming up with Turkey Jerk, who tosses bombs. They also perform team attacks where Chunky Chicken restricts your controls by flapping his wings and Turkey Jerk either rapidly dashes between portals or spins around firing his laser. Big Eye first appears during the rollercoaster section, spitting smaller eyes that you must blast from the sky, before racing away through the canyons, spewing eyes across the ground, raining them from above, and firing lasers. The skeletal warrior Bones is a surprisingly formidable opponent fought three times in the cemetery and losing more of his body as you progress. At first, he echoes Goldar with an energy wave attack from his sword, then he spews flames, produces duplicates to confuse you, and finally flies across the screen as a line of skulls, flittering about as a disembodied skull that can be difficult to hit.

Madame Woe was also a bit of a challenge as she freezes you with her icy breath to leave you vulnerable, ensnare you with her hair to electrocute you, and retreats to the background to fill the arena with rushing water. After avoiding the Dragonzord’s attacks, you battle the Green Ranger on the rooftops of Angel Grove, with him mirroring your attacks, throwing up a green shield to become immune to damage, and using his Dragon Dagger to call in support from his mech lurking in the background. Rita’s citadel is a gauntlet on its own as it’s full of every regular enemy you’ve fought so far and few restorative items, meaning you can be in a bad spot when you confront Robo Rita in a repeat of the opening battle. This sees her spawning a slew of Putties using the two generators on either side of the arena. These must be destroyed to bring Robo Rita into the fray, though she poses a significant threat as she blasts you away with red lightning from her sceptre if you get close and protects herself with a shield. You must reflect the flaming projectiles she fires back at her, which I found extremely finicky as the timing has to be just right. It doesn’t help that she sometimes fakes you out, or that she unleashes an energy burst before retreating. Her fireballs increase in speed as you deal damage and are thrown in an arc once her machine is destroyed, though this makes them easier to hit. She sporadically raises and lowers her shield, floats about, and spawns chunky Putties in this final phase, though I found she was easier here than in the first two phases.

Additional Features:
There are thirty-one Achievements up for grabs in Rita’s Rewind, with Achievements being awarded every time you defeat a boss and/or clear an Episode. You’ll get another Achievement for playing as every Power Ranger at least once, juggling an enemy ten times, and landing a 25, 50, and 75 hits combo. Tossing an enemy into an open grave or into a falling boulder nets you two more, earning a high score on each of the arcade games grants you another, and you’ll also get Achievements for beating “Hard” and the unlockable “Headache” mode. Each stage has secrets to find, usually by smashing parts of the environment, represented by mementoes and special guest stars. Finding them earns you additional Achievements and adds new NPCs to the juice bar, as does completing every goal for every stage (meaning you must finish every level without dying once to get all the Achievements). You’ll unlock the Green Ranger after clearing the game but, sadly, there’s no White Ranger or other skins available here. You can enable various filters and play online, though there are no Achievements tied to co-op play, and can freely replay any stage after clearing the game (though you’ll need to start a new save file to change the game’s difficulty) and tackle a time trial-esque mode.

Final Thoughts:
I was a pretty big Power Rangers fan back in the day, so I’m always interested when new videogames come out based on the franchise, especially when they’re arcade-style beat-‘em-ups like this. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is a great companion to Shredder’s Revenge, echoing the art style and combat mechanics of that game and being as fitting a tribute to the franchise. While much of it is derivative of Shredder’s Revenge and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle, Rita’s Rewind is still a great brawler for fans of the genre and the franchise, offering fast-paced, action-packed levels that lovingly recreate the look, feel, and cheesy spirit of the original series. While it’s a shame there’s not much to differentiate the Power Rangers beyond their different looks, voices, weapons, and Dinozords, the basic gameplay is very satisfying and it’s extremely fun to tear through Rita’s minions. I appreciated the effort made to mix things up with the Battle Cycle and Dinozord sections, though these were a bit clunky and not as enjoyable as I’d hoped. This is doubly true of the Megazord sections, which were frustrating and tiresome to get through and sadly lacked variety, with every embiggened foe being fought in essentially the same way. I liked the implementation of the Green Ranger, though I felt the game had an anti-climactic ending, despite how difficult I found Robo Rita to be, largely because you never fight regular Rita. It would’ve been nice to see the optional goals have some variety, and to include some unlockable skins and for the story to do a little more with its time travel plot, but Rita’s Rewind is a very enjoyable throwback brawler. The game’s fairly long, with a decent level of challenge and a nice sense of progression, nicely reflecting and paying homage to the original series while giving fans of arcade brawlers a decent amount to sink their teeth into.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind? Are you a fan of arcade-style throwbacks such as this? Which of the Power Rangers was your favourite to play as and did you enjoy the Dinozord sections? Were you happy with the bosses utilised here and did you also find the Megazord fights tedious? Did you ever beat “Headache” difficulty? Which incarnation of the Power Rangers is your favourite and how are you celebrated sci-fi this month? Tell me all about your experiences with the Power Rangers in the comments and donate to my Ko-Fi if you want to see more Power Rangers content on the site.