Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind

 Now that I have kids, a lot of new media has entered my orbit. And frankly, a lot of old media has re-entered it too.

It really is amazing how many kids shows are still on the air in some way, shape or form. For every new franchise my kids become obsessed with, it seems like they also become obsessed with one from my childhood. It actually leads to a surprising amount of parenting problems. My kids assume that because I know so much about Pokémon, I know equal amounts about Ninjago or Dog Man. Any other parents have kids in the Dog Man phase? I guess it beats the sheer terror and foul horror of Cocomelon. Anyway, one of the more recent obsessions in my house has been Power Rangers, a show I was absolutely shocked to find they are still making seasons of. Since 1993, Saban has been crossing footage from Japanese show Super Sentai (which has been on even longer, since 1975) with really poorly acted teenage drama to create a massive merchandising juggernaut. My kids are into all the seasons, from Ninja Steel to Dino Thunder to the good old original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. As they are getting older, they are also becoming more and more capable as gamers and are finding which genres they like and dislike. As they have become big fans of beat 'em ups, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind was an easy pickup.

Back to the 90's, Yet Again

Developed by Digital Eclipse, a studio that can also trace its lineage back to the early 90's, Rita's Rewind puts you in control of the original ranger team at what would have been the beginning of the original series. Only this time, there's a twist. Rita Repulsa's mechanical alter ego, Robo Rita, has gone back in time to meet up with her younger self. She plans to use the evil knowledge she's gained over the years to help stop the Power Rangers before they get started. It's up to Zack, Kimberley, Billy, Trini and Jason to fight through hordes of putty patrollers, as well as a variety of the series' most iconic monsters, to defeat the metal menace and send her back to where she came from. There's a little bit more story here, something about mining crystals to create a vacuum that reverses time or something, but it doesn't get too much deeper than that. That's probably for the best, the show wasn't exactly known for its deep and complex plots (though some episodes did go hard in this department) and neither are beat 'em ups, as long as they found a way to get us some of our favorite characters and monsters in the game I'm fine with it.

You have 15 levels, about 10 of which are traditional beat 'em up stages, with up to four players able to join at a time. Anyone that's played a game like this before knows the drill, you move left to right as well as up and down as you clear hordes of enemies from the screen. Most of the regular enemies you fight here are puttys, with different colors denoting different abilities. You will also battle bosses like Bones the Skeleton, Eye Guy, Chunky Chicken and Turkey Jerk. Along the way, you will be tasked with things like rescuing people, finding secrets and completing levels within a time limit. It's pretty much exactly like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, a title I reviewed last year. In fact it's so similar that I thought the games were developed by the same studio. You have the same combo system and similar attacks, though the combat didn't feel nearly as deep as it did in Shredder's Revenge. I think the lack of enemies were a big part of the reason for this, though there were other factors that contributed to the issue. 

Fighting Like the Putty Patrol

Chief among those issues was hit detection, which felt very finnicky throughout. It wasn't the worst I have ever experienced, but it kind of felt like a chore to get to the right distance to hit enemies. The range at which enemies could hit you also felt inconsistent and the timing on dodging was also a little bit off. The sound of hitting an enemy is a surprisingly big deal in beat 'em ups, largely from a presentation and immersion standpoint. However, it also has gameplay applications as well, as it lets you know when you are making content and that was missing here. It was doubly problematic in boss battles, where missing hits in relatively short vulnerability windows and taking huge damage when you thought you were safe was massively frustrating. In a lot of ways, it kind of felt lazy, like a lot of these issues could have been avoided with a little more testing. 

I think the graphics were also part of the problem here, though part of it was probably just me. The sprites here are smaller and seem far less detailed than those in most modern 2D beat 'em ups, so I found I had to focus hard to make sure I was actually making contact with enemies. It also impacted dodging, because I found it challenging to see the enemies' attack cues before it was too late. I won't say the graphics were bad overall, but they were a little bit blurry and didn't quite feel like they were up to the quality these games usually have. I do have to give credit to the soundtrack though, it fit the game about as perfectly as you could imagine. A lot of these tracks kind of reminded me of updated versions of the music from the old SNES Power Rangers game. They certainly would have been right at home in the show, so that was definitely a positive.

Megazord was Mega-Disappointing

I think the level design is solid and the overall gameplay is okay, but I do wish the rangers played a little more differently. They have slightly different stats, but none of them feel different at all. I hate to keep taking things back to Shredder's Revenge, but that was kind of the closest comp here and it already did this style of game so well. All the turtles do feel a little similar, but in that game you also have April and Splinter, and later Casey Jones and Karai, as selectable characters and they all feel fun and unique. Here, the only ranger that feels different is Tommy, who you don't unlock until you beat the game. Even then, he just feels a little bit slower and a little bit stronger. It's a shame there isn't more character variety, but at least the controls are responsive. 

That's not to say there isn't some gameplay variety, which is great in theory but not so much in practice. There are five vehicle levels, three of which end in Megazord battles, and all of them are miserable. They play like on rails shooters, but the controls are so loose and the targeting so difficult that they fell like absolute chores to play. It almost looks like they tried to emulate the SNES' Mode 7 graphics and did a really, really bad job of it. That would be okay if they played well, but they don't. The Megazord battles are especially disappointing, they basically boil down to dodging a few attacks and throwing punches until you charge up a meter. This might be the biggest disappointment of the entire game, there was so much potential here, especially on modern hardware. These could have been absolutely epic battles and instead, we got a boring mini game.

Rita's Rewind Offers Powerful Nostalgia Trip

There was still plenty to like here. For one, they absolutely nailed the nostalgia factor that these kinds of games thrive on. This looks and feels like one long, extended episode of Power Rangers, as it should. The dialogue from each ranger is a perfect fit for their personality and the arguments between Robo Rita and actual Rita are hilarious. You can visit the juice bar between levels to switch rangers and talk to the characters you have rescued. Ernie, Mrs. Appleby, Principal Caplan and, of course, Bulk and Skull all make appearances. There are also some fun minigames you can play. Even if the gameplay wasn't the best, I have to give credit for respecting the source material and staying true to the show. Honestly, it pulled me through the game in its weaker moments and really had me waxing nostalgic about the show I loved so much when I was a kid.

The Final Verdict

At the end of the day though, Rita's Rewind didn't do enough gameplay-wise to make it really worth playing. It isn't a step up in gameplay, in fact it's a step down, from a lot of the 2D nostalgia games that have come out in recent years. Frankly, I don't think it's even a step up from the SNES beat 'em up games. Maybe I just had a little bit higher expectations going in, but there was just too much missing here for me to really recommend the game. Of course, it's not a stay away either. Rita's Rewind is perfectly serviceable and fans of the series will enjoy it from a purely nostalgic standpoint. Maybe it's worth picking up on sale, and it's not bad by any means, but you can do better. Grab Shredder's Revenge instead if you want a 90's cartoon nostalgia beat 'em up.

6.5/10