Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind Review

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind pits our favorite five heroes against a new threat: a robotic reincarnation of their long-time nemesis: Robo Rita. She’s a future version of Rita Repulsa and she managed to travel back in time to destroy the Power Rangers once and for all with the help of her present self. Are you strong enough to stop the Ritas from re-writing history?

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is a 2D action platformer where players will go through each level by beating up waves of Rita’s putty army. All five (and subsequently six) rangers have all the same moveset, but the combat is surprisingly deep. Using X is the main attack button, but mixing it with jump or up on the joystick, you can perform various attacks. You can also use a special attack that’ll clear the screen of enemies. You fill up the meter by beating enemies. If you die, the meter resets to empty.

You can also grab and throw your enemies, run and slide as well. On the defense side of things, there’s a few tricks. You can jump and double jump to avoid enemies. You can also dodge; which gives you brief invincibility. This is the formula for most levels, but Digital Eclipse spiced up gameplay a bit.

Some sequences, you’ll be behind the wheel(?) of your mechanical friend with a different “behind the camera” like perspective. Imagine a light shooter gun without the gun. You’ll move around the target around the screen to shoot incoming enemies; but it moves the dinosaur at the same time. It’s nice, but clunky at times and can be problematic for people with depth perception issues.

When it comes to Megazord battles, it feels like Super Punch-Out!. You’re sort of in the cockpit and you need to punch the enemy until the sword meter is full at the top. And you’ll also need to timely dodge the opponent’s attack with left or right. Once it’s full, you’ll need to rush over to the downed opponent and mash the X button until the circle is full and end the battle.

One of the game’s best feature is the regular boss battles. While on the surface, they are simple, once their health bar turns silver, they become invulnerable and forces you to either survive waves of cronies or dodge the boss’ crazy, life-threatening antics. One you’re done with the game, you can play three non-Power Rangers related arcade games, do some combat practice or do a speed run mode.

The game looks great in all its 16-bit pixelated goodness. Each level is uniquely designed with its own theme and challenges. The overall visual styling of the game is highly bright and colorful; it’s vibrating with colors. Each enemy and character are well designed and properly detailed. Rita’s minions are all easily recognizable. The intro is a great take on the show’s intro. The cutscenes are also like a mix of pixelated visuals and anime style. The soundtrack is fine, if not forgettable. The theme song is present at the start and sounds great.

The main nuisance is the game’s overall balance. Normal 2D levels are fine; enemies come in wave, taken them out; rinse and repeat until the boss. But whether it be the Megazord battles or vehicle sequences, difficulty is cranked up. The latter are basically like shump sequences where there’s way too much shit on screen and the one way control aren’t helping. The Dragonzord/Green Ranger fight is a major pain. I won’t go into details so I don’t spoil anything, but it’s not a question of difficulty, but moreso the design of it.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is great beat’em up. Combat is surprisingly deep, the gameplay variety is also a nice touch, albeit not perfect. While the game’s overall balancing feels all over the place between gameplay style, it doesn’t deter too much from the experience. Whether you’re a fan of the series or the genre, or both, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is a must play.