Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind was just released by Digital Eclipse, and I've been playing it non-stop over the last couple of days.

This game is right up my alley, between being a beat 'em up and using a license I was a huge fan of as a kid, but at first, I was a little disappointed in it. The presentation is absolutely excellent, and the soundtrack is great, but the gameplay felt too simple and shallow for me to really love it. It did grow on me as I put more time in, but I still don't think this game is in the same league as Shredder's Revenge, for example. First, while the combat is simple, there is a bit of depth in figuring out how to maximize your damage in as little time as possible. Not allowing enemies to get knocked down, only juggling when you have to, which waves to use your super on and when to save it, etc. Why do you need to pay attention to that, you ask? The grade you get at the end of each stage is based entirely on your time. There is a pretty significant problem with that, though. The time limit for an S rank is the same on every difficulty, but the only difference between all of them is how much health enemies have. So S-ranks are practically free on Easy and Normal, but on Hard, the time limit is pretty tight on most of the stages. I haven't even tried the highest difficulty yet, but I assume enemies take even more hits to kill, and it might not even be possible to S rank some stages as a solo player. Even on hard, you can't kill the time distortion crystals in one cycle like you can on normal, and that wastes a bunch of time in each stage. So I don't think they put much thought into the grading system and balance. But it does make S ranking the higher difficulties more challenging, and in turn makes the game more interesting, whether it was intentional or not. Of course, a proper scoring system like SOR4 could add a lot to a game like this, but it is what it is.

I would have also liked a classic arcade mode, with preset lives and such, but there is a speed run mode, which I haven't had a chance to try out yet. Maybe that functions as a decent replacement. The game is generally easy to clear so maybe an arcade mode wouldn't have much of a point to it anyway. They'd have to crank most of the enemies' damage output way up to make it interesting.

Another thing is that you have six rangers, which would be a great opportunity to have a variety of play styles, but it seems like they all play the same. They all have unique animations, so there may be some differences in their frame data, but if there is it's pretty much irrelevant.

Im just listing off my complaints though, and thats all of the significant ones off the top of my head. All that said, I do like the game overall. They did a phenomenal job on the graphics and art, with lots of attention to detail, little references to the series, and some fun easter eggs for adjacent properties and beat em ups. The soundtrack is fantastic as well. It's just the game design that they didn't nail quite as well as everything else, but it is still good and fun to play. Is it worth $35? For me, I think I'll have more fun with this game than most other people, and to that question I'd say, eh... I guess so. Maybe it depends on how much you like MMPR, since it does a bit more to please the nostalgia crowd than the beat em up enthusiast. If you're not a huge fan of either, waiting for a sale wouldn't be a bad idea.

Will add time stamps etc. when I get home from work.
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Beat 'em Ups (e.g. Final Fight): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvMhpG1GR9sk8OYiWQMZZTgl
2D Action (e.g. Metal Slug): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfI6IYca_kvNFjpnJ59Th6N0IU1PSpD3d
STG/Shmups (e.g. Dodonpachi): youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFE6B3779BE759F71