GO GO MEDIOCRE!
A comprehensive guide to console Power Rangers games.
I know jack about Power Rangers. It’s not a series that touched my childhood in any way, outside of having friends who were way into it. Something about it just never clicked with me. I was more into animated shows, if I watched TV at all.
But getting older is all about broadening your horizons. That’s why I joined my roommate, one of those childhood friends that loved Saban’s sentai series, in watching Power Rangers, the new film from Lionsgate. Going in, I had almost no knowledge. I knew that this was a movie based on a TV show. I knew that Power Rangers were good-hearted kids out saving the world. And I knew that, occasionally, it was morphing time. That’s it. But, surprise surprise, I had a good time watching the movie. It doesn’t take itself seriously and it’s got some big dumb fights in it. Which is basically all I need.
Being thrown into the Power Rangers pool headfirst got me curious. So I teamed up with my roommate to watch a little bit of the show that started it all. Full disclosure, I’ve only seen a bit of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Power Rangers Lost Galaxy. But I like what I’ve seen, for the most part. I’m actually disappointed I didn’t get into it as a kid, as I ended up being a sucker for kaiju movies and each episode’s giant monster fight is just a little one of those. There’s a formula to your typical Power Rangers episode that is comforting and incredibly easy to deduce:
My interest in the franchise made me curious about its performance in the world of video games. But there isn’t a lot of information about these games gathered in one place. So assembled here, as best I can manage it, is a short look at almost every console-based Power Rangers game — in chronological order. Included are my thoughts and a short video of gameplay that I have recorded.
The only catch is that I’m stopping at the 15th anniversary game Super Legends. Everything beyond that is proving difficult for me to get my hands on.
You’re welcome.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Genre: Beat ’em up
Release Year: 1994
System: Super Nintendo Entertainment System
I’m very glad we’re starting here. It’s actually decent, which might seem like it breaks the whole premise of my piece, but bear with me. The 16-bit era was flush with quality beat ’em ups, or games where the player proceeds along a linear path littered with enemies, only progressing once they clear each area of said enemies. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers allows you to choose one of the five original Rangers at the start of each level and proceed to put the beat down on Rita Repulsa’s army of Putties.
What’s great about this game is that it captures a bit of that Power Rangers formula just by making you start each level as the teen before being able to morph into an actual Power Ranger. I played through a couple levels as Billy, my favorite of the original crew, and found the game to be… simplistic. There’s very little finesse to any of the beating, like you’d find in a Streets of Rage or Final Fight. Rather, it’s just about mashing your way to the end. You’re also locked to a single two-dimensional plane without the freedom to move about the area. Interestingly, the Putties put up about as much resistance as they ever did in the source material, but that little bit of faithfulness does nothing to create an engaging experience. Instead, the game creates its own rut of a formula: beat up Putties, morph into a Power Ranger, beat up Putties, boss fight. It quickly grows boring. There also isn’t a multiplayer component, despite that being a staple of the game’s contemporaries and a natural fit for the license.
All in all, it’s worth a play, but only in short bursts. The game does nothing to try and hold your attention and the novelty of morphing into a Ranger loses its appeal after the first level.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Genre: Fighting
Release Year: 1994
System: SEGA Genesis
Same name, different game. The SEGA Genesis version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is a one-on-one fighter that borrows more than a little from Street Fighter II. The difference is, Street Fighter has a diverse cast of characters that feel different from one another. In the one player scenario mode, you are forced to choose one of the five original Rangers (the Green Ranger is unlockable) and go head-to-head with some of Rita’s monsters. There’s also a two player mode that allows you to choose the various Rangers or monsters and fight it out with another human. Problem is, all the Rangers feel alike. They swing a different weapon to attack occasionally, but their movesets are disappointingly similar. I know it’s easy to pump out palette-swaps and that Power Rangers are perfect for that, since their defining characteristic is their color, but it doesn’t make for an exciting or interesting game. And the music is downright grating, relying far too heavily on the bass in the Genesis sound unit and not enough on anything else.
You hold back to block. You can occasionally do a special attack by making a quarter-circle motion on your directional pad and pushing a button. In the scenario mode, the first round is a fight between an individual Ranger and a monster. Round two pits the Megazord against a super-sized version of that same monster. That’s it.
If you really want to fight as a specific Power Ranger, this is your best option. If you want a good fighting game based on the property, the Super Nintendo’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition (see below) is a much better bang for your buck.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Genre: “FMV Action”
Release Year: 1994
System: SEGA CD
Eager to make a move on what I assume was a once-lucrative market for full-motion video games, Saban and SEGA teamed up to release this… game? It’s built like most of your other FMV games of the era: video plays out and you press the indicated buttons in order to progress. Like one long quick-time event. Only, in most FMV games, you see video results of your success or failure. Either you keep moving because you hit the right button in time, or you failed to do so and the game reacts. Not so with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which makes use of actual footage from the show for its video segments.
But here’s the thing, when I say “actual footage,” I mean only that footage. This game straight up plays episodes of the show and makes you push buttons while those clips play. Failing to push your button doesn’t change anything, it only makes the incredibly labeled “TEENS” bar go down. When it empties, you lose. That’s it. There’s no gameplay to this game at all. It’s just a really compressed set of clips from the television show with button prompts over them.
This one isn’t worth your time, even if you’re really passionate about the source material.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
Genre: Beat ’em up
Release Year: 1995
System: Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Would you believe that a direct sequel to the first game on this list came out just a few months later? This one was based on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, which I have not seen. I have been told that this is merciful. This game makes me believe it.
Take everything I said about the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers beat ’em up and apply it here. It’s the same thing. Only, the difficulty is higher (see my gameplay clip for proof), the colors aren’t as vibrant, and you now must press a shoulder button to move between two separate 2D planes. The color issue is especially a shame since the first game really popped with its 16-bit palette. What this game adds to the experience is a two player cooperative mode. Sorely missing in the first and necessary in this one just to get through. It also doesn’t seem to really be based on the movie, instead taking scenarios from different episodes and throwing the film’s villain, Ivan Ooze, in at some point.
Play it with a friend if one or both of you is really into Power Rangers. Or if you want to cool down from screening the film it’s based on.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
Genre: Beat ’em up
Release Year: 1995
System: SEGA Genesis
If we’re going to directly compare the two Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie games, then this is the winner. The Genesis version is also a side-scrolling beat ’em up, but this time the player has the freedom to move around the 2D world without being restricted to a single line on the plane. The game has a much more vibrant color scheme than its Super Nintendo counterpart and, thankfully, a two-player mode is present here as well.
This game has a plot and, boy, there’s a lot of it. Lengthy text crawls and cutscenes break up the levels and the story seems to be a direct adaptation of the film the game is based on instead of a random assortment of scenarios for Power Rangers to be in. The music feels gritty enough, thanks to that bass-heavy Genesis sound unit and better mixing, to match the feel of a cheesy 90’s show about radical teens beating on baddies. It’s a marked improvement over the first Genesis Power Rangers soundtrack, to be sure.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie is a fun cooperative experience that may give fans of the franchise something to enjoy in single player as well.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition
Genre: Fighting
Release Year: 1995
System: Super Nintendo Entertainment System
This one is a Super Nintendo exclusive, so I won’t have to worry about not covering the discrepancies between versions. As the name implies, this is a fighting game. And I have to admit enjoying it, albeit with a few caveats.
The game features a story mode and two versus modes, one for fighting against another human and one for fighting the computer. The story mode doesn’t really contain any story, but it does have some nicely rendered short scenes between some of the fights. It’s your basic fighting game setup, the only catch being you get a choice of two characters to play through the story with: the Megazord or the Tiger Megazord. It doesn’t seem to change much apart from their already similar move sets. You get dropped in against a computer-controlled opponent, beat them up, and move on. Sometimes there’s one of those nice scenes. There’s also a stage with a weirdly real-looking Zordon in the background and a fantastic chiptune rendition of the show’s theme.
The two player mode is fine. It’s a competent, simple fighter. Eight characters. They all play essentially the same. It’s very much an also-ran that came out in the years following Street Fighter II making a bid for world domination. Best things I can say about it is that it looks nice and the music is pretty good. There’s not a lot of meat here, but someone who gets nostalgia-induced goosebumps from looking at the Megazord might find something more to it. Worth checking out if you’ve got a friend to play with.
Power Rangers Zeo: Battle Racers
Genre: Racing
Release Year: 1996
System: Super Nintendo Entertainment System
As we’re out of Mighty Morphin territory and there apparently isn’t a Lost Galaxy game, we have now moved past anything I understand about Power Rangers beyond the basic premise. I have no affinity or affection for these Rangers. They are strange to me. I don’t know that I like them. I certainly don’t like the laziness of this game.
It may look familiar from the screenshot above. In case you somehow missed the swath of racers on the Super Nintendo, most of them were copping that Super Mario Kart look. This one is no exception. But what it lacks in creativity… it just lacks in creativity. The characters aren’t as diverse as the Mario Kart cast, since most of them are just palette swaps of the Red Ranger. And the one mechanic the game adds, a battle feature allowing you to fire projectiles at other racers from a set stock instead of having to collect items on the track, makes the game less fun. Suddenly you have to be wary of the projectiles you have left and be sure not to waste them, detracting from the frantic feel of a cart racer.
What’s more, the control is off. Trying to turn is more of a pain than in any other cart racer I’ve ever played, which makes the act of racing an excruciating one. At least the computer-controlled racers are as dumb as rocks, allowing a player conservative with their missiles to cruise into first on the final lap.
This game isn’t worth playing unless your copy of Super Mario Kart got caught in the rain. But you’d best have some piña coladas ready.
Power Rangers Zeo: Full Tilt Battle Pinball
Genre: Pinball
Release Year: 1996
System: Sony PlayStation
This muddy-looking pinball adventure is the second and last game based on the Zeo series. But hey, it’s way better than Battle Racers. While that isn’t saying much, there’s plenty of neat little things to this game that make it refreshing after going through the last several entries.
For one, being on a CD offers it the use of higher fidelity audio. Let me tell you, it pays off. The music isn’t particularly gripping here, but it’s nice that it’s clean. And while the stage backgrounds and polygonal models aren’t the best, there’s some really good work done on the pre-rendered tables themselves. They’re simple pinball tables, but that’s okay.
Battle Pinball is fast. Mercifully so. Like other adventure-style pinball games, your goal is to get your score up and then launch the ball into specific locations. Do that enough and you’ll move on to the next stage. These go by at a great clip and there’s a lot of variety to the locations they use for their tables. There are even cool little events that can trigger while you play the boards, like summoning the Megazord. In addition, it seems like they shot some very basic footage exclusively for this game. After having to play Mighty Morphin on the SEGA CD, this is a gift.
I’m going to recommend this one. Pinball fans should play it for sure, especially those who were big on Pokémon Pinball. Otherwise, it’s still worth a go-around with.
Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue
Genre: Beat ’em up
Release Year: 2000
System: Sony PlayStation
So… did the Power Rangers become firefighters at this point? Because that’s what this game leads me to believe. I think that these Power Rangers were firefighters or police officers or something. The premise seems to be all about rescuing folks. Perhaps even rescuing them quickly.
Do you remember the era of early 3D games where everything about the game itself felt like it was fighting you? Not just the enemies onscreen, no no. But the manner in which you controlled your character? And the layout of the level itself? And the fact that nothing the designers put in the game was interesting? All of this would get mixed together into some sort of gross, low-texture soup that none of us wanted to eat. But we did anyway because what else were we supposed to do? Not every game could be Ocarina of Time. Sometimes stuff that was technologically challenged had to do.
I’m sure that because this game is decent enough, there are some people out there who have fond memories of it from their childhoods. But not having that is why I’m talking about these games. Lightspeed Rescue is boring trash. There’s one attack button for this 3D beat ’em up and, I believe, no combos. Or at least none in the early parts of the game, which is as far as I was willing to go. The objective is to rescue hostages by running up to them, defeat a bunch of basic baddies, and take out the boss. There’s nothing wrong with that design. But it’s the exact same design we had five years before this. But now it’s suffering from the staples of early 3D games: poorly designed maps, no clear direction, and general aimlessness. Lightspeed Rescue is the watching paint dry of Power Rangers games.
If you want to subject yourself to feeling nothing at all, then by all means play Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue. Next.
Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue
Genre: Garbage
Release Year: 2000
System: Nintendo 64
Let me make something abundantly clear. In gathering information on all of these games for this article, I have been playing them. Chronologically. So far, there have been some mediocre games and a couple bad ones. This one right here is rancid. Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue for the Nintendo 64 is the worst Power Rangers game ever. I’m going to say that definitively, without having made it through the rest yet, because the bar is so low. You know how everybody picks on Superman 64 as being one of the “worst games ever?” It is better than Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue. I understand that development can be a hell behind the scenes and I certainly don’t know how to make a game myself, but whatever team slapped this thing together did not put forth their best effort. That is very evident. Visually, it’s a collection of smears across jagged Nintendo 64 polygons. Technically, it’s a stuttering mess that like to lock up and sometimes outright refuses to accept your inputs.
You control one of the Rangers at a time, going through levels completing an objective. The first involves you kicking stardust at piles of goo to clean up the city. The second puts you behind the wheel of a firetruck, mashing A to shoot bubbles at cars on fire. If you run into any of the cars on the road, even the ones not on fire, they bounce off of you, ricochet off the nearest building, and float off into space. That is the path I recommend you take in regards to Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue: bounce off the nearest building and float away.
Don’t play this.
Power Rangers Time Force
Genre: Beat ’em up
Release Year: 2001
System: Sony PlayStation
I take back my hatred for the last PlayStation game. After playing the Nintendo 64’s Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, even a boring action game is a blessing. This one is essentially the PlayStation version of Lightspeed Rescue again, but with a fresh Ranger coat of paint. Unfortunately, that game’s shortcomings apply just as strongly here: its levels are strangely laid out and the actual action is dull. However, there is an interesting change mechanically in the form of the level timer. I guess because these Power Rangers were time-themed, the developers saw fit to apply some sort of video game time-y element to it. Every level has a timer ticking down that you slow or extend by picking up hourglasses. If you manage to beat the level before the timer runs out, you’ll get a bonus that powers up your Ranger — essentially a way to extend your health or special attack meter.
The combat is just ho-hum and there isn’t a story to speak of. You go to a level, do your thing, and come back. It’s yet another Power Rangers beat ’em up that one small mechanic doesn’t do a lot to save. It’s a boring game, but not horrible. Really only worth a play if you have some sort of affinity for the Time Force specifically. Otherwise, there are plenty of other Rangers-based action games for you.
Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Action
Release Year: 2004
System: Nintendo GameCube/Sony PlayStation 2
I hope you like Zords. And I mean really like Zords. Because despite being a 3D action game with light platforming and shooting elements, this game only lets you control the Dino Thunder Zords. Of which there are apparently only three because everything I know about Power Rangers just stopped applying at some point along this timeline. Whatever.
This isn’t that bad, to be frank. Again, bland is the name of the game, but at least it’s a competent bland. And honestly, the idea of playing an entire action game as dinosaurs (since that’s what these Zords are) is kind of appealing. It’s not something I’ve seen before. Hey, a Power Rangers game with a new idea! Who’d have thought? It’s not exactly standout, but it does its job adequately. It manages to not insult me, which is way better than the last few Power Rangers titles I’ve had my hands on. There’s even a real plot! The story involves the Rangers fighting off an invasion by a villain named Mesogog, who I assume is the Dino Thunder big bad. Compelling? No. But at least it’s something.
You wander around 3D environments as one of the Zords, with the ability to swap between them when you wish, and complete simple little missions. Nothing special, but nothing terrible either. Straight down the middle of the road and, man, am I glad for that. This one is worth a play if you’d like to crack out the GameCube or PlayStation 2 and get a little action on.
Power Rangers Super Legends
Genre: Beat ’em up
Release Year: 2007
System: Sony PlayStation 2
And here we are at the end of the road. The last of the console Power Rangers games (that I am able to cover, but really not feeling too terrible about missing the next three). Power Rangers Super Legends was released in celebration of the franchise’s 15th anniversary in 2007. It’s another beat ’em up, and another one locked to a single 2D plane like the Super Nintendo’s original Mighty Morphin, so we’ve come full circle.
There’s a story that drives this game, believe it or not. A guy from the future, the Omega Ranger, watches over the Hall of Legends — a repository for all Power Rangers knowledge. He has been trapped outside of time and it is up to different Rangers from throughout history to gather a bunch of time crystals so he can… be freed? I guess? It’s an excuse to revisit several different points in the Power Rangers timeline and play as a whole slew of old Rangers. Which is cool!
What isn’t cool is that they all play exactly the same. Despite the difference between characters, series, and styles, every single character in this game is a carbon copy of each other. What’s more, once you get beyond the introductory stage, the maps themselves become messy labyrinths. You want to explore them because collectibles are scattered about that will allow you to unlock new Rangers, so your favorite might be behind a bit of tedious traipsing around a level. Except you can’t really backtrack, so if you miss one collectible, you have to start the level over and play again to unlock what you want. And this is not a fun game to play. It’s an incredibly basic beat ’em up. Despite being released thirteen years after the Super Nintendo original, it’s got almost no additional depth to its gameplay than that one. There’s now a blaster button and combos, but the combos actually slow combat down. You only want to do them if you feel the need to be flashy. Otherwise, beat on an enemy, zap them before they fall so they don’t have to animate getting back up, repeat. It’s so repetitive that even playing cooperatively with a major Power Rangers fan didn’t manage to make the game interesting enough to warrant playing until the end.
Really… just don’t bother with this one. I hate to say it, because its original story and wide variety of Power Rangers locations and characters make for an interesting premise. But actually playing the thing sucks all of the energy that premise builds right out.
That’s it. Every single Power Rangers console game up to 2007. It’s a messy, mostly sad history that highlights how mishandled this license has been. That’s a real shame, though, because the idea of Power Rangers would seemingly lend itself really well to different genres. Imagine a version of Super Legends that went the RPG route: the player builds a squad of their favorite Rangers throughout the timeline and creates teams that could never really exist, battles a variety of the small and big bad guys from over the years, and finally faces off with some sort of interesting final boss — maybe a jacked up Ivan Ooze or someone similar to really capitalize on players’ nostalgia. Or a Metroid-style platformer where different Rangers with unique abilities could reach new areas of the map independently, opening the door for a bevy of secrets and upgrades hidden creatively.
I feel like there’s plenty of room for a truly great Power Rangers game if the license were to be given to the right team. But, it seems like Saban has been more interested in getting things out at a low-cost, high-speed pace. Which results in a lot of the problems I talked about above: messy levels, uninspired gameplay, and nonsensical direction. I may not be the biggest Power Rangers fan in the world, having only seen a handful of episodes and a movie, but I feel much more connected to the franchise after diving into all of these. The fact that there isn’t a game on this list that I’d want to revisit is incredibly disappointing. If I’m in a Power Rangers mood, what do I play? It certainly won’t be any of these. Even the good among them I’ve had my fill of.
Ultimately, Power Rangers is a kids’ show. And kids shows don’t really produce the sorts of games they used to. I more expect to see a Power Rangers mobile game than I do an honest console effort at this point. But I still think that’s a shame because of the potential the brand carries. Maybe someday we’ll get a truly great Power Rangers game…
And when that day comes? Friends, it will finally be Morphin Time.
David Cole is an independent writer and games journalist from Wayne County, Kentucky. His work has appeared in five journals, four performance halls, and on three continents. He has been fortunate enough to work with some of his heroes and see large swaths of the world. Gurney Norman once said David was a good writer with a nice voice, which he still holds as the highest praise. More of David’s work, including his breakout collection I’ve Been a Prisoner All My Life, can be found on his website: davidcole.space.
