Being a boy in the late 80’s and early 90’s was pretty good. There were a bunch of shows for us to watch like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman, Gargoyles, Superman, and other shows that were pretty good. However, if you wanted a live-action show that wasn’t a sitcom, we had Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It was cool when it was the old ones, and nowadays, there are a bunch of jokes we can make about it, but it has its charm. I’ll admit that I used to watch it, and I found it awesome back then. Since when something become popular, someone has to say, “Hey, we should make a game out of it”, we got a couple different games based on the Power Rangers. I am reviewing a game for the Super Nintendo that came out also on the Genesis and other consoles.
The main story of the Power Ranger’s game is basically like a bunch of the episodes in one game. The main villain Rita Repulsa has sent a bunch of monsters to take over Angel Grove, when there are millions of other cities to rule that aren’t being protected by techni-colored teenagers or techni-colored 20 year olds that act like teenagers. It is up to the Power Rangers to stop the evil monsters and Rita from taking over the city they protect. It’s like watching 5 episodes in a row. By today’s standards, that’s the new way of torturing terrorists. Natsume who is mostly famous for the Harvest Moon franchise, but has also made other games like Wild Guns and Ninja Warriors on the Super Nintendo, developed this game.
The game play featured in this game is a beat em’ up with more emphasis on plat forming than the beat em’ up parts, but there is mostly beat em’ up game play. You can choose from one of the five original rangers as you go through the level, beating down on Rita’s henchmen and then fighting a boss at the end of the level. You have your basic moves like a punch, kick and jump kick. This isn’t as deep as Final Fight or Ninja Warriors, but it gets the job done, more so than Splatterhouse. Halfway through the level, you will be turned into the buff power ranger form of yourself and can use a weapon. Now, each character does have their own move list, but they all basically share the same screen-clearing attack, which they call a bomb. It’s more impressive than the PS2 screw-up Power Rangers Super Legend by far. If you remember in that review, I said to pick this game up over the PS2 game. I still say that since I thought Super Legend was a horrible game.
The graphics are pretty good for Super Nintendo standards. They don’t push the limit like Final Fantasy 6 or Chrono Trigger, but they’re far better than any of the games LJN produced for the consoles. The music is also very good. It’s about as good as the soundtrack for most beat em’ ups like Final Fight and Streets of Rage, but it still sounds good. They even got the original intro song for the intro of the game to be excellently ported to the Super Nintendo, while the Genesis suffers in that area, but the Power Rangers game for that console is different and for another time. The plat forming elements are also very good and they don’t feel tacked on. They are very well executed and it’s fun to go through them.
Sadly, this game does suffer from a few things that hold it back. The game is pretty short and easy until a certain area. I know this was made for kids, but they could have at least upped the difficulty, but at least it isn’t Gradius or Battle Toads difficult. I also wish there was a 2-player option since it would be fun to go through the game with two players. Another thing I find weird is how buff the power rangers are. The kids themselves aren’t that muscular and it is just weird to look at. I also wish there were more zord battles since that is what you would watch Power Rangers for, to watch a giant robot kill a giant monster. At least the giant robot fights are a lot better than the PS2 version.
Overall, this is a good little game and is a good example of using the Power Rangers licenses to good use. I would say if you are collecting Super Nintendo games, pick this game up. It’s like Aladdin, it isn’t a triple A title, but it gets the job done as a good solid Super Nintendo game.
This game gets a 7.2 out of 10
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