Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is almost exactly what you want it to be. An arcadey beat-’em-up that brings back memories of the show, this has one or two rough edges but ultimately delivers a potent dose of fun.
Playing as any of the original Rangers (plus the Green Ranger after completing the story once), you and up to three friends must defend Angel Grove after the villainous Rita Repulsa teams up with her future self. What follows is a short but entertaining series of varied stages, with most of them having you beating up putty patrollers and other recognisable baddies.
The core combat is very basic, with a simple combo, dodge, and all the typical beat-’em-up staples you’d expect. It’s always fun wailing on various enemies, but unfortunately we ran into issues where some inputs weren’t registering consistently. This mostly affected dodging, leading to a lot of frustrating deaths.
On difficulties Normal and above, a limited Continues system means that once you run out of them, that run is over, with no means of earning more lives or Continues. Combined with difficulty spikes on one or two of the bosses, it feels a little too harsh. Fortunately, the easy difficulty provides unlimited Continues.
In addition to classic beat-’em-up stages and boss fights, the game changes things up with shoot-’em-up style vehicle segments, as well as first-person fisticuffs when you pilot the Megazord. The variety keeps the campaign trucking along nicely. Along with the old school presentation, lots of easter eggs for fans, and an energetic soundtrack, it all comes together to offer up a rollicking good time.
While the issues we have with the combat bring it down a bit, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind ultimately succeeds in delivering a nostalgic dose of fun that fans of the franchise are going to love. It’s not the best beat-’em-up in recent years, but its clear reverence for the source material, variety of stages, and well-pitched presentation make it a real feel-good game.
