At first glance, it’s pretty effortless to figure out what Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is: an arcade-style co-op fighting game with gorgeous sprite graphics, bearing some obvious similarities to 2022’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, right down to the title . However, after digging, punching and morphing through the first two episodes, I’m cheerful to report that this is more than just palette swapping, with creator Digital Eclipse clearly understanding the task but also not being afraid to get inventive in the margins.
For starters, the premise is a fun fan fiction remix: In the distant year of 2024, Robo-Rita Repulsa (who apparently has the same plastic surgeon as Frieza) faces defeat against the teenage guardians of Angel Grove. Assuming these are the same Rangers from the original series, they are at least in their 40s at this point. Anyway, this isn’t a problem, as Robo-Rita decides to go back in time and team up with her younger, less cybernetically enhanced self to put an end to her enemies from when they were still in high school.
There are plenty of Easter eggs and fan service, but Robo-Rita doesn’t go back in time to make the same mistakes again, so Rita’s Rewind is really more of a remix. Anyone who knows the original series inside out is in for some surprises. For example, the boss fight against Chunky Chicken, the initial monster of the week from the first season, has a second phase in which a second chicken-themed enemy, the Turkey Jerk, appears. At first glance, it’s a cute joke, but the deep reference here is that in the original series, the Chunky Chicken costume was repainted and reworked to become the Turkey Jerk costume – essentially an analog kaiju suit that’s the equivalent of a palette swap. As I said, the Digital Eclipse team did their homework.
If you’ve ever played a sidescrolling fighting game, you’re already familiar with the basic gameplay. Up to five players team up locally or online and gradually move their favorite Power Ranger towards the left stage. Our heroes must stop every twenty feet or so to take out Rita Repulsa’s miniature army of goons like Putty Patrollers and Tenga Warriors, as well as any trash can, mailbox, or mailbox that looks like it has health-regenerating junk food inside. Combat is one basic attack that can be combined with directions to string together basic combos, as well as one ultimate attack that can be activated when the meter is full. The final attacks are appropriately exaggerated, and triggering one for the first time put a huge smile on my face. If I was seven years aged, I would be jumping on the couch.
Occasionally, a Putty Patroller will appear, holding a huge top hat with a green crystal inside, and if the Rangers don’t destroy it in time, it will trigger an explosive time warp effect that deals damage, but also rewinds the game to moments earlier, a la Braid. The game’s visuals overall do a really good job of creating the illusion that this is a retro game, right down to the CRT filter. The time warp effect does a really nice job of breaking this illusion, making it feel like you’re playing an arcade that’s about to miniature out.
Where Rita’s Rewind really differs from Shredder’s Revenge is its super-scalable levels, which subvert the 2D side-scroller formula with fast-paced pseudo-3D sequences reminiscent of classic SEGA arcade games like Outrun or Afterburner, or Mode 7 on Super Nintendo technology. As much fun as beat-em-ups are, they act as palette cleansers between levels and are really cleverly used in the context of Power Rangers.
The original TV show regularly followed a familiar format: a monster of the week would appear, and after the Rangers had seemingly defeated said monster in hand-to-hand combat, Rita Repulsa would utter those infamously suggestive words “make my monster grow!” At this point, the fight will continue on a much larger scale, with the Rangers first using their individual Dinozord mechs and then inevitably combining them to form the Dino Megazord and save the day.
Rita’s Scroll is divided into “Episodes”. The first featured two stages of beat-em-up gameplay in the city center, culminating in a rooftop boss fight with Goldar. After being hit enough by the Lycra-clad teenagers, Robo-Rita enlarged him and flew away. A miniature cutscene showed the Rangers jumping into the Zords, and the next sequence was a 3D shooter that was immediately reminiscent of the original Star Fox on the Super NES. It’s fitting, since this was released the same year that Rita’s Rewind takes place, when Power Rangers was at its peak, and serves up a nice double dose of nostalgia.
After using the Zords to blow up a generator in a suspicious mining operation while avoiding the lasers, the moment had come: it was time to create the Dino Megazord. But wait, the same question I’ve been asking myself after so many Power Rangers episodes also applies to Rita’s Rewind… How can multiple people co-pilot one humanoid mech? I’m not sure what the canon explanation is, but in the case of the video game, it references a different kind of couch co-op: passing the controller back and forth when someone dies or beats a level.
After a satisfying low-poly transformation sequence, the perspective shifted to the Dino Megazord’s cockpit and leveled out to face Goldar, Punch-Out! style. Instead of Goldar, who has a conventional health bar that depletes, the Dino Megazord’s Power Sword is displayed at the top of the screen with several miniature sections running along the blade.
Landing enough blows on Goldar will gradually fill up one of these sections, at which point it will be the next Ranger’s turn. Conversely, the player’s turn will also end abruptly if Goldar makes an attack. Fully filling the meter activates the Power Sword, which is then used to finish off the bad guy in a quick event where everyone presses buttons together.
No one actually has to hand over the controller, it just switches between players, but the idea is the same. It’s entirely possible that a similar solution to cooperative Zord piloting was implemented in one of the many Power Rangers games released over the last 30 years, but I still think it was a clever solution. Waiting your turn may not be as fun as driving the Megazord yourself the entire time, but if you’re playing with friends, you’ll likely be cheering each other on – or groaning when they get hit.
Between episodes, the Rangers change into civilian clothes and regroup at the Angel Grove Youth Center. While enjoying a few frigid snacks at Ernie’s Juice Bar, they can listen to Bulk and Skull take credit for defeating the villains of previous episodes. If Rita’s Rewind wasn’t arcade enough already, you can also unlock playable arcade cabinets. We got to see “Drive Bomber”, a made-up racer where a car can throw bombs in its own path and will instantly explode if it hits them, which is hilariously arduous but also completely optional.
In terms of controls, the basic beat-em-up combat is very satisfying, although it’s sometimes difficult to tell what’s going on when the screen is flooded with enemies. When there were three of us playing, it was messy. I imagine the entire team of five is borderline comical. The driving sequences are suitably hectic, while the Megazord’s boxing match is a bit clunky, but so is the source material. Serious gamers with an eye for hitboxes and frame data may find something to spot, but that’s ultimately not the point. Rita’s Rewind is for people who are rushing to rent Mighty Morphin Power Rangers for the Super Nintendo and stay up tardy trying to beat it during a sleepover. Or for those who grew up dreaming of their local pizzeria having a Power Rangers arcade sandwiched between The Amazing X-Men and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Despite the rise in popularity of Power Rangers during the heyday of arcade fighting games, it somehow never received a proper title. From what I’ve seen of Rita’s Rewind, Digital Eclipse is making a bold and long-overdue effort to remedy this, and best of all, you don’t have to ask your mom for quarters every time you die.
