Review

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind - Switch Review

"The most fun I’ve had with a Power Rangers game in a long time."

Jake Mounsey

• 4 min read
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind - Switch Review
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Let me ask you a question: who out there didn’t want to be a Power Ranger as a kid? A cherished childhood memory of mine was playing with my friends on the school playground pretending to be Power Rangers only to get in trouble because the teachers thought we were fighting each other. I’ve been a Power Rangers fan almost all my life, so I was champing at the bit to get my hands on Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind.

Heavily inspired by the Netflix reunion special Once and Always, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind sees Robo Rita travel back in time to lend her knowledge of the future to her younger self to stop Zordon and the Rangers in their early days, when they’re at their least experienced. Grab four friends, suit up as your favourite Ranger and show Rita and her minions that you mean business!

The Good

I will admit, I’m not the biggest fan of side scrolling beat ‘em ups. I find them to be pretty slow and clunky, which is a leftover of the days of the arcade where they were designed like that to get as much money from kids as possible. With that being said, I’m very glad to see that Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind has a very competent, if a little simplistic, combat system. Combat is fast and fluid, making it a breeze to rack up satisfying combos to style on Rita’s enemies. On top of that, there are also some very fun third-person sections to break up the beat ‘em up levels where you either ride a motorcycle down a highway or your selected Ranger’s Zord as you chase down a giant monster, ultimately leading to a first-person, Super Punch Out-esque section as you pilot the Megazord. These sections are spread out expertly, so no gameplay style overstays its welcome.

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind’s strongest point is its music. Sean Bialo does an amazing job nailing Ron Wasserman’s original score, which gave Power Rangers its distinct style. The game’s soundtrack has a lot of energy, which harmonises with the gameplay perfectly while using the original Power Rangers theme song as a leitmotif. You’d think that constantly hearing Go Go Power Rangers would get annoying after a while, but it is blended in a way where it never got on my nerves and just made the song better.

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind’s artstyle expertly captures the style of the Super Nintendo with its bright and vibrant pixel art and its faux 3D sections when piloting the Zords, capturing the essence of the Super Nintendo’s Mode 7. It really feels like you’ve travelled back in time to the heydey of the Power Rangers’ popularity.

TL;DR

  • Fun and engaging gameplay
  • Excellent sound design and music
  • Beautiful Super Nintendo-style graphics

The Bad

For me personally, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind’s biggest flaw is that every Ranger plays the same. You’d expect them to play at least a little differently, seeing as they all have different weapons, but no. Heck, the Pink Ranger has a bow, but she just smacks people with it like it's a stick. “Ok then, maybe the Green Ranger will play differently since I have to unlock him,” I thought, but no, he plays like everyone else.

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is criminally too short; I managed to complete the game in a single two-hour sitting. Granted, there are secrets and collectables to find to lengthen the playtime, but outside of three collectables that unlock arcade games at Ernie’s Juice Bar, they do nothing. Speaking of said arcade games, they might as well be nothing with how short and basic they are. I've played Atari 2600 games with more gameplay complexity.

TL;DR

  • All Rangers play the same
  • Game is criminally too short
  • Collectables hold no purpose

Final Score: 7/10

Speaking as a fan of the franchise, despite some of its more disappointing moments, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is the most fun I’ve had with a Power Rangers game in a long time. On top of that, this might be the most faithful Power Rangers game since Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid. You can really feel the love the developers have for the franchise and it had me grinning ear to ear the entire time.

Thank you for checking out our Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind Switch review and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:

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