LONG BLOG
It's Reviewin' Time! Part One: Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition (SNES)
I have quite the fondness for the Power Rangers. It was the first science fiction show that I ever got into (I was like six, shut up) it brought some of my absolute best friends together when we were in first grade, all of which I still consider friends and talk to on a regular basis, as well as my introduction to my life-long love of the Tokusatsu genre. Now, as I grew up, my opinion on Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers has evolved from it being the greatest thing to grace a television set to horribly Americanized, watered-down and a slightly preachy rendition of Super Sentai created by who many have called a racist, but that doesn't stop me from watching it from time to time, buying the higher quality toys that come from the shows and getting stuff signed by former actors when I go to a convention. With all of this in mind, I've decided to buy, play, and eventually review every single Power Rangers game to come out on consoles in the United States. Except for the one on kinect. Screw the kinect. This might take a bit, since I recently decided to do this, as in today and I only have three of the games so far. So yeah, this is going to be a harrowing ride through some absolute amazingness and absolute garbage.
It's pretty sad that licensed games have been given a bad rap as of recently. Back in the 16-but era, there were a lot of really good ones, and when you mix the coolest kids TV show of the 90's with the coolest video game genre of the 90's (fighting) with the coolest video game console of the 90's (Super Nintendo) into one, you will probably come out with an awesome result... and it was! Bandai didn't take the easy way out of this game and just make all of the power rangers playable characters with some enemies thrown in. You play what is arguably the best two minutes of every Power Rangers episode, the Zord scenes. In Story Mode, you play as either the Thunder Megazord or the Mega Tigerzord as you fight through giant sized monsters, and sometimes other Zords, for whatever reason. The game is pretty easy, for the most part. I got through most of the enemies with hitting one button over and over again without much thought. That is until I got to Lord Zedd, which made me think slightly, but wasn't much of a hassle. After you beat Lord Zedd, the game is ov- NO WAIT, NOW YOU HAVE TO FIGHT IVAN OOZE! Yeah, that's right, the REAL end boss is the lamest antagonist from the lamest Power Ranger movie ever. and he is THE WORST! Seriously. After about fifteen tries, I couldn't even beat him in one round. It's not fair in the slightest. I hate Ivan Ooze. Apparently if you beat Ivan Ooze on Hard Mode, you can unlock him as a playable chaacter. Screw that, and scew Ivan Ooze.
Trial Mode is kind of cool. You get to pick from eight characters and fight said eight characters at random, but this time you only get one round to beat them and they are much harder this time. They finally learned how to block and jump and stuff. It's fun for a bit, but from my experience it seems that the Zords are way more powerful than the enemy monsters, giving this mode a bit of a balance issue.
Fighting Mode is pobably the best pat of this game. It's what Versus Mode is called in every other fighting game to ever come out in the histoy of video games. You and a friend get to pick from one of eight charactes and fight it out. Again, it seems that the Zords are way more powerful than the enemy monsters. I mean, my girlfriend was destroying me as Tiger Megazord without any effort while I played as Goldar, and this was her first time playing the game. As long as you both pick goodies or both pick baddies, this mode is well balanced and fun, and if you really don't care, well... just have fun for a bit.
Graphically, this game is great. Huge sprites, sparks flying when characters get hit, absolutely no slowdown and really cool backgrounds. This game has it all for a 16-bit fighting game. The only thing that I don't like are the character pofiles in both bottom corners. They can be a bit distracting, but it's not so bad really. The music? Oh man, the music. Power Ranger epicness/horribleness in all of its chiptune glory. Honestly, if you wanted a really good review of the soundtrack, I'm not the one to give it. I know it's bad, but the music is just so ridiculous and nostalgic that I have to love it. It really fits the mood of a fighting game where you play as people dressed in either giant robot or giant monster suits and fight in miniaturized settings.
To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of figthing games. They haven't really ever appealed to me that much and I'm horrible at them, which may be caused by my dyslexia. Either way, out of all of the fighting games that I have played on the Super Nintendo, this has to be my favorite one. It has a theme that I actually give a crap about, the graphics are great and the music is fun. The gameplay might be a bit unbalanced and wonky from time to time, but it gives it character. Like a nerdy gang member with a scar across his face. It's also cheaper than a lot of SNES fighting games. I got mine complete fo about 50 dollars, but I've seen the cart go for about ten at retro game stores and conventions. It's totally worth picking up.
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