Way back in the glory days of the 16-bit console era, there was a side-scroller we owned based off of the hit TV series called Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The game was called...surprise! Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It was a 7-level side-scroller beat-em-up game that was just as fun to watch as it is to play.The game starts as the city of Angel Grove bursts into flames and an illusion of Rita Repulsa appears in the sky. Players are then tasked with selecting only one Power Ranger. This is one of my few gripes about the game. It's only one player. This game would've kicked even more ass as a two-player arcade-style platformer. Instead, it's up to one Ranger to run through the entire game, beat Rita and save Angel Grove. So you have only the five starter Rangers from the first season of the show to choose from: Jason (The Red Ranger), Billy (The Blue Ranger), Trini (The Yellow Ranger), Zack (The Black Ranger) and Kimberly (The Pink Ranger). Once a Ranger is selected, play begins. There are five levels as a Ranger on foot.
AREA 1 - CITY: The player must run through the streets of Angel Grove, and then morph and fight Bones as the boss.AREA 2 - DEPOT: After defeating Bones, the player must run through the Angel Grove industry depot, then morph and fight the Gnarly Gnome.
AREA 3 - SEWER: After the Depot does not turn up Rita, the player must enter the sewers of Angel Grove, morph and fight Eye Guy.
AREA 4 - BUILDING: Exiting the sewers, the player must traverse a skyscraper that's under construction in downtown Angel Grove, climbing from floor-to-floor, then morph and fight Genie.
AREA 5 - CAVE: The player must enter a cave filled with the most power of Rita's putty patrols, including a large energy cannon that takes up 50% of the screen, and then morph and fight The Dark Warrior.
After defeating five of Rita's monsters, the player then summons the Dino Megazord and does battle with two of Rita's monsters grown to full size.
AREA 6 - ANGLE GROVE HARBOR: The Dino Megazord leaps into action in the industrial docks of Angel Grove and fights Mutitus.
AREA 7 - THE MOON: Finally, the Dino Megazord blasts into space and fights Cyclopsis in front of Rita's fortress. Cyclopsis will not die after his health depletes once, but must be defeated twice.
Once Cyclopsis is defeated, the game ends declaring the Power Rangers the victors over Rita Repulsa. The game has no definitive ending where the Rangers defeat Rita herself, but tells you instead that if you defeat seven of Rita's monsters, you've defeated Rita.The game's controls are pretty solid. There's no lag as far as I can tell in jumping or running or hitting. Another gripe I have is killing the putties. Sometime it takes too many hits to take down the putties. Then you put them down and they get back up and you have to hit them again. The grey ones usually die in one hit, but the purple ones are a pain in the dick to put down. One perk is the kick-ass music. Most of the areas have sweet background music to kick ass to. "Cave" is the weakest, but the other ones are super awesome and you can get them stuck in your head easily.
If you have time, find an emulator and check it out. I recommend zsnes and emu paradise or coolroom to download the things from. You'll need the ROM file for the game and the emulator to run it on, then you should be good. Happy playing!
