"You made my gnarly monster fall, now you'll pay when he gets tall!"
— Rita Repulsa
Released in 1994, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is a Fighting Game based on Season 1 of the titular show. Developed by Banpresto and published by Sega, the game features a rather unique structure for its Story Mode. First, you select one of the Rangers and fight one of Rita's monsters. Unlike more traditional fighting games, this is a single round duel, where losing forces you into a game over. If you defeat the monster, Rita makes it grow, which leads into Round 2. Summoning either the Megazord or the Dragonzord, you then fight the giant monster. Continue the pattern for five stages and you win.
There was also a version made for the Game Gear, developed by SIMS Co Ltd, which largely kept the same gameplay roulette, but included an expanded roster and some filler bits where you fight Putty Patrollers in a Beat 'em Up-style stage beforehand. Despite being on poorer hardware, most people tend to favor this version of the game instead of its 16-bit cousin.
A third game under the same name was released for the Sega CD, but unlike the other two games, this one was a Quick Time Event game with Full Motion Video versions of select episodes from the show. Occasionally, button prompts would appear, and the player would have to hit the right button in order to get a higher score. Unlike other FMV games, the story would not change at all regardless of whether the player hit the prompt correctly or not.
Roster (Genesis Version)
- Red Ranger (Jason)
- Black Ranger (Zack)
- Blue Ranger (Billy)
- Yellow Ranger (Trini)
- Pink Ranger (Kimberly)
- Green Ranger (Tommy)
- Megazord
- Dragonzord
- Goldar
- Madam Woe
- Minotaur
- Cyclopsis V.1
- Cyclopsis V.2
Roster (Game Gear Version)
- Red Ranger (Jason)
- Black Ranger (Zack)
- Blue Ranger (Billy)
- Yellow Ranger (Trini)
- Pink Ranger (Kimberly)
- Green Ranger (Tommy)
- Megazord
- Dragonzord
- Dragonzord Fighting Mode
- Putty Patroller
- Goldar
- King Sphinx
- Shell Shock
- Nasty Knight
- Polluticorn
- Cyclopsis
Tropes:
- Adaptational Early Appearance: In the Genesis version, you fight the Evil Green Ranger and Dragonzord in Stage 2, while Madam Woe is fought in Stage 3. In the show, the Rangers fought them in opposite order.
- Adaptational Skill:
- Green Ranger is able to use his Sword of Darkness and his Dragon Buster attack after he joins the Power Rangers. In the show, the Sword is destroyed to break Rita's spell on him and he never uses the Dragon Buster after "Green with Evil."
- Madam Woe is also grown to fight the Megazord here. This was noted to be impossible in the show.
- Adaptational Weapon Swap: Genesis!Green Ranger can use the Blade Blaster as a ranged weapon, just like his teammates.
- Adapted Out:
- Scorpina doesn't fight in either version though she does appear in one cutscene in the Sega Genesis version.
- The Game Gear version doesn't include Finster, Baboo, Squatt, or Titanus.
- And the Adventure Continues: While the Genesis version has the Rangers destroy Rita's palace in the ending, the Game Gear version ends with Rita and Goldar vowing revenge while Zordon congratulates the Rangers, similar to how most episodes of the show ended.
- Boss Rush: Stage 7-1 in the Game Gear version is one of these, where you fight all of the previous bosses one right after another. Luckily for you, they are all half-health.
- Bowdlerize: In the Genesis version, Goldar's sword is turned into a Laser Sword for some reason. While Jason's Power Sword gets the same change in a cutscene, it doesn't in gameplay.
- The Cameo: All relating to the Genesis version.
- Titanus only appears in the ending cutscene, where the Rangers form the Ultrazord to destroy Rita's Palace.
- Dragonzord has a special move where it temporarily transforms into its Fighting Mode version and quickly stabs the opponent with its drill staff.
- Baboo, Squatt, Scorpina, and Finster only appear in cutscenes and have no lines.
- Character Select Forcing:
- Genesis version:
- If one of the players selects a Ranger in Versus Mode, you can only fight in the bridge stage, regardless of whoever the other person picks. Also, Megazord, Dragonzord and Cyclopsis become unavailable.
- If a player picks Megazord, Dragonzord, or Cyclopsis, none of the Rangers can be selected, and Ranger's Stage cannot be played on.
- With the Game Gear version, the Megazord, Dragonzord, and Dragonzord Fighting Mode can only fight the various main monsters in Versus Mode. Selecting one of them will cause the six Rangers and the Putty Patroller to fade out, preventing you from selecting them. The opposite occurs if you select one of the Rangers.
- Genesis version:
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: The Minotaur, Madam Woe, and Shellshock were all defeated without the Megazord in the shownote , but they’re all defeated with it here.
- Digitized Sprites: Blatantly obvious in the Genesis version. Rita, Squatt, Baboo, and Finster only ever appear this way. The Rangers look like this whenever they appear in a cutscene. In the Game Gear version, this only applies to the Rangers' civilian forms when they morph and the Megazord after beating a stage.
- Finishing Move: When playing as the Megazord or Dragonzord in the Genesis version, you automatically launch one of these once you deplete the monster's health all the way to zero. Sadly, these aren't unique moves, but just their normal Special Moves, which are the Megazord's Lightning Plasma and the Dragonzord's Dragon Missile respectively.
- For Want Of A Nail: Like in "Green with Evil", Rita has Goldar and the Green Ranger grow to giant-size during a solar eclipse which weakens the Megazord in the Game Gear version. However, unlike in the actual episode, where the added presence of Scorpina resulted in the temporary destruction of the Dinozords, here the Megazord is able to drive the both of them off.
- Full Motion Video: The Sega CD version plays a selection of episodes from Season 1, all in its amazing, grainy, downgraded Sega CD glory.
- Make My Monster Grow: Rita says the page quote whenever she makes a target grow in both versions, and, as a nice touch, uses "she" when referring to Madam Woe. She does use her regular Trope Namer quote from the show in Stage 3 of the Game Gear version when making Goldar and the Green Ranger grow.
- Mini-Boss: Goldar in the Game Gear version acts as one of these, fighting you for a bit before retreating and allowing the boss to take over.
- More Dakka: Once you beat Cyclopsis in the Genesis version, the Rangers call upon Titanus to form the Ultrazord and absolutely crush Rita's palace, presumably killing Rita in the process.
- Palette Swap:
- All of the Rangers in the Genesis version are swaps of the Red Ranger, including the same helmet. The only exceptions are the Green (includes his Dragon Shield) and Pink (different helmet and a skirt) Rangers.
- While each Ranger in the Game Gear version averts this (even getting proper helmet sprites and different fighting poses), the Putty Patrollers play this straight, as they come in grey, green, and brown flavors.
- Quick Time Event: The only gameplay, if you can call it that, available in the Sega CD version.
- Secret A.I. Moves: Averted. Each character in the Genesis version DOES have a complicated Super Move they can use, but it's so ridiculously complicated that it's almost impossible to pull off on ones lonesome, and the AI never uses them either.
- Secret Character: Evil Green Ranger in the Genesis Versus Mode. To activate him, repeatedly press A, B and C on the second player's joypad during the Banpresto screen. A "Power Rangers!" voice bit confirms the code being entered correctly. Evil Green cannot battle against the heroic Green Ranger or Dragonzord.
- Shown Their Work:
- One of Green Ranger's moves is "Dragon Buster," which is the black and blue energy ball he uses exactly once in "Green with Evil."
- In the Game Gear version, you fight the Green Ranger the same way the Rangers did in "Green with Evil." First, you fight him in his normal Ranger form, then you fight a giant version of him with the Megazord, then his Dragonzord, then the Green Ranger in normal size again.
- Also in the Game Gear version, the monsters explode after you defeat them with your Megazord.
- Version-Exclusive Content: Aside from Goldar and Cyclopsis, the Genesis and Game Gear versions feature different monster lineups.
- The Genesis version includes Minotaur and Madam Woe.
- The Game Gear version includes the Putty Patrollers, King Sphinx, Nasty Knight, Shellshock, and Polluticorn. While not a monster, this version also allows you to play as Dragonzord Fighting Mode.
