As a child raised in the ‘90s, few TV shows brought me and my friends together for playground hijinks more than Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Assuming the roles of our favorite Rangers (often contentiously) and poorly imitating martial arts moves was a blast. The franchise’s many co-op beat ‘em up games captured a similar joy at home. Rita’s Rewind is the latest brawler that, while not an all-time standout, replicates the fun of playing with friends as Angel Grove’s favorite teenagers with attitude.
One to five players (local and online) can suit up as Jason, Zack, Kimberly, Billy, and Trini to punch through an abridged version of the original show’s stories. From the teens’ first transformation to the evil Green Ranger saga, it’s a fun and succinct trip down memory lane with a time-travel twist. A robotic version of Rita Repulsa hailing from the future teams up with her past self to try and create the timeline where she finally prevails. The nostalgia is strong; I had a great time reacquainting my fists with staple threats like Goldar and the Putty Patrol while slapping my forehead at deep-cut episodic villains I’d long forgotten.
Combat can essentially be boiled down to “Have you played a beat ‘em up? It’s that,” but the simple action is bolstered by satisfying feedback accompanying every punch and kick. It’s mindlessly enjoyable as brawlers tend to be, with a dodging flip adding a touch of thoughtful nimbleness. It’s a bummer you can’t wield weapons; not only are they a genre staple that spice up the action, but the Rangers have signature weapons that would have been fun to play with. Landing offense fills a meter unleashing a screen-filling special attack, with each Ranger having a unique variation. Trying out each Ranger is annoyingly hamstrung by only being able to switch characters between missions at the Angel Grove Community Center, a shallow hub with a few bland minigames. I wish I could swap during stages after falling in battle as in most brawlers.
Stages aren’t particularly notable beyond a few recognizable locations but are laden with easter eggs and secret collectibles, such as finding familiar faces like Ernie and Principal Caplan. In a unique touch, the Rangers must occasionally destroy a soon-to-explode time crystal. Failing to do so quickly causes it to blow up and rewind time many seconds backward, forcing players to replay that brief segment. This creates a small but neat element of urgency that plays into the game’s time-manipulation theme.
Between the basic beat ‘em up stages, Rita’s magic wand makes her monsters grow, letting you sit in the cockpit of the Dinozords in first-person on-rail shooter sequences. I like the old-school polygonal look of these segments, and the action offers a welcome change of pace. Beat ‘em ups can get old quickly, and these arcade-style shooting sequences offer nice breaks from the monotony.
I’m less hot on the Punch-Out-esque one-on-one Megazord battles. Though I appreciate how the first-person perspective makes it feel like I’m piloting the Rangers’ ultimate weapon (and taking damage has the great touch of showing the Rangers getting rocked inside the head), these lengthy bouts can grow tedious and occasionally cheap due to the delayed input reaction. Dodging incoming projectiles can be a pain, and constantly sprinting forward to reach foes that continually leap backward is annoying. Failing these sequences means replaying the entire segment from the beginning, and while decent, they’re still not fun enough to mitigate the frustration.
Since its launch, Rita’s Rewind has received neat free updates including an optional Ranger leveling system to create character variety, and gameplay modifiers such as adjusting game speed and even gravity. These changes freshen things up and add more agency to how players tailor their adventures. As it stands now, Rita’s Rewind doesn’t shatter the genre’s mold. The action is a step above many contemporaries, but still falls prey to the genre’s inherent monotony and the Zord segments can be irritating at worst. But if you’re a ‘90s kid itching to pull out your Morpher one more time, Rita’s Rewind is the Rangers’ best cooperative outing to date.
This 2025 review reflects our thoughts on the game’s current state at publishing. As such, post-launch updates were factored into the final score.
