Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Sega) - TV Tropes

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 (including making the Dragonzord Fighting Mode fully playable) 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 interactive 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) 

Roster (Game Gear Version) 

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 Dragon Buster attack after he joins the Power Rangers. In the show, 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.
  • The Sega Genesis version doesn't include the Putty Patrollers.
  • Inverted with the Green Ranger in both versions. In the show, he leaves haflway through the series after losing his powers, giving his Power Coin and Dragon Dagger to Jason, only returning for a cameo in the Series Fauxnale. In these games, however, he will never stop being playable once you gain access to him.
• 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.
• Ascended Extra: In the Game Gear game, the Dragonzord Battle Mode is unlocked as a playable character after Tommy joins the team, letting it get as much use as the Megazord and Dragonzord, in contrast to the show, where it is rarely used.
• Attack Reflector: Every character in the Genesis version has a move that will bounce any ranged attack back at the opponent.
• Behemoth Battle: After defeating human-sized monsters, the player uses the Zords to fight the monster after Rita makes it grow gigantic.
• 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. Goldar serves as the boss of this stage, and it's the first and only time when you'll have to deplete his whole healthbar to defeat him.
• 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.
    • What Zord you get in the second phase of the battle is determined by your Ranger of choice: if you choose the Green Ranger, you'll get the Dragonzord, and the Megazord if you chose the other five.
  • 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. Also, the Dragonzord Fighting mode can't fight neither the Megazord nor the regular Dragonzord. The opposite occurs if you select one of the Rangers.
    • Once you finish the Story Mode, the Versus Mode gets a "Dream Mode" option that averts this trope, meaning that you can have a Power Ranger fight against a giant opponent like the Megazord or Cyclopsis.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: In the Game Gear version, monsters will explode after beating them in a Zord battle, just like in the series.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: The Minotaur, Madam Woe, and Shellshock were all defeated without the Megazord in the show^note , 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.
• Final Boss: Both versions have Cyclopsis as the final opponent in the Story Mode (As Cyclopsis was the final opponent in the series' original run before it was extended), though there are some differences between each version:
  • The Sega Genesis version has the fight taking place on the Moon in front of Rita's Palace and there is no Ranger battle phase, meaning that you have to fight Cyclopsis twice in a row with the Zord of your choice.
  • The Game Gear version has the fight taking place on Earth, and it does have a Ranger battle phase where you fight weakened versions of the past four monsters, plus a full fight against Goldar, before fighting Cyclopsis in a Zord battle.
• 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.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: In the Genesis game, the Dragonzord can turn into the Dragonzord Battle Mode for one of its attacks even if it is fighting the Megazord. This would be impossible in the show, since the zords it takes to combine to form the Dragonzord Battle Mode means that it and the Megazord cannot be used at the same time. The Game Gear game having Dragonzord Battle Mode used in versus mode against the Megazord is impossible for the same reasons.
• Impossibly Graceful Giant: Being turned giant does nothing to hinder the mobility of Rita’s monsters, and the giant Zords are just as mobile as the human-sized Power Rangers.
• Interactive Movie: 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 (usually after depleting between 25-50% of his lifebar) and allowing the boss to take over.
• Mook: The Game Gear version manages to cleverly include this trope by having you fight Putty Patrollers that usually have between 1-5% of their total lifebar, meaning that even their strongest variants will still go down in 3-4 hits.
• 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.
• Orcus on His Throne: Rita is present as the main villain in each game. However, like in the show, she does not fight the Power Rangers at any point.
• 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. The monsters of the Boss Rush in the Ranger phase of the final stage also use models with different colors for some reason.
• Quick Time Event: The only gameplay, if you can call it that, available in the Sega CD version.
• Redemption Demotion: When you fight the Evil Green Ranger in both versions, it has a very powerful attack involving the Sword of Darkness (a jumping upwards slash in the Genesis version, a Ground Wave in the Game Gear version) that he won't be able to use once he turns good and becomes playable (which is justified, since destroying said sword is the key to release him from Rita's control). It is possible to play as these versions of the character through cheats, though.
• Ruins for Ruins' Sake: One of the stages in the Genesis game is an ancient structure of unknown purpose. The building being so large that the Zords and enlarged monsters are the size of normal humans in comparison makes the structure all the more baffling.
• 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 in both versions 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.
• Truer to the Text: Part of the reason as for why the Game Gear version is considered as the better of the two games despite being on less powerful hardware: It makes the battles feel more like the ones from the series by also including Putty Patrollers, the fight against the Evil Green Ranger follows how he was fought in the show more closely (see above) to the point that it's a two-parter, and the game let's you use the Dragonzord Fighting Mode as a full Zord rather than as a move of the Dragonzord.
• The Unfought: Rita is seen ordering the various monsters to attack. However, like in the show, the Power Rangers never fight her.
• 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 (and it's in fact, the only game in the entire series where such a Zord is fully playable).