The Sega Game Gear version of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie game is once again completely different to the versions on the SNES, Mega Drive and Game Boy. This one takes the form of a beat ‘em up style of game, one vs. one in all instances and generally a fight against multiple Putty Patrolers until reaching a fight with the end of level boss. For this game, Banpresto expanded upon the gameplay for the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers game on the Game Gear; replacing the television series end bosses with ones relating to the movie, and tinkering slightly with the move sets.

As a beat ‘em up, it’s never going to compete with the masters in the genre. However, as a Power Rangers game on a handheld device, it’s pretty darn good. The main reason being - You get to play as the bad guys! More on that a little later.

Story mode is pretty standard for a Power Rangers game - You choose your hero, fight through some Putties, fight the boss, then move on. Similar to the other handheld device game on the Game Boy, there is very little story line development between the scenes in an effort to keep the game size nice and small. This actually helps, as adding in anything would have slowed down the pace of the game. Also, it was great to see Alpha utilized in the character selection screen!

It’s a small point, but a really cool one to note - When beating the bosses, they all explode at the end of their fights whilst the zord poses in typical Power Ranger fashion… All expect Goldar that is. Just like in the television series, he’s not defeated but rather leaves the fight. It’s the little details like that which really help a game endear itself to the fans.

More than other games on the movie I’ve played so far, this one really gives the impression that Ivan Ooze is actually a threat. When he first appears; he just shows up, takes no prisoners, and destroys the command center!

As expected, the game is a trip up through regular enemies up to Ivan Ooze and the Ecto-Morphicon, with the final fight ending in the same way as on the Mega Drive version. It just feels handled somewhat better here, though, as although it’s still a cut-scene, the player feels as though they contributed.

We’re then treated to a little scene with Zordon thanking the Rangers, showing us the back of their heads (look at the shine in Tommy’s hair! A shampoo & conditioner sponsorship must be in the works) and also that Aisha seemingly has gone all 80s and chucked on some heavy day-glo yellow makeup 😁

Story Mode is just a small part of the game, though, because there’s also a Vs. Mode in the main menu. This allows you to play as any character in the game and compete in a succession of one on one fights against all other characters (the normal sized characters can’t fight against the zords, for obvious reasons!) This gives the player a rare opportunity to take control of some of the bad guys. The chance to give the Putties some revenge is too difficult to pass up 😉

Just look how happy he is!

Naturally, Goldar is included in this, and Banpresto have modeled him off of the television series and not the movie. As Goldar is able to fight both regular and zord size characters due to his ability to grow, getting through his Vs. Mode path is harder (and more rewarding). 

Goldar, dabbing before it was cool.

In the end, this is probably the best handheld Power Rangers game until Legacy Wars appeared, and considering it’s from the mid-90s it’s held up really well. Well worth having in your collection and giving it a quick blast now and again.