One of the biggest surprises of last June’s Summer Game Fest was the reveal of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind developed by Digital Eclipse.
As someone who has fond memories of playing Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on the SNES, I was all too happy to see Putties getting beat up on a pixelated 2D plane once again. While it wasn’t available to play on the show floor at BitSummit 2024 in Kyoto, I did jump at the chance to speak to Chris Kohler, Digital Eclipse’s Editorial Director, about how Rita’s Rewind came to be.
Kohler, who was in attendance to show off Digital Eclipse’s well-received fully 3D remake of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, was more than happy to explain. You see, Digital Eclipse has a fairly long, complicated history but is best known for compiling classic game collections and putting together stunning documentary-style games, such as The Making of Karateka, that tell both a story and bring classic titles to modern audiences. Rita’s Rewind, on the other hand, is a completely new title.
“It’s not based on the older games,” Kohler clarified when I asked if there was any connection given Digital Eclipse’s history. “We have a team working on this whose careers literally go back to making 16 bit pixel art,” he continued. “But yeah, not based on them at all.”
He elaborated that, in the announcement trailer, you could see a mix of gameplay styles unique to Rita’s Rewind. The classic 2D beat ’em up gameplay that I experienced as a kid forms the base of the Mighty Morphin’ adventure, but there’s also shots of a Mechazord fight and a high speed motorcycle sequence. Kohler said they’re not ready to announce how these sections will support up to five players at once, given the title’s focus on online multiplayer, but they’ve got some creative ideas up their morphin’ suit sleeves.
I was curious at how Digital Eclipse landed on making an all-new Power Rangers game rather than building off of past franchises they’ve worked with, and it turns out the company’s projects come together with a little bit of star alignment. The revival of beat ’em ups like Streets of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge – neither of which Digital Eclipse had anything to do with, despite people thinking otherwise – certainly gave a clear indication that people are ready to play these games.
This time around, the stars aligned with Hasbro, as they’d just released the television film Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once and Always in 2023. Thus, Hasbro was open to Digital Eclipse nabbing the rights to make a new Power Rangers game that ties into the film in some way. It’s also why they’re not doing a simple collection of the old Power Ranger games: the rights to those have scattered to the wind, making collating them a difficult task – but they wouldn’t want to do that necessarily, anyway. According to Kohler, the team is quite excited to be making a brand-new game steeped in nostalgia.
As Digital Eclipse has spent most of its time preserving or reviving classic titles, I asked whether or not they were planning on making more wholly new games in the future. Kohler hopes, given the positive reception of the reveal Rita’s Rewind, that Digital Eclipse can control their destiny a bit more while still preserving games in their own unique documentary way.
“There’s things we’ve been pushing for and hopefully will pay off in the future,” he elaborated. “We have an internal wishlist we want to work on. I wouldn’t want to say any of those out loud and jinx it. But if [Shigeru] Miyamoto wants to call me for a quick contract to make some Super Mario Bros., [we’re] good to go,” he said, laughing.
I concluded by asking the most pertinent question a young me playing the SNES Mighty Morphin Power Rangers would want to know: did you have to build a meter in order to use the Mighty Morphin’ suits? You see, in the game I grew up with, you weren’t always a Power Ranger but sometimes ran around as a civilian, and I hated that mechanic.
“No, no,” Kohler clarified. “You start as a Power Ranger.”
Perfect. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is due out sometime in 2024, and, I for one, cannot wait to beat up Putties and Rita once again.
Published: Jul 25, 2024 11:47 am