Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Power Rangers Video Games

18 years and only 11 games have been released; 7 titles under Saban's reign and 4 under Disney's.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
It is the title of five different video games based on the television series of the same name, which were released for the Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Game Gear, and Sega CD. The Nintendo versions of the game were released by Bandai, while the Sega versions were published by Sega themselves. In SNES, you didn't see the Green Ranger at all. In Sega, you could fight the vil Green Ranger and then fight as him. Monsters that appeared in the games were Bones, Gnarly Gnome, Eye Guy, Genie, Dark Warrior, Mutitus, Cyclopsis, Goldar, King Sphinx, Nasty Knight, Shellshock, and Polluticorn. All of these are Zyuranger creations, no Zyu 2. They were released in 1994 and 1995. I only played the Sega version.


Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
Four games under the same title were released for the SNES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy and Game Gear. While the games were ostensibly based on the film, they also featured characters and plot elements from the second season of the original TV series. Monsters you fight in the games are: Oozemen, Hornitron, Scorpitron, Putty Patrol, Scarlet Sentinel (Nimrod), AC and DC, Lord Zedd, Goldar, Statue, Ivan Ecto-Morphicon, Mirror Maniac, Cannon Top, Skelerena, Magnet Brain, Silver Horns, Jaws of Destruction, Beam Caster, Tengu, Mordant and Main Frame (??). I only played the Sega version. All of these monsters are Dairanger monsters, 1 Zyuranger villain (Goldar), Kakuranger 'megazords,' and 7 original creations (Zedd, Ivan, Mordant, Tengu, Hornitron, Scorpitron and Oozemen). I don't know who Main Frame is, also unique characters to appear in the video game is a giant Rat (which was going to be in the movie) and a Queen Tenga.
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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Fighting Edition
It is a fighting game released for the SNES published by Bandai in 1995. You would be controlling one of four Megazords (Thunder Megazord, Mega Tigerzord, Ninja Megazord and Shogun Megazord). You fight all 8 opponents (Thunder Megazord, Mega Tigerzord, Ninja Megazord, Shogun Megazord, Lipsyncher, Silver Horns, Goldar, & Lord Zedd) before finally facing Ivan Ooze. All of these are Dairanger monsters, two Kakuranger robots, one Zyuranger villain (Goldar) and 2 PR creations (Ivan and Zedd).


Power Rangers Zeo: Battle Racers
It was a SNES game released in September 1996 by Bandai. You could play as the six Rangers, King Mondo and Cog solider. Cogs Ace is a secret character. The Gold Ranger is seen to have a Zeo Cycle, he didn't have one in Zeo or Ohranger but a toy was made. The game is often considered to be the only game based on the Zeo series, however another game, Power Rangers Zeo Versus The Machine Empire, was made for the PC and a pinball game titled "Power Rangers Zeo: Full Tilt Battle Pinball" was released for Playstation.


Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue
The PlayStation version was a beat 'em up with Zord battles, the Nintendo 64 version had unique gameplay on each level, the Game Boy Color version was a platformer, and the Windows/Macintosh version was more like an activity center. Released in June of 2000. First one to be done by THQ.


Power Rangers Time Force
Released in 2001, the five Time Force rangers travel though time stopping enemies. The Quantum Ranger is playable but only if your Ranger finds a Quantum Morpher. When the bosses grow to gigantic size, only the Time Force Megazord Mode Red is Playable. Available in Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation.


Power Rangers Wild Force
Release in 2002 for the Game Boy Advance. You can play as the five Rangers, Lunar Wolf Ranger isn't playable until you complete the harbor level. The Megazords you could play with were the Wild Force and Kongazord, with Bear, Polar, Tiger, Lion, Shark, Eagle, Bison, Gorilla, Rhino, Armadillo, Deer and Giraffe Zords only.


Power Rangers Ninja Storm
Released for Game Boy Advance in 2003, the game uses passwords to track your progress, rather than save games. Playing the Red, Blue, or Yellow Ranger will give you the Storm Megazord; Crimson or Navy Ranger will give you Thunder Megazord; and Green Ranger gives you Samuarai Star Megazord.


Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Released in 2004 for Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2. The Game Boy Advance version was a side-scrolling fighting game with puzzle solving mini-missions with only the five Rangers (meaning no Triassic). The other two console versions, you could play with Red Tyrannozord, Blue Tricerazord, Yellow Pterazord, Cephalazord , Parasaurzord, and Dimetrozord, only the Ankylozord could be played in Playstation 2 version. Also by collecting morphers, eggs, and crystal icons, players can unlock the zords from Power Rangers: Wild Force and Power Rangers: Ninja Storm to play with in the Power Games mode.


Power Rangers SPD
Released for Game Boy Advance in 2005, you could play as the five main B-Squad Rangers and the Shadow Ranger. The 6 rangers fight minor enemies until they encounter the main boss. There are racing levels which involve piloting the Red, Yellow, or Pink Delta Runners, a targeting game (similar to Space Invaders) with the Green Delta Runner, a racing level involving R.I.C., and Megazord battle levels.


Power Rangers Super Legends
It was released on October 23, 2007 for the Nintendo DS and on November 6, 2007 for the PlayStation 2 and for Microsoft Windows. Developed by A2M Publisher and Published by Disney Interactive Studios. Some liked this game, others didn't. The story changed in some versions but the basic plot was that Rangers from different years were brought by a video game version of the Omega Ranger to stop Lord Zedd. It was for the anniversary, from MMPR to Operation Overdrive, it included a lot of monsters and villains from the past in background and etc. Red MM Ranger, Pink MM Ranger, Green Galaxy Ranger, Blue Galaxy Ranger, Omega Ranger, SPD Red, Red OO Ranger and Black OO Ranger are playable in all versions. Blue TF, Green TF, Black WF, White WF, Red Wind, Yellow Wind, Blue SPD, and Boom as the Orange Ranger are only playable in the DS version. Yellow MM, Blue MM, Red LG, Red WF, Lunar Wolf, Crimson, Navy, Blue Wind, Green NS, Shadow, Yellow SPD and Blue OO Rangers are only playable in PS2 and Windows. Out of all the playable players, the only females are Mighty Morphin Pink, Yellow, White Wild Force, Blue Wind (Ninja Storm), and Yellow SPD Ranger--five! They could have formed their own team! The only Rangers from an entire team that were used was the Ninja Storm team.

Basically there was no official Turbo, In Space, Lost Galaxy, Mystic Force, Operation Overdrive, Jungle Fury or RPM (7) video console games. Lost Galaxy and Operation Overdrive Rangers did appear in Super Legends.


VR Troopers
VR Troopers was a 1995 fighting game developed by Syrox Developments and published by Sega for the Sega Mega Drive and the Sega Game Gear. If one were to play as a Trooper against the Clone-Bot in the form of that trooper, the Clone-Bot's Trooper form will appear in a different color. The video game contains a creature named Kamelion, as the final boss of the game who can shapeshift into any other playable character in the game and utilize their abilities. This creature does not appear in the series, yet is somewhat similar to the Season 1 robot general, Zelton. Tankatron, Decimator, Dark Heart, Kongbot, Magicianm abd Kamelion were the opponents.

Power Ranger-Exclusive Main Villains

The following are main villains and villainesses that were created by either Saban or Disney to either replace existing Super Sentai villains or add a villain with a human face. Perhaps to give more interaction between the American actors and not have what occurred in the first season, Rita in Japanese footage, dubbing that didn't match. Zeo, Lightspeed Rescue and Mystic Force were the only series to have no new villains not from Sentai. Jungle Fury and RPM had new villains but no new costumes.
Lord Zedd (MMPR-Space)
What can I say about this guy that hasn't already been said? Lord Zedd solved the mouth problem (dubbing with Rita) for Saban as he had no mouth, so they could reuse footage of Zedd, adding new dialogue and not having the problem of it not matching. Lord Zedd is still considered the best Power Ranger villain by fans. Unfortunately, mothers found him too scary for children, but as Linkara has said about in his history videos, Zedd was meant to be scary. Anyway, because of this complaint, he then married Rita and becae a more comedic character. Fans were not satisifed that in the end of 'In Space' he became human. Zedd was the first to have his own exclusive footsoliders (which are the only ones to had have action figures--the Z-Putties and Tengas), one of six of the ten PR-only main villains to do so. Also got to mention that the main villains of Dairanger weren't used as main villain in MMPR, probably because they were wearing essentially S&M outfits, and were human, so they would have to deal with dubbings like Rita. Shadam was used as Mondo the Magician in one episode.

Ivan Ooze (MMPR:TM)
As the first movie was completely original, Ivan Ooze was also an original creation played by Paul Freeman. He said in a Disney Adventures Interview on how he had extra finger nails on his knuckles which were not visible in the movie and he wish people could see it. I liked some of his lines in his movie like "All the things I missed... the Black Plague, the Spanish Inquisition... the Brady Brunch Reunion" and "Where's My Autograph Book?" after Tommy announces they are "The Power Rangers." I wish they pushed him more and had more interaction with the Rangers.

Divatox (Turbo-Space)
In Season 3, Master Vile and Rito were from Kakuranger and the Machine Empire was from Ohranger. But for Turbo, all the villains of Carranger were used but where Rygog was the leader, like mentioned before, she is a replacement of Zonnette, whose costume had cleavage. She was played by two actresses Carol Hoyt and Hilary Shepard Turner. As I have mentioned, Ms. Turner got pregnant and Hoyt took her place for the first half of Turbo. Hoyt also played Dimitria and it was alluded to that they were twin sisters. In fact, when Divatox became good thanks to Zordon's wave, she resembled Dimitria. She had her own PR-only exclusive footsoliders (Pirnathrons), only six of the ten PR-only main villains had their own footsoliders. But, was she an effective villain? Her evil ploy in the movie was to get married and most of the time was bomb crazy in the series. Sure she destroyed the Power Chamber, but it was with the newbies, big whoop. She is one of only two main villainess that received an action figure, second being Camile of Jungle Fury.

Maligore/Dark Spectre (Turbo/Space)
As mentioned before once again, Maligore was an original creation for the Turbo movie. I guess to save money, they reused the costume for Power Rangers in Space as the main villain. We mostly saw him in space, I think it was like a bit like Exhaus in Carranger, how he was this giant thing in space. He was killed by Darkonda in a kamikaze move. He was also a replacement for King Javious the First in Megaranger, who rarely showed his face. There was to be a Maligore toy but it was never produced. He, along with Flurious, Scorpius and Grumm, are the only PR-only main villains not to have their own action figure.

Astronema (Space)
In Power Rangers in Space, Astronema was created as a replacement villainess for Shibolena of Megaranger. As I have mentioned before, Shibolena had a strange outfit and the producers probably wanted something different. Also, as many Astronema fans know that her first black skin-tight costume came from Jessica Priest of Spawn. She had her own PR-only exclusive footsoliders (Quantrons), only six of the ten PR-only main villains had their own footsoliders. She is the only PR villain to ever become a Power Ranger.

Trakeena (Lost Galaxy)
Trakeena, her ship and her father Scorpius was American inventions. Furio was a costume from Megaranger, his role was like Gingaman villain Sanbash (whose costume was used for Villamax). It is believed that the Sanbash costume wasn't available at the time. Until the Sanbash costume was obtained, they used it for Villamax. All other villains were form Gingaman, Captain Mutiny was the main villain of Lost Galaxy. Above is a form she use once. She was a replacement of the Shelinda of Gingaman, as her costume had too much cleavage. The actress Amy Miller went on to marry the actor who played Domon the Green Ranger. She was return in the teamup of Lightspeed but it is rumored she not pleased by the script, so was replaced by Jennifer Burns.

Scorpius (Lost Galaxy)
Main villain of the first half of Lost Galaxy, it is arguable that Trakeena was the main villain. Thanks to a poll done a while ago by me, I realized fans weren't that crazy about him. I personally like him, I liked when he fought the Rangers, the special effects were surprisingly good, with the extending tentacles. The biggest complaint by fans of that scene was that it was in an abandoned warehouse but that is like nitpicking. Funny enough Scorpius the name is used a lot in fiction: a robot in Sonic Spinball, the main villain in "Farscape," and the name of Draco Malfoy's future son in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Oops, spoilers! Ha Ha. Also, He, along with Dark Spectre, Flurious and Grumm, are the only PR-only main villains not to have their own action figure. He is part of the six of the ten main PR-only villains to have their own footsoliders--the Stingwingers.

Ransik (Time Force)
Don Dornero was the main villain of Timeranger, which we know as Gluto, which became a big dumby waste of space. Ransik was added, my personal opinion on why they probably did was to add a big masculine force and also add on to the plot. Played by Vernon Wells, he was in Mad Max 2 and he played homage to that in the Movie Madness two parter. I did enjoy the female protagonist/male antagonist tension between Jen and Ransik. Later, they tied up Ransik with the Orgs to explain how he took swords out of his bones. As mentioned before, an action figure of him was available with a playset but it wasn't fully possible. He is also one of four of he 10 main PR-only villains to not have their own exclusively footsoldiers, meaning his footsoliders the Cyclobots were from the original Sentai. By the way, Lightspeed used all the villains from GoGoV and none were new.

Master Org (Wild Force)
While the 'Master Org' was just a figurehead in Gaoranger, Wild Force's Master Org was an original creation but with the costume of the Emperor in Dairanger. I liked that they tied in Viktor to Cole's story. In the end, he became an Org monster and died. As mentioned before, an action figure of him was available with a set but it wasn't fully possible. He is also one of four of he 10 main PR-only villains to not have their own exclusively footsoldiers, meaning his footsoliders the Putrids were from the original Sentai.

Lothor (Ninja Storm-Dino Thunder)
The main villain of Hurricanger, Tao Zanto, was not seen in Ninja Storm but his final form did become Lothor's zord. Lothor was played by the same actor that played Sensei, as they were twins. I didn't like his outfit, I don't think it matched with the other villains and his mask looked like a Luchador (wrestler) costume mask. As mentioned before, an action figure of him was available with a playset but it wasn't fully possible. In the Dino Thunder teamup, he was trapped by Mesogog. He is also one of four of he 10 main PR-only villains to not have their own exclusively footsoldiers, meaning his footsoliders the Kelzaks were from the original Sentai.

Mesogog (Dino Thunder)
Mesogog was created exclusively for Dino Thunder and so was his final monster form. I personally liked Mesogog, he was deliciously dark and evil. His costume was much more elaborate than Lothor. As mentioned before, an action figure of him was available with a playset but it wasn't fully possible. He is part of the six of the ten main PR-only villains to have their own footsoliders--the Tyrannadrones.

Elsa (Dino Thunder)
I have mentioned before my distaste for Elsa's costume and that she was a replacement for Jannu and Lije, who did appear in "Lost and Found in Translation" episode. For those who didn't see the series, she doubled as Mesogog's assistant and Principal Randall of the high school the Dino Rangers went to and there was an alluded to romance between her and Tommy. At the end, it was discovered that Elsa was brainwashed.

Emperor Grumm (SPD)
Many fans liked Emperor Grumm, many compared him to Lord Zedd, I think it is because he sat on his duff, just kidding. The main villain in Dekaranger was Broodwing and there was like a main headquarters and a big group of villains as usual, so Disney created their own (Grumm and Mora), along with Broodwing of course. He, along with Dark Spectre, Scorpius and Flurious, are the only PR-only main villains not to have their own action figure. He is also one of four of he 10 main PR-only villains to not have their own exclusively footsoldiers, meaning his footsoliders the Krybots were from the original Sentai.

Mora/Morgana (SPD)
Like I've mention before, the concept of Mora and Morgana was inspired by Rije/Rijewel from Abaranger. Also, Morgana's fighting suit belonged to the 'monster of the day' Succubus and so did the lighting bolt tattoo on her face, which had nothing to do with Power Rangers.

Omni (SPD)
It was later revealed that the Omni was pulling the strings of Grumm. He and his bigger form were original creations. The entire fight between him and the SWAT Megazord was an original fight. As for Mystic Force, all the Magiranger villains were used and no new villains were added.

Flurious (PROO)
He was more of a replacement of Gaja (probably cause Disney didn't like his costume) in Boukenger. Gaja's Karths which became the Chillers weren't ice-inspired, they were rocks. Flurious' ice motif was probably done to counterbalance Moltor (but in Boukenger Moltor's counterpart Ryuuwon was not fire-involved). He is also one of four of he 10 main PR-only villains to not have their own exclusively footsoldiers, meaning his footsoliders the Chillers were from the original Sentai. He, along with Dark Spectre, Scorpius and Grumm, are the only PR-only main villains not to have their own action figure. Many didn't like Flurious, including me, I don't like his bubble wrap chest armor. It would have been cool if Flurious was modeled after a Megazord like the Boukenger villains, but Disney probably didn't realize that.

Miratrix (PROO)
She was a replacement for Shizuka of the Wind (probably Disney didn't like her outfit) as Kamdor's partner. As I have mentioned before, I don't like her outfit.

Thrax
Rita and Zedd's son, only appeared in two episodes of PROO. His armor was part of Zeltrax's, had a bit of Zedd's body and bone aspects that could be from his Uncle Rito. Do I have to even say he had no toy? It would be cool if there would be merchandise including him later on or if Saban would somehow incorporate him in an anniversary special or video game.

Dai Shi (Jungle Fury)
The concept of Dai Shi was exclusive to Power Rangers, he didn't exist in Gekiranger. But of course, he didn't have a costume until the end, the big dragon, but that was from Gekiranger. I personally believe the concept of Dai Shi was to give an excuse for Jarrod to be morally responsible for his evil actions like Rio was. 'Dai' means great in Japanese and 'Shi' means Lion, so his name could be 'Great Lion,' like I have said before--there is confusing about what Dai Shi and Jarrod did or who was in control, mostly to be blamed on the writers.

Venjix (RPM)
Venjix was an original concept that was not in Go-Onger, but there was no 'new' costume exclusively made.What was genius was that he 'downloaded' into bodies, taking the place of two Sentai villains (Hiramechimedes and Yogoshimacritein), hence giving Kireizky a bigger role as Kilobyte.

Tenaya (RPM)
She replaced Kegaleshia as the villainess, she was given a much more sexier and skin tight costume than Kegaleshia, who had more cleavage. I've already said a lot about Tenaya before, how fans quickly deduced that she was Dillon's sister and were already drawing comparisons to Astronema and Andros.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Gender Changes in Monsters


Related: The Eternal Mystery that is Zyu 2 Footage
I've mentioned this before. In Power Rangers, they convert some feminine-looking male monsters to female. Sometimes, they don't even use the actual female monster from the Japanese series and feel short so they make one guy into a girl. For example, from the 8 female monsters of "Kakuranger," only 4 made it to "Power Rangers." Most of the time I think the gender change is made because if the monster's feminine appearance.


On the left, the Obnu-Obake was male and liked sexy women, he became a girl monster Impursenator in Zeo. On the right, male ZZ Zeri became female Delisha Ennivel in Turbo.


A commenter brought this to my attention, even thought AC and DC did not speak, the female Nimrod told them 'go get them boys' so maybe they became male. In Dairanger, they were all female. As brought to my attention that Dora Narcissus became female in MMPR, didn't see the episode so didn't know it was male.


Left is Jin, who was female in GoGoV and became the male Falkar. Strange that this one was changed to male, maybe because the monster looked more male. Right: Wedding Dress Org was surprisingly kept male, he was male in Gaoranger and remained male in Wild Force.


Above left: The male Hanasakkadoshi from Hurricanger was changed to female Florabundacus for Power Rangers Ninja Storm. Probably changed to female because of the flower aspect. Above right: male Incubus from Magiranger was changed to female Gnatu for Power Rangers Mystic Force. Probably because of the hair.


Most recently, the one above doesn't look female at all but they changed Boukenger's Ouga to Crazar in Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, the name doesn't even sound feminine. Most of the time the actor inside the suit is male. I think the main reason they turned this one into a female is not because of its appearance but necessity of the plot.


These two are debatable. A pink robot, the Textile Bot was female in Go-Onger but Tenaya called it a 'him,' it didn't speak so we don't know. As for Dowsing Banki, she didn't receive a name in the episode "...And the Action" but Ziggy did refer to her as a 'she.' The monster did grunt with a male voice.

Let me know if I forgot about one.


I forgot about these two since they aren't from Sentai. Mantis from the first season was suppose to be female, I don't know who did the voice (it was a female voice), but the monster didn't look female. Well, most well-known mantis are female (as they kill the male during coitus). Rita, Trini, Jason and Alpha called it a 'him.' I don't know, it's debatable. As for the Invenusable Flytrap, when she premiere in season 2, she was female, but later on was referred to as male in Rangers Back in Time: Part 2. It is unknown if Rainbow Productions intended these monsters to be female or male.