It's Time For Us To Leave Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Behind

By 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:James Lucas

Published Jun 22, 2024

Followed

Summary

Power Rangers continues to leave its new fans behind by refusing to let go of MMPR.
The newly revealed game is a '90s-styled beat 'em up based on the 30-year-old show, harkening back to a genre that will no doubt exclude the younger audiences the show otherwise still caters to.

Earlier this month, a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Mighty Morphin Power Rangers beat ‘em up was 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:announced at Summer Game Fest, and while my colꦅlea🌺gues celebrated, all I was left wondering was… why?

It’s a retro-style game based on a 30-year-old show aimed ꩵat children, and it’s even a spiritual successor to an old SNES game, a console that was consid♍ered all but ancient before I was even a teenager. Like My Little Pony and Transformers before it, the target audience is being completely swept aside for grown adults. Not even Gen Z! Everything about this game is tailor-made for nostalgic millennial fans.

I feel awful for the kids growing up with Power Rang💖ers today because older fans have ripped it away from them, selfishly hoarding their own childhood. When I was younger, the newest teams were Dino Thunder, SPD, Ninja Storm, and Jungle Fury. Yes, I was young enough to have completely missed MMPR—that says it all. I did try it when I was older, but without the nostalgia, the corny ‘90s vibe was grating. I just wanted to go back to Dino Thunder for some of that sweet noughties shlock.

If I wanted more of my favourite season,🌊 thankfully I had a wealth of options. There was a PS2/GameCube game which I adored, hardcover annuals, and online flash games on top of a mountain of merch. For one season of a TV show, that’s a lot. Try and find even a fraction of that for Cosmic Fury or Ninja Steel.

A g♉ood compromise would be to bundle the classic games together and re-release them in a nice nostalgic package while developing games for the kids the show is actually aimed at.

Kidsꦍ who grow up with the show today are being left behind, which is bizarre considering Power Rangers never grew up. It’s still the cheesy, low-budget cornfest that it was 30 years ago, but as a kid, you don’t care because people in bright spandex are punching evil aliens. It’s awesome. I can🎉’t watch the newer seasons, and going back to the ones I missed is painful—you’re either a kid or your rose-tinted glasses wash away the faults.

But MMPR nostalgia is unique. It was the ori🧸ginal show and lasted longer than any other, even being repeated on CITV in the ‘00s while the most beloved characters continued into the sequels. When you think ꦜPower Rangers, you think MMPR, it’s synonymous. But the show was never that good. It had its moments, arcs like the Green Ranger and Tommy taking over the team, but the moment-to-moment episodes were incredibly cringy, even by kid’s sitcom standards.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers posing in front of Zordon console — [via ign.com]

This strange obsession with that era boils down to older fans not being able to let go of their childhood or enjoy the show for what it’s become. That means we have MMPR movies, MMPR comics, MMPR games, MMPR anniversaries, and so on ad nauseam. We should be getting titles based on the new series that meet the actual audience on their own levels, not ‘90s beat ‘em ups for adults. If Bluey and Peppa Pig can have games for their age ranges, so can Power Range꧂rs.

Power Rangers are Power Rangers. MMPR might be 30 years olജd but kids will see colourful spandex and creepy aliens and put two and two together. It's not ideal given that we're harkening back to kids two generations old now, but it can work. The big problem here is the genre. It's a '90s beat 'em up, something I'm not sure many kids will be interested in today because it's outdated. Every game in that genre is a callback. With a new audience brought in every season and an always young demographic, Power Rangers should look to the future and try something fresh, rather than picking at the bones of its past.

Peppa Pig is 20 years old but 𒐪you don’t see ‘00s-styled games aimed at adults because that’d be bizarre. Kids still watch it today! They’re the audience.

I love Power Rangers. I go back and watch my favourite seasons every so often, feeling coddled by the nostalgia and warmth of stepping back into my childhood, but I don’t expect to see a Dino Thunder or Jungle Fury game all these years♉ later. It’s bizarre to even think about, because what does the Gen Alpha kid of 2024 care about my silly little ‘00s s♐how from 20 years ago? That’s who Power Rangers is for, not me.

The beauty of Power Rang💞ers, which is only flourishing today, is that the core message weaved into every episode is the celebration of our differences. We finally have a woman Red Ranger leading the team, and from the start, the cast has always been incredibly diverse, which for superher🔥oes on the small screen in the ‘90s was more powerful than ever. But as the show continues to make these strides and teach kids these values, it’s held back by the old fans who refuse to let it go.