Back in 2020, I talked of how the Power Rangers franchise was expanding in a big way under Hasbro, with a whole cinematic universe of content coming in the form of TV shows and movies, as well as the continued expansion of the comics. I then said how it was time for the last link of media to get involved. Video games.

With that article, I proposed two types of game that could be the start of some original video game Rangers content. This month, I’m expanding upon one of those concepts. The way I see it, this needs to be big. Battle For The Grid has already been a hit, but that’s celebratory. This needs to be an original team with their own original lore.

Now, I’ve been too invested in trying to develop all that, but such development isn’t needed. All it needs is the base of an idea in which to fit the mechanics of a game to. The team of Rangers, the villain factions, and a rough idea of what happens when. An idea of where it’s set and the theme also helps.

For me, that means following what the TV series have set up and adapting that to a game. An open world action RPG. Except… not fully open world. Rather, numerous locations would be available to explore. The idea is returning to something that Operation Overdrive set out to do. That Indiana Jones treasure hunting style of story. A game, I feel, can pull off such a theme better.

Now, to start with, the characters need to be introduced and brought together. But first, a bit of an explanation of the mission structure. There would be primary missions and secondary missions. Primary missions are those that need to happen at a specific time, as they involve major changes to the story. Secondary missions are those that don’t need to happen in a specific order, and as such several can be available to choose from.

It is these secondary missions that the game starts with. One mission per prospective Ranger, showing their skills and why they would be chosen for the task that soon faces them. Once all those secondary missions have been completed, the first primary mission starts, which brings the team together as they face off against one of the villain factions. The main faction, that is intent on stealing various mystical artefacts from all over the world.

With the Ranger powers gained, and the first primary mission concluded, the world map would be available back at the base in which to select missions (where before it was focused exclusively to the starting location). More secondary missions would be available, where the zords start coming into play. The first time to travel to a location, you’ll be taking a plane, but when there you’ll have the ability to set up a teleporter to quickly return.

In terms of mechanics, the base would be where the team wait until a mission is started. Here, you can use the skills constructor, weapons workshop, and training hall when not on a mission. As you battle through the various enemies, you’ll be collecting two types of energy from them. The first can be used in the skills constructor and is universal no matter the enemy. The second can be used in the weapons workshop and is specific to the location you fight the enemy.

The skills constructor is used to power up the team with various special attacks and passive perks. Increasing the health – or energy – of each Ranger comes as part of this. The special attacks you can get are dependant on the weapons you have equipped, which is where the weapons workshop comes into play.

Each Ranger would have a standard long-range and close-range weapon to start with. With the energy collected from enemies of the world, you can build stronger variations and even entirely new types of weapons. Once the Ranger-specific weapons come into play, even those can be modified through the workshop to be stronger.

See, there’s no typical RPG levelling here, so utilising both to power up the team is required. While each Ranger has their own specialty when it comes to skills, there’d still be enough variation to make that Ranger work for you. And if you’re having trouble utilising them effectively, that’s where the training hall has its use. Multiple scenarios are available to replay so you can get a feel for using that Ranger in all types of combat situations.

And speaking of combat, Rangers are acrobatic. Flexible and fluid. So the combat needs to meet such needs. The weapons you have equipped (one of each type) will be shown on the HUD. You can use up and down on the D-Pad to swap between weapons on the fly – including melee combat. While X and Y perform various attacks, with combos for stringing various combinations together, context is key.

An attack you perform while running would be different to one while stood still. A different result would occur when pressing attack after a dodge. A lock-on to an enemy would also bring about different actions when combined with those other actions. A dodge into jump while holding a long-range weapon would have you spin around that enemy, allowing for numerous shots to land on it in quick succession – but of course, only if you have the skill unlocked.

Left and right on the D-Pad would allow you to swap to other Rangers in the fight, who would be independently attacking the enemy on their own. The energy of each member would be displayed to the right side of the screen, where you need to be watchful. If the energy of a Ranger falls to zero, they will de-morph. In human form, while the team might last against foot-soldiers, they will quickly fall to larger enemies.

Any Ranger who does de-morph will stay away from larger foes, but those larger foes will see the opportunity to strike. As such, you need to protect any of the team who do de-morph until their morphin’ energy returns. Should they be hurt too much, they will retreat from the fight. If they retreat, they won’t return for the rest of the mission, leaving you with one less team member to deal with the current situation.

Well, they won’t until the zords come out. The zord fights are a change from the norm of Rangers, in that the Megazord will only be formed near the end of a fight rather than at the beginning. As said, the zords are found individually, so a Megazord wouldn’t even be able to be formed straight away. Even after finding a few zords, it takes until a specific primary mission (the only missions where zords are used) before the ability to form Megazords is found out.

As for the control of them, it’s much the same as ground combat – where you can swap between the zords, which each have their own unique attacks. Within a city, manoeuvrability will be a bit of an issue, but that’s where the unique abilities of each play a part. Since it only takes three zords to form a Megazord here, those zords in the action that haven’t been used to form one will still play a part in the fight.

Once you have more zords than Rangers, the zord assigner will become available at the base. This gives you the ability to choose which zord each Ranger calls on as a default, as well as what combinations of Megazord you can form. Should you want to swap to a different zord while in the action, you can seamlessly do so by selecting that option on the menu that displays the zord actions (the same one as weapon swapping in ground combat).

Zords also have energy, which will cause them to retreat from the fight once it depletes to zero. The Ranger who had controlled that zord will then call another at random. That zord will then be out of the fight until the next mission. That could cause a few issues if that zord had an ability you needed to quickly deal with an enemy, but the mission doesn’t become impossible without it.

For the game, I see 20 primary missions being a decent amount. Combined with the 30 secondary missions, that brings the total missions to 50. That gives plenty to explore with the main story, but what of things to do outside of that main plot? Things that go deeper into the exploration of these places? That’s what the tertiary missions are for.

While not marked on the world map at the base, you can freely roam the locations when not on a mission and find people around who require help with something. While freely exploring, the only Ranger out on the field will be the one you control. Some tertiary missions will require a specific Ranger, but should you not be controlling the right one, you can simply visit a teleporter and swap to the right one. Helping people will also get you the energy you collect from defeating enemies.

This concept has gone into the mechanics of ground combat, zord combat, and upgrading the Rangers. But what of this lore I speak of? Who are these Rangers and what is their mission? Who are they facing off against? And what locations are they doing this at? Such will come in another article later in the year.

Images Taken From:
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers – Day of the Dumpster
Power Rangers Dino Charge – A Fool’s Hour
Power Rangers Jungle Fury – A Taste of Poison
Power Rangers RPM – Ghosts
Power Rangers Samurai – Origins Part 2