There is a single moment of thematic clarity: the Zord levels. Between the platforming stages, the game transitions to a first-person shooter segment where you pilot the Megazord against a giant monster. These sequences, while simple (target, shoot, dodge), are the only moments that capture the show’s spirit. Here, the timer is generous. Here, the action feels large-scale. Here, the player is finally allowed to feel powerful. Unfortunately, these segments are brief and serve only as a cruel reminder of what the rest of the game refuses to be.

The level design itself is a masterclass in sadism. Enemies spawn directly on top of you. Projectiles fire from off-screen. Jumping physics are floaty and imprecise, making the game’s frequent bottomless pits feel less like a challenge and more like a lottery. The putties, the franchise’s iconic cannon fodder, are here reimagined as damage-sponging nuisances that can stun-lock you into a corner. When you finally manage to survive long enough to reach the end-of-level boss (Goldar, Scorpina, etc.), you are often so depleted of time and health that the fight is a foregone conclusion. The game actively punishes you for engaging with its combat system.

In the pantheon of licensed video games, few are as bafflingly, stubbornly misguided as Power Rangers 2 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Released in the twilight of the NES era (1994), a time when the Super Nintendo was already establishing its dominance, the game had the unenviable task of translating the hyper-kinetic, explosion-heavy aesthetic of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers into 8-bit form. While one might expect a simple beat ‘em up—a genre the NES handled reasonably well with titles like River City Ransom or Double Dragon — Power Rangers 2 delivers something far stranger and far more frustrating: a platformer governed not by martial arts mastery, but by the cruel, omnipresent logic of a stopwatch.

Compounding this temporal tyranny is the game’s baffling character roster. You can play as Jason (Red Ranger), Zack (Black Ranger), or Trini (Yellow Ranger)—but notably absent are Billy (Blue) and Kimberly (Pink). The game offers no explanation for their exclusion. While technical limitations of the NES cartridge are a convenient scapegoat, the decision feels arbitrary and disrespectful to fans who wanted the complete team. Furthermore, the characters are virtually identical in function. Jason has a slightly longer range with his Blade Blaster, but the differences are cosmetic at best. The unique weapons, fighting styles, and personalities that defined the show are flattened into a generic running-and-jumping avatar.