Monster Mania Day 16: Zedd's Monster Mash

Written by Stu Cooper

As a young child I grew up in the peak period of several awesome trends. G.I. Joe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and of course The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The Power Rangers ruled my world from 730am to 800am every weekday, and of course the new episodes on Saturday Mornings. I bought all the toys, coloring books, games, and video tapes I could get. I even saw the movie in theaters opening day and it was absolutely remarkable. Unfortunately as an adult my imagination is somewhat limited and my tolerance for terrible jokes, corny dialogue, and insane over-exaggerated fight sequences is somewhat lacking. I still love the show, but I usually have to be intoxicated or in a very weird mood to sit through several episodes of the Power Rangers. I do love the character Lord Zedd who was the main villain in seasons 2 and 3 of Power Rangers. He has an incredibly creepy voice and an appearance that absolutely screams villainous. It came to my attention after getting Netflix that there was an actual Power Rangers Halloween special called "Lord Zedd's Monster Mash"! Since it's the Halloween season, what better time to take a look at it.

The episode starts off with the whole crew of rangers in goofy costumes (Pirate, Einstein, some kind of cheerleader, etc) and they are throwing a Halloween party for kids. The parents are dropping off the kids and leaving them in the hands of these annoyingly happy teenagers, who are apparently obsessed with helping the community. The camera pans out and Lord Zedd is usually his super space telescope to watch the party. Instead of being pissed that the rangers are partying he reveals he is actually quite interested in Halloween since it appears to be a celebration of monsters. This gives Zedd the idea to throw a Monster Mash party, which basically means he is going to invite older villains and one new Halloween themed villain to all gang up on one ranger. This would be Zedd's idea of a party. So Zedd sends these creepy little fake kids to the party and convinces Tommy (the white ranger) to go off on his own. This is when we are introduced to one of the most random villains in Power Ranger history...DOOMSTONE! A grave stone that has come to life. He is joined by several other villains like Pumpkin Rapper, Rhinoblaster, Primator, Snizzard, and Invenusable Fly Trap. Shew what a collection of weirdos. They all proceed to gang Tommy but eventually he is joined by the rangers and they open a can. Nothing out of the ordinary here. The cool parts are really seeing the collection of villains. It's worth a watch if you want a random halloween oriented 90's special to watch.

Retro Game Review: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (SNES)

Written by Stuart Cooper

I was lucky enough to witness two massive crazes when I was a child. The explosion of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, and “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”. Well when TMNT was starting to fall off the map, it was prime time for a children's show to swoop in and stake it's claim on Saturday Mornings. The show to do that would be “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”. The show was almost instantly popular and spawned so many toy lines and alternate series that I've long since lost count. I was one of those children who ate it up and had to have every toy, every game, every coloring book, all that good stuff. In terms of merchandising, Power Rangers might even have the Turtles beat. Well amongst the many items released during it's peak popularity, children were blessed with the opportunity to play TONS of Ranger games. I'm talking 3-4 games for SNES, Genesis, then ports to Game boy, Game Gear, Mega Drive, Tiger Handhelds, etc. They actually rushed the first line of games pretty quickly since the first game takes place before they even meet The Green Ranger, which was technically still in the first season. As a result, some of the games are good, some are not so good, but today I'll tackle the Super Nintendo version of “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”.

Now the game itself apparently differs depending on which console you get the game for. Most versions are a side scroller and the only differences being the bosses, but the Game Gear version is actually a partial fighting game as well. The Super Nintendo version starts off with the 5 rangers in human form, staring on as Rita for whatever reason, decides to show her face. There is pretty much no story, you start off in the city and you go through 7 different stages, all of which seem to be just random locations that have nothing to do with the story or show. So if you are looking for an enticing story element, this game won't have it.

On the plus side, you do get to choose between all 5 rangers and you can change which Ranger you are with each stage. Since there are 5 side scrolling stages, you can play 1 stage per ranger if you'd like. That is what I decided to do, so I could test each one and see if there was any difference. As far as I can tell all 5 rangers were pretty much the same strength. The red one seemed slightly stronger than the others, but that might just be my brain being influenced by the actual show. The one difference I did notice was the use of their special weapons. Each ranger has a special weapon like they do in the show. The pink ranger has a bow, the blue ranger as a little gun, the black ranger has an ax and so on. The pink Ranger actually shines when it comes to this because her bow can shoot arrows after you combo a few hits. This can provide you with some reach. Each level, except for the last two, stick to a simple formula. You beat up waves of Rita's “Putties” and when you get to the second part of the stage you are confronted by the boss and proceed to hunt him down while in your ranger outfit. At the end of the level you face the boss.

The bosses are really my favorite part since they are the shining stars of the show itself. As a kid I remember tuning in every week just trying to imagine what kind of deranged weirdly themed creature Rita's slave sculptor would conjure up next. The game kind of disappoints in it's selection but you have to consider when the game was released the first season hadn't even finished, so no Evil Green Ranger, Rita, Goldar, or Lord Zedd fights. To be honest I only recognized 2 out of the 7 bosses in the game, that being the Skeleton man “Bones” and the unforgettable petrifying “Eye Guy”. Fighting Eye Guy brought back some memories and made me want to re-watch that episode. As far as difficulty, unless you are under the age of 10 there probably won't be much. If you can understand very basic boss patterns and how to do jump-kicks, you'll beat this whole thing in about an hour. The last two stages of the game you actually get into your MegaZord form and it turns into a fighting game. You fight this incredibly random villain (that is not in the game previously), It looks kind of like a Gundam or something from Escaflowne. Very forgettable boss fight but it's cool that they found a way to get the Zords in there.

Overall I'd say this game is definitely worth checking out. I wouldn't say that if you still had to pay 50 dollars for it, but the game can be found for about 6 bucks on eBay or a local retro game retailer. I got my copy for 5 dollars. It will always hold some nostalgic value for me and it's a good side scroller. The cons would be the lack of story, lack of difficulty, no two player mode, and you can beat it all in an hour. If you loved this show growing up and you miss it, perhaps it's time to pop this cartridge in and say IT'S MORPHIN TIME!

Some bonus Rangers videos just because: