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| Source // Wikipedia |
If you weren't already aware, the Sonic Team development team developed Sonic The Hedgehog, which has taken them on quite the rollercoaster, it has to be said. What you may not be aware of is that they also make games that don't feature any blue mammals, and Burning Rangers is one such title.
I had no idea of Burning Rangers' existence, mostly owing to the fact that it was exclusive to the Sega Saturn, and came out when the console had already been stomped by the Sony PlayStation. It was a title that simply didn't set the world on fire, despite being a game where the world is literally on fire, and you are a futuristic firefighter with a water pistol. Kinda.
It's definitely not what I was expecting...
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| Source // noidentity/GameFAQs |
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
Fun Times
If I told you that Burning Rangers is simply a firefighting game, I'd be both wrong and doing a disservice to this game. It's a futuristic firefighting game set in a space anime where people called Shou Amabane and Tillis are learning how to fight fires - the only problem facing humanity in the future - from the likes of Lead Phoenix, Chris Partn and Big Landman.
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
They don't bother faffing about with water but instead collect energy crystals to power their personal shields and casualty teleporters, and use their energy weapons to zap the fire into submission, converting it into energy crystals to complete the cycle.
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
It looks fantastic, with more neon colours than the future could even contain. There are quirks and instances of things popping into and out of view at the edges of the screen, but for the time, I'd have been happy to blast these fires to bits.
Gameplay is basically a case of navigating the level looking for crystals, casualties and fire, and using the crystals to teleport them to safety and to keep you from dying. Every now and then fires will burst out from nowhere to keep you on your toes, and there's a dolphin to rescue too, obviously, so things are kept different in Burning Rangers - definitely not your typical firefighter, this...
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| Source // Retro Gamer |
Frustrations
Unfortunately for me, being a Saturn game, I have little to no chance of playing this with my current set up and am having to resort to watching it.
From what I can see, while the locations of casualties and so on are supposedly randomised between each play, the process looks to be very repetitive and methodical, even with the unique events that crop up and need dealing with. You move, collect, shoot, save someone, move, collect, shoot...
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
The one thing I think that would trip me up the most is the lack of a minimap. There are audio prompts to help you out, but it's not ideal.
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| Source // Hardcore Gaming 101 |
Final Word
How, though, am I to know for sure? Simply put, I don't. I can't. I need to play this instead of watching it. But it looks interesting enough to warrant that play and seems to be another one of those games that appear from nowhere to justify its inclusion in a 1001 list.
It doesn't look special, but it looks like nothing else. It doesn't appear to be complicated, yet it's also not a time waster type of game. It's short, but you've got a job to do, not a pointless task. It's a bit weird that the strength of the fire is determined by its colour, and that there's a dolphin that is actually trying to communicate with the Burning Rangers blimey what have I not been paying attention to this last half hour?
Hang on a second, I've got to watch this once more...
Fun Facts
Like Sonic, getting hit sees your energy crystals burst from your pockets, requiring you to pick back up as many as you can before losing them. And, just like Sonic, so long as you have one crystal, you're healthy enough to fight a fire.
Burning Rangers, developed by Sonic Team, first released in 1998.
Version watched: Sega Saturn, 1998 (Saturn Memories)