GameSpark News: Rita Rewinds Power Rangers, Mo’ Joe, and Transformers: Deactivated?

With the 2024 iteration of Summer Game Fest happening over the last several days, there’s been a little bit of news and a rumor surrounding the video game versions of some of our favorite Hasbro properties.

Starting things off with a bang — or more like a clap of thunder — is the announcement of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind, a retro-styled beat ’em up very much in the vein of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, which is apparently the style of this time:

The plot is a touch on the confusing side: Did you happen to watch Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always? If so, then this is apparently if Robo-Rita’s plan worked, as she goes to the past to team up with her non-robotic self to vanquish the Rangers through time travel tomfoolery.

According to the official website, it’s “all-new adventure with an original storyline that both respects and remixes Power Rangers lore with scenarios and gameplay that will be both familiar and new to MMPR fans. Players will brawl, blast, fight, and drive through a constantly shifting mix of classic game genres and fan-favorite moments from the series.

Here’s the details from the Steam page (where you can wish list it now):

In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind, the team faces off against a robotic reincarnation of the Power Rangers’ long-time nemesis. Robo-Rita has conjured a portal to send herself back in time so she can finally vanquish the Power Rangers by forming an alliance with her younger self. Working together, Robo-Rita and Rita Repulsa rewind, rewrite, and remix the past in an attempt to stop the very formation of the Power Rangers, altering the course of history.
Will the two Ritas and their army of monstrous enemies from across the MMPR timeline finally succeed in destroying the Power Rangers? Or will these teenagers with attitude learn to work together and counter this catastrophic chronological collaboration?
Players will be able to experience the origins of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers again – for the first time! The past will never be the same…
FEATURES

• Classic 90’s look and feel with hand-drawn pixel art
• Fan-favorite enemies pulled from different seasons of the hit tv show
• Events and episodes that players remember from the show have been remixed
• Action-packed, 2-D brawler gameplay with arcade-style shooting and driving sequences
• Pilot all of the original Dinozords
• Jump into the cockpit of the legendary Megazord and take down gigantic bosses
• Offline and Online support for up to 5 players
• And lots more!

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The game is coming “before the end of 2024” to PC and “multiple consoles,” though just which consoles will strike Morphin Time has yet to be revealed. Probably Xbox One/Series X|S, PlayStation 4/5, and Nintendo Switch, but hey, it doesn’t always work out that way. We’ll see in due time.

Next up, we have a new trailer for G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra:

There isn’t really much more to say about this one that hasn’t already been said in our previous two articles, at least that I’ve been able to find, though there is a demo available now on Steam.

Finally, we have a rumor that’s sure to disappoint.

Or excite.

It really depends on your feelings towards Transformers: Reactivate, a 1-4 player action game which has, to be quite frank, had a rather quiet and seemingly disjointed development. And toys that have been released well before we got to see much of anything resembling in-game footage. Dipping back into the tag for the game, the last big news was that it would be a no-show at The Game Awards last December, with most previous stories being about the aforementioned figure releases, as well as the announce trailer from the prior Game Awards.

It’s that last one that’s raising a few eyebrows, as people have been noticing that the day before Summer Game Fest, the official social media accounts have taken to removing tweets and videos of the announcement trailer, save for one YouTube Short:

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The trailer still remains on YouTube, but is now unlisted (though their Twitter missed a link, as it so happens).

It could be nothing, but between this and the project’s “tumultuous” seven-year development cycle, some fans are worried that work on the game might have been restarted, or worse, cancelled.
In a video from Toy Reel (via Seibertron.com) which premiered on May 23rd, a Hasbro Australia representative stated “It is highly anticipated and I know that there’s a lot coming out from the the fans [who] are waiting for this to come out and be released, but hopefully in 2025 we’ll have something more to share.” However, as unfortunate as it is, things can really turn on a dime in this industry.

Hopefully, whatever is going on isn’t as bad as any of that, though.

Wanna talk about any of this with your fellow fans? Well then, have we got some threads for you in our forums! We have a Power Rangers General Discussion Thread, the good ol’ G.I. Joe thread, and of course, the Transformers: Reactivate (console MMO) thread. Choose your favorite, or collect post in them all!

Not a member? Register now! It’s totally free, save for that teeny little fragment of your Spark that helps sustain our existence! If forums aren’t your bag and you’re more of a social media kid, then you can find us on SMOKAT (that’s the Social Media Once Known As Twitter — just you wait, this’ll catch on better than “X” ever will) @AllsparkNews. Or you can do your web-slinging Into and Across the Metaverse to find our Facebook page, Facebook Group, and Instagram! Or you can go Beyond the Metaverse, and join us on our Discord, Discord.gg/allspark, where our operators are standing by to serve you!