Forgotten Gaming - Burning Rangers

Name- Burning Rangers
Platform- Sega Saturn
Developer- Sonic Team
Released- May 1998
ESRB Rating- ...seriously?

The Sega Saturn is seen by some as Sega’s greatest console. Others see it as Sega’s worst, and the rest see it as ‘the Sega what??’. The Saturn was the perfect representative for the darkest, most confused era of Sega’s history, and only at the tail end of its brief life did its finest games see release. Games like Panzer Dragoon Saga, Radiant Silvergun (which is where ‘Warning: No Refuge’ comes from), House of the Dead… and Burning Rangers.

Burning Rangers was one of the five (!) titles released domestically for the Sega Saturn in 1998. Created by Sonic Team, this adventure/firefighting hybrid pushed the Saturn beyond its own technical limits. Though the graphics look inexcusably crunchy by today’s standards, realize that the Saturn wasn’t even designed to handle 3D worlds and transparency effects. Somehow Sonic Team turned it out, and in those respects Burning Rangers looks remarkable and showcases the best visuals Sega’s 32-bit console has to offer.

The graphics are astounding and horrible at the same time.

So what’s this game all about? Sonic Team takes us to a space-age future where fire is one of the only natural hazards remaining, and the Burning Rangers are a team of neo-firefighters sent to extinguish flames and rescue trapped civilians. Playing as either Shou or Tillis, the game takes place over four scenarios (levels) connected by a loose storyline. You extinguish fires with your water gun, gather crystals (akin to Sonic the Hedgehog’s rings), rescue victims and destroy the boss in the heart of each level.

Here’s where things get interesting. There is no in-game map of these sprawling locations, and after clearing each stage once they can be repeated but in a randomized layout. Victim locations, backdrafts and certain hallways will mix up each time you play the stage, bringing the replay value from nonexistent to nearly infinite. In lieu of a map system your character gets voice navigation from BR leader Chris. Though Chris will generally point you in the right direction, Burning Rangers is a game designed to be explored and get lost in. After all, there’s no way to put out all the fires and locate all the victims besides randomly running into them.

The jetpack worn by your character was meant to reference the silhouette of an angel.

While you’re getting lost in blackout hallways and water channels, don’t forget that the stage is constantly on fire. There’s a ‘limit’ to how much fire the stage can handle, and by extinguishing fires that percentage will stay low. Once the limit passes an increment of 20, back-to-back explosions permanently damage the stage, allowing less margins for error as you press on.

And that’s about it, really. At the end of each stage you are ranked based on how many victims you rescued, damage you sustained, the time taken, and how low you kept the fire limit. As you rescue victims, they will send you emails (gotta love the 90s) that can be viewed from the main menu. These emails can be nothing but odd banter to unlockables and passwords that force custom stage layouts.

Burning Rangers was no doubt a novel gaming concept, but it was far from a perfect one. The lack of a map system hurts this game badly, as Chris’ voice commands were as accurate as Apple Maps. As her commands were only to help you get through the level, you would have to personally go out of your way to find victims and additional fires (with her constantly chirping in saying ‘You’re going the wrong way, come back!’). Not to mention if you were to make a detour, there’s no guarantee you’d find anything. It’s extremely easy to get turned around even if you’re following Chris’ directions exactly, as many of the corridors look the same. Vague navigation, reused graphics, stage randomization and overall darkness are some of the biggest complaints gamers have for Burning Rangers.

Another oddity we are presented with is the English translation. It’s clear that Sonic Team didn’t  have the resources for good-quality localization, and many of the victim emails and dialogue come off stilted and unnatural. One of the Burning Rangers is referred to as ‘Lead Phoenix’ but the characters call him ‘Reed Phoenix’. As one of the senior members, it makes sense for him to be the Lead… or maybe his first name really is Reed… ugh >_<

But as unpolished as the translations and the gameplay are, Burning Rangers excels in the music department. As games like Sonic Adventure would soon follow, Burning Rangers features a handful of vocal themes that are as campy and terrible as they are fun and catchy. Besides songs like ‘We Are Burning Rangers’ and ‘I Just Smile,’ though, most of the game’s soundtrack is quiet and moody, allowing the sound effects to take center stage. You’ll hear lots of explosions, and lots of crystal chimes. The game also features several anime cutscenes that are painfully dubbed but are of otherwise high quality.

Hyper Jetpack Stylized Boxart, GO!!

As one of the Saturn’s swan songs, Burning Rangers had a limited print run and only survived on store shelves briefly until the Sega Dreamcast took over in 1999. Nowadays, though the Japanese version is much cheaper and easier to find on eBay, the North American version is much rarer and goes for at least $100. Due to the game’s heavy reliance on English, spoken and written, importing to cut costs is not the wisest decision.

Burning Rangers is ambitious yet imperfect, and outside of some cameos here and there has never seen a sequel or even an Xbox Live/PSN re-release. In many cases it was forgotten before it even hit the shelves 15 years ago, and that’s truly a shame. An HD coat of paint and a map system are all Burning Rangers needs to join its fellow Sega re-releases on today’s consoles.