One of the most sought after games in the Saturn collection. It is exclusive to the system and created by our very own Sonic Team. If you have an opportunity to buy this one for anything below 200 USD, make sure you jump through every single hoop to get it as soon as it presents itself. Burning Rangers is one of those purely fun games that challenges you in an “easy to learn, hard to master” sort of way. It is coveted for a very good reason.
We only wish that firefighting was like this. It makes the career look like some of the most fun you can have while risking your life and skin while fire pops up all around you. People lay down, just waiting to be rescued. The environments are so atmospheric and delightfully designed that it’s a joy to see fire burst from every part of their frame. Then here you come in, blazing a trail through the air while shooting water lasers. That’s right, I said water lasers.
The levels can be especially hard to navigate. This is made up for by your headquarters giving you directions. These directions, while helpful, don’t always cut it. Sometimes they just say “go up” without telling you how or they tell you that, pretty much, you’re on your own and “use your best judgement”. This is very helpful. So, while you’re deciphering where to go, you need to act fast because you’re on a pretty tight time crunch. Once the timer goes down, there are explosions and you’d better hope you have crystals for armor. Yes, crystals are for armor and saving people you find. Just roll with it.
The 3D platforming is another challenge that this game presents. The camera angles are really somewhat of a nuisance. Without a second joystick to control it, having to push a button and move it around gets in the way of your movement and limits your dynamics by a very noticeable degree. It makes the platforming extremely hard, especially with the uneven levels and the fire blasting you every which way.
That’s one unique quality about this platformer, there are no actual badguys in the levels. The minions aren’t minions, they’re explosions and fire! I mean, you can probably count the big robots as enemies, but they honestly don’t seem like they do a whole lot. Putting them out with your water lasers gets you points and also helps keep the building’s stability while you traverse the levels and save civilians. Despite there not being any real thugs aside from the occasional mech suit, there are still boss battles of different types. The first level has a giant mutant flower, you figure it out!
So, as good as this game is in all of its beautiful 32bit polygons, it is still HARD. Dear lord, staying on the platforms is hard enough, but putting out fires as soon as they go off, dodging explosions and traversing the levels is something of a headache. You’ll get stuck and the voice commands will be about as cryptic as they can be so they don’t help you too much. Some of these levels are long, and they have some very high platforms. If you fall off, you need to start all over again. This was the Sega Saturn, do you really think they have that many save states? No, you save at the beginning of each level. After that, it’s all up to the luck of the draw and the skills you pick up along the way. It’s not impossible, but dear lord, you will be sweating from all of this fire coming at you.
There is a reason this game is so sought after too. It was a game released late in the system’s lifespan. It was not made into a lot of copies and what copies there were are now in the hands of scalpers. Do not pay the scalping prices. Let those prices drop and just buy a reproduction or get the rom. You are not hurting anyone’s feelings, you are merely wasting the jerks’ time who think they can get thousands of dollars off of this title. This game deserves to be played, as it is one of Sonic Team’s finest titles since Nights Into Dreams. The gameplay, the graphics, the mechanics and the beautiful level design need to be seen by the general public and Saturn fans alike. Do us a favor and do not pass this up. As rare as it is, it is well worth it. Just drink laser water responsibly.
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