Burning Rangers

Release Date - February 26, 1998 (JP)

Developer - Sonic Team

Publisher - Sega

Platform - Sega Saturn

One of the great tragedies of the Sega Saturn is the fact that it never saw a true sequel to the excellent and incredibly popular Sonic the Hedgehog games. The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis saw four major Sonic titles and a number of spin-offs released, but the Sega Saturn would never receive a true sequel to the beloved franchise. The team behind the games, creatively titled Sonic Team, would instead give the Saturn another very special game in its twilight years; Burning Rangers.

The graphics are impressive, but also functional. Notice the glowing wall indicating a potential back-draft.
(All screens from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYs2O29l0Uk&pp unless otherwise indicated)

Burning Rangers puts the player into the shoes of a futuristic fire-fighter, travelling from emergency to emergency in their high-speed shuttle through the depths of space. Needless to say, you won’t be saving cats stuck in trees in this game. Each fire that you’re sent to is a disaster zone, a massive inferno that has threatened facilities like underwater research labs and space colonies. The Burning Rangers are equipped with the finest futuristic tools available. Rather than using primitive water hoses, they fire pulse lasers that can quell the raging fires and thrusters that allow them to double jump and glide around the massive areas as they search for survivors. 

The Burning Ranger squad is made up of some fun anime-styled characters, with the player able to choose one of two characters and be supported by the rest of the team. 

Players can use either Shou or Tillis, although they play identically.

(Screen from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOvJPzjWjP0)

Burning Rangers was something of a swan song for the Sega Saturn by Sonic Team. By 1998 the Dreamcast was already on the horizon and Saturn’s days were clearly numbered. After having years to get to grips with the complex yet brilliant machine, developers were really able to unlock the full potential with games such as this one. Put simply, Burning Rangers looks incredible. The huge levels would be an achievement in itself, but Burning Rangers also features some of the most impressive lighting effects and transparencies on the console. Good thing too, since the lighting effects really give the fire a sense of dramatic terror, and also gives the player additional information to find and put out the threatening flames. It also allows for some great exploration when the facility power is cut and the player has to navigate the area with just their flash-light. For players that want even more exploration, the game will add survivors and even more routes through the levels once completed! Using a limited form of random generation, the levels will have different routes available and fires will break out in different areas of the levels. All up, there are 108 different survivors that can be saved.

Rescuing survivors feels very personal, with the characters taking a moment to chat and reassure the victims before teleporting them to safety.

Thanks to the jet packs each Burning Ranger has, the game allows for some entertaining exploration and death-defying manoeuvres to get through each level, improving your time and score as you learn the layouts and get familiar with the controls. It comes in handy for the boss fights too, with each level having the ranger come up against rogue machinery or creatures.

More than just the graphics, the presentation overall really feels like a love letter from Sonic Team, with gorgeously animated intros and exits and full voice acting (a real rarity at this time, especially the English language dubbing for the Western releases)! Speaking of voice acting, Burning Rangers featured a brilliant and innovative navigation mechanic. At any time, players can hit a button to call Chris, (the team’s navigator) who would provide voice directions to the player on where to go next. The immersion of calling a team-mate, presumably poring over blueprints and watching through security cameras, giving you directions and situation updates makes for an incredibly immersive experience. The voice guidance feels authentic with context specific instructions like ‘Keep going straight’ or ‘Turn right at that door!’. 

The levels can get pretty big, and often have multiple paths, having Chris provide navigation is vital to progression. As an aside, look at that gorgeous coloured lighting!

The sound design in this game extends beyond just the voice acting; the game doesn’t have much in the way of background music. This is by design as players must listen out for the sound of fires in the distance, their pulse laser charging, and most importantly listening out for a life-threatening backdraft! When a fire builds up in the walls, a distinct whistling can be heard only moments before the fire violently explodes, giving the player precious little time to react and avoid it without taking damage. Finally, the brilliantly catchy and cheery intro animation and song encapsulates this game perfectly. They contrast nicely with the sparing use of music during the in-game action and the upbeat tunes give a sense of celebration when they play at the end of levels or during the replays.

Burning Rangers features some fantastic replay value too, with the ability to revisit the game after completion and play your way through re-shuffled levels! Yes, multiple variations of each stage will be generated on different play-throughs, making it a treat to revisit. On top of the new level layouts, players can re-play the game to try and rescue remaining survivors they didn’t find the first time. Beyond just getting a higher score, this also results in the rescued people sending the Burning Rangers team a thank-you email that you can read at the main menu screen! Collecting all the emails from the various people makes for compelling collecting.

The animated cut-scenes add some nice plot progression and shows off the rest of the Burning Rangers squad.

Somewhat ironic for one of the final games for a system that never found its deserved audience, the game has a real air of positivity and wholesome excitement around it. The game contains not only one, but two English vocals filled tracks, something of a rarity for a game this late in the Sega Saturn’s life. Both ‘Angels with Burning Hearts’ and ‘We are Burning Rangers’ are a treat to listen to and set the fun adventure filled tone of the game. Indeed, even the PAL release’s box contained the line “Intense gameplay, thrills without the kills!”. Burning Rangers was created with a vision of a positive and utopic future where technology has enhanced life. It definitely helps it stand out amongst many of the darker or more negative portrayals of the future that is common in gaming and indeed in science-fiction in general.

High Score chasers will be familiar with these screens. Burning Rangers features a ranking system that encourages perfecting your run.

(Image taken from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOvJPzjWjP0)

Perhaps the game manages to capture some of the excitement that was felt for the Dreamcast, and perhaps it was just a celebration of the wonderful things Sega Saturn was able to accomplish despite the adversity. Regardless if it’s inspiring hope for the future or celebration of the past, I challenge anyone to play Burning Rangers without resulting in a big smile on their face (or a powerful urge to purchase a fire-extinguisher).

One of the many late, great Sega Saturn games, Burning Rangers continues to hold a special place in many a Sega fan’s heart.