Burning Rangers

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Burning Rangers is a 1998 action game for the Sega Saturn from Sonic Team and Sega. You play as a member of the elite Burning Rangers firefighting team, tasked with rescuing civilians and putting out fires in a futuristic world. Each mission takes place in four interior levels where you must save people by collecting energy crystals dropped from fires. The crystals also act as a shield: having at least one keeps you safe, but if you’re hit and scatter your crystals, you become vulnerable.

There’s no traditional in-game map. Instead a voice navigation system guides you through corridors, repeating directions as needed. You can choose between two playable characters, Shou Amabane and Tillis, and you’ll work with other team members on missions in various locations like a power plant, an underwater habitat, a space station, and a zero-gravity ship. The final mission introduces Iria Klein; after rescuing her and curing her disease, Shou and Tillis become full Rangers.

Development began in 1996 after the release of Nights into Dreams. Naoto Ohshima directed the project, with Yuji Naka pushing for a rescue-focused theme. The team reused the Nights engine to build larger stages and designed a distinctive voice-guided navigation system. They experimented with motion capture but mostly animated moves by hand. Cutscenes were produced by TMS Entertainment. The game’s audio was created in English and Japanese.

Burning Rangers released in 1998 and was one of the last Saturn titles in America. It received generally favorable reviews, praised for its colorful lighting and the voice navigation system, while critics noted collision detection issues and occasional graphical glitches. The soundtrack and sound effects were well received, though some reviewers felt the game lacked in-game music to heighten tension. Opinions on the controls varied, and several reviewers found the game fairly short.