The Burning Rangers Museum

Chill Out!

Starting in December '96 (shortly after completing NiGHTS into Dreams...), Sonic Team set to work on their most different and unique title to date: Burning Rangers. Their goal was to accurately portray their vision of what rescue teams in the future may be like, and capture that experience into a fun game.

The working title was "Firefighter", but in reality, it's about alot more than just putting out fires. Quick thinking, nimble actions, and one hell of a good sense of direction are all integral parts of the gameplay, and eventually the name "Burning Rangers" formed.

From the start, Sonic Team's goal was to paint an accurate picture of - to quote from the theme song - "the future we are all hoping for". A beautiful future, where "clean energy" supplies the force for technology that works to better the lives of all mankind. A world where our children can grow up happily...but no matter how great this future world is, there will still be disasters. And conventional wisdom states that as technology advances, so will the disasters associated with these technologies. More complex problems will require a new breed of real-world hero, and from that concept the "Burning Rangers" were born.

Although generally well-received, Burning Rangers came at a very inconvenient time in the Saturn's lifespan, and the hardware could just barely cope with the game's massive demands, even after numerous sacrifices were made in the design. Although the series is off to a rocky start, its creativity and overall enjoyability shine through and scream "SONIC TEAM!", and a Dreamcast sequel could certainly escalate BR to Sonic and NiGHTS status. Let's cross our fingers and hope this awesome game gets the opportunity to live up to its full potential.

Sources Hrmph, I had to do this one on my own as well. Big, fat thanks to NObody for NOthing! Ingrates... I'm going to send Big Landman over to your houses so he can blow you all to Kingdom Come. And I'm not sharing Tillis, Chris, or Iria. What do you think of that, hm?

Further sources include: The official Sonic Team HP, Sega Online, Sega Entertainment Universe, and Sega of Europe Online.

Burning Rangers, Let's Go!

[ 1998 | Music ]