The Genesis version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is a one-on-one fighting game based on the TV series, featuring two playing modes: one-player scenario mode and two-player battle mode.

In scenario mode, the evil Rita Repulsa sends a number of her monsters (and the evil Green Ranger) after the Power Rangers, who must defeat each in one-to-one combat. Before every bout, players can select a different ranger to play. Each of the five matches consists of two rounds: after the first round, the monster usually changes form into a larger version of itself (the Green Ranger summons his Dragonzord instead), which the Power Rangers must then fight again using their Megazord mecha. After the Green Ranger is defeated, he also becomes available as a playable character for the remaining fights.

In battle mode, players can select from the six rangers, four monsters and two Zords to fight each other in best-of-three matches in almost all combinations (the Zords and the Cyclopsis monster cannot be matched against any of the rangers, and both players cannot play the same character).

Two of the controller's buttons are used for normal and fierce attacks, while blocking is done by either pulling back from the enemy for standard blocks or pushing both buttons simultaneously for a powerful block that reflects even enemy projectiles. Button combinations unleash different special moves for each character.