Terrible CGI. I miss the practical effects so bad. Although I gotta say Zyuohger and Ghost have really started to implement more practical effects.

That's one of the things I love about Dairanger. There are actually only about 26 MotW in total if I recall correctly and not every episode features a mech battle.

In fact, a lot of the series from the 90s didn't have a mech battle every episode.

Be a little fair, though. Only about 3 episodes in Dairanger didn't feature a mech fight in some capacity, so it's not like it's super standout in that area.

Both Zyuohger and Ghost have the perfect blend of effects in my opinion. I do love the old school charm of the pre-CGI days however.

Sounds like Dairanger is next on my list then.

Bear in mind that his last statement is kind of false.
Basically every series, Dairanger included, basically had mech battles every episode. Some, once again, like Dairanger, did have episodes go robotless, but it's honestly a case of "You can count the number of episodes without a mech on one hand."
5 episodes without a mech battle is nice, but in a show with 50 episodes, it's not that game changing.

I remember a lot of the mech battles in Dairanger being super brief as well. A lot of them just summon Dairen-Oh, the enemy attacks once, then Dairen-Oh uses his finisher, dramatically sheathes his sword, and end of mech battle. I love the designs of DairenOh and KibadaiOh and they never let the mecha fights drag. I guess that's a good and/or bad thing depending on your mecha preferences, heh. Whatever, Dairanger's a goddamn good series.

I figure it's probably like Zyuranger, where if an episode doesn't have a mech battle, it's because it's either 1. part of a two-part episode, or 2. they beat the MOTW without mechs (probably using the finishing cannon)

I was more excited about the lessened focus on MOTW battles. I'm totally cool with mech battles, but the whole "monster appears, team fights it, team beats it and it grows big so they have to beat it again" formula often doesn't leave a lot of room for variation.

In a lot of 90's series defense, mech fights after the 15 episode mark tend to be mercifully short (Since, unlike modern series, they're not afraid to skip combination sequences).
They're still present, but often times it'll be the rangers calling out their mech, it just appearing in some manner (Flash of light, teleporting in, etc), and then executing their finishing move.
No real variation, but it does keep the mech's screen time from 3 minutes down to 45 seconds, at times.

Really? I feel like they start off pretty short and get longer. Sure, the gattai sequences slim down, but the fights themselves get longer as the enemies get tougher.

Well, that wasn't the case in Dairanger and Kakuranger.