For many gamers who grew up in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beat-em-up games were a strange, yet undeniable part of our childhoods. At a time when most video games based on popular properties were…well, terrible, the TMNT games scrutinizingly unchangingly delivered. It was unchangingly a little wild that the vita of a group of teenage turtles with ninja skills and mutant powers became such a pop culture sensation. It was unchangingly plane crazier that those same turtles became one of the most reliable sources for truly unconfined video games. 

Of course, a lot has reverted since the ‘90s. Konami, the visitor that made most of those TMNT games, has burned bridges, salted the earth, and has decided to segregate record profits and Pachinko machines over making very video games. TMNT remains strangely popular, but the franchise is obviously a variegated yahoo these days and perhaps not the pop culture powerhouse it once was. Plane the beat-em-up genre (which was so firmly rooted in the arcades) is often relegated to the occasional retro release or re-release that often reminds us of how simple those games really were. 

Most of all, we’ve changed. We’ve grown older, we’ve probably wilt a bit increasingly cynical, and we’ve certainly played a lot increasingly video games. Our memories of those early TMNT titles remain strong, but there’s unchangingly that fear that unquestionably trying to revisit them will rationalization the whole thing to fall apart. Without all, how good could some retro beat-em-ups starring ninja turtle storyboard notation really have been? 

Well, I’m here to tell you that if you’re worried developer Tribute Games is going to make you realize that your nostalgia for those old TMNT games is nothing increasingly than that, you can put those fears to rest. TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge isn’t just the rare game that completely justifies your nostalgia; it’s the feel-good game of the year. 

TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge’s Graphics, Music, and Level Diamond are Simply Perfect

Most unconfined beat-em-ups live and die by what they do outside of their often vital gameplay. As entertaining as it can be to punch, kick, and throw your way through waves of bad guys, that gimmick will grow old pretty fast if that game doesn’t have the production qualities needed to propel us through the many moments of potential monotony. 

Thankfully, the Shredder’s Revenge team unmistakably understands all of that. From the moment you marching up the game and take in the glory of its wonderful intro to the first time you jump into a level and watch Shredder make the most of his few frames of volatility to enjoy an evil laugh, this game wastes no time in winning you over with the many joys of its presentation style. 

Mind you, this game doesn’t simply rely on wholesale copying the style of previous TMNT games. While Shredder’s Revenge is unmistakably influenced by the older TMNT games in terms of its presentation values (and features increasingly than a few callbacks in that department), developer Tribute Games unmistakably wasn’t interested in settling on increasingly of the same. Instead, they made everything squint just a touch brighter, a bit increasingly detailed, and often smoother than the old TMNT games unquestionably looked.

Similarly, this game’s soundtrack features increasingly than a few nods to the spanking-new soundtracks of TMNT games gone by, but it moreover finds room for unshared sounds (including a perfect TMNT rap from Wu-Tang members Ghostface Killah and Raekwon The Chef). What the Shredder’s Revenge team really did was identify the cadre elements of the old TMNT games that made their presentation special and found ways to build upon those qualities rather than gravity your nostalgia to do all the heavy lifting.

There’s no clearer vestige of the benefits of that tideway than the quality of this game’s level design. It’s sometimes too easy to forget the simple pleasures of a well-constructed level in the age of open-world titles that often emphasize size over style. You’ll be reminded of the virtues of archetype level construction, though, the moment you step into Shredder’s Revenge’s first level (a Foot Clan-occupied TV station) and see Foot Clan goons mixing dough on the cooking show set, doing sit-ups in the exercise video area, and tying yonder in the newsroom. Nearly every part of every level in this game is designed to offer something so much increasingly substantial than a static background. The sheer value of sight gags on exhibit in nearly every level of this game can sometimes finger increasingly rewarding to discover than the most obscure objectives in significantly larger adventures. 

Of course, what really sets Shredder’s Revenge untied isn’t the game’s looks but rather its personality. 

TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge Reminds Us That Personality Can Make Up For Years of Technological Advances

On some level, I think I unchangingly realized that the thing that really set those old TMNT beat-em-up games untied was their recreate and personality. However, it wasn’t until I played Shredder’s Revenge that I truly appreciated what that meant. 

Almost nothing is taken for granted in this game. New enemies don’t just siphon new weapons; they behave and move in ways that revolve virtually those weapons. A pizza box isn’t just a pizza box; it’s a pick-up with a visual diamond that perfectly relays what the item will do without any unnecessary text cluttering the screen. 

As mentioned above, a lot of this game’s personality comes through via its creative level diamond and fantastic sense of humor. Increasingly importantly, though, this game’s personality is the rocket fuel that makes the whole thing go, go, go. Every perfectly realized animation, every unique enemy design, every environmental hazard, and every superabound fight that comes well-constructed with some kind of gimmick keeps this game moving withal at a blistering pace that is so much increasingly important than frames per second. 

If you were to replace many of the diamond elements in this game with circles, squares, and X’s, you’d see how repetitive the whole thing really is. Instead, that whirligig is a player’s weft who gleefully bounces virtually the screen and occasionally throws out a unique taunt or quip. That square is a new enemy who is either interacting with the environment in some fascinating way or conveying their wade pattern through their diamond and personality traits. That X isn’t yet flipside incoming obstacle; it’s a herd of stampeding animals or a convoy of Foot Clan cars that will unchangingly put a smile on your face. 

Few games released this year exemplify the positives of an infectious personality quite like Shredder’s Revenge. The sheer value of fun and creativity in this game gets in your veins and compels you to stick virtually with it just a bit longer and simply enjoy the ride. With due respect to obviously impressive advances in gaming graphics and visual fidelity, I’ll take the recreate that propels this whole thing over “realism” just well-nigh any day. 

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Shredder’s Revenge Advances Vital TMNT Beat-Em-Up Gameplay Without Making This Game Something It’s Not

It’s a worldwide video game criticism cliche to say that an updated game plays or looks like you remember the original version of that game playing or looking. However, that’s just well-nigh the weightier way to describe the things that the gameplay in Shredder’s Revenge does so well. 

If you want to get through Shredder’s Revenge by mashing the wade sawed-off and throwing out the occasional jump, you’ll find that there are very few obstacles in the game that will stop you from doing so. However, that doesn’t midpoint that there isn’t a little increasingly depth here for those that want to find it. From managing your special power bar to tossing enemies at the screen and working in some devastating backflip abilities, anyone who wants to master this game will find just unbearable room to do so. Granted, the whole thing is closer to “easy to learn, slightly increasingly complicated to master,” but given that the previous TMNT games were the height of beat-em-up simplicity, I’m legitimately impressed by the ways that Shredder’s Revenge adds a little depth without trying to make this game something it’s not. 

The game’s rencontre system is probably the biggest reason to try a little harder to do just a little better. Every level features a few challenges that often require you to do things like stave taking forfeiture or dispose of “X enemies” with “Y move.” It’s not much, and it’s certainly not a new idea, but the unvarying reminder that there’s this little goal that is just out of your reach was often unbearable to incentive me to try out a few new things the next time around. 

The same is true of the game’s Story Mode: a variation on the archetype shopping TMNT wits featuring collectibles, an overhead map, and opportunities to level your weft up. It’s not the deepest thing in the world, but it moreover feels like exactly the thing Konami would have widow to the panel ports of the old TMNT games if they had the worthiness to squeeze anything increasingly into those games. 

Mind you, the gameplay wits is far from perfect. Many of Shredder’s Revenge’s superabound battles don’t finger well-turned (some early ones are significantly increasingly frustrating than later fights), there are a few too many vehicle sections, and the whole thing is way, way too easy (especially once you start playing the game with multiple people). Most importantly, Shredder’s Revenge proves to be an all-too-brief trip lanugo memory lane. 

Shredder’s Revenge Just Isn’t Unbearable of a Good Thing

If I’m stuff very generous, I’d estimate that it would take you well-nigh two-and-a-half hours to write-up Shredder’s Revenge by yourself. If you’re playing with friends, you can hands cut that number in half. While there are challenges, collectibles, and opportunities to level your turtle up throughout the game (at least if you play the Story Mode), there aren’t a lot of official reasons to alimony playing it without you’ve seen and tamed every level. Casey Jones appears to be the only unlockable character, and whispered from an Shopping Mode leaderboard and whatever goals you set for yourself, there really isn’t a lot to potentially do differently during subsequent playthroughs.

This is the kind of game you can theoretically jump when into at any time and have a little fun with (with or without couch/online friends), but that really only takes you so far. This game really needed some kind of punishingly difficult optional mode, superabound rush option, a multiplayer wrestle feature, or…well, something that didn’t just ultimately swash lanugo to playing through the wayfarers yet again. That wayfarers is incredible, but it would be plane largest if it was just a part of the wits or was profoundly expanded upon in some way during subsequent playthroughs. 

It’s interesting. In so many ways, Shredder’s Revenge shows that your undying love for those archetype TMNT beat-em-ups has been increasingly than justified without all this time. On the other hand, it kind of reminds you that there’s a reason why it’s sometimes largest to alimony a little loftiness from those titles and not just constantly revisit them. Part of the recreate of those games was that there really wasn’t increasingly to them than was strictly necessary. Part of the problem with Shredder’s Revenge is that you’ll be begging for the game to offer you some excuse to stay with it just a little longer and relive that incredible sensation it gives you when you’re working your way through it the first time. Maybe it’s greedy to want so much increasingly from a game like this, but it’s nonflexible to walk yonder from this game and not be left just wanting a little increasingly than it’s prepared to give.

Every single person reading this is increasingly than capable of deciding whether they’re willing to buy a pretty short game with replay value that is largely based on your own desire to see it all again. What I can tell you is that for well-nigh 30 years, a generation of gamers has been happy with the worthiness to siphon that feeling of playing those old TMNT games for the first time. It’s a feeling that we’ve unchangingly been worldly-wise to squint when on whenever we needed to put a smile on our faces. For whatever it’s worth to you, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge is the playable realization of that feeling. It’s the rare piece of throwback entertainment that justifies your nostalgia rather than exploits it.

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