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TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge Hits Consoles!

by Chris M. P.
written by Chris M. P.

After what feels like a long time coming, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge finally hit physical and virtual game shelves late last week. So far, it has received a positive reaction among fans and critics alike. IGN‘s Cameron Hawkins gives a great (spoiler free) preview

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have a notable history of beat-’em-up games on arcade cabinets and retro consoles like the NES and Super NES. Now Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Donny are back again for another adventure in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, and it looks… like a modernized version from the same era, which adds an immediate nostalgic appeal. Developed by genre veterans Tribute Games, the build I played shows that this retro-rules pseudo-sequel is shaping up to be a charismatic – albeit safe – return to the genre.

Something important to share first and foremost is that Shredder’s Revenge is its own game. It may be based off the 1987 Ninja Turtles, but the story is not connected to TMNT: The Arcade Game or Turtles in Time. After playing the first two levels with the developer, Shredder’s Revenge is very much inspired by the era, and plays more or less as a modern release with quality of life improvements, so don’t expect many new additions this time around.

With that being said, “old on purpose” isn’t particularly a bad thing. Combat is smooth and introduces a super attack that is unique for each playable character. I was even able to “meditate” in the middle of battle to automatically fill my super bar. It honestly feels more like a taunt to the enemies, and it was continuously charming to boot. Similar to the level-complete animations where each character is different from one another, each taunt is distinctive as well. Tech wiz Donatello plays on a little Game Boy when meditating and uses his staff as a pogo stick after beating each level. Mikey, on the other hand, does a little dance, and Raphael simply laughs at enemies. It’s these kinds of details that not only distinguish each character, but it’s also a good way to show off their personalities for those who may not be as familiar with the franchise. Tribute also seems to nail the overexaggerated cartoon animation of the late-80s in even the small details, too, like the ninjas typing on a keyboard.

Similar to the classic TMNT games, you’ll find pizza boxes as you progress through each level. Not only is there pizza that heals, but there are also other pies for extra strength, and infinite supers for a limited amount of time. Another fun callback to the older games is throwing enemies around like rag dolls or towards the screen itself, which remains satisfying even 30 years later. Each level seems to end with a boss, which in my case consisted of the iconic duo Bebop and Rocksteady. Both brought a relative challenge that made me be more conservative on when to attack and focus more on dodging. I also can’t fail to mention the funk and groove that is Shredder Revenge’s fantastic soundtrack.

The soundtrack isn’t the only notable new thing in a game full of nostalgic nods. Also new to Shredder’s Revenge is the ability to choose April O’Neil and Master Splinter as playable characters for the very first time, with four total players being the max by either local couch co-op or online play. There will be two primary modes available at launch: Story and Arcade mode. From what the developers told me during my play session, the only main difference between the two modes is that Story will allow you to upgrade your characters health and super bars while Arcade will have you at base level throughout. For those who are (or not) looking for a challenge you will be glad to know that there will be three difficulty levels the choose from to help personalize the experience you want.

Despite its beloved and iconic past, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge isn’t trying to break any barriers when it comes to the beat-’em-up genre and honestly, that’s OK. Everything that I’ve seen so far has been true to the TMNT brand, and it’s clear that a lot of tender love and care went into making this game live up to its past. So far so good. Chaotic combat, engaging boss fights, and a killer soundtrack is what makes a great beat-‘em-up game, and Shredder’s Revenge is looking to check all those boxes when it comes out this Summer.

You can read the full article of the preview here. 

IGN went on to give TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge an 8 out of 10.  It currently stands at an 85 on Metacritic.

I think it’s safe to say that the TMNT’s throwback to nostalgic arcade beat ’em ups has proven to be a success. Can this lead to a sequel? Or perhaps “new” wave of licensed throwbacks in the same vein?

Sound off below on what you Shellheads thought of the game!

Developed by Tribute Games, Shredder’s Revenge sees the four heroes-in-a-half-shell return to a new adventure based on the classic 1987 Ninja Turtles cartoon, though the story isn’t connected to the original TMNT arcade game or Turtles in Time.

TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge is now available for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch!

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Splatoon 2 Will Have a TMNT Themed Splatfest

by Kyle Tobey
written by Kyle Tobey

This May on Nintendo Switch, Splatoon 2 will have a TMNT themed Splatfest tournament!

Announced via tweet and press release, fans can start voting for their pick beginning on April 27 by visiting the in-game Inkopolis Square. The tournament will consist of 3 weekends. The first two pitting two brothers against each other, and a final round with each winner. The first round goes from May 4-5 and will put Raphael vs Leonardo. Michelangelo vs Donatello May 11-12, and the final round May 18-19. Full dates and times below!

Round 1: Raph vs. Leo
May 4 (Friday), 9 p.m. PT – May 5 (Saturday), 9 p.m. PT

Round 2: Mikey vs. Donnie
May 11 (Friday), 9 p.m. PT – May 12 (Saturday), 9 p.m. PT

Finals
May 18 (Friday) 9 p.m. PT – May 19 (Saturday), 9 p.m. PT

This is a great time for any Shellhead to get back into the game if you put it down, or pick it up for the first time!

From BusinessWire-

“We love working with unexpected partners to expand our brand and bring smiles to people’s faces in surprising ways,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Teaming up with Nickelodeon and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made perfect sense, as we share many of the same fans who enjoy family-friendly entertainment and classic characters.”

Splatfests are recurring online competitions in Splatoon 2 that ask players to pick a side – in this case, their favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Once players choose a team, they’ll receive an in-game T-shirt adorned with an image of their preferred Turtle for their Inkling character to wear as they compete in online multiplayer Turf Wars battles to see which side comes out on top. At the end of the Splatfest, each team’s popularity and win rate is tallied up, and one team is crowned the victor. Depending on what Splatfest rank players achieve, they’ll receive Super Sea Snails, which can be exchanged to further customize gear in the game. Because of the new tournament format, players need to pick up their Super Sea Snails by the Tuesday morning following each round. The early squid catches the Sea Snails, as the old saying goes. Splatfests are open to all Nintendo Switch owners who have the Splatoon 2 game and an Internet connection.

Nickelodeon’s new animated series Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles follows the band of brothers as they discover new powers and encounter a mystical world they never knew existed beneath the streets of New York City. The 2D-animated series debuts later this year on Nickelodeon. For more information about the show, visit http://www.nick.com/rise-of-the-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles/.

For more information about Splatoon 2, visit https://splatoon.nintendo.com/ or https://splatoonus.tumblr.com/. Learn about results of past Splatoon 2 Splatfests at https://splatoon.nintendo.com/splatfests/.

Remember that Nintendo Switch features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about other features, visit https://www.nintendo.com/switch/.

About Nintendo: The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Nintendo Switch™ system and the Nintendo 3DS™ family of portable systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System™, Nintendo has sold more than 4.5 billion video games and more than 710 million hardware units globally, including Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, as well as the Game Boy™, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS™ family of systems, Super NES™, Nintendo 64™, Nintendo GameCube™, Wii™ and Wii U™ systems. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names, such as Mario, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Zelda and Pokémon. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Americas. For more information about Nintendo, please visit the company’s website at https://www.nintendo.com/.

 

 

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Could we see one of the most popular TMNT games on the SNES Classic? Not likely. Image source: Konami.
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This is Why We Are Unlikely to See Turtles in Time on the SNES Classic Console

by Justin W
written by Justin W

Just last year, Nintendo released their NES Classic to widespread success. This miniature version of the original Nintendo Entertainment System came with several popular games that had defined the success of their first video game console. Unfortunately, they had a huge problem with distribution and few stores received many copies of the unit as a result. Regardless, this device remained a hot commodity in the market for pretty much the entirety of 2016.

Unfortunately, it would appear that excellent sales figures aren’t the only factor to consider, because Nintendo has since decided to discontinue the NES Classic. While some fans are convinced that this move is directly tied to poor distribution, others are under the impression that the company cancelled production because they didn’t want it to compete with their newest console, the Switch. There are also rumors that this decision may have been tied to the fact that a lot of people were modding the device in order to play additional emulated software.

The NES Classic was one of the most interesting success stories of Nintendo's history. Image Source: Nintendo.

The NES Classic was one of the most interesting success stories of Nintendo’s history. Image Source: Nintendo.

Whatever the case may be, recent reports suggest that Nintendo might actually follow up the NES Classic with the SNES Classic. This device would probably be very similar in design and concept, but it would obviously include a bunch of classic titles from the Super Nintendo console. As usual, fans immediately began to speculate about the titles that would be included with the SNES Classic, coming up with their own retro gaming wishlists. Some of these lists included perhaps the most popular TMNT game ever made – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.

As a fan of both Nintendo and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, any mention of Turtles in Time on the SNES Classic struck me as odd. The NES Classic included mostly popular titles that were developed and produced by Nintendo themselves. They owned all of the rights to these games, so it was easy to put them on the console. Although they did add a few titles that were developed elsewhere, few of them represented any kind of incredible stretch for the company.

Most notably, none of the TMNT games were included on the NES Classic. Considering how popular the first TMNT game was in the UK, you’d think they might have considered that title. Alternatively, the second game was literally a port of the incredibly popular TMNT Arcade game, which also would have been an excellent choice for the console. Could there be a reason why they didn’t add either of these titles to the NES Classic? Well, there could be many reasons, if we’re being honest.

Turtles in Time was one of the best arcade game ports ever produced for the SNES. Image Source: Konami.

Turtles in Time was one of the best arcade game ports ever produced for the SNES. Image Source: Konami.

The problem with a game based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is that their likeness plays into copyright laws. Obtaining the rights for those games might not just be a matter of paying the owner of said property, there may be several other factors to consider. Just take a look at what has happened with each remake of the TMNT Arcade Games; distributed digitally, they were both fairly popular upon release, but both titles mysteriously disappeared from the digital marketplace after only a year or two.

Why would they take a popular game off the market? Why did they do the exact same thing with the most recent TMNT game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan? Most video games – even those tied to a popular franchise – don’t have this problem. However, when it comes to our heroes in a half shell, it would appear that there are some serious issues with copyright law. My best guess is that there is either a limit to the amount of time that these companies can use the likeness of the turtles, or someone who should be getting paid for their likeness is not getting a check.

The Super Nintendo was one of the most popular video game consoles ever sold. Image Source: Nintendo.

The Super Nintendo was one of the most popular video game consoles ever sold. Image Source: Nintendo.

Whatever the reasons are, it should be perfectly clear by now that TMNT games have a problematic history which implies that it may be difficult to sell them after a certain amount of time. With that in mind, it seems to me that it would be pretty foolish to expect Nintendo to obtain the rights to Turtles in Time for the SNES Classic. I’d love to see that happen, but history and keen observation tells me the chances are slim-to-nearly-impossible.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think it’s time we all stop expecting something that will probably never happen. Sadly, unless you find an old copy of Turtles in Time in the wild and dust off your old SNES console, chances are that you won’t be playing it anytime soon. I suppose there’s always a chance that I could be wrong – and I’m definitely rooting for that chance – but this just doesn’t appear to be a distinct possibility.

Sorry to burst your bubble, fellow shellheads! Here’s hoping that someone finds a way to bring back these classic TMNT games in the near future.

Are you still hopeful that Nintendo will add Turtles in Time to the SNES Classic? Share your thoughts either in the comments below or on facebook/twitter.

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Konami’s Influence on the History of TMNT Games

by Justin W
written by Justin W

When it comes to games about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, most fans will tell you that the best of the bunch were the arcade games crafted by Konami. The first arcade game was released in 1989 and it quickly became the standard for TMNT games from that point on. During the same year, another Ninja Turtles game was released on the NES, serving as the very first console game featuring our beloved heroes in a half shell. The game was simply entitled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and it was produced by a small company known as Ultra Games – or was it?

Thank goodness this particular aspect of level design didn't catch on!

Thank goodness this particular aspect of level design didn’t catch on!

What if I told you that Ultra Games was actually a subsidiary company for Konami of America designed to help them get around the strict licensing requirements of Nintendo? That’s right, both the arcade games and the first console game were actually produced by Konami. No matter how you look at it, they literally shaped the face of TMNT games, and that face was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to keep the license for the franchise and we haven’t really seen anything on the same level since then.

The NES game was noted for it’s difficulty level and musical soundtrack. When you take the publisher into consideration, the difficulty level makes a little more sense. After all, Konami was well known for publishing punishing games and their Ultra label was actually used to introduce one of their most popular franchises, Metal Gear. The biggest issue with the game was probably the lack of recognizable characters. Although we did get to see notable faces like Bebop and Rocksteady, there were a lot of smaller enemies that simply didn’t make sense within the context of the TMNT franchise.

That being said, it’s worth noting that Konami’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles console game was actually somewhat enjoyable. The game sold so well that it eventually made its way to a variety of other platforms that some of you may remember. Unfortunately, the game was never quite as impressive on any other platform, but you don’t have to take my word for that – just check out this video. Gaming History Source has released an interesting comparison video which takes a look at almost every different iteration of the game. While some are pretty good, others fail at re-creating the iconic music or even basic gameplay elements.

It’s crazy to look back at the history of this important TMNT game and see so many incredibly different variants on display. I’m sure a lot of fans prefer the arcade game over this one, but with over 4 million units sold, it’s safe to say that this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game left an indelible mark on the franchise during that era of video games. Shortly after releasing both titles, Konami decided to bring a representation of their arcade game to the NES under the title “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game.” Despite the popularity of their first NES title, it was clear that the fans preferred an arcade experience over a console beat-em up.

Oh look, giant balls of death!

Oh look, giant balls of death!

Konami went on to release a few more console games in the TMNT franchise, but most of them followed the success of the arcade game. It’s easy to imagine that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the rockbed foundation for every TMNT game that followed, because it contains so many of the essential elements that made the arcade games so popular. If I’m not mistaken, I believe that the NES game actually got released a few months before the arcade game, so there might be something to that theory.

Whatever the case may be, it’s easy to see that Konami’s work with the franchise was incredibly influential. Many of the TMNT games that were released after that era were also beat-em ups which contained several elements from the early Konami games (pizza power-ups, anyone?). It’s sad to think that we may never see another TMNT Konami game, but at least they gave us the standard. Without them, who knows what kind of video games we might have seen? Considering how other similarly popular cartoon/comic franchises fared in the video game market, I almost shudder to think of the possibilities.

Let’s just take a moment to thank Konami for their work on these early Ninja Turtles games. What’s your favorite Konami TMNT game? Let us know in the comments below!

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TMNT changed to TMHT in UK, TMHT by Palcom, www.teenagemutantninjaturtles.com
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Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles May Have Rescued NES

by Zach Gasior
written by Zach Gasior

I know what some of you are already saying: Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles? Don’t you mean Ninja? And what is all this about rescuing the NES? Since when did the console that saved the entire video game industry need rescuing? Well, it didn’t need rescuing in North America or Japan, but it wasn’t quite as popular in the UK, where our beloved TMNT were known as the TMHT due to a ban on the word “ninja.” Yes, the Nintendo Entertainment System actually took a little while to get off the ground in the United Kingdom. After distribution through Mattel proved to be unsuccessful, San Serif came in and took over, making a rather interesting move that greatly increased the popularity of the system in that country. Mike Hayes, former CEO of SEGA, worked at San Serif during this momentous time, and he had the following to say about the subject:

TMNT changed to TMHT in UK, TMHT by Palcom, www.teenagemutantninjaturtles.com

“Nintendo at the time was a failing brand, treated as a toy by Mattel and never really securing the phenomenal success that it had enjoyed in Japan and North America. Dusty boxes of the NES Deluxe Edition would languish on the shelves of the only major stockist, Boots the chemist – which is quite hard to believe in hindsight. What I learned from an early stage however was that while a good product would sell regardless, a good product marketed excellently would sell brilliantly. Lady Fortune was around at the time in the shape of the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (the word Ninja was banned in the UK). Against Nintendo of America’s wishes we bundled the Nintendo Entertainment System with Konami’s TMHT and created the Mutant Machine. Sales soared 2000% in the Christmas of 1990 and Nintendo was established successfully in the UK market. We overtook the Master System as the number one console, then launched Game Boy (on a budget of no more than £200,000) and dominated the handheld sector, seeing off the Atari Lynx and Sega’s Game Gear.”

For readers in the UK, this might not come as that much of a shock. However, for readers in North America and Japan, the very idea that the NES was struggling somewhere is a foreign concept. It’s crazy to think that the console that changed everything was failing somewhere, but fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles probably won’t find it too surprising that this game was pretty popular. In hindsight, many reviewers have given this game flak for its difficulty and poor controls, but if you were a kid at the time, chances are you didn’t care about that as long as you were playing a video game with your favorite turtles. Perhaps we should take a moment to reflect on the importance of this first ever TMNT game for a home console, and what better way than with the introduction from the game itself. Now you’re playing with power – Turtle Power!

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