If you loved any of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Video Games, you will absolutely love this game. Here’s why.
What was impressive about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge was that for a game that serves as an unofficial sequel to a title from over 20 years ago, this was easily the most talked-about title at PAX East 2022.
Shredder’s Revenge is an homage to the original series of TMNT games and the animated TV series. In a year where indies dominated the PAX booths in terms of hype, standing out amongst this crowd was noteworthy. The developers at Tribute Games received praise for both bringing back what fans loved about the classic TMNT Games and improving upon them with additional features.
“A while back we worked on TMNT for Game Boy Advanced which was the opportunity of a lifetime but it had limited multiplayer capabilities. We always wanted to have a second go on more modern systems. We got the chance to work on Scott Pilgrim, then spun out a few other games, but we always kept asking Nickelodeon for a second go at a TMNT,” said Tribute Games co-founder Jean-Francois Major at PAX East 2022. “We grew up with Ninja Turtles. I have a Halloween costume of Donatello, the Pajamas, the action figures, and basically, all the research we had to do was already done.”
Developed by Tribute Games and published by Dotemu, this unofficial sequel/homage to the beloved arcade beat-em-ups like Turtles in Time, brings audiences back to a simpler era when arcades were all the rage, cowabunga was term of excitement, and pizza was considered safe to consume for a group of radical anthropomorphized turtles.
In TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, players can join Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael as they kick shell in this side-scrolling 2D Ninja brawler. A classic beat-em-up, the turtle teens go up against robots and ninjas along with classic boss baddies like Bebop and Rocksteady. With beautifully modernized pixelated 2D maps and characters, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, sees your favorite ninja turtles feature their own unique attack moves and range of swipes. Bringing back much of the original game’s designs, but with new combat characters in April and Master Splinter.
This homage to the TMNT arcade game will be released this summer for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch. Atop of this: all of the original voice actors—yes, the same ones from the animated TV series—are returning to voice the turtles; along with some of the original villain voice actors too. There will also be a digital soundtrack made available with some rockin’ tunes of the 90s, and shell-shockingly, a series of limited edition physical copies post-digital release, available by Limited Run Games—so collect them while you can!
Highlights of TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge Demo:
- A playful level design filled with easter eggs and cameos scattered throughout the game.
- Modernized gameplay with dash and backflip to close in or escape.
- Double Jump and Charged Attacks! Also, in general, a LOT of new combinations.
- A special mechanic that unleashes devastatingly wide area attacks. Donatello’s for instance sucks enemies toward him.
- Tag-team co-op moves with your partners that all depend on the positioning. Players can air-juggle, sandwich, and grapple enemies. They can also, toss, knockdown, and joint attack depending on where the player is in relation to their partner while facing an enemy.
- You can taunt to recharge your special! You can also high-five your ally!
- In multiplayer, you get 10 seconds to revive a KO’d ally.
- Special pizzas allow you to use infinite specials for infinite spins.
- Chaotic 4-Player fun, much of this game is focused on crowd control. As it’s easy to be surrounded now. So much more mobility-focused than in the old game.
- Turtles have some subtleties in their stance and moves. Leo can toss footsoldiers. Raphael suplex. Splinter, when standing still, hand gestures to enemies, “come at me, bro.”
- There will be in-game achievements and extra-level challenges. 3 per level.
- Drop-in and drop-out capabilities for online multiplayer and multiplayer co-op where 2 people can play in the same house with other people.
- A balanced combat system where everyone can pull their own weight regardless of skill.
- Will be both an arcade mode, but also, a story mode.
