TMNT: Shredder's Revenge!!!!

[Silver Shocker]

Everybody's favorite mutated reptiles are back in action in beat-em-up video game form.

A new TMNT 90's-style beat-em-up just got announced, by the developers of Streets of Rage. Isn't that a pleasant surprise?

Graphics look a bit different than the 90's games, but I definitely give them credit for making it so retro, and the cartoon animated intro sure is great.

I know what's going on my wish list! 

[UnkoMan]

Ha ha, that animated intro got me way more pumped than I should be.

This looks awesome though. Turtles in Time was one of my most played games in youth, so there's a definite bias.

[Nyte Dragon]

 It looks great with that retro vibe! But I do admit I am kinda disappointed. The intro made it seem you might be able to use Splinter or April as well, which would have been really neat. (I would love to play with April as my character.)

[Silver Shocker]

Actually, I'm fully expecting Splinter and April to be playable in the final product, even if as unlockable. As I mentioned, this game is being made by the developers of Streets of Rage 4, and that game has a lot of unlockable characters and retro elements. 

Not only that, the Genesis version of TMNT Tournament Fighters had April (the SNES version had Karai) and she was modeled off Blaze from Streets of Rage, so it feels extra appropriate to have April here.

Nick and Paramount have given Splinter and April more of a role in the action pretty consistently in their era of TMNT (even renaming the group "The Mad Dogs" in Rise of the TMNT so they can have April as the 5th member of the group) so even though it's not particularly reflective of the original cartoon, it WOULD be surprisingly appropriate to go that route here.

[BentonGrey]

I saw this and got really excited at first.  The trailer is freakin AMAZING!  However, after that amazing trailer, I was super disappointed to see that this was going to be just another Turtles in Time-style beat-em-up.  I mean, this looks like a really fun game, but when I saw the trailer, I thought, 'man, we're finally getting a cool full-featured game dedicated to the classic show.'  I was hoping we were finally going to get a definitive TMNT game.  Instead, we're getting a nice-looking return to something we've already seen.

[Silver Shocker]

Ah, see, I have a response to that. And it's exactly the kind of response you can expect from me.

While there should be no good reason why they can't make a mighty TMNT game of that caliber (case in point, I don't think anyone ever expected Batman: Arkham Asylum to turn out to be one of the single best games of the entire X-Box 360/PS3 generation - Rocksteady was a complete unknown at the time) There actually IS a reason why they're doing this.

One I've already mentioned, and that's Streets of Rage 4. So I'll skip that part.

Another is that the publisher is Nick Games, after the rights reverted from Konami to Ubisoft to Activision to now. Since Nick owns the rights to TMNT, but NOT the full rights to any of the earlier games, this is something they actually can do (they did use a piece of music from the old 90's video games in a motion comic promoting the 2012 cartoon, but who knows besides). Nick is not a company that focuses on video games (they mostly put out mobile and browser games, from what I've seen) so I don't know if they care to make something more ambitious and risky.

Lastly, they have tried to make TMNT games more substantially elaborate than this in the past, and failed badly. Out of the Shadows (no relation to the film) was a poor 3D action game with a clunky imitation of Arkham-style combat that was based on the 2012 cartoon but drastically changed the art style and voice actors (and for some reason had Karai wearing a mask). It was so poorly received the PS3 version was yanked from the storefront so they could update it, and then later rerelease it, and I'm not sure if they improved it in any significant way. I played this, and it was a pretty mediocre game.

Then there's Mutants in Manhatten. Another 3D brawler, but this time from Platinum Games. This one hurt because 1) It's heavily modelled after the IDW aesthetic, with Mateus Santalucco providing the art and Bebop and Rocksteady sporting their chainsaw and sledgehammer. And 2) It's developed by Platinum Games, arguably one of the best developers in the entire video game industry. But it was clearly the C-team, and thus it's probably the worst game they've ever put out by a notable margin.

The game's a complete slog. It's a shame too, because it looks nifty, has pretty decent music, and there are highlights in the voice cast. In particular Robbie Daymond (the voice of Spidey in the Marvel's Spider-Man cartoon) is rather well suited to playing Mikey.

Of the Activision era, of the ones I've played (I have not played the 2012-inspired beat-em-up, though I've heard it's nothing special - kind of tempted if I can get a copy at a reasonable price) the best one by far is - you guessed it - a retro-style game. Danger of the Ooze was by Wayforward (one of the OTHER best devs in the industry, who specialize entirely in retro games) and was unabashedly a remake of the infamously hard single-player first NES game, with the key difference being no overworld map and clear level divide, making it a Metroidvania, and it's very much based on the 2012. IMO it's the good version of that game. It had a very strong attention to detail in terms of 2012 cartoon fanservice, and a musical score worthy of Wayforward's usual high standards.

None of this means it couldn't be done, and it would be very, very nice if they could put out a game like you describe. But all that in mind I can't blame them for going this route. It's probably way cheaper with a much easier chance of success and that retro nostalgia does appeal to folks. If the game plays as good as it looks, it'll probably be one of the best TMNT games in over 20 years. Which is kind of sad, but oh well.

[BentonGrey]

Very interesting, SS, thanks!

I had actually completely missed MM, somehow.  I guess it must have died really quickly.  How do you put out a Turtles game and NOT have coop?

Seriously, how do you make so many bad games?  The game practically designs itself. 

So, essentially your argument is that Nick isn't necessarily positioned to tackle something like that, and in general folks are gunshy because the games haven't done well?  Makes sense.  Very stupid considering the enduring popularity of the Turtles, but it makes sense.

[Silver Shocker]

I had actually completely missed MM, somehow.  I guess it must have died really quickly.  How do you put out a Turtles game and NOT have coop?

After Ubisoft and later Activision lost the license, each of their TMNT games got delisted from digital platforms, (I think MIM got delisted within a year) meaning they're actually rare items. Which is good for me I suppose, because I got a copy of it as a present from a family member (which is appropriate - I got the first NES game the same way) and it being a rare item almost makes owning a copy worth it. 

A TMNT game without Co-op....I guess they just thought it would be a good idea to try out other genres. They've done it a few times.

Seriously, how do you make so many bad games?  The game practically designs itself.

The video game industry has a lot of documentation about how games get made and what problems exist, but I don't think TMNT games are as documented in that regard. I kinda wish they were - I guess they just don't see it as a sound enough investment. And also they can just do mobile games and browser based games for kids and I guess they think that's fine.

So, essentially your argument is that Nick isn't necessarily positioned to tackle something like that, and in general folks are gunshy because the games haven't done well?  Makes sense.  Very stupid considering the enduring popularity of the Turtles, but it makes sense.

That's my theory. To compare it to Arkham - and maybe I shouldn't, but they DID try to rip off its combat, and there were rumours of a really awesome Rocksteady TMNT game that went nowhere - that game changed how we think of Batman games. The NES-SNES era actually had some fun side-scrolling games with Batman (including, of course, some pretty neat beat-em-ups, based on Batman TAS and Batman Returns) but with Arkham it became a viable franchise that is still sort-of going on to this day. Being published by WB helps because they ARE a major video game studio, with big games based on DC and Middle Earth, and also the new Mortal Kombat.

Nick Games...is not that. I think they should go the Star Wars route and go back to outsourcing it to a major studio. Normally I'd not advocate that because if they do they WILL NOT be able to rerelease those games in a few years unless they actively try to clear the rights issues, but if they want to make TMNT games than what they've made, that's almost certainly what they got to do. The "Out of the Shadows" game for example was made by a studio noone had heard of.

Now, one thing I was thinking would be neat would be if this game had fully voiced cutscenes inbetween the gameplay that looked like the intro. That is entirely possible and would add something that wasn't really an option in the 90's. And while it's been done with other versions of TMNT, I don't think it's ever been done with the original cartoon's version of TMNT.

[BentonGrey]

Heck, if they got the original 'toon voices back, I'd buy it just for that!

[Silver Shocker]

With Nick that could be a possibility, though if they were to go that route I would wonder if they would put that in the trailer. It would presumably be an appealing draw to old-school fans.

The arcade versions had voice acting - Turtles would say "Shell shocked" if they got taken out, and Rocksteady would say "Say your prayers, Turtles." April could be heard talking in the opening cutscene. But the trailer - including the more recent Switch trailer - includes sound effects but seemingly not any sequences where those voices would be heard. If it was an authentic throwback, you would have those scenes, and I don't think we've seen them in the trailers. So you'd either have text, voices or avoid having the characters talk.

The news station can also be seen as an actual level in the Switch trailer - It's vandalized with Foot grafitti, and in one other screen set outdoors, Bebop can be seen on every tv in a store window, and again on a tv in another screen. So I guess the story sequences will involve Shredder and others taking over the news station and that'll be reflected in more than one level. One interview mentions that Dimension X will be featured in the game, and it looks like you can see it in the animated sequences in the announcement trailer - so it's possible that the animated sequences will play as you get to those parts.

Ah, after doing some research, I learned I was wrong. It's published by DotEmu - the company that did Streets of Rage 4 - but it's developed by a different development team. Apparently Nick approached the publisher after being impressed with some of their other work.

[Silver Shocker]

At last, playable April O'Neil confirmed.

April whupping some Foot Soldiers looks real fun. They gotta get this game out already. 2022 apparently.

[BentonGrey]

2022 for a glorified side-scroller?  Ha.  Okay.

April being playable is pretty cool, though I wish her fighting style was a bit more unique.  It feels weird seeing the classic April in the jumpsuit flying around doing crazy martial arts. 

[Silver Shocker]

More unique than wacking footsoldiers with her newscasting equipment? I dunno, I thought that was funny as heck.

2022 for a glorified side-scroller?  Ha.  Okay.

Yeah, doesn't make a lot of sense to me either. Roughly half the comments under the trailer are people asking when it's coming out. Best guess from me is either compatibility issues with the different platforms or the fact that DomEmu apparently just got bought out by Focus Home Interactive, this month. If I recall Focus is a "middle-market" publisher, meaning somewhere between budget title and triple-A, and both companies are based in France.

[UnkoMan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozKsDzumb0c

Release trailer. This game is out, for those interested.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1361510/Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_Shredders_Revenge/

[BentonGrey]

When the price drops by about half, I will pick this up.  It looks like a lot of fun.