Growing up with the Super Nintendo, Turtles in Time was easily a Top 3 replayed game on there. Every year, my brother and I fell into an unofficial tradition of trying to blitz the famed beat’em up in one go, and regardless of our success rate, we always had tremendous fun: the strong hit detection and gorgeous sprite work fusing into a satisfying product.

Developed by Tribute Games, Shredder’s Revenge proves that that love wasn’t purely from nostalgia, playing like a spiritual sequel ripe with dead ringer aesthetics and story beats. As with most homages, though, the question one must ask is how much appeal it has beyond its target demographic, and on that front I’m regrettably a bit mixed: some facets are universal, others not so much.

Let’s start with the positives, the first of those being the aforementioned aesthetics. If you aren’t familiar with the original game, Turtles in Time (and its three predecessors for that matter) coasted on combining the OG cartoon’s art style with the pudgy modeling of classic 80s brawlers like Double Dragon and River City Ransom, and the result was a decidedly zestful world that clearly left an impression on tens of thousands of kids. Backgrounds were appropriately stacked depending on the level location, enemy NPCs beautifully garbed, and, best of all, characters were placed at slightly-turned angles, providing a pseudo-3D bulk which allowed gamers to admire the full breadth of their figures.

I bring up these details because Shredder’s Revenge has basically replicated them to a tee. Obviously, being a 21st century release, the visuals are far less grainy; however, that core motif has remained present, right down to the lemon-green vibrancy of the turtles and color-coded Foot Clan. Yet it is the additions concocted by Tribute Games which deserve the most praise as they showcase how to update a retro scheme without going overboard in pursuit of modernization (cough cough Re-Shelled). For starters, animations across the board have seen a significant facelift: whether it’s transitionary ones from stationary poses or dynamic movements, each is far smoother than any SNES game could ever be. Secondly is the implementation of pain expressions on enemies. Before, only the Turtles had large enough faces to distinguish displays of hurt; now, every single thug boasts unique body responses and wincing eyes should you strike them. Lastly are the inclusion of colored hit splats to indicate, well, hits on either yourself or others. Some may find these to be a bit too comic booky, but considering the letterhead origins of the Turtles, I’d say they’re appropriate and consistently layer your attacks with visceral viscosity.

Of course, you can’t mention attacks in a fighting game without talking about the sound effects, and this is yet another area where Shredder’s Revenge has significantly improved upon its progenitor. Punches, whacks, body slams, and more have all been synchronized with an appropriately arcadey din that concurrently packs oomph and nostalgic glee per a blow. While it’s unfortunate that more effort wasn’t put into diversifying each of the Turtles’ weapons, enemies at least get some variety, and I was pleasantly surprised whenever I encountered an attack that wasn’t pure mano-y-mano. And that’s a great segway to the gameplay, which is your standard beat’em up scheme of memorizing combos and enemy patterns to wrack up large points. Though you get the occasional wrench thrown in as far as a special archetype needing a specific strategy, the lion’s share of encounters are as slick and enjoyable as they were in their predecessors. Heck, efforts have even been made to redress complaints of TMNT IV, such as it being far easier to toss enemies, as well as removing the HP drain of the super attack (though at the cost of needing to build-up to it).

Unfortunately, while those are evergreen positives, I feel the following aspects of Shredder’s Revenge will limit its appeal to non-genre enthusiasts, beginning with the runtime; this is a very short game. It took my brother and I about 3-4 hours to beat the campaign, and though there’ll no doubt be repeat playthroughs, even three of those wouldn’t justify the $25.00+ asking price. I know some people will contend that this is about the length Turtles in Time was, which also came with a higher-priced cartridge at launch; however, the difference is buyer preferences and game production have radically changed since the 90s, meaning customers want equal bang for their buck and developers are no longer impeded from having to shove an arcade ROM into a consumer-friendly package respectively. Now, to be fair, a DLC called Dimension Shellshock is set to be released later this year, and, if it’s a free update, Shredder’s Revenge will be better priced (that said, a strong part of me believes it will come with its own MSRP).

Next on the negatives is the voice acting which, though heard in limited bursts, just isn’t good. I understand they brought back the 1987 cast, but the brutal reality is numerous incarnations of the IP have been released since then that feature better performers. I know fans will counter that Turtles in Time was most influenced by the initial serial and therefore warranted having those leads, both of which I respond with one, Turtles in Time actually took influence from multiple pieces of media (including the comics and movies); two, those VAs are much older now and consequently unable to sound like young adults, and three, Turtles in Time didn’t even have them! The unsung actors back then held even less screen time than here, but I honestly found their intonations much better than the few out-of-place garbles you’ll glean in Shredder’s Revenge. It genuinely reminded me of the voice acting of the NPCs in Skyward Sword, and yes, that’s a bad thing.

The OST is another aspect I don’t believe will be liked by newcomers. On the plus side, it’s a blatant love letter to the SNES score, with Tee Lopes doing a phenomenal job echoing those upbeat, electronica riffs Harumi Ueko famously composed in mimicry of the arcade cabinet (albeit with more vocal tracks). On the downside, it’s music that feels outdated given the decline of arcade corners (at least in the US), with such tunes more befitting for an EDM concert than a video game these days. I don’t know, YMMV as always.

My remaining critiques with Shredder’s Revenge aren’t things I believe will impede newer generations, but smaller qualms as a whole. In the graphics department, for example, I wasn’t a fan of a couple of the enemy redesigns: don’t get me wrong, the vast majority of villains are transposed well here, but Baxter, the Pizza Monsters, and especially Slash look lame compared to their counterparts in TMNT IV. Gameplay-wise, a minor experience system was thrown in to encourage replay value via completing collectables and optional objectives. Acquiring these unlocks new features for each character like a special move or increased health, but because points aren’t divvied, you end-up having to semi-grind to build up the remaining party members. It reminded me a little of the older Pokemon games before Exp. Share was made natural, which isn’t good, especially since you can’t switch between individuals after death the way you could in the OG game.

On the topic of the characters, attempts have been made to actually distinguish each persona via three stats: range, speed, strength. And while they’re actually noticeable in the field, you’ll quickly realize how little strength matters versus the other two attributes, meaning strength-focused heroes like Raph and Master Splinter end up feeling handicapped compared to the others.

If I can end on a positive note it’s that the story, while little more than a glorified chase scene, is more coherent than IV’s episodic format. I particularly liked how a few of the antagonists made recurring appearances over being one-and-done, which leant to a sense of cohesion.

In conclusion, I am definitely biased in favor of Shredder’s Revenge due to it recreating and building upon the classic formula many of us SNES owners cherish from the 90s. So much effort went into the craftsmanship that you can’t help but admire Tribute Games for their passion. It pains me then to say that some of those elements simply haven’t aged as well as I wish they would have, and combined with the short playtime, you may want to think a little before purchasing it.


NOTES
-I had a couple of performance issues, including lag periods and buttons not responding to presses, though I’m confident this is purely an issue with the Switch version.

I freaking love this game!

TMNT: Shredder's Revenge is a love letter to TMNT fans old and new. Even as someone who barely remembers anything, other than which turtle was my favourite as a kid, Shredder's Revenge somehow makes you feel nostalgic for a time you were probably not even born during. I sure as hell wasn't.

Games often use nostalgia and "old" graphics as a crutch but, Shredder's Revenge is backed up by a beautiful pixel art style, stunning backgrounds and expressive animations filled with, not only references to the TMNT shows and movies but also other games like Street Fighter, King of Fighters and Smash Bros.

If you have any interest in the beat-em-up genre or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, you will have an amazing time solo, or with up to 5 others, beating the shit out of some ninjas in the streets of New York.

Gave up on this after getting to the final boss. Combat is reasonably fun against most of the regular enemies, but basically all the bosses are essentially uncomboable. With the surprising exception of Shredder in the penultimate level, they basically rotate through simple invulnerable-vulnerable phases, with generally unengaging attack patterns. Only a few are interesting in their own right. Most are boring, made aggravating by the presence of adds.

Strongest point in its favour is the story mode basically acting as a chapter select for the arcade mode. That's undermined by including a level system. "Level your favourite turtles up to level 10 so you get full access to supermoves" oh yeah no thank you.

At least it's pretty.

I hate to be that guy. You know, the "Holy freaking crap what a nostalgia bomb, this [Product] is literally my childhood" guy. That guy is the arbiter of the pop culture death spiral we have all spent the last decade-plus suffering through. But the ugly truth of the matter is we are all that guy. Nostalgia is visceral. No matter how much we try to deny it, sometimes it overpowers our weak human analytical centres. I'll whine all day about people uncritically watching a new Disney+ Star Wars mini-series prestige sloptacular but you show me one 3-second animation of 16-bit Donatello playing on his game boy and I'll hand over my entire savings account (though you gotta know, terrible interest rate). You're just going to have to give me this one.

So yes, I grew up obsessed with the ninja turtles. But that's actually kind of weird. The show I watched endlessly ended in the 90s. At that point, I was nary a twinkle in Kevin Rudd's eye. There is a simple answer, I'm from Western Australia. I'm not familiar with the bit, who told it or when, but there's an old stand-up routine one of my uni lecturers loves to reference regarding WA. Something to the tune of 'scientists insist time travel is impossible until they visit Western Australia. As soon as you touch down it's suddenly 1983.' In my experience, this is pretty accurate. Pop culture moves slowly over here and has a hard time reaching us. What sticks, sticks for longer. So I, a 6-year-old boy in 2009, had 2 or 3 seasons of an 80s show (alongside my Disney DTV sequel collection, Lion King 1 1/2 was my favourite) on DVD that I watched obsessively. I still haven't seen 100% of cartoons released after I was born that didn't air on free-to-air TV. At least we got Regular Show and Adventure Time. Mum wouldn't let me watch The Simpsons though. She thought it was too low-brow.

Donnie was my favourite, for the record. Honestly a very effective psychological profiling system. You can glean a lot about me from that. For example, I'd rather have a large stick than a sword, should I be placed in a scenario wherein I'm expected to engage in mortal combat. Also, I prefer the colour purple. Never thought I'd get so personal on this site.

Part of what allows this to stand as an actual achievement in this form, rather than an exclusively cynical exercise in brand synergy, is the astonishing talent behind it. You got the Streets of Rage 4 people on deck. You got the Scott Pilgrim people on deck. There was no way this would be anything less than a gorgeous, stylised throwback with rock-solid fundamentals. Perhaps it's a bit disappointing that it never exceeds these expectations, but it unquestionably matches them.

The actual bummer is how mechanically shallow it is. I hadn't played SOR4 the last time I took revenge on Shredder, and the contrast is pretty hard to ignore. There's not much to the actual combat once you get over the glorious sounds of the punching and hitting. It takes a long time to do so, there are so damn many bells and whistles to distract you from it (goddamn the boss fights here are good) but eventually, you will clue into how little depth your character has.

But I don't care. Remember? I'm indulging myself here. As a fan of [Product], they get it! The personality is all here. Of course they get a power meter recharge when they taunt. Of course Mikey's taunt is the chicken dance. Of course he says 'mongo combo dude' every time you get a big combo. Of course they announce the title of each episode the way they do. Of course the 'Shredder's Revenge' part of the title is said by a guy doing the exact right EVIL voice on the title screen. Of course resurrecting your teammates involves an animation of coaxing them with slices of pizza. Of course THAT is the final boss fight. It's perfect!

I'm sick right now (decidedly not in a fun way) and have to do a lot of work for university in a very short period. I needed some comfort food before I drugged myself with nighttime cold & flu tablets and collapsed unconscious. I sat down to play this just for a little respite, my roommate was on the couch, I handed him the second controller and gestured in the direction of the glorious sounds emanating from Tee Lopes' perfect soundtrack and we beat the whole thing in one sitting. Videogames are a beautiful thing.

Uma experiência genuinamente divertida e escrachada.

TMNT: Shredder's Revenge nos trouxe o sumo dos jogos clássicos das tartarugas ninja, e embora eu tenha jogado apenas o turtles in time, consegui notar inúmeras referências.

O forte desse jogo, assim como qualquer outro das tartarugas ninja, está muito mais na diversão de jogar do que no escopo do jogo em si, porque ele se resume basicamente em: andar, as vezes pular, espancar o botão de bater e usar especiais, e é literalmente só isso, nada de variedade de golpes e combos, muito menos mecânicas complexas, é literalmente o básico do básico de um beat'em up, e aqui funciona bem pra caralho.

Ver toda essa simplicidade funcionando é um sinal que esse é um game muito saudável, que sabe de sua simplicidade e tenta compensar em outros pontos, nesse caso, é claramente a identidade do game, resgatando como eu disse no início, a energia divertida e cômica dos seus antecessores, o que pra mim já é sensacional.

Está recomendadíssimo, é aquele tipo de jogo que simplesmente não tem hora ruim pra se jogar, e se possível, joguem isso em co-op, pois só deixa a experiência muito mais engraçada e boba.

This might have been a great brawler...if Streets of Rage 4 hadn't already come out two years prior and set the bar so high.

Even so, while there are many more ways to move and dodge in this newest iteration of the green machines, somehow it lacks the raw punch-and-thwack satisfaction of TMNT IV: Turtles in Time. Maybe it's just the SFX? Or is it the fact that the Whip-It move got seriously nerfed (taking more after Genesis' Hyperstone Heist than the screen-shaking, bone-crunching SNES variation)?

I've only played through story mode once with Raph in single-player. Trying out other characters as well as multiplayer might change my feelings, but for now...

Bem bom porque contempla quem quer se distrair e quem tem mais daquela vontade de esfolar o controle. Joguei sem nostalgia porque jogo de bater e andar pra frente nao estava no meu cardapio nos meus "anos de formacao" e posso dizer que o jogo se sustenta sem isso. Claro que o clima retrô tem um charme inegavel. De negativo, acho que as diferencas entre os personagens jogaveis poderiam aparecer melhor, e mais cedo, pois tem hora que tanto faz quem escolher e que golpe dar. Depois isso melhora.

Até aí o jogo é bem legal. Quando a gente dedica um tempinho ao multiplayer a coisa se abrilhanta.

Amei muito esse jogo ele me passou um sentimento muito bom, deixou meu coração acelerado de tão entretida e agarrada com a experiência que estava.
As fases são curtas o que adiciona na minha experiência por eu estar jogando ele pelo celular, ter uma fase de 6-8 minutos é maravilhoso.
Variedade e carinho transbordam por esse jogo, cada personagem é único e complexo da sua própria maneira o que é ótimo porque eu adorei ficar variando entre eles mesmo tendo um favoritismo pela april por conta das suas voadoras rápidas, os Bosses apesar de serem simples são sempre interessante de enfrentar e entender sua estrutura e especificidade.


Um beat em up bem fora do geral desse gênero, que opta por ter um mapa e uma história que te dá 3 chances de morrer toda vez e deixa tudo mais tenso e interessante, outra coisa são os itens que sempre parecem posicionados para gerar as possibilidades de combos mais interessantes.
Outra diferença dele é a ausência de armas(por exemplo os canos de street of rage) que só fazem eu apreciar os movimentos único de cada personagem.
Eu sinceramente não gosto muito dessa palavra pra resumir jogos e arte em geral , mas usarei dessa vez, que jogo DIVERTIDO realmente uma experiência de paixão