Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge Preview: Nostalgia Time!

ign.com:

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