Cowabunga ladies, gentlemen and those of a non-binary nature. My name is Daibhi, this is the Gamerhub community, and with the release of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film on the horizon, I got busy looking at TMNT games available on commercial gaming consoles. I wasn’t disappointed, and this won’t be the only TMNT game I write about this week as a result. Also, being a Celtic FC fan, I must give a shout out to their new home strip, which is either a deliberate or accidental nod to the half shells our Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles wear. Also, Numskull Designs are bringing out a Quarter Arcade machine version of TMNT: Turtles In Time, and yes, we’ve got our hands on one when it gets released, and we’ll be happy to review it for you in December. So, armed with some New York Style pizza, a bandana and far too much childlike giddiness, I settled down and gave TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge a play through. Is this the best TMNT game ever made? Did I eat far too much Pizza while doing it? Did I become a ninja? Two out of those three questions will be answered as I delve into this review…

Introduction

TMNT Shredder’s Revenge is a game based on the popular franchise Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and was developed by Tribute Games and then published by Dotemu. It was released in 2022 on all major consoles and PC, and then a mobile version was developed by Netflix for iOS and Android in January 2023. It came out to somewhat mixed reviews at the time, due to the game having more than a few bugs for the PlayStation gamers among us. Three weeks after the game’s initial release, a working patch was released for free which fixed the major issues. The game is a “Beat-em-up” in the style of classic arcade games such as TMNT: Turtles In Time and Streets Of Rage, with focus being on the Turtles going through a side-scrolling adventure, beating up the bad guys (in this case, The Foot Clan and their many nameless minions) and taking on the end-of-level bosses.

Development

The history of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the video game industry is one of both many highs and many lows, with some absolute gems stacked next to some that, well, to be frank with you, should be flushed down the cludgie (a Scots word which here means “toilet”). Thus, when someone wants to make a new TMNT game, this always approaches apprehensiveness across retrogamers and video game reviewers alike. This is very much how I felt picking up this game for the first time too, as unlike some games I review, I went into this game with about the same amount of knowledge as Shredder has on which sewer the turtles live in. Dotemu had been trying to pitch this game to Nickelodeon since 2010, with Tribute games teaming up with them to make this game a reality, and they got some of the best voice actors in the industry to help some of the characters come to life. I’ll touch a little on that later. Dotemu and Tribute also brought in some quality-of-life improvements which I’ll also touch on later. The real issue for Nickelodeon was the same as a lot of gamers’: We didn’t want this game to suck like a slice of pizza without anchovies, and I can quite happily assure you that it does not.

Gameplay

In TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, there are two game modes to play in. Firstly, theres the story mode. This doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, but it does allow me to run through the plot with you and tell you how it played out for me. The TMNT games start with the Turtles, along with April O’Neill watching the TV, when Bebop interrupts their program to let New York know that he, Rocksteady and the foot clan have taken over the Statue of Liberty on Channel 6. Headed to the Channel 6, there’s an almighty battle between the Turtles and the Foot Clan, but Bebop escapes with the head of Krang’s Android body. Whilst chasing their adversaries through New York, they find that other parts of Krang’s body are being rebuilt, before they all end up in another dimension to find out that a resurrected and juiced-up Shredder is behind the whole thing. There’s a lovely moment at one point as the Statue of Liberty becomes the “Statue of Tyranny”, and once again, the game ends with the Turtles eating pizza and watching the “punk frogs” (if you know, you know) getting the credit once again.

So, to play this game, you play as one of the four turtles, with Casey Jones, April O’Neill and Master Splinter being playable characters that you can unlock along the way, provided you get the collectibles. Considering how short the story is, my advice would be to play the game through first, and then go for the collectibles. There are comic books from the Turtles’ past to collect, the pizza slices give your characters very specific power ups based on which character you’re playing as, and there are a few things you won’t see in your average side-scroller. For example, because this game supports co-op of up to six gamers, if your character is running low on health, high-fiving other characters will give you a health boost when required. There’s also a “radical mode” which allows you temporarily to become a sensei in Ninjitsu and just go completely ape shit on your opponents. A wee word of warning though: use this sparingly. Getting this mode is difficult enough, and is worth really just keeping for the boss levels.

There is also the arcade mode, and this is where this game truly shines. Firstly, you don’t need to keep the game playing locally as there is something TMNT gaming fans have been praying for: an online mode! While at launch, this created a metric tonne of issues, and made this game resemble a clusterbourach (a Scots word meaning “a giant mess”), it works so well today. However, being a newbie to this sort of gaming online, I got my shell handed to me by a lot of gamers. However, there’s no denying it wasn’t fun! The local arcade mode shines through as well, with daily, weekly and monthly challenges for each playable character unlocked (as you can play this mode before completing the story mode). Completing these sets of challenges will give you different character sprites, alternative theme music and extra comic books to learn about the history of.

Graphics

It’s a side-scrolling Beat-em-up, really? Do I have to do this? [Editor Gav- yes Daibhi, don’t be as lazy as Rocksteady and Bebop] Okay. So, this is a game that borrows more than a little from the 1991 TMNT game, TMNT: Turtles In Time. It borrows what makes that game special too, with the artwork in the background extremely reminiscent of that game. The backgrounds are beautiful, don’t misunderstand me on this particular issue, but they’re not uninspired. We know where Tribute Games and Dotemu have looked for their inspiration. That being said, if you’re going to steal, you might as well steal from the best. The great thing about this though is because the story changes setting at an almost breakneck pace, the artwork reflects that, and Dimension X really does show that in the best way. The animated sprites of all the characters are great, with a bit more detail than I was expecting from a game like this, and I was genuinely impressed with the details shown on all the comics and powerups. There’s little else I can say about this other than I’m surprised that the people who work for Konami are not trying to find a way to sue for plagiarism and taking parts of their game. It feels and looks so much like Streets of Rage at times.

Soundtrack

This another way in which I really enjoyed this game as the voice acting in this game is absolutely superb. The dulcet tones of some voice-acting legends can be heard as you play through this game. For example, Rob Paulsen is in this video game. The voices of the other turtles from the 1987 animated TV series can also be heard, which means you also get to hear from Cam Clarke, Barry Gordon and Townsend Coleman.

For those of us at a certain age in life, we were transported back in time to a magical moment when we heard these voices. To hear Rob Paulsen’s voice as well as it is, considering he survived throat cancer is particularly impressive. The game’s music was also composed by Tee Lopes, who’s the genius behind the soundtrack for Streets Of Rage 4. I think I also heard some Ghostface Killah in one of the songs, but don’t quote me on that one. The soundtrack is genuinely better than expected, but it’s not exactly Marvel’s Spider-Man or Saints Row 4 in terms of how good the soundtrack is.

Price Point

So, if you’re on the Microsoft games suites, then I have some good news. While the DLC for this game isn’t available, the game is, and as far as we know, they’re not taking it off Game Pass any time soon. If you do want to own this game, however, it will cost you £23.99 for the base game. The DLC has yet to be released, but I’ll let you know via the Twitter and Facebook pages how much that will cost as well as a review. For Sony gamers, this game will cost you £19.99 for both PS4 and PS5. For those of us still using the Nintendo Switch, this game will cost you £22.49.

Final Points

Don’t expect brilliance out of this game, as it is simply something that you’re not going to get, but as far as a great TMNT game is going to get. This one is serviceable, and if you’re a newcomer to either the franchise or this style of gaming, then I highly recommend this game. Don’t come into this game and expect life-like graphics or brilliantly responsive gaming. If you have an appreciation for classic games and retro gaming styles, then you are absolutely going to adore this game. You’ll probably play this game more than you should, in a similar fashion to the way I have greatly surpassed the word count for this review!

4.1 Joysticks out of 5

For the Gamerhub community, I have been Daibhi and you have given me one shell of a good time reviewing this game. You are all legends.