Hello ladies, gentlemen and those of a non-binary nature, my name is Daibhi and this is the Gamerhub community. This review is going to be less of a review and more of a “Completionist” style take on the game, as honestly, this is a new format we’re trying, and we’d love to hear what you think of this. If this is your bag, let us know via our Twitter or Facebook page, and if it doesn’t drive me crazy, we’re all game for it.
As the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem has just been released into cinemas on Wednesday the 2nd of August, most of our reviews this week have a ninja theme or are TMNT games. I have a long history of loving the heroes in a half-shell, and so, the other folks at Gamerhub let me have a go at completing this game. The only thing that they didn’t tell me is that this isn’t just one game. The suffixed name should have given me a warning here, but let’s be fair: When have naming conventions in videogames ever made any sense?
TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection was developed by Digital Eclipse, who made the excellent Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, and it was published by Konami. The game collection was released onto all major platforms last year, and it contains every single motherfudging game made between 1989 and 1994. This, let me tell you folks, was one heck of a challenge and not all of it could be completed on my own. So this is a thank you to David, Michael and Julian, who helped me team up to take down Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady, and of course, the foot clan. Without them helping, I couldn’t have completed this game to 100%.
The Battle.
TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection lets you play through any of the games that are on it, but we started doing this the wrong way. A side note to gamers and completionists here, pick Turtles in Time first. It might not feel like a logical step, but this game helps everyone get familiar with the controls much faster than the first game chronologically. The game is a stone cold classic, I might have ordered a Numskull Designs Quarter Arcade version, and it’s very accessible. It also makes you learn some advanced tactics that will come in handy when you get to the games where multiplayer is the only option.
So, Daibhi, is this game collection a hard one to get through? Oh god, yes. There are however, a few options to make this game easier. For the sake of transparency, I completed this collection of games on the Xbox One X, which despite me owning the Series X, is my home console. I’m just very attached to it, okay? The best thing about this is that you can remap the buttons to the way that you feel comfort able. This means that some of the solo games when on higher difficulty are a little easier to complete, which I was extremely grateful for.
For those retro game lovers out there, such as Zenbloke (seriously, give him a follow, he’s superb), you’re in luck. There’s enhancements throughout this collection which includes giving the game a recut where the screen resembles a cranky old CRT telly, which made us all giggle. There’s also the small matter of the Japanese counterpart games to complete, but Gavin and Galadrius informed a very grateful me that I didn’t need to complete this for the review. Whilst I speak Japanese and can read it too, unfortunately none of my half-shelled compatriots do, and thank goodness as translating whilst gaming is incredibly difficult.
This gaming collection is also extremely and surprisingly accessible. There are easy modes on every game, unlimited lives which you can activate or deactivate at your leisure, and thank Master Splinter himself, there is a save state and rewind option, which definitely helped me complete a “no dying” run. Yes, there are achievements on the Xbox for this sort of thing. Well, only one, and it’s a hidden one called “Splinter’s favourite”, and I’m glad that there was only one. Yes, as you might have guessed gamers, I died a hell of a lot throughout my first forays into this game, particularly in the first game, which has been emulated perfectly from the NES with a couple of graphical updates which make this game look a little better.
The High Points
This game brings back all the nostalgia that we all have for games like this in a pure, undiluted way without making the game inaccessible to younger gamers who didn’t get to play these games the first time around. Such as myself, as I’m only 30 and as such, a lot of these games were released when I was still in the development phase if you take my metaphor here. I know this game came hot on the heels of TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, but this game doesn’t just feel like a game to support that one, it feels like this is an apology by Konami and Digital Eclipse for not bringing these games out individually onto modern consoles earlier. If that’s the case then the apology is gratefully accepted and all is forgiven. The graphics are good, and the games with bad graphics have been tweaked to make them less resemble a margherita pizza with extra anchovies (90’s kids, where you at?). The soundtrack is superb, and the gameplay is fantastic. The online multiplayer on the games where they are available is superb.
There are game manuals, comic book covers, stills from the cartoons and soundtracks galore and this game feels jam-packed with everything you could possibly want from what is effectively a TMNT game themed Greatest hits collection. If you don’t feel nostalgic as the 1987 animated TV series theme tune plays, I somewhat doubt that you’re going to enjoy this game half as much as I did.
The Low Points
The time it took to complete all the damn games. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t have traded this experience for all the pizza in New York, but completing my way through this collection was one heck of a time sink. To co-ordinate the gameplay, get the lads over, complete the solo stuff and play online, I spent nearly 300 hours trying to complete this game, and I could only imagine that more time would have been consumed if I had bit the proverbial bullet and tried to 100% the Japanese versions as well.
The only other real downside to this game was the fact that some of the games offered online multiplayer whereas others did not, and some of these games required the multiplayer to complete. I’m not a rube, I understand that some of these games were ports directly from arcade machines, but to have been able to complete this solo would probably have saved me some money in orders from Pizza Hut and Dominos. Because seriously, who plays a game based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and doesn’t eat pizza in the process?
The Price
So, if this game sounds like your order from a New York Pizza shop, you’re in luck. This game is available for all current gen consoles, the PC and it plays very well on the Nintendo Switch if my contemporaries are to be believed. For Xbox gamers, this game will cost you £34.99, which sounds a bit expensive until you realise how much bang for your buck you’re really getting. The same is true on the PlayStation Store, and there’s an added bonus for both Xbox and PlayStation gamers: This game is playable on both the Xbox One series of consoles, The Xbox Series consoles, the PlayStation 4 and The PS5. So don’t fret about whether your console will play this game- it will. This game is also available on the Nintendo Switch eStore for £34.99 and Steam has it for the same price. Honestly, this game is extremely good value for money and I’d highly recommend purchasing this game.
Joystick Rating 4.5 out of 5 Joysticks
For the Gamerhub, I’ve been Daibhi, I hope you have one shell of a weekend, and you’re all legends, my dudes. Cowabunga!
