Growing up as a kid in the ’90s, whenever I stepped into a video game, I always took a walk around to see what they had before putting mine on any of the machines. This usually doesn’t last long because as soon as I see a closet of teenage mutant Ninja Turtles, I scream to my friends “They have Turtles!” and we will hurry to continue.
It’s clear that the developers at Tribute Games share the same love of ’90s TMNT beat-em-ups. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge It’s nothing more than a solid homage to the classic 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade video game, and more prominently 1991’s Turtles in Time. Best of all, it transforms the combat design into arcadey quarters. into something more skilled forward while maintaining the same compelling button press. Simply put, Shredder’s Revenge is a prime example of how to breathe new life into a classic video game.
Shredder’s Revenge is full of winks and nods to the arcade games that inspired it, but it’s smart not to associate itself with them. Arcade beat-em-ups were originally designed to suck as much as possible out of a player’s pocket, and have thus inherited a tendency to limit your ability to escape attacks or increase difficulty without increase your own strength. Shredder’s Revenge changes all that, as turtles and friends can now comfortably dodge left and right scrolling; they can hold the attack button down to increase attacks, which also has the added bonus of allowing them to take damage without flinching; each has a Shoryuken-like tank attack that makes hitting enemies in the air easy; and most importantly, they all have a meter that allows them to use a super attack that clears the screen when it’s full.
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The meter fills up by grounding and resets when you take damage, but the initiator is that if you can fill it completely, the super charge is stored until you use it. This adds a great incentive to play smart and be careful about avoiding damage, because those moves make a lot of sense, especially in the later stages when enemies start to get stronger and more aggressive.
Aside from those additions, it’s still the type of game that fans of old-school arcade machines know and love. It’s simple defeat at best – big focus on mob clearing AOE attacks, buffs, and environmental interactions that can turn the tide of a war benefit you.
There are a total of 16 levels in Shredder’s Revenge, and many of them are arranged like a “Best Times” remix of the previous games. You have the streets and highways of TMNT: The Manhattan Project’s Video Games, the sewers and subways, and the prehistoric setting of Turtles in Time. But there are also some levels that are completely original, including one that took place at a zoo and had me competing with regular stampers, the Foot ninjas, and disturbing the little monkeys in the cage throwing bananas at both me and my enemies. The levels are engaging in their own right, with lots of easter eggs and jokes throughout, though I wish there was more variety in the mix. There are only two types of levels: the traditional stage where you simply move from left to right, defeating all the baddies in your way, and the high speed hover stage where you move from left to right. , beat all the baddies in your way, just faster and on the hoverboard. The Tribute game plays it safe with its level design and the result is a very uniform experience, but also one that starts to feel pretty much the same by the end.
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Each level comes to life thanks to the perfect soundtrack. It’s high-energy, perfectly matched with the nostalgic 90s vibe, and features an eclectic mix of remixes of familiar songs from the original game along with equally brand-new songs. interesting. That includes tracks by big names like Ghostface Killa and Mega Ran, a Turtle rap “rollin ‘on broadway” in the “Mutants Over Broadway” level, and even a super cheesy rock song, feels like home in a Sonic Adventure game. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite soundtracks of the year so far.
Heroes in a Half Shell
Of course, much of Shredder’s Revenge’s appeal lies in the lead role of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Tribute Games has done a fantastic job at making each character feel different and true to their personality while still have the same set of migrations. Obviously they each have their own attack animations with their own unique weapons, but it’s the little things that really go a long way. It could be Mikey’s way of running like an idiot, Raph’s constant scowl and fearsome expression, or Donny’s amusing taunt as he pulls out a gamer. There to be Some notable gameplay differences between them are as well: Leo is the only character to have a summer flip attack from his double jump, Michelangelo can knock down enemies with his acrobatic jump. himself, Raph can outwit his opponents and Donny can attack from the football field by being within reach of his staff.
Tortoise isn’t the only playable character, either. Splinter and April O’Neil also get in on the action, with Splinter using claws, martial arts, and a cane, and April battling TV cameras, microphones, and a barrage of punches and kicks. All together, there are six playable characters from the start, and Shredder’s Revenge even allows up to six players at once. I haven’t done it myself yet, but even playing with just three players is absolute chaos at best.
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The game Tribute has done a great job of scaling the difficulty appropriately to more players by adding more enemies and increasing their aggression with each new player that joins. There are also some cool group attacks that are a bit difficult to coordinate, but feel great when you manage to pull them off, such as the ability for one player to lunge at another, who can catch and throw them like a bullet to deal massive damage to anything in your path.
There are only two game modes in Shredder’s Revenge: A campaign mode that lets you choose levels from an underworld, and an arcade mode that gives you the classic experience of getting into the entire game right from the start. with a limited number of networks and continue, no checkpoints and no saving of your progress. The whole game can be completed in about two hours, so the arcade mode is not as difficult a task as it seems at first and it ended up becoming my favorite way to play after beating the battle. translate once. However, finishers may find themselves preferring the campaign mode, as it features hidden collectibles, multiple challenges to complete each level, and persistent progression for each character with stats. and new abilities are unlocked every time you level up. The arcade mode simply gives you all these possibilities from the very beginning.
