Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge Reviews
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is retro-inspired beat 'em up that aspires to be nothing more than a pure flashback to earlier times. It may not push the envelope but it exudes fun and warmth through every pixel.
This game is so mechanically satisfying, so endearingly fun, that I couldn’t wait to hop back into the familiar environments, which remind me so much of crouching around that TV as a kid all those years ago.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge tickled all my nostalgia keys, and it harkened back to the feeling I got when playing with my turtle action figures in my younger days. Days I would hop between battling toys to turning on my NES to play the TMNT Arcade game with my brother. Even with the license’s low points over the years, Shredder’s Revenge feels like a proper revitalization of a series I’ve grown up loving. So to answer my early question, yes, a modernized 2D brawler in the classic TMNT arcade style can revitalize these four heroes; I just love being a turtle!
This heartfelt, engaging reprise of a classic falls just shy of greatness due to a lack of fresh ideas and endurance.
Developers Dotemu and Tribute Games served up a most excellent pizza for everyone of all skill sets and ages to enjoy. The combat is fluid, fast-paced, and really a bodacious time full of combos. Characters' move sets were handled excellently, the sound work is top notch (that opening number!), and the levels are crafted to perfection. There really isn't a lot to nitpick with this game, as what these developers have delivered is a masterclass of nostalgia and new-age delight.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is an awesome blast from the past that will bring you the joy of 80s arcades and massive co-op. The game is as fun as all those Konami classics that we loved as kids, but with some new twists. It could be a bit longer and better balanced though.
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More than simply a love letter to the golden age of arcade beat ’em ups, as well as the franchise as a whole, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is both Dotemu’s and Tribute Games’ best title to date. It is a quasi-perfect arcade title that perfectly blends fanservice, fantastic controls, a downright pristine presentation, and some chaotic fun with up to six players at once. I am so glad this game ended up exceeding my sky-high expectations.
Look, I know I’ve been piling on the praise in this review, but believe me when I say this is a game that deserves every last bit of it. I’ve probably played hundreds of them over the years. However, precious few manage to do what Dotemu and Tribute Games have managed to do here. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is nothing short of lightning in a bottle; one of those rare examples of a game that simply doesn’t miss a beat from the moment it starts until the credits roll. Sure, you may come for the nostalgia and irresistible retro-inspired presentation, but it’s the rock-solid core mechanics that offer the perfect balance of depth and approachability that will keep you coming back time and time again. If that sounds even remotely up your alley, then go, ninja, go, ninja, go and add this game to your collection. It’s a true testament to Turtle Power.
This amount of love, passion, and execution must be rewarded, as anyone who plays the game will immediately know that they are playing one of the greatest beat-em-up brawlers of all time.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is a really good game in its own right, capturing the look and feel of the Konami-era arcade games that fans have wanted to see come back for decades. However, when compared to other fan-made efforts (You know the one I'm talking about), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge feels like it was just the same exact concept done with a bigger budget yet more limitations.
TMNT: Shredder's Revenge is a hella fun and cheery beat-em-up that feels meaty and doesn't wear out its welcome, especially with friends. And when's the last time you've touched a Ninja Turtles game with this much love dedicated to the franchise and its 90s 16-bit & arcade video game legacy? Exactly.
Two years in the making, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is the best Turtles beat 'em up ever made, and a faster, better-looking, and more entertaining affair than even Streets of Rage 4. It looks delicious, sounds superb, and rekindles childhood memories beyond all expectation, time-warping you back to 1987. Its combat system is so much fun to mine that you feel compelled to keep coming back to try new strategies, and with its awesome multiplayer the experience evolves again and again. Like any beat 'em up, it does get repetitive as you enter the last third, but that's more a fault of the concept than the game. Our only regret is that we didn't use anywhere near enough puns in this review, so let's close by saying Shredder's Revenge is an unprecedented shell-ebration.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge feels like it's designed from an Ninja Turtles arcade beat 'em up template, which strips it of creativity and originality and makes it feel predictable and familiar. But the fluid combat continually sucks me back in, even though that also suffers from combat designs that should've been left in the past.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is a superb beat-'em-up that captures the spirit of Konami's coin-op classics, but modernises them in all the right areas. With smooth combat, gorgeous presentation, and rock-solid rollback netcode, it all adds up to deliver a super fun experience.
Shredder’s Revenge feels like it was made by people just like me, for whom Turtles in Time was a formative experience. It’s like a tidal wave of nostalgia crashing into technological advancements, new ideas, evolved talent, reverence and a dash of ironic self-deprecation.
Like the last slice of pizza, Shredder's Revenge is worth savouring every last second of. A fun, nostalgia-fueled adventure that every fan of these radical dudes has to play!
TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge still hits that slightly lowered target quite well because it is able to effectively channel its nostalgia and become more than a shallow remix that solely leans on fan service. It is the antithesis of 2009’s oft-forgotten TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, a game that just slapped new paint on the old Party Wagon and failed to fix its rusted engine.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is a love letter to Turtles in Time that modernizes the classic beat-'em-up while retaining its 16-bit essence
Tribute Games and Dotemu have officially brought back the beat-'em-up genre into the spotlight. Shredder's Revenge channels the greatness of arcade beat-'em-ups from the 80s and 90s to create an exceptional experience. Teaming up with friends and taking on the Shredder and his ninja Foot army will definitely put a smile on your face. With plenty of quality-of-life additions like unlockable skills and mission-to-mission quick saves, the only thing holding the title back is the lack of any unlockables and only two game modes to play through.