Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants Reviews
Wrath of the Mutants is a functional beat 'em up. I'll give it that. If you liked the 2012 show and want more TMNT beat 'em up goodness to play, it's fine if your co-op friends are nearby. Otherwise, there are far better options at similar or cheaper prices, even within this IP.
They each have their own ‘Turtle Power’ which players can initiate anytime the meter is full to clear out the enemies on screen or deliver extra damage to the bosses. Leonardo creates a tornado, Raphael punches the ground causing an earthquake, Donatello channels his inner Thor and shoots lightning from his staff and Michelangelo throws pizza everywhere. Even though three of those make absolutely no sense with the character’s personalities and backgrounds, the Turtle Power is still a really handy tool for when things get tough.
Beating the entire game takes less than two hours, but it still somehow manages to drag. You can return to the game’s six stages to try and get higher scores, but I had zero interest in doing so. The arcade games of yesteryear sometimes lacked depth, but they at least had a hook that stuck with you and kept you itching to return to pump more quarters into the cabinet. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants strives for the greatness of the influential arcade hits of the past but falls well short. Thanks to uninteresting and annoying gameplay, repetitive enemy and boss encounters, and grating audio design, Wrath of the Mutants is little more than a shell of the series’ glory years.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants provides simple beat 'em up entertainment that can be kind of fun for a couchful of chums. However, its middling nature certainly leaves a lot to be desired. 🍕
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants excels in simplicity, and not everyone can appreciate that. This game comes from Nickelodeon, and that means that here is a Turtles game for kids.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
There’s nothing actually inherently wrong or bad with Wrath of the Mutants in terms of mechanics and combat. It’s a serviceable scrolling beat ’em up that brilliantly pays homage to the TV show it’s based on. I guess the “issue” is, that it’s not great either. It’s just ok. It’s just that “being ok” really stands out at a time when scrolling beat ’em ups are experiencing a renaissance with games releasing in the genre that stand toe to toe with classics of the past. Wrath of the Mutants does not.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants can be fun, but it’s a bit too simple and short to stand out for anyone other than fans of the series. The side-scrolling brawling gameplay is simplistic and doesn’t bring with it any fresh ideas, whilst the unbalanced difficulty feels like its designed to drain your health as opposed to offer a satisfying sense of challenge to the player. There’s some fun to be had if you can get four players together and there’s no doubting that a younger audience might appreciate the simplicity of the gameplay more, but for everyone else, it’s hard to recommend Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants when there are so many better releases available in the genre.
Ultimately, Wrath of the Mutants can't compete with Shredder's Revenge or the better Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games out there. Still, thanks to its smooth controls, shallow-but-satisfying brawling, and diverse settings, it's a competent beat-'em-up.
In a world where the Switch is filthy with TMNT arcade games across the Cowabunga Collection and Shredder's Revenge, Wrath of the Mutants is a distant third place. It's fine in the sense that if you get three buddies to play through it with you, you'll probably have a good time. But beyond that camaraderie, this is a middling port of an okay game.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is a fun arcade experience for home with up to four players, but it is very short!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants takes inspiration from one of the genre's greatest classics, but fails to attempt to modernize the experience with its shallow gameplay and presentation. The result is a weak and repetitive game, even with its short duration.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
My strategy — if you want to call it that — was effective on Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulties and made short work of opponents. I didn’t play in co-op, though local 4-player play is an option; there, I’d imagine you’d simply need to coordinate powers between all playing. You’ll be unstoppable, and that’s a problem because there’s not a lot of game to play, even with the addition of new levels and mini-bosses.
Despite some pretty visuals and colourful environments, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Wrath of the Mutants is rather repetitive.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is a decent addition to the collection of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games. It succeeds by playing it safe. The two original arcade games are regarded as great arcade brawlers in addition to being some of the better Turtles games, and the gameplay of Wrath of the Mutants is heavily patterned after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. Fans of the franchise and genre will undoubtedly enjoy playing through the game once or twice, but outside of collecting all the trophies, there isn't much incentive for repeated playthroughs. There are no different game modes, no collectibles and the only difference in difficulty levels is the number of lives. Even with the additional content, it takes only slightly more than an hour to put an end to Shredder's plans and rescue April. It's fun enough to kill some time on a boring afternoon, but even the most hardcore Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan would hesitate to say this game kicks some serious shell.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is like a two-dollar slice of pizza you pick up while you’re walking home after a night out in New York City. It’s tasty in the moment, but it will leave you wanting a lot more.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is not a bad game at all if it is aimed at a younger audience who will likely value the direct and uncomplicated fun of the Raw Thrills title more than the lack of depth and content that the game offers us. This is a classic beat 'em up that if we are fans of the 2012 Nickelodeon series we can enjoy it despite its limitations.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
As a fan of the Turtle's arcade roots, I'd happily recommend TMNT Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants for a run or two, but despite the new levels the lack of online support and barebones presentation spoils this pizza party.
TMNT Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants has its moments of fun but needs to have more variety to be truly great. It is worth the price of entry if you just want to mindlessly kill some TMNT-themed enemies, but don’t expect anything revolutionary.
Although it isn’t as good as the more memorable Shredder’s Revenge, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants has just about managed to become a fun experience that pretty much requires that you play with at least a friend to get the ultimate experience. It’s been long overdue, so it’s good that this has finally made it to consoles and PC. And although it’s only local, I’d still recommend this to other players, even if they plan on playing this game on the side to take a little break from playing the much higher profile titles.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants isn't bad. The fighting system is quite good, and the additional stages and bosses do a good job of lengthening a very short game. It's fun, and those who were lucky enough to discover the arcade game will be pleased with this port. Those wanting to take the plunge into the title might want to hold off for a bit, unless you can find the title at a discount. The $30 sticker price for such a short experience can be off-putting, especially with only one mode available.