by: Chris Conkling

Cowabunga dudes and dudettes! Get ready to kick some shell, because the green machine are back in Tribute Games’ and Dotemu’s new beat ‘em up title, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge! Children of the late 80s and early 90s rejoice, for Shredder’s Revenge is a beautifully crafted love letter to the TMNT arcade games and cartoon of the era. 

With gorgeous pixel art, a bangin’ retro soundtrack, and the return of most of the original 1987 cast, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge takes everything you love about the beat ‘em up genre and perfects it. Movement is buttery smooth, and each of the six playable characters, Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, April, and Splinter all have unique move sets to help balance and diversify them from each other, which makes each a joy to play. 

The game sports two modes of play, story mode and arcade mode, each catering to a different type of player. Story mode has you navigate through 16 stages spread out across a world map reminiscent of Super Mario Bros 3. In this mode, you can play in either single-player or co-op with up to six friends locally or online, and your progress is saved after each level. The game has an integrated leveling system in this mode which allows each of the characters to expand their stats and movement simply by playing through the campaign and defeating enemies. That being said, to level up each character, you will need to play through the campaign six (really seven, Casey Jones is unlocked as a playable character after your first play through) separate times. This however is not a detriment to the game in any way considering Tribute Games has added a giant stack of pizzas worth of challenges, achievements, and items to collect which makes replaying each level in story mode an incredibly gratifying experience! Among these collectibles are several hidden NPCs that fans of the original 1987 cartoon will no doubt love discovering. 

If you are looking for more of a challenge, the game’s second mode, Arcade mode, has got you covered. This mode evokes the arcade experience of the past, except now, no quarters are required! Arcade mode, like story mode, can be played either in single-player or online/locally with six other players. However, in this mode you only have three lives each to complete the entire campaign, and there is no saving. If you and your crew are defeated by one of the mutant brothers’ iconic villains (of which there are many strewn across the 16 stages), you get sent back to stage 1. Overall the whole experience takes roughly two to two and a half hours to complete which makes running through this mode with your friends perfect for either parties or a casual night of online play.

The only critique I have for Shredder’s Revenge is it’s currently available on Xbox Game Pass, PC, PS4/5 and the Nintendo Switch, yet it doesn’t support any kind of cross-play outside of Xbox and PC. So make sure you talk to your friends before deciding which platform you want to buy it on, otherwise you’ll have to hope the game gets a cross-play patch in the future. That being said, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is quite possibly the best beat ‘em ups game ever made. Whether you are a fan of the genre, a fan of the TMNT franchise, or a fan of having fun in general, this game is a must play! See you in the sewers!