Get ready to be a kid again (or whatever age you were when you dumped quarters relentlessly into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game). Tribute Games, founded by developers who made Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game and the TMNT Game Boy Advance game, has announced that they’re making a new TMNT video game called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge with publisher Dotemu and IP owner Nickelodeon, and they’ve dropped an animated trailer to tease it.
If it isn’t abundantly clear from the updated opening animation or the levels that look like near duplicates of the classic arcade/SNES game, Shredder’s Revenge is a throwback to the classic TMNT Konami games that came out during the 16-bit era. The animation for the trailer is an updated version of the original cartoon’s opening, copying it in some places and adding its own spin in others. It’s pretty awesome, with vocals sung by Mike Patton of Faith No More, though not having Michelangelo shout “Cowabunga” during it does feel a little off.
The game itself doesn’t get all that much attention in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge trailer, but if you’ve played its predecessors you probably get the gist. It will be a four-player co-op beat-’em-up, though it will hopefully be designed around being fun to play, not sucking down every metaphorical quarter in your pocket. The plot of the game is pretty much the plot of every Ninja Turtles game:
With Bebop and Rocksteady amassing gizmos to support Krang and Shredder’s latest scheme, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge finds the turtles battling through a breathless tour of iconic TMNT locations to thwart their nemeses’ most diabolical plan yet. Armed with shell-shocking new abilities built on a foundation of classic brawling mechanics, the gang are in for an exhilarating, Foot Clan-stomping romp leading them through the sewers and bustling boroughs of New York City all the way to Dimension X.
TMNT on Game Boy Advance was ahead of its time as a retro-relaunch and is still beloved today by those who are lucky enough to have a cartridge and GBA to play it on. The last couple of TMNT games released have felt more like straight cash-ins on the brand, but with Tribute developing, which also recently created Panzer Paladin, we could be getting something special again. Dotemu also has a history of creating high-quality retro games, having published the likes of Streets of Rage 4 and, eventually, Windjammers 2.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge will hit PC and consoles, though they did not announce which ones. No release date is set. It’s possible it will line up with the upcoming TMNT film from Seth Rogen, though they aren’t connected.
