I was shell-shocked in the best possible way.
Developer Digital Eclipse has spent much of the last decade refining its retro video game collection, from Capcom classics like Mega Man and Street Fighter to SNK gems like Samurai Shodown and Crystalis. Working with Capcom has also led to modern revivals of Disney licensed games such as DuckTales and Aladdin, with Digital Eclipse breaking into more vaults to revive and commemorate his ’80s licensed work. provided a fascinating view into the world we were allowed to do. 90’s. That world is coming to life as Digital Eclipse collaborates with Konami and Nickelodeon to work on his one of the best retro compilations he’s ever seen with Teenage His Mutant His Ninja Turtles. I have. and arcade. The emulation is great, the features are numerous, and the old game descriptions and accessibility are some of the best I’ve seen from his one of these packages. Some of these games may be outdated overall, but you probably won’t find a version of him that plays better.
Before we dive into the details of the robust lineup, the overall package is great, but it can be a little confusing at first. First, there is a complete list of all 13 games and their corresponding Japanese counterparts when available. This is how you play games on Switch under normal circumstances. Two other menus are available for online play and multi-system local play, featuring four games: two arcade fighting games, a Genesis-exclusive Hyperstone Heist, and an SNES version of Tournament Fighters. Wouldn’t it be cool if all games with multiplayer could be played online? Sure, but the selection available for online play is 3 fighting games (2 supporting 4 players) and 3 fighting games Hit the appropriate note, including the highest version.
All games have fully remappable buttons and a list of various enhancements. All the side-scrolling action has some kind of level selection, unlimited lives, or an easy mode, making even the most difficult areas and boss fights beatable for just about anyone. No enhancements make the challenging gameplay of the first TMNT game on the NES easier, but the rewind feature available in every console game is sprinkled throughout its intriguing failed adventures. It helps avoid a mountain of pitfalls. My favorite extension is one of my third Gameboy games. The subtitle is Radical Rescue. This changes the dotted map he icon to a more specific kind of location, as if it were part of the game 20 years ago. With so many options, all 13 of these games are the best you’ll ever play, at least outside of the arcade games in the Pizza Hut lobby. As with previous Digital Eclipse collections, you can join and take over at any time while watching the game play out to the end.
In addition to the games, this collection also includes a number of collectible ephemera. You can browse box art from different regions, various advertisements, and a wealth of design documentation. This is probably not Digital Eclipse’s fault, but rather the fact that they’ve put together a collection of decades-old Japanese video games. Design documents are fun to flip through, even if they are in Japanese. Among all the cool ads and box art you see, the most useful piece of additional content is the Strategy Guide. These guides are accessible from any in-game pause menu and provide a well-organized explanation of each game’s quirks in a very playful way. The moves are detailed, the secrets are teased, and for the Metroidvania Game Boy game Radical Rescue, a detailed game map is included in the guide.
13 games are included, but not all of these 13 games are created equal. Some of them are more bad than good, but the fact that they’re all included is great because you can see the oeuvre of Turtles games from that era. Need to spend a lot of time? Definitely not, but it’s nice to see the difference between the comical late 1994 NES release and the Super Nintendo and Genesis releases. There’s a reason the SNES version of Tournament Fighters is playable online, but the Genesis version is an acceptable adaptation and the NES version is a hell of a curio. other at the same time.
Side-scrolling action dominates the lineup, with the original arcade and its NES version, the NES-exclusive Manhattan Project, three versions of Turtles in Time for arcade, Super Nintendo, and Genesis’ Hyperstone Heist. Technically he knows Hyperstone Heist isn’t Turtles in Time, but it’s more of a remix. In any case, the old fighting games show more age than I expected, but Teenage released in 2022 his Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredders his revenge on these his 90s games Even though it’s an idealized version of , the latter is still a lot of fun. These games may have different nostalgic mileage. While the SNES version of Turtles in Time was a game I played repeatedly over the years, Manhattan Project and Hyperstone Heist have only been played sporadically over the past 30 years.
A game I didn’t expect to enjoy a lot from the Cowabunga Collection was the first NES Turtles game, famous for its electrifying seaweed and grueling difficulty. The addition of Rewind is game-changing for me and makes me understand this borderline unfair and unbalanced ambition of his 80s action games. This still includes enemies that respawn with the slightest movement of the screen, but you can now use powerful sub-weapons on rewind.
The hidden gem of this collection is undoubtedly TMNT: Radical Rescue. This is an ambitious and solid Metroidvania Game Boy game. You start as Michelangelo and must navigate a maze of rooms to fight bosses, find items, and rescue your brother. A decent in-game map is built into the game, but collection enhancements and strategy guides provide even more detail. It’s like a game that never existed. The quality of life here has improved a bit. Two of his other Game Boy games round out the collection, but they’re one of his weaker ones included. It’s not that they’re totally terrible, but with their chunky sprites and clunky controls, they’re iconic for their time.The most appealing aspect of his first two Gameboy games is how Radical Rescue builds quality It means whether you are doing it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection is one of the best retro packages I’ve ever played, offering a near-perfect encapsulation of the Turtles games of the time while presenting them in the best possible way. present in a way. You can play it roughly as it came out, or take advantage of the expansion and rewind features to get past any hard spots. Or maybe you just want to see a Hyperstone Heist playthrough . The Cowabunga Collection offers many ways to experience the Turtles games of the 80’s and his 90’s, and can be enjoyed by anyone interested in the Turtles and their video game exploits. This is really radical.
