Following the fantastic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge released last June, Digital Eclipse – developer of compilations such as Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection – has teamed up with Konami to re-release its TMNT games based on the 1987 series. Cowabunga Collection brings together 13 titles from the NES, SNES, Game Boy and Mega Drive in one radical package.
The touted 13 titles may be a bit exaggerated. There are three versions of the included games tournament fightersanother three are reruns of Turtles in Time, and two are editions of the 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game. Don’t get us wrong, these versions aren’t identical, but it’s worth noting that you really only get eight completely original games.
The stars of the show are the much-loved arcade beat-em-ups – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Turtles in Time – both of which are highly regarded by fans to this day. TMNT 1989, seen as a product of its time, is a lot of fun. However, due to the limited movement sets for each of the turtles, it can get repetitive quickly. Also included is the game’s NES port: TMNT 2: The Arcade Game, which adds two extra levels and new boss characters, but as you’d expect, it doesn’t take away from the arcade original.
Turtles in Time is generally considered the gold standard of TMNT releases, and for good reason: it took what TMNT 1989 did and stepped it up in every way possible. This time, the Turtles have a wealth of new techniques, such as special moves that affect health and a slide kick. The time travel plot of this game makes the level design much more inventive than the previous game, replacing the streets of New York with those of the prehistoric era and a fight on a train in the wild west.
Shockingly, Turtles in Time is one of the rare cases from that era where we consider the console edition to be better than the arcade original. In addition to better music, extra levels and bosses, the SNES port doesn’t offer unlimited lives like the Arcade edition, meaning you play strategically or risk losing. Also included is TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist, a Mega Drive game based heavily on Turtles in Time – it borrows music, UI, and plot elements, while re-contextualizing some stages to account for the lack of time travel (such as turning the pirate ship into a mysterious shipwreck). It’s a solid entry, but feels lacking compared to the other two.
Tournament Fighters is Konami’s attempt to capture the Street Fighter 2 craze with a Turtles flavor. Each of the three versions of the game feels radically different, each with different rosters. SNES is by far the best of the three: it’s a four-button fighter that’s more in line with SF2 with Mega Drive and NES both using two buttons. In theory, a TMNT fighter sounds great, but the selection of each version leaves a lot to be desired. Characters like Splinter, Bebop and Rocksteady are totally absent, while others like Krang, April and Casey are only part of the inferior Mega Drive and NES versions.
Rounding out the collection is TMNT for the NES, which is – to put it politely – terrible. TMNT 3: The Manhattan Project, is a beat-em-up sequel to the NES port of the arcade game, and the absolute best of the NES trilogy. Finally, there’s the Game Boy trilogy of Fall of the Foot Clan, Back from the Sewers, and Radical Rescue. The previous two are extremely simple side-scrollers, consisting almost entirely of side-to-side combat.
For us, the nicest surprise in the entire collection is TMNT 3: Radical Rescue, a game that – for the Game Boy – is incredibly impressive. Rather than continuing the side-scroller efforts of the previous game, TMNT 3 is a Metroidvania, a genre that Konami would later revolutionize. You start the game as Michelangelo and set out to rescue the other Turtles. Each turtle has a specific ability – Mikey can spin his claws to soar, Donnie can climb walls, and so on – allowing you to see more of the map. It may not be up to the great Metroidvanias, but it’s a solid game for its time and we’re excited to be playing again.
So, what’s new in the collection? Aside from the stuff you’re used to like screen filters and rewind features, each game comes with its own set of “improvements” such as God mode, bosses in Tournament Fighters, and even the removal of delay and sprite flickering in the NES. spell. Each game also has its own in-game strategy guide with video tips and other musings. You also have the option to view a playthrough of any game with the option to jump in at any time. Online play is also available for TMNT 1989, Turtles in Time arcade, Hyperstone Heist, and Tournament Fighters SNES. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a game during the review period.
Cowabunga Collection hosts one of the best gallery modes we’ve ever seen in a collection like this. The Turtle Lair has the usual suspects like concept art and soundtracks. It also has screens from the four shows, sprite sheets, scans of each game’s boxes in both the US and Japan, comic book covers, and even magazine ads for the games. It even has its own search function, so if you just want to see pictures of Mikey (the best Turtle) it will curate them from each category.
Conclusion
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cobabunga Collection is a great pack. While not every game is a winner – and many of them are variants of other games in the collection – there’s still a lot to love. It brings two of the most beloved beat ’em ups in history to modern platforms and is home to some hidden gems like Radical Rescue. This has all been polished up with a host of great improvements and the fantastic Turtle Lair gallery, which – for any TMNT fan – could be worth the price of admission alone.
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