Back in the days of better coin opportunities, every bowling alley and milk bar put out a siren song. More often than not, it was the demo mode sound bite of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic strip from 1987. Few could resist the shell-out that followed. That was the Turtle power of Konami’s arcade cabinet.
It didn’t matter if you already had plans for your money at this point. You and your three buddies would change financial course toward that coin slot. Minutes later, your crew would perish. Full fees sunk into the non-result of a Game Over screen.
You wouldn’t sigh. Because damn, you just have to say. For ten minutes you were Raphael, stomping feet with your band of brave brothers. You couldn’t wait to go again, despite knowing you were stuck in an abusive relationship.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Cowabunga Collection
From 1989, Konami’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (and the sequel from ’91, Turtles in time) were the top of TMNT gaming. They were only recently dethroned by Tribute Games’ TMNT: Shredder’s Revengea gushing love letter that boosted the 4P to 6P and rekindled modern interest in amphibious arcade action.
After that success, you might think that a compilation of OG Turtles games couldn’t have been released at a better time. Yes and no…
On the plus side, Cowabunga Collection represents a 13-game extravaganza – more turtles than you can poke a bo staff at. The final piece are the two previously mentioned arcade cabinets with online multi-support. They’re flanked by some largely redundant console conversions, a few console-exclusive curiosities, handheld filler, and several thousand “pages” of bonus content.
The home versions here include the following NES titles: TMNT, TMNT II, TMNT III and TMNT: Tournament Fighters. The latest Street Fighter II wannabe is hardly needed as an online-enabled SNES version is available alongside that console’s version Turtles in time. On the other side of the console wars we have the Mega Drives tournament fighters version, plus an online-enabled TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist.
The latter is an oddity. Many of its levels are taken from Turtles in time, but they are five environments instead of eleven (although they last longer horizontally). It also offers faster action (same with the soundtrack), stronger enemies and an exclusive Tatsu boss. In terms of uniqueness you could hardly call it an old block Splinter. And, with a maximum of 2 players, certainly no master splinter.
Last but not least, we have three monochromatic monstrosities. If you didn’t grow up with Gameboy titles, it’s best to set your expectations somewhere below sewer level. Without rose-colored glasses, you’ll be amazed at the graphics of TMNT: Fall of The Foot Clan, TMNT II: Back From The Sewers and TMNT III: Radical Rescue. They are basically Kung Fu Master and basic platforming.
As you would expect, the following modern conveniences come with more or less all of the above. You can remap, rewind, save, and set the aspect ratio to 1:1, Full or Wide (stretch) the controls as you see fit. As for the aesthetics, you can switch a bit of game-specific border art and apply different scanlines such as TV, LCD and monitor.
On a more detailed level, each individual game has its own improvements. For example, the 8-bit titles offer elimination of delays/sprite flickers, plus a range of ‘easier mode’ adjustments. More often than not, the 16-bit versions also feature extra lives, speed tweaks, and unlocked playable bosses.
My personal favorite tweaks: The arcade versions include a ‘Nightmare mode’ to double the number of enemies on screen. There is also a God mode, level selection and Penalty Bomb Removal. (For you youngsters, it was cock movements coded to kill you faster.)
Apart from the fighting game kind of tournament fighters, the rest of the titles are a fairly even spread of beat ’em ups and 2D platformers. Usually they are all sedate and self-explanatory, although a common theme among them is brutal difficulty when in charge. Fortunately, you can pause at any time and pull out what is basically a “Strategy Guide.pdf” for any game. Nice touch.
Isn’t that easy enough for you? Well, the ability to be a half-dressed hero in half a shell also exists here. Just highlight a game from the main menu and press a button to “watch” the AI play it for you. Hell, you can even fast-forward to any point in that preset procedure, hit play and then take over the action. Pretty impressive stuff.
Unfortunately, some of Digital Eclipse’s other “improvements” are not appreciated. For starters, there’s a major disruption in the audio department. That 1989 siren song I mentioned earlier? It’s been re-recorded and sounds rather crap. You also pick it up twice: once at the title screen and then again when the rom boots up for the arcade game.
Did it have to be redone because of licensing? Or did Konami hear something? Shredder’s Revenge did with Mike Patton and try to compete? Whatever the reasoning, listening to this is like Tin Grin’s gloves going over a blackboard.
That whole theme of “Shredder’s Revenge does it better” haunts this entire production. Tribute Games’ take on these beat ’em ups is superior in every stat, be it gameplay complexity, drop-in-and-out co-op, maximum player counts, selectable heroes and more.
The only area Cowabunga Collectionn has this feisty newcomer to the memorabilia stake. From the get-go, you can dive into a fully stocked and unlocked Turtles Lair, made after the OG cartoon digs. Tasteful in this virtual room is an extensive BGM player with cassette collection. You can also browse hi-res advertising flyers, game boxes, media kits, comic covers, character design documents, game manuals, and TV season stills. All together I counted 3,000 pages of things to look at.
Overall, that sewer hole of extras is probably the impetus that diehard fans need to dive right in. Overall though Cowabunga Collection is much harder to sell to passing fans in a post-Shredder’s Revenge world.
Basically, many of the major draw cards here live or die on whether you can pick up three other people (preferably on a single bank). When you achieve that, those exemplary beat ’em ups can still shine like a freshly tortoiseshell-waxed Chrome Dome. That said, when it comes to the durability factor of the supporting titles, they have legs that are shorter than a Mouser.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Cobabunga Collection has been reviewed on PS5 using a digital copy provided by the publisher.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Cobabunga Collection
Pros
Still some of the best 4P co-op currently available
A wealth of bonus material
Exemplary comfort/extra options
cons
Remade theme is shockingly awful
OG beat ’em ups surpassed by 2022 remake
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