Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows, Nintendo Switch (reviewed on Xbox Series X)
Developer: Digital solar eclipse
Publisher: Konami
Genre: Action/Arcade/Beat Em Up
Rating: Teen
Buy on Amazon
Are you a party animal? Are you cool but rude? Are you a leader, a reporter, a hockey player or a mechanic? With “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection” you can be all of that and more.
“The Cowabunga Collection” collects all TMNT video games from the arcades, the 8-bit and 16-bit era of the 80s and 90s, and includes a whopping 13 games published between 1989 and 1994. For kids of the time, this was the golden age of gaming and Nintendo reigned supreme. Of the 13 games in the collection, only 4 were not on a Nintendo system.
Some of these games are still mentioned in “Best of” lists, including “TMNT: The Arcade Game” and “TMNT IV: Turtles In Time”. Arcade fighters picked up steam with games like “Bad Dudes” and “Double Dragon” and Konami wanted to get in on the arcade action. With the Ninja Turtles exploding into the mainstream with the original animated series, young gamers were ripe for a combination of both. When the arcade game was released in 1989, every kid in a Batman Converse and acid wash jeans dropped a quarter into that machine, featuring four-player action, cartoon voice clips, and the epic theme song that popped when not in use. Shortly after the arcade release, the NES version of the game hit home consoles and the rest is history.
The obvious highlights of this collection are the games that are most well known: “TMNT: The Arcade Game”, “Turtles In Time” and “Tournament Fighters”, but also included in this collection are the often overlooked Game Boy games as well as “TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist” for the Sega Genesis. The first two Game Boy games are action side scrollers, but the third and final TMNT game for the original Game Boy, “Radical Rescue”, was a Metroidvania-esque platformer in which the player started out as Michaelangelo trying to kill his brothers. rescue by collecting keys cards to get through different locked parts of the game. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist” was often mistaken for the Sega version of “Turtles In Time”, but it was a brand new game. It had half as many levels as “Turtles In Time”, but the levels were longer, the story was new, and there was even a grueling gauntlet battle against a slew of enemy bosses.
As for the arcade games released in this collection, it’s not the first time some of these games have been released for newer console generations, but the versions on “The Cowabunga Collection” come complete with online multiplayer and couch co-op. . “The Hyperstone Heist” also comes with two-player online co-op to show some love to the Genesis fans of the time. Unfortunately, the most disappointing aspect of the collection is that the NES and SNES games do not offer online playability. I understand the development of the feature may be extensive to include, but if they can add it to the other games for consoles of the same generation, how hard would it have been to include it? “TMNT IV: Turtles In Time” for the SNES is the most revered of all TMNT games and was left behind for “The Hyperstone Heist” according to developers, because “they wanted to give Sega fans some love.” Without Nintendo, there would be no “Cowabunga Collection” in the first place.
Aside from the games in this collection, one of the coolest features that Digital Eclipse is known for but has far outdone itself with “The Cowabunga Collection” and that would be the digital museum. This aspect is a love letter to the games included in the collection and to the fans who grew up in this era of gaming. Not only are all game boxes and manuals digitally scanned, but there are tons of additional features, such as concept and character illustrations, a music player for select songs from each game, comic book cover archives, and… the absolute coolest tribute to the era.. a “gaming magazine” section for each game. Opening the game-specific guide will give you fun facts, tips, and tricks, complete with videos of areas or items all described with that crazy TMNT flair. This alone is worth the entrance fee.
While Digital Eclipse and Konami can’t give fans everything they wanted with this collection, it goes beyond what anyone could have imagined. While I’ve always wished for something like “The Cowabunga Collection”, I never thought I’d actually have it in my hand. In some ways it can be considered a museum piece, “The Cowabunga Collection” is a collection of games that are still fun and relevant 30+ years later. It’s great to be able to play the arcade games online with friends again and to have four game systems worth of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games available in all their glory at the touch of a button is absolutely radical! Fans of any generation of the Ninja Turtles on any console will enjoy this journey of gaming nostalgia. So grab a pizza (with or without worms and peanut butter), a Mountain Dew and some controllers and put the evil Shredder and the horrifying Krang in their place.
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