Developer: Digital solar eclipse
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: Switch, Xbox One, Playstation 4 (Rated), PC, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X|S
Publication date: now available
Price: $39.99 – Available here

Overview

It’s been a while since Konami dived into their vault to release some hidden treasure – and they certainly make up for the lost time. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection brings thirteen games into one collection and celebrates almost every title released during the 8- and 16-bit era. With plenty of fan service and all the pizza you can eat, is this collection worth a shell? Let’s find out.

Story

There are thirteen games in this collection, so that’s a total of thirteen different stories. Rather than listing the details of each, it’s much better to state that most consist of saving your friends or April from evil, with the usual bunch of bad guys playing their part as antagonists. The games in the pack tell their own story and provide a history lesson of a franchise fighting to stay relevant as it went through a decade of arcade titles making the transition to consoles. The games also offer more dialogue and story as they progress over time, which was due to the upgrades in hardware and technology that evolved so quickly during that period.

All included games are as follows:

  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (Super Nintendo)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Super Nintendo)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Sega Genesis)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Sega Genesis)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of The Foot Clan (Game Boy)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Il: Back From The Sewers (Game Boy)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue (Game Boy)

Gameplay

This is what matters because even with 13 games, a bunch of duds can ruin the entire collection. I think it’s better for this review to talk about what works and what doesn’t – as a few of these titles show their age in more ways than one. The original TMNT for the arcade is fantastic, and while the NES version doesn’t quite have the same speed or quality, it does offer a few extra stages, as well as a slight variation with bosses inside. That’s something that happened a lot during this time, as arcade titles would transition to a platform in a weakened state – but bring in a few extra goods to make up for the shortcomings. At the time, that was okay, and it still is now, even though the arcade selection in general has the greater replay value with friends.

Frankly, most of these titles are clones of other games that were original IPs. Almost all titles here are notes from: Double dragon and other popular beat-em-up games from the era. tournament fightersDespite differences from the superior SNES version, it leans a bit towards the success of Street Fighter II, while the Game Boy titles were only limited versions of the whole. Sure, the Game Boy titles are fine and Radical rescue is a nice change of pace because of the exploration bits (because it plays closer to something like Castlevania), but personally I found the handheld games to be a nice novelty or bonus, but nothing that really stuck with me for too long because of their simplistic nature. Of course I’m excited about the recording, but I think most will spend a lot of time with Turtles in time, tournament fightersand Hyperstone Heist – which added a lot of speed and great quality of life improvements to the overall formula.

This was a time when licensed IPs got away with copying, and that’s perfectly fine here, because it makes these titles better games. There’s still so much originality, even with the similar stages and styling, that most won’t mind how a theme feels that falls on what was already a classic and fluid experience. The extras here are just phenomenal. Each game has its own manual with color graphics and details for movesets and so on, which most will appreciate. There’s also a vault called the “Turtle’s Lair,” which contains comics, box art, and so much more that hardcore fans of the franchise can take a good time sifting through it all. As for playing online, well, that’s really the only miss. With only four titles with compatibility, none felt very smooth during my attempts with input latency and frequent disconnects during my various sessions. That said, this is hands down the best non-Sega/Capcom compilation yet, a treasure trove for Turtles fans.

Images

I could write about differences between the console and arcade titles in this pack as there’s a lot to talk about from a graphics standpoint, which is another history lesson. That said, this is a review of the collection and not a Wikipedia article, so most of the focus should really be on how well optimized they are for current platforms. No title looks bad or grainy (default), with each title retaining its original speeds with a silky smooth emulation. The filters are also a nice touch, even if some feel more like an add-on that tries to mimic the effects of previous televisions and cabinets, rather than actually mimic them. I think Capcom has gotten better at this over time, and Konami and Digital Eclipse still did a great job capturing the original look, but could still take a few lessons to learn how to use these filters. can be implemented in a sharper presentation.

audio

Licensed or not, most of these soundtracks are legendary for a reason. Each title retains the quality of the original audio and sounds great as you dive back into each adventure. The sound effects are great too, and of course the game has some sort of jukebox for players to mess around with, as well as a whole host of other audio options. That main theme is great as it is, and the remixed offerings of menus are equally endearing to longtime fans and newcomers alike.

General

From the top down, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection perhaps the most lovingly made compilation to date. Despite a few odd quirks here and the actual quality of every title involved in this set, there’s no question that this was made by fans, for fans. Sure, the turtles may not be as relevant at the mainstream level as they once were, but this game captures that era, allowing players to relive the good times and escape back to them. If you’re looking for Turtle Power at a great price then look no further as everything else outside of the real pizza can be found in this great collection.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.