Ahhh, Ninja Turtles, this license of which I don't know much and which came to me after my other half shouted "Oh so good, I want to play together!!" when I announced the titles to come. It must be said that unlike me, the latter has half a dozen T-shirts bearing the image of the band, owns all the comics and has seen the various films and anime about 18 times. Smart as I am, I figured it might help me figure out all this schmilblick, and I installed the game on my Nintendo Switch OLED.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : Shredder's Revenge , or TMNT for friends, is developed by the Quebecers of Tribute Games, a studio having rubbed shoulders with different styles of games in the past, and having offered the very good Mercenary Kings at the time. Point of guns on the other hand here, we are faced with a Beat'em Up which takes us directly to the best moments of the Arcade, the Super Nintendo or even the Megadrive. Except that it's still much finer than at the time! Indeed, although the game is relatively short (allow 3 hours to complete each level once), it manages to amaze us throughout its 16 stages.
We are immersed in familiar territory from the intro cutscene which, even for a newbie like me, directly echoes the animated series of the time. The different environments that we then explore will appeal – if I believe the enlightened eye of my playmate – for sure to aficionados of the license. With a more neutral look, I still note that the pixel art is damn good, the sets are rich in detail, the animations are crazy and each character has unique reactions that made me smile several times. Everything technically holds up since the game displays flawless fluidity on Switch, whether in portable or docked mode.
In addition to its fabulous artistic flair, the game features an energetic soundtrack that wonderfully punctuates the different stages visited. Special mention to the intro music that I enjoy listening to each time the game starts! On the handling side, I immediately thought of Streets of Rage browsing the first level, while my sidekick, meanwhile, made the connection with the SNES opus TMNT IV : Turtles in Time. A little frightened by the tutorial on 21 "slides" which informs about the different possible combos, I finally succeeded after a few levels in taming the game which is above all accessible, even if it means sometimes giving the impression of lacking a real depth. Alone, we manage to have fun despite the low number of enemies, thanks to really well done impacts. However, the panache arrives when one or more friends decide to join the game. We find ourselves faced with a formidable stuffing with effects all over the screen and a slight almost constant tremor of the edges which makes the action all the more punchy, without ever losing screen readability (at least at 2 and 3 players, as I was able to test). All is not rosy, however. I'm afraid that at 6, the readability will take a little hit in the teeth, even if the propensity to succeed in group combos is statistically higher.
To complicate the task a little, we can get down to finding the secrets of each level and achieving the challenges. The secrets are not very complex when you search every corner, the challenges on the other hand will oppose a certain difficulty as they are varied. Before completing a level without taking a hit, I'm going to need a little more time (I readily admit to being bad at this style of play)! For the more courageous, you can tackle the higher difficulty levels that will put your nerves to the test. The bosses will also put up a lot of resistance, with certain patterns to memorize so as not to take too much damage.
TMNT Shredder's Revenge is a very good game that reconciled me with the local multiplayer that I had been shying away from for too long. Although the initial adventure is short, it can be replayed without worry with each of the six characters (seven once you complete the adventure for the first time to unlock Casey Jones) to have a slightly different ending and thoroughly improve the statistics of each of the heroes. Assuming that you like to finish your games several times, the title published by Dotemu should keep you going for a good ten hours without any problem!
