Out on Gamepass for Xbox, available on all platforms, reviewed on Nintendo Switch (because I have 6 controllers for that system to take full advantage of SIX player co op)

If you grew up in the 80s, and were a fan of the TMNT, then you more than likely burned more than your fair share of quarters in the TMNT arcade cabinet. Over the years, that game has been ported to consoles, along with its much improved counterpart, Turtles In Time.

This new installment is a massive nostalgia kick, while still remaining a fresh experience with some added gameplay mechanics. This game is done in the classic 1987 cartoon style, which I absolutely love. The multiple TMNT series that followed just never measured up in my view, both in art style and execution.

That being said, while many of the voices land really really close to their 1987 sound, it is painfully apparent that Shredder, originally voiced by the late James Avery, is a far cry from what we remember. Krang's voice is equally bad, and his signature warbling laugh is butchered here.

With as few lines as there were in the game, I'm wondering why they didn't simply just rip the lines straight from the show. Literally everything said in the game has been said numerous times in the show.

Perhaps it was a cost issue. It's not a huge deal, but it certainly pulls you off of memory lane and back onto the main highway at times.

At its core, this is still an enjoyable mostly mindless button masher as you move from left to right beating up all enemies on the screen and repeating until you reach the boss. Each of the 7 playable characters have their own distinct feel to them with ratings for range, speed, and power.

Playable for the first time in a game like this is also Splinter, April O'Neil, and Casey Jones. Haven't played as April, because it just doesn't make any sense. She was always the damsel in distress, but here she swings camera equipment, microphones, and throws roundhouse kicks. I hate to bring up woke culture, but that's really the only explanation for a playable April pulling off fighting moves we never saw in the show. Gotta have that strong female character, even if it completely goes against literal years of character development. It's whatever. We didn't play as her, so we don't know if she's any good or not.

The game introduces a nice dodge mechanic that gives the player invincibility frames for a time, helping you to easily avoid situations that would have been cheap quarter stealing deaths on the old arcade cabinet.

Additionally, different attacks can be triggered out of the dodge, sprinting, jumping, double jumping, and when in proximity to a teammate if you're teaming up.

Consecutive attacks build a super meter in the top of the screen, that can eventually be filled 3 times and can activate 3 different types of super crowd clearing attacks.

Additionally, you can pull off a taunt, and if executed fully, it earns a full super meter instantly.

Playing cooperatively, If you are KOd, your team has 10 seconds to reach you and revive you with a pizza. If you can avoid getting hit for the 3-4 second revive time, they won't lose a life and will revive at about 25% health.

You can high five a teammate and restore hp as well, so there are some nice benefits to playing with friends.

The game is 16 episodes long, and playing 4 players, we cleared each mission in about 10-15 minutes each. The story mode has some minor challenges for xp, like locating hidden items, or revealing cameos from the show.

After each mission bragging rights are posted with KO count, longest hit string, and a random award for doing a particular thing in the mission, like Tank award for soaking the most damage.

Arcade mode is your more difficult mode, with no saves and a limited amount of lives. For when you just want to sit and grind it out like the old days.

The boss fights are great, and varied, with each encounter needing to have something new figured out in order to win. It's not just mash X until he flashes, and mash X some more.

Classic villains like Shredder and Krang, Bebob and Rocksteady, Leatherhead, The Rat King, Baxter Stockman, Metalhead, Slash, and Wingnut all give that massive nostalgia kick to the 1987 TV series.

This is a great gem to pick up for just 25 bucks. I recommend getting it on the platform you have the most controllers for if you have friends over, but if that's not the case you can easily find coop games online to experience a fantastic cooperative beat em up game.

8.5/10.
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