Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection: A Radical Compilation of Classics Games.
Available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Playstation, and Xbox (Price $39.99)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been around for over 40 years starting off in the comics, and later spanning into cartoons, movies, and video games. This compilation collects 13 video games from the early years of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise being mostly based around the 1980s cartoon. These are games from the Game Boy (GB), Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Sega Genesis, and the Arcade. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, is a fun compilation filled with cool, retro games worth playing.
Features/Extras: Each game will allow you to play as any of the four turtles, and the Tournament Fighter games have additional characters to play as. Each game has a rewind feature, a save state, and a walkthrough mode, which is very helpful when playing some of these games. You can also continuously add coins in the two arcade games. The gameboy games you can add the color to them or not. There is a “Turtle Lair,” which has some cool content including concept art, box art, and the soundtrack for each game. You can also view comic book covers from the franchise, and images from the cartoons. The extra content is worth looking through and the features for each game are really useful to use.
Each of these 13 games will be rated on a scale of 1 to 10:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES): This was the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game and a hard one. In the game the turtles are tasked with saving Splinter from the Shredder. The game is a 2D side scroller and a very difficult one with numerous enemies in each section and difficult platforming. The game has enemy types that feel very out of place and look like they belong in a different video game. The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game is a mixed first attempt, that could have done a little better. 5.5/10 Mediocre
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade): The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade beat-em-up was a good one. In the game, the turtles are tasked with rescuing April and stopping the Shredder. The game has great graphics and sound design, but the combat can get a little repetitive at times. The game is worth playing through with friends or on your own. 6.5/10 Good
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game (NES): This sequel acts at a port of the arcade game. The games graphics and sound are downgraded from the original, but they are still good. The game makes up for it with good controls and extra levels. The graphics are still good with detailed level design and the controls are simple, but the gameplay can get a little repetitive. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game is an improvement on the first NES game, but a bit of a downgrade from the arcade game. 6/10 Good
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Manhattan Project (NES): This game acts as a threequel to the arcade port with new levels and a new story. In the game, the turtles are enjoying a nice vacation until Shredder lifts up Manhattan from the Earth, and kidnaps April. Now they have to fight their way back to New York, take back their city and save April. The game improves upon the second game, with a better story, combat, graphics, and level design. The animation and combat is much better with more varied attacks from the turtles, and the foot. The levels are well made and have much more variety, with unique locations like such as beach, a bridge, and the Technodrome. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: The Manhattan Project is the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game on the NES and a fun game to play through alone or with a friend. 8/10 Great
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles In Time (Arcade): In the game, the Statue of Liberty has been stolen by Krang and Shredder and it is up to the turtles to get it back. However, the Shredder sends them back in time, and now the turtles fight their way through history to stop him. Each level has a unique setting to it with one set in prehistory, and the other on a train. The combat is fluent and responsive with you being able to beat up the bad guys as one of the four turtles, and even throw them towards the screen. There are also some hoverboarding sections that are a nice change of pace. Turtles in Time is a great game that improves upon the first arcade game in every way possible, and is fun to play alone, or with friends. 9/10 Amazing
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4: Turtles In Time (SNES): This port of the Arcade game may replace 4 player co-op with 2 player co-op, but makes up for it by improving the game in a few ways. The game keeps the animation and style from the arcade, and still has quality control. The game adds in two extra stages, a life bar for bosses, and changes some of them for certain stages, with Tokka and Razzar being swapped out for Bebop and Rocksteady in the pirate ship stage, and even wear outfits that fit with the time period. The game also gives you a much bigger health bar so you don’t easily loose any lives. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4: Turtles In Time is a great arcade port that I would recommend playing through. 9.3/10 Amazing
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Hyperstone Heist (Sega): In the game, the Statue of Liberty has been stolen by Krang and Shredder and it is up to the turtles to get it back. However, they also have to stop the Shredder from taking over the world, using a powerful artifact, known as the hyper stone. The game is similar to Turtles in Time with similar story elements and gameplay, but has a different art-style, soundtrack, and levels. You will play through five long stages taking out bad guys and fighting bosses at the end of each one. The soundtrack has a few songs from Turtles in Time, but the rest of them is new, and very good. The gameplay is great, but the dash attack drains your health, every time you hit an enemy with it, which feels a bit of an unnecessary effect. The levels are fun to play through and very well designed with the first stage having you explore both the streets of New York, and its sewers, another having you explore a ship and a cave, and the other having a dojo. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyper Stone Heist is an incredible game with great controls, level design, and graphics. 9/10 Amazing
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fall Of The Foot Clan (GB): In the game, you play as the turtles and are tasked with rescuing April O’Neil. The game is a short side scroller with simple controls and great sound design. This short 2D side scroller is very fun to play through and can grow into a good challenge each level. 7.5/10 Good
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 Back From The Sewers (GB): Much like the first game, this one is a short side scroller with simple controls and great sound design. It does have some more detailed character models, and backgrounds. It also has some bonus sections, and a few beat-em-up sections to mix things up. This is a good sequel to the first Game Boy game. 7.5/10 Good
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Radical Rescue (GB): In the game, three of the turtles and April have been kidnapped by the Shredder, and now it is up to Michelangelo to rescue them. The game is a metroidvania, rather than just a linear 2D side scroller like the previous games. You can find hearts to upgrade your life bar and pizza to regain health. The game has good controls and unlocking the other turtles will help open up new areas. The bosses are a good challenge, but the navigating the area is very tricky and it feels like you need to pull up a strategy guide most of the time. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Radical Rescue is a good game, and worth playing for anyone who likes classic Metroid. 7/10 Good
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters (NES): The NES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters is decent enough to play through a few times. The game only has the turtles as playable characters, and each one has their own special moves. This version of the game is simple, but decent. 6/10 Okay
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters (SNES): This is the superior version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters with better controls, and a variety of characters. This is a game that would definitely please fans of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Street Fighter. 6.5/10 Okay
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters (Sega): This version of the game is better than the NES in terms of graphics, but is still far from the best version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters. The game has a good variety of characters, but gameplay is still limited to two buttons. 6.2/10 Okay
In Conclusion: While some of the games are difficult, they can be enhanced with some of the extra features. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Cowabunga Collection is a great compilation of the first 13 video games from the franchise, with a ton of great features to enhance your game experience and a ton of great memorabilia to look through once in a while. This is a compilation I would hapilly recommend to anyone who is a fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
8/10: Great