🐢⚔️ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge XBOX Review 9/10 "It’s More Than Worth… 'Shelling Out' For!" 🐢⚔️ @PixelHunted @Dotemu #IndieGames #GameDev

Shameless nostalgia tweaking usually doesn’t do much for me. It’s self-indulgent, a crutch for lazy writing, and once the initial thrill of “ooh, I recognize that” is out of the way things rapidly get boring.

But Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge was a laser-guided missile of early 90s bliss aimed right at my heart, and I was powerless to resist.

Like most ten-year-old boys in 1990 I was bitten by Ninja Turtle fever: I loved the Saturday morning cartoon, was ecstatic at receiving any Turtles branded toy, have vivid memories of watching the movies, and – on one sun-dappled holiday to France – feeding endless francs into Konami’s scrolling beat-em-up.

So when DotEmu’s latest started with a beautiful cover of the TV show theme I basically turned into a small pile of happy 90s kid goo. That continued throughout the game, with every corner crammed full of half-forgotten memories.

I had most of the bosses as toys (Leatherhead was my fave), each Turtle’s animation brims over with personality, and the incredible score (literally featuring the Wu-Tang Clan) is a delight.

It’s also a dream to play, though the experience changes significantly the more players you add. In single player expect a tough but fair strategically minded beat-em-up that rewards timing, smart prioritizing, and mastering each character’s move list. Bump that up to six simultaneous players (all four Turtles, plus April O’Neill, Splinter, and Casey Jones) and it’s an explosion of chaos.

Somehow this tangle all holds together, though when two or more players are simultaneously popping up off an effects-heavy special the screen simply becomes a storm of flashing lights and overlapping cries of “cowabunga”.

If you’re a real negative nancy you might think 16 levels and a total game time of about 2 1/2 hours is a little stingy, but each stage is so full to the brim with detail and fun little references to the cartoon that I’d prefer this concentrated slab of fun rather than trying to dilute it.

Each character plays differently enough to justify repeat playthroughs and killing a few minutes by jumping into a hosted game and bashing some foot ninjas hasn’t gotten old yet.