Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate leads an avalanche of recent great nostalgia-inspired licensed games
11.4.2024
By Chris Baker, Contributor
But yo, Joe—those days may be returning. If you’re looking for games based on some of your favorite ‘80s and ‘90s IPs, the Epic Games Store has more than meets the eye. Here are six recent releases that may have you screaming “cowabunga!” as you wax (on, wax off) nostalgic for when gaming was in diapers.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate
Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, popular licensed IPs were known to simply slap their own skin on top of whatever was popular and call it a day, often leaving fans disappointed at an obvious lack of attempted innovation. But somehow, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles largely avoided this. Oh, they totally aped other popular games—absolutely guilty there. Their two classic arcade games are both cartoonish Final Fight knock-offs. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters Super NES game that is still part of fighting-game tournaments today? It might as well have been called “Teenage Mutant Ninja Street Fighters.” Yet somehow, it all just…worked. (Not so much Tournament Fighters on Genesis and NES. We don’t talk about those ports.)
Continuing the Turtles’ grand tradition of cloning what’s popular and yielding something absolutely worth playing, this Wednesday’s TMNT: Splintered Fate probably wouldn’t exist without the popularity of the Epic Games Store’s own first monster hit Hades. Developer Super Evil Megacorp has super-nicely incorporated the same roguelike mechanics, the same narrative structure, the same view of the action, and the same…well, lots of other things.
But there's one key difference. Whereas Hades sends you to Greek mythology’s hell and back as Zagreus, Splintered Fate sends you to the actual hell of New York City’s sewers and back with your choice of any hero in a half-shell, each with his own unique fighting style. It even takes one big step further than either Hades release, as online and couch co-op allows for all four Turtles to participate at once. For a game genre that prides itself on every run feeling unique, simply adding one to three other Turtles to the mix only enhances that.
Even in single-player, Splintered Fate excels in its promise of variety for each run, just like Hades. For example, the early procedurally generated jaunt to fight Leatherhead could pit you against a barrage of Foot Soldiers in one attempt, only to throw you against a monster-sized rat miniboss you didn’t even see upon your next run. Make no mistake: Shredder is going to dine on turtle soup tonight… a lot. This game will kill you many times over.
But you’ll welcome the challenge. Not only because you’ll grow a little bit stronger and proceed just a little bit further with each run, but also because the story accommodates all that. (Yeah, yeah, just like Hades.) Nine deaths in and nine different explanations as to how you’re still alive and kicking later, you’ll start to wonder just how much writing this game actually has. If you get too good, you might start to feel as though you’re actually missing something by not dying enough. This is something only a truly great Hades-like can offer, along with countless other little touches you should experience for yourself.
Free of any comparisons, old-school Turtles fans will appreciate the overall aesthetic. While the art style definitely feels more modern than the 1987 animated series and includes newer fan-favorite characters like Karai, it also reflects more of a natural evolution of that than other recent games based on the 2012 animated series or the Mutant Mayhem film (both great in their own way). You could almost consider this a lost Turtles episode—the one where Shredder kills them like 107 times.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Whereas Splintered Fate succeeds at exploring a new genre for the Turtles, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge absolutely revels in returning them to their arcade roots. Tribute Games lives up to its name, offering a spiritual successor to Konami’s beat-'em-up classics that manages to evolve its formula while also feeling straight out of that awkward era in pop culture where we all transitioned from big hair and loud colors to bowl cuts and flannel.
Check that: Shredder’s Revenge is more like our memories from early-’90s gaming. Neither the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles nor Turtles in Time offer the move sets, animation sequences, or even fan service at this level of complexity, all wrapped up in a graphical style that screams “16-bit” without actually being possible on a Super NES or Genesis. You could make the case that this game has led a recent neo-retro revolution (that might just have influenced another game or two on this list).
Whereas all four Turtles more or less played the same in the arcade games—with Donatello’s reach being the most notable difference between heroes—each plays quite differently in Shredder’s Revenge. (You won’t even actively avoid being Raphael!) April and Splinter also join the six-player fisticuffs, and Casey Jones is unlockable by beating the game. Very recent DLC also welcomes Radical Reptiles Mondo Gecko and Mona Lisa plus Usagi Yojimbo, Karai, and several new modes in Dimension Shellshock.
If those names mean something to you, congratulations—you know your teenage mutants at middle-aged mutant level, and you’ve just scratched the surface of all the easter eggs and references Shredder’s Revenge has in store. While you don’t get to play as the likes of April’s coworkers Verne, Burne, and Irma, for instance, each has their own side quest, highlighting the game’s focus on secondary objectives that make everything incredibly replayable, from Channel 6 to Dimension X. Expected boss fights from Shredder, Krang, Rocksteady, Bebop, and other antagonistic staples pervade, joined by true deep cuts such as Groundchuck, Dirtbag, and Tempestra.
You wiki-ed at least one of those names just now, didn’t you? Shredder’s Revenge may just be the best Turtles tribute of all time. Grab the Ultimate Edition so you don’t miss a thing.
G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra
And you thought the name “Tribute Games” was on the nose. In late September, a publisher called Freedom Games released G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra (developed by the real Canadian heroes at Maple Powered Games). The game has a lot in common with Shredder’s Revenge—mostly the whole “playing like we remember games playing, not how they did” thing. There's one big difference, though: There was never a G.I. Joe beat-em-up like this to attach the nostalgia to. Instead, it actually feels very Marvel.
At face value, Wrath of Cobra most closely resembles Data East’s Captain America and the Avengers, with character sprites smaller than typical Konami and Capcom fare, plus onomatopeias like WHAM and POW when you and up to three friends fight for Freedom (Games) wherever there’s trouble. The four-player action might not quite match the six-player magic of Konami’s X-Men, but just like how Cyclops, Wolverine, and team featured distinct play styles, so too do Duke, Snake-Eyes, Scarlett, and Roadblock. Meanwhile, the fact that these elite military personnel fight with their fists unless an enemy drops a gun—you’re literally putting up Duke’s dukes—feels straight out of Capcom’s The Punisher. Like Shredder’s Revenge, each character features a robust menagerie of basic attacks, plus taunts and specials.
The game doesn’t take itself too seriously either, with intentionally cheesy cutscenes and even head-scratching quirks. For example, defeated enemies burst into 3.5-inch floppies when defeated for some reason. Use them as currency to power your heroes up or to play as Gung-Ho and Ripcord. (What, no Shipwreck?!)
And there's also the theme song that greets you when you boot up the game, which is basically an unreleased B-side for that hair-metal band whose name you never quite caught when you saw them get booed off the stage opening for Winger. In other words, it's perfect.
The Karate Kid: Street Rumble
Yet another example of the modern retro aesthetic at play, The Karate Kid: Street Rumble directly adapts the first three films to a beat-'em-up where seemingly everyone in the world has mastered martial arts. Odaclick Game Studio absolutely embraces the classic idea of a “movie game” we just don’t see outside of LEGO these days, mixing level progression dictated by the movies’ plots with four-player gameplay that unapologetically makes no attempt at a coherent narrative. And you really have to love it for that.
The game doesn’t just inspire nostalgia for The Karate Kid itself but also for those very design qualities of classic movie games, whether we loved them or not. Like the time Luke Skywalker blasted a 50-foot-tall Sarlacc pit to bits in Super Star Wars, or the game-long Rambo-flavored Gizmo in Gremlins 2: The New Batch, or when the Dark Knight was more of a Purple Paladin on his way to murdering the Joker in Batman: The Video Game.
For example, you probably remember Daniel LaRusso’s tussle with Johnny Lawrence at the beach that kicks off the first film. But do you remember his tumultuous walk there? Let’s just say Street Rumble totally lives up to its name. Already wearing the iconic headband he doesn’t have in the movie yet, Daniel-san is absolutely assaulted by anyone who is so much as out for a simple stroll.
Aside from the future used-car salesman on Netflix, Street Rumble also invites you to play as his teacher, Mr. Miyagi, and also his love interests, Ali and Kumiko. Yes, it’s entirely possible to play through the entire game taking on the likes of Johnny, Kreese, and Silver as anyone but Daniel, from the All Valley Karate Tournament to Okinawa to the All Valley Karate Tournament…again. And you can do this all as two characters—side-by-side if you and a friend so choose—who not only have no demonstrated fighting skills from their appearances in the first two films, but also have nothing in common other than being involved with a dude neither was destined to be with.
It’s ridiculous. It’s glorious. Go play it now.
Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland
You could make the argument that Wallride created two games in one with Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland. Game One: A modern remake of a classic 1991 NES Rugrats game. Game Two: Said classic 1991 NES Rugrats—a game that never actually existed but, given the popularity of the breakthrough animated series that aired between Doug and Ren & Stimpy, absolutely should have. Now it does, just three-plus decades late.
Any fan of the era’s platformers will notice the influence of other actual classics of the day. Imagine the two-player co-op and block-throwing of Chip N’ Dale Rescue Rangers mixed with a Super Mario Bros. 2-like cast of four uniquely talented toddlers. You can even swap ‘em out at the pause screen mid-level like you did in Konami’s original 8-bit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Throw in an extra button press to butt-bounce enemies below, like in DuckTales or Castle of Illusion over on the Genesis, and whatever household hijinks you’re imagining are probably spot-on.
Like many remakes of games that actually did come out in the early ‘90s, you can shift between 8-bit and modern versions whenever you like. It’s quite striking to go from a great-looking NES game to contemporary visuals that arguably surpass the cartoon. This includes shifting from a 4:3 aspect ratio to widescreen, which also zooms the action and adds some verticality unique to the modern treatment.
And it actually is a great-looking NES game, as proven by Limited Run Games. Physical cartridges ordered last spring should have middle-aged fans of cartoon babies adventuring in 8-bit Gameland on their childhood consoles within the next few months.
TRANSFORMERS: Galactic Trials
With TRANSFORMERS: Galactic Trials, 3DClouds takes us back to the titular characters’ Cybertron days, when evil Optimus doppelganger Nemesis Prime sought ultimate power by claiming the Artifacts of the Primes. This is the perfect setup for…a racing game?
OK, so maybe story isn’t the reason to play Galactic Trials. It’s very much just an excuse to allow you the chance to race your favorite robots in disguise, with a dash of transforming and shooting thrown into the mix. Because, really, who doesn’t want plentiful pew-pewing in a Transformers game?
The futuristic visuals of Cybertron immediately evoke the likes of Wipeout or F-Zero, with gameplay elements like speed boosts and Energon power-up cubes that would feel right at home decorated with question marks in any Mario Kart. You may even have some Road Rash flashbacks when you’re actively sideswiping any opponents who come after you.
And yet, there's no Sideswipe! He presumably watches on as his fellow Autobots Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Elita-1, Wheeljack, and Arcee wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons, represented by vehicular versions of Megatron, Shockwave, Flamewar, Soundwave, and Nightbird. Nemesis Prime is also playable, but he’s independent; everyone hates that jerk.
Actually, from a pure gameplay perspective, everyone hates everyone, no matter their alignment. Each race is very much every robot for themself, with Optimus Prime just as likely to gun down Megatron as he is to sting Bumblebee with his signature ax.
That sort of action comes into play during the mid-race battle arenas, wherein the combatants switch to their robot forms to commence the pew-pewing. Still, a forward-racing momentum persists during these segments, with metal-crunching obstacles also coming into play.
And because it’s the 2020s, the game even boasts roguelite elements. Characters level up and upgrade loadouts against the constant risk of progress regression, should they not place high enough in each race.
Eventually, your racing prowess saves Cybertron from Nemesis Prime’s evil plot. Serves him right, too, because according to his bio at TFWiki.net, “he also hates Christmas.”
That does it for our rundown of these great recent titles inspired by iconic franchises of the '80s and '90s. You can find all of these excellent licensed games on the Epic Games Store.