Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection review - There's still time for the turtles

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II for NES is one of the first games I can remember playing. That first level in a burning building - and the inexplicably smooth rocks rolling down those stairs - are forever seared into my brain.

My nostalgia extends to all of TMNT's beat-'em-ups from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. Heck, I think Turtles in Time was as synonymous with Super Nintendo as Super Mario World was to a lot of kids.

So it's always been a shame that we don't have an easy way to play these games on modern platforms. Now the Cowabunga collection comes to the rescue. Releasing August 30 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, this compilation includes all Game Boy, NES, SNES and Genesis TMNT games, plus the first two iconic arcade offerings of the franchise.

A wide range

In total, that means 13 titles. Not all are heroes in a half shell. Once again, the SNES version of Turtles in Time is a beat-'em-up classic. It might seem simple compared to modern genre hits like Streets of Rage 4, River City Girls, or even the recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, but Turtles in Time still has plenty of charm and a bit more depth than you might expect. think so. . It also has one of the best soundtracks of its time.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.

The collection also has a few surprises in store, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue for the Game Boy boss. This is, surprisingly, a Metroidvania. You start as Michelangelo and explore a nonlinear 2D map in search of keys, bosses, and your captured brothers. Each turtle has a special skill - like Leonardo's sword drill maneuver that can destroy certain blocks - that can help you open up new routes. Sure, it's not as intricate or atmospheric as Super Metroid, but it's a fun and surprisingly ambitious time for a Game Boy title.

At the other end of the spectrum, you have more ho hum offerings like the first TMNT game for the NES. It's a bland and often meandering sidescroller that lives deep in the shadow of its two NES sequels. However, at least The Cowabunga's Collection's rewind and save state features help mitigate its ludicrous difficulty, especially when it comes to disarming those bombs in the infamous underwater level. p>

You also get three versions of Tournament Fighters, TMNT's foray into the fighting game genre. The SNES version is the best of the bunch. Sure, it's a Street Fighter II clone, but it's a good one. The collection even includes online play (with rollback netcode, no less) for that...