Shredder’s Revenge the Cowabunga Continues
After their ascension into the pop culture mainstream in December 1987, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were originally a comic-book series by Eastman and Laird and were soon contacted by Mark Freedman, a licensing agent who believed he could make something of the Turtles from a splash in the pan into full on franchise. Freedman took the idea to a variety of toy companies, only to be turned down by those who felt the concept was not popular enough to support a toy line. Only one company expressed interest, a little-known California company by the name of Playmates Toys. Not entirely willing to risk marketing a small cult comic book, Playmates insisted that a cartoon series be produced first. Playmates held up their end of the deal and produced the first series of TMNT action figures in the summer of 1988. The premiere series included the four Turtles, Splinter, April, Shredder, Rocksteady, Bebop, and a Foot Soldier. Vehicles included the Cheapskate, Turtle Trooper, Turtle Blimp, and Foot Knucklehead. From there they quickly expanded into video games. In 1989, Konami started the line of Ninja Turtles games with the first being an action-adventure side scroller where you could choose to play between one of the Turtles to fight the Foot. Later in 1989 an arcade four-player beat-em-up game entitled, unsurprisingly, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was released to much fan-fare. A bestseller in every region, TMNT led to a string of sequels, all of which were ported to home consoles, as well as the home-exclusives Manhattan Project for the Nintendo Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System and Turtles in Time for the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
Released in 2022 for the 35th anniversary of the franchise, Tribute Games’ TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge takes place in the 1980s setting of the original series and features many nods to all of the previous titles from the OG games. TMNT 1 (overworld map in Story Mode), TMNT 2 (), TMNT 3 (inclusions of bosses like Groundchuck and Dirtbag) and TMNT IV (Super Shredder fight happening in the Big Apple at 3am, or fighting the Rat King on foot as his destroyed Footski in the background). In addition to the titular reptiles, it includes April O’Neil and Splinter as playable characters, with Casey Jones as an unlockable character for added replay value. The heroes in a half shell continue to cut Shredder no slack whatsoever in this new but nostalgic nod for OG Turtle fans, and future Turtle fans alike be it solo, couch co-op or even over the net with friends.
TMNT SHREDDER’S REVENGE TRAILER
TMNT Characters Ranked 1-7 as there was a previous ranking guide that showed the game had been barely explored to recognize the true ranking of these amazing heroes!
7) Mikey (Original 7 was Splinter)
Even though Mikey has the second fastest taunt in the game, he lacks the ability to consistently land long combos that lock up enemies and keep the player in control. Mikey is a fun, cool party dude but is stuck without a good transitional move that allows him to stay in harmony and creates a lot of disjointed combos even for the most experienced of players.
6) Donatello (Original 6 was April)
Donatello has reach with both his basic attacks and his standard super attack which is quite useful in co-op but he has the second longest taunt in the game which makes some situations much stickier for this smarty pants wearing Turtle might end up saying bogus more often than bossinova when playing the game on single player.
5) Casey Jones (Original 5 was Casey Jones)
Even though his taunt is slower than Donatello’s they share similar reach capabilities often enough and Casey has a more powerful combo set up to quick clear enemies. Casey Jones is awesome to finally have as a playable character, but they didn’t make him BA enough for being the current lone unlockable player in the game. The argument to flip flop here with Donatello is fair but the slight power upgrade Casey has is just enough to beat out the tie for me.
4) Splinter (Original 4 was Leonardo)
Splinter is extremely powerful and with enough practice is actually one of the best assassins in the game; however, his lack of speed and need to make up ground to connect a constant barrage of combos on wave after wave of Foot Soldiers means any novice or intermediate player will find him very difficult to play well as. If you are extremely skilled at this game from all the hours one could easily pour into this then I see the Sensei being rated higher but while account for beginners and intermediate levels Splinter comes in at the middle of the pack.
3) Leonardo (Original 3 was Donatello)
Leonardo is finally given some moves that can stack on one another. Most turtle games that showcase the personality of the Turtle gang has Leo always has a bland sword blender head. In Shredder’s Revenge, Leo finally shows that all that practice he has done and followed through day in and day out from Splinter’s tutelage has paid off as he’s quite explosive compared to previous TMNT titles he has been featured in.
2) April (Original 2 was Raphael)
April should be number 1 but a recent find has changed this ranking in the last few days of writing this article. April has impressive speed and unbelievable aerial combinations. She is more than a field reporter and is a certified BA that would make Casey Jones blush once again while being re-read a little French poetry a la TMNT (1990). April will ask you for comments but we already know the answer she is simply the best!
1) Raphael (Original 1 was Mikey)
Raphael continues to be the rude but crude crushing speed/power combination many of us beat ‘em/brawler game fans love. Again, April should be here, but thanks to speedrunners like Crunan Raphael has a game-breaking super move that stun locks about half the bosses in the game which even works on Co-op runs as viewed here. Raphael lacks range and is out done in speed by April which was enough to cover Raphael’s unbelievable power, but at the end of the day the ability to stun lock bosses has Raphael at the head of the pack and our number 1.
