Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collection gathers 13 vintage Konami games
Cowabunga, dudes
One of my earliest video game memories is at the swimming pool, where a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade cabinet nestled amongst the vending machines. After a swim I'd stare longingly at the snacks I couldn't afford then stand on tip-toes before the game I couldn't afford to play, waggling a joystick and mashing buttons to pretend I was controlling the attract mode demo. Appealing to this sort of nostalgia, Konami have announced they're releasing a collection of 13 vintage Ninja Turtles games.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection will pack the following 13 games from arcade and console:
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (Super Nintendo)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Super Nintendo)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Sega Mega Drive)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Sega Mega Drive)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of The Foot Clan (Game Boy)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From The Sewers (Game Boy)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue (Game Boy)
I remember liking an arcade one, and I vaguely remember a friend having a truly, truly hateful one on NES. I could not tell you which is which.
Normally I'd be the first to accuse Konami of trading on former glories, but the collection might be an interesting one. It's being handled by Digital Eclipse, who have put a lot of care and effort into vintage game collections including the Mega Man Legacy Collection and SNK 40th Anniversary Collection.
For starters, the games will support saving anywhere and rewinding, button mapping, and online play for four (TMNT arcade, Tutles In Time arcade, Hyperstone Heist, and SNES Tournament Fighters). They're also they're rounding it out with extras including development art, sketches, game design materials, and a museum remembering vintage TMNT with stuff from the comics, cartoons, and more. Makes the collection a package you couldn't get just by pirating ROMs. And they're including guides for each game, which is probably helpful for the ones that are bastard-hard.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection is due to launch on Steam later this year, priced at £35/€40/$40. It'll also be on Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Xeriex XS, PS4, and Xbone. For now, see the game's website.
Oh, by the way, a brand new retro-styled Turtles beat 'em up is on its way too. Made by Tribute Games and published by DotEmu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is headed to PC and consoles this year. Looks a little something like this:
Disclosure: I vaguely know Frank Cifaldi, who has worked with Digital Eclipse on their collections. He has given two good talks about preservation at the Game Developers Conference, which are free to watch online.