Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is just over a year old now, and it’s celebrating its birthday with its first DLC add-on and a great sale. If you haven’t already checked out the game, now is the time to do so. It’s a blast (from the past!), and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with it and the Dimension Shellshock DLC, even if that time was shorter than I had expected.
Gameplay is simple enough to pick up and play, like gaming in an arcade, but offers just enough depth that it doesn’t feel boring. You won’t be just spamming the attack button the whole time if you don’t want to; there are jump attacks, backflip attacks, grabs/throws, and various ninja powers for each hero. I initially thought after the first couple of story episodes the gameplay might grow stale quickly, but at the end of the story I found myself eager to jump into the arcade mode and play TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge all over again!
Shredder’s Revenge is also very easy to pick up and play, especially for people who might not describe themselves as gamers. Think of it like Super Smash Bros. or Mario Kart – easy enough for the whole family to play, but with some gameplay wrinkles the most die-hard fans will want to experiment with and explore. I compare it to those games because it’s the ultimate party game. Grab some friends and go crazy!
Turtle power!
The only downside to Shredder’s Revenge’s gameplay I found was that I just couldn’t get into it the same way when playing solo. This is a game that begs to be played by pairs or groups – it supports up to six-player co-op – and just doesn’t deliver the same experience when playing Han-style. Maybe this is because the first thing I did with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge was play through the 2+ hour story mode in co-op mode with my partner before experiencing the game solo, so I started my time with the game at its peak enjoyment. Taking on waves of enemies is more difficult – and slightly less fun – alone than with your turtle friends.
Speaking of enemies, I was surprised by the healthy amount of enemy variety in Shredder’s Revenge. You’ll face off against several types of Foot Clan ninjas, robots, dinos, and stone men. Each episode ends with a boss fight as well, and each boss had specific elements to their fights to help them stand out. All the heroes feel slightly distinct as well, which helps the game not get stale. Leo’s pretty balanced, Mikey can hit quickly, Don’s got reach, and Raph is a real bruiser. Splinter, April O’Neil, and Casey Jones all also feel varied, and swapping out a different hero for each level never grew old; experimenting with the turtles and their allies was a ton of fun.
Karai and April beating up on some poor saps.
Fiddling with the game’s settings is also a joy. You can really dive into the nostalgia by turning on the CRT or VHS setting, and crank it up even further by swapping character designs to make the turtles even more old-school. Shredder’s Revenge fully embraces nostalgia, and is better off for it.
Once you roll credits in story mode, dive into arcade mode. It’s exactly as it sounds: you’ll play through the 16-episode story like you’re playing on an arcade cabinet. You’ll be able to modify the game to be more difficult or a bit easier depending on what switches you want to turn on. Arcade mode is fun, but it’s still just the 16 episodes of Shredder’s Revenge played in the same order, except this time with whatever modifications you select. If you want some great variety and to extend your time with the game, the Dimension Shellshock DLC is the way to go.
The cast enjoying to the black-and-white comics dimension.
Dimension Shellshock
The DLC, for $7.99 more, offers two new characters and one new game mode to sink your time into. Usagi from Usagi Yojimbo and Foot Clan ninja Karai join the roster. They were two of my favorite characters to use, but especially Usagi. He’s quick and deals a healthy dose of damage, making him one of the more powerful heroes. Survival mode adds some much-needed variety to TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge. It’ll have players hopping from dimension to dimension taking on waves of enemies, collecting crystals to unlock new dimensions and character palettes while even being able to play as enemies like Shredder for short periods of gameplay. Survival mode definitely feels a tick more difficult than story and arcade mode, and, as I’ve only tested it out solo, I’m not ashamed to say I definitely struggled through some Survival Mode levels.
Usagi kicking dino-butt.
I’m thankful I first played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge with the Dimension Shellshock DLC downloaded, and I recommend any new players purchase the bundle to get all the game’s content. The DLC does a lot to increase how long you’ll want to spend with Shredder’s Revenge, and you could even say it does too much heavy lifting. Without the survival mode, you’ll just have the same sixteen story episodes to bounce between – or potentially never revisit after finishing the story once.
Grab some friends, dust off the spare Joy-Cons, and argue over who gets to be what turtle. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is a wonderful game: incredibly fun, charming, and nostalgic. With easy-to-learn gameplay and up to six-player co-op, it’s the perfect addition to your next game night.
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