Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection Nintendo Switch Review – Is It Worth It?
Hello there lovely pee politics from Nintendo life here and today we’re Reviewing for you teenage mutant ninja Turtles the cowabunga collection on the Nintendo switch this review was Originally written by the excellent tom Massey for nintendolife.com and has been Adapted for video by me but anyway That’s more than enough waffling let’s Dive right into things [Music] For gamers who weren’t yet born in the 1980s it may be surprising to learn that Konami’s pedigree was once second only To nintendo’s first party output Undyingly creative and highly quality Driven the innovative glow that Earmarked their arcadias was never truly Rekindled post 1994. hot on the heels of Shredder’s revenge teenage mutant ninja Turtles the cowabunga collection doesn’t Just deliver re-fashion nostalgic Elements of the past it is that Nostalgia undiluted and conscientiously Presented after a short but classy Cartoon intro you can head to the turtle Layer and dive into 250 original comic Book covers complete music playlists for Every game stills from every season of Every turtles cartoon series ever a Complete set of original game manuals And impressively a massive design Documents showcasing konami’s 80s and 90s concept artwork elsewhere online
Play beckons perhaps the collection’s Most alluring attribute and one Conspicuously absent from capcom’s Arcade stadium releases its utilization Of rollback network code ensures that it Works like a charm and you can create Lobbies for friends or strangers and Even set a frame delay of your choosing To guarantee a smooth experience with Both of the arcade titles mega drives Hyperstone heist and crucially the Snez’s tournament fighters all being Supported childhood memories of late Night sleepovers and arcade coin drops Are ready to be reawakened the game Library menu is elegantly wrapped in Artwork rich black and white comic book Pages with a central video fixture Running footage of each title with a Whopping 13 games on board available in Both u.s and japanese regions value for Money is not an issue while it may be of Concern that many entries are repeated As ports konami’s tailoring of Conversions makes each a mostly unique Experience there are also various Quote-unquote enhancements for each Title including god mode invincibility Stage selections nightmare and turbo Modes and in the case of tournament Fighters an option to unlock extra stage Backgrounds for versus play additionally Aspect ratio wallpapers image filters Rewind and save state features are all
Available from the pause menu while Superior turtles titles would eventually Follow teenage mutant ninja turtles on The arcade the sentimental power of its Four players scrolling beat-em-up action Cannot be overstated once the focal Point of every early 90s arcade its Evocative audio and inimitable aesthetic Are all present and correct and Developer digital eclipse seems to have Slightly refined the control inputs as Well while we’re of the suspicion that This game’s challenge is a tad lower Than the arcade’s original default this Could also be the misguided result of Arcade operators boosting the cabinet’s Difficulty when we were but we bans Regardless it’s a slick piece of history Although one that gets repetitive when Played solo unless you master it totally It becomes trying in its latter half Sitting somewhere between arcade Masterpiece and shrewd business practice But at the same time teaming up locally Or online with three other players to Crash away to the technodrome is still a Magical adventure next up is turtles in Time an all-round fairer and more varied Sequel and it also comes with online Multiplayer as we kind of mentioned Before which is kind of a big deal the One strike foot clan killer is gone but With the introduction of a dash shoulder Barge and glide attack it’s a more
Involving combat repertoire the green Foursome find themselves sucked into Shredders time warp and sent on a Beat-em-up romp through the ages from Prehistoric lands to the dizzying Highways of a future metropolis it’s Lengthy diverse and loads of fun to play With a team it’s also beneficiary of the Vocal track pizza power a slice of Certified 90s gold pinch from the studio Album coming out of their shells the Nez’s teenage mutant ninja turtles is as Nostalgically relevant as its arcade Cousin released the same year but famous For entirely different reasons almost Every kid who had a nes either owned or Played this at some point driving the Turtle van overground before entering The sewers to navigate side-scrolling Action platform sections you swap Between turtles in an attempt to keep Them alive and knowing who has the Advantage in choosing certain obstacles And bosses nearly always donatello That helps a lot although it’s received A belated backlash over the years Primarily due to its vicious difficulty And unwieldy controls we found it an Enjoyable revisit while still incredibly Frustrating at times konami’s team did a Better job with the first console outing Than many give them credit for turtles 2 The arcade game on the nez did the Unthinkable squeezing the arcade
Original into an 8-bit cartridge obvious Concessions were made in terms of audio And graphical fidelity but it plays a Fast absorbing and altogether fairer Game than that on which it’s based with Two new stages baxter stockman as a new Boss and other little touches like Extended sections and variations it’s Certainly different enough from its Arcade cousin to warrant attention Turtles 3 the manhattan project also on The nes followed in 1991 maintaining the Scrolling beat-em-up angle whilst Introducing a slew of new bosses at Eight stages it’s a lengthy graphically Polished affair that plays similarly to The predecessor but for us is perhaps The weakest of the nets trilogy still With save state support it won’t be too Taxing for folks intent on seeing the Ending that brings us neatly onto the 16-bit era and teenage mutant ninja Turtles 4 turtles in time on the snez Revered as one of the highest quality Arcade ports of its time it mimics its Arcade counterpart astonishingly well Allowing you to throw enemies into the Screen and get creative with combat Mix-ups changes include bebop rocksteady And super shredder entering the fray and There are even visual improvements Thanks to a little mode 7 wizardry on The neon knight riders stage graphically Its detailed backgrounds and superbly
Animated sprites really pop the only Thing it drops slightly is speed owing To the snez’s occasionally sluggish Processor you probably won’t really feel That speed difference though unless you Happen to play it back to back with Teenage mutant ninja turtles hyperstone Heist from the mega drive which moves at A comparatively breakneck pace Hyperstone heist has only half the Number of stages compared to turtles in Time rips backgrounds from both arcade Games and mashes them together and Introduces all new stages and bosses Notably feudal japan and tatsu the ninja Henchmen while it does cut some elements Back like the ability to throw enemies Into the screen and is limited to an Hour of game time end to end it’s still Distinctly arcadey thanks to the mega Drive’s architecture with bold sprites And great animation its increased zip Makes it incredibly fun to play and some May even prefer its immediacy over its Spiritual snes equivalent and with Turtlemania sweeping the globe during The 90s it’s unsurprising that Nintendo’s dominating handheld received A trilogy of its own teenage mutant Ninja turtles full of the foot clan on The game boy is a if you if you couldn’t Tell is a side-scrolling action game That has more in common with strider Than final fight having you pace right
And swat foot soldiers across five Upbeat turtle themed stages with Excellent designs the sequel teenage Mutant ninja turtles 2 back from the Sewers is somehow inferior in its sprite Work showcasing a graphics artist that Can’t draw a decent flying kick but much Broader in scope the final entry in the Game boy trilogy teenage mutant ninja Turtles 3 radical rescue switches from Straight up action to may style Adventuring as you set about Quote-unquote rescuing your pals to make Them playable each turtle’s unique Abilities can then be used to progress Not unlike castlevania 3 or metroid into Areas that were otherwise previously Inaccessible turtles tournament fighters On the snares will be for many the Package highlight released during the Street fighter 2 boom it’s both Beautifully drawn and animated with a Gritty look and large weighty sprites it Still plays superbly almost 30 years on Each turtle sporting a repertoire of Special moves spread out across four Buttons street fighter style inputs Blast out stylish attacks and there’s Plenty of combo building and Experimentation to indulge in the system Includes a super attack gauge and is one Of the earliest games to feature on and A finely balanced cast of 10 playable Characters and two bosses even though
The computer ai plays a mean game Tournament fighters holds up well for Both single and competitive play and Joins the ranks as a new online Multiplayer experience the rollback Netcode really comes to the fore here And it’s fantastic to be able to match Up against human opponents whilst this Snez version of tournament fighters Really demonstrates konabi’s 16-bit Accuracy the same can’t be said of the Mega drive version unfortunately pretty Much all new in terms of visuals and Mechanics you can play as april o’neil And even break through certain stage Barriers to access new areas and the Music by miki hikashino is a noteworthy Perk as a fighting game though it falls Into distinctly average territory it’s Playable certainly and has some unusual Contra-inspired backgrounds to boot but In spite of its brisk movement it lacks The technical depth of the snez game Making it better for little more than a Brief foray finally the north american And european exclusive version of Tournament fighters on the nez is Something of a curio it’s actually Fairly impressive for an 8-bit console And paired back to the very basic Elements though it is it offers some Kind of reward it’s short and simplistic But it’s back and forth attacking and a Splinter icon randomly throwing a
Powerball into the arena makes it at Least worth a look teenage mutant ninja Turtles the cowabunga collection is Indisputably the best thing konami has Released in a long while meeting all Expectations and then some by the Absence of difficulty settings for the Arcade games it’s an anthology that Finally gets it totally right digital Eclipse and konami have done the fans Justice offering a comprehensive library That doesn’t hide content behind a Paywall while going above and beyond in Terms of the features and bonuses with Online functionality being the icing on The cake this is now the gold standard For retro collections capcom pay close Attention [Music] You’ve reached the end of the review That means it’s time for alex’s personal Thoughts and i don’t have a lot um just Because it was all covered in the review I think it’s just a really good Collection of 13 great games although I do have to say that i did not have the Same online experience Yeah i struggled to even find a game for A while and then the games that i did Join only one of them was smooth every Single other one had like slow down or Like massive input latency or just this But the games themselves are absolutely Great and it’s really really nice that
They’ve put in all that extra effort With all the extra bonus stuff like the Comic book covers and you know like the Manuals and the soundtracks and all that Design document stuff like that is Really special the games icon does look Like it’s been taken from the app store In 2008 but despite all that is still a Good collection this
