Ever since it was first announced a year or so back, I was really interested in this game. At the time, all we had to go off of was a teaser showcasing the animated intro and a little bit of gameplay, but it was a glorious teaser nonetheless. Flash forward to this month, and the game released. I preordered it on Switch, so I've owned it since the day it came out. This is one of those few games I actually bought on two platforms: Switch and Steam (PC). In the end, it only took four hours for me to beat the game on PC, but those four hours were truly incredible. I may revisit the Switch version and beat it again later, but, despite how short the game is, I am usually not the kind of person to beat a game twice.

Let's get the elephant out of the room first. This game is full of visual charm and references to the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, from the character designs to the environments and even the music. Honestly I feel like there was actually more references crammed in here than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games made back in the day, at least out of the ones I've played. Perhaps as a result of this, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge" is one of those games based on a series that really feels like everyone involved adored the original source material. You'll see homages everywhere, even details as simple as the Foot ninjas working mundane jobs or masquerading as businessmen in the background of the levels. There's a few deeper cuts that I didn't get before playing this game, like how I didn't know Dirtbag, Groundchuck, and Tempestra existed before this game, but most of the references I understood and was really happy to see. I will say that, for some people, pretty much everything being some kind of reference to the show might come off as overbearing. I just see it as a labor of love that I feel should be appreciated. Its not necessarily thrown in your face, either; its not like you have the Turtles spouting stuff like "Hey I remember him!" It's just naturally included and I think that's cool. Worth noting that, in pretty much any other type of game, I wouldn't have cared too much about this sort of thing. I just think that details like this are really important in a licensed game, especially one based on an IP as beloved as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Krang takes over the Statue of Liberty to use as a giant fighting mech that shoots missiles and lasers out of its mouth, what's not to love?

With that out of the way, how about that gameplay? Well, I think it's stellar. The game is definitely what you would expect from a beat-'em-up, but it feels pretty fresh thanks to the surprisingly large variety of moves you can pull off and the decently varied level design. I'd say it has a fun quality of being something anyone could pick up, but takes time to fully master. Of course, one of the obvious games to compare this game to is Turtles in Time. Shredder's Revenge definitely does take plenty of cues from Turtles in Time; if you've played that game, you'll recognize some of the attacks in this game being taken straight out of it. However, the game doesn't feel derivative since you can tell this game was built from the ground up. It feels inspired by predecessors, but not like its trying too hard to be like those games. I also really appreciate the character variety in this game. Most Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games I've played only have you play as the main four, but this game lets you play as April O'Neil, Splinter, and even Casey Jones (after beating the game once). I haven't taken Casey out for a swing yet, but I did try out every character except for April. I think the developers at Dotemu did a great job in making everyone feel unique enough from each other. Its nothing all that mind blowing, but something as simple as their stats will mean you have to change up how you play them. I mostly took a liking to Raphael since I found that his decent speed, high power, and close range combat was well suited for my play style. I'm a button masher, what can I say? I don't fancy myself a rude dude, but I do quite enjoy Raphael's sense of humor.

As for my complaints about this game, honestly I have little to none. My only real complaints are very minor; I think that some of the voices for some characters sounded off and I wish that the Super Shredder fight was more tough. My problem with the voices really only got annoying to me with Shredder. I'm sure the actor they chose for Shredder is talented, but I really don't feel it was a good match and that's a shame considering he is the main bad guy of the Turtles. However, this game is really good overall. I'm glad that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles finally got a great game after several years of mediocre or just "okay" games. Shredder's Revenge gets a solid 4.5 stars from me for being an excellent game, but not one that I'd consider a masterpiece. It sets out to do certain things and it pulls them off very well, I couldn't really ask for anything more.