I'm honestly really happy that this exists.
As a collection, I truly feel that this has anything you could ever want out of a retro TMNT collection. The selection of games is quite large and they all feel like good fits. There are so many cool bonus things in the game that are fun to just look at. Each game comes with their old manuals included (I cannot attest to how accurate these are to the original manuals but there does seem to be some changes in the copyright sections of some of them), you can watch videos showing you where to go and how to get past obstacles or bosses in the included games, an optional "Enhancements" menu is added with features that can be toggled on or off (they typically either feel like cheat codes or genuinely make the game feel better to play, like how in TMNT NES you can turn off the sprite flickering and make it run smoother). There is also a "Turtles Lair" menu with an absolutely insane amount of trivia. Whether it be video game box art, screenshots directly from all of the TMNT cartoons, concept art for the cartoons and games, magazine ads, comic book covers, strategy guides, or music you can listen to directly in the menu, this collection has you covered. Its really amazing to me.
I beat some of the games, but unfortunately did not jive enough with others to beat all of the games. As much as I love these turtle boys, I really was not big on any of the NES games and some of the Game Boy games. Perhaps I am too spoiled by the SNES and beyond. Nonetheless, I did at least try every game on here, so I feel that I am at least somewhat "eligible" (so to speak) for reviewing this game. The games in this collection that I beat include the following: the original arcade game, both versions of Turtles in Time, Hyperstone Heist, and Fall of the Foot Clan. I completed them all without use of any of the emulation features I felt were cheating (save states and some of the included Enhancements). This means I didn't beat the original NES game, the NES port of the arcade game, Manhattan Project, Back From the Sewers, Radical Rescue, or all the different versions of Tournament Fighters...unfortunately that's a lot of the collection that I didn't take the time to beat, but I suppose it is what it is. I didn't bother with the online for any of the games with added online functionality, either, but I am glad the option is there for those that really want to play Tournament Fighters, Turtles in Time, or the arcade game with some online buddies. I'm sure there are some people out there that will get a lot of use out of this game's online.
I wasn't going to dedicate a paragraph to this but I constantly think about it ever since I first noticed it watching people playing the game before release at booths and whatnot, so...what's up with this game having a song from the first 2003 TMNT game on PS2/GCN/XBOX? It is the only song that plays when you navigate the menus and has been there in a lot of pre-release footage. I mostly just find this so noteworthy because that game is, of course, not present in this collection. I can only wonder why it was chosen, part of me hopes its because it means we'll be getting a collection for the 2003 TMNT games next.
Overall, I think this game is simply amazing at being a retro collection. I think I'd go as far as to say its the best ones, at least when it comes to extras and bonus content. Even if I don't like every game on here, I could still see myself firing this game up from time to time to replay Turtles in Time or Hyperstone Heist (was really surprised by how much I liked that game considering how I never played it before). I could see myself taking some time just to look at all the cool bonuses in the Turtles Lair, too.
As a collection, I truly feel that this has anything you could ever want out of a retro TMNT collection. The selection of games is quite large and they all feel like good fits. There are so many cool bonus things in the game that are fun to just look at. Each game comes with their old manuals included (I cannot attest to how accurate these are to the original manuals but there does seem to be some changes in the copyright sections of some of them), you can watch videos showing you where to go and how to get past obstacles or bosses in the included games, an optional "Enhancements" menu is added with features that can be toggled on or off (they typically either feel like cheat codes or genuinely make the game feel better to play, like how in TMNT NES you can turn off the sprite flickering and make it run smoother). There is also a "Turtles Lair" menu with an absolutely insane amount of trivia. Whether it be video game box art, screenshots directly from all of the TMNT cartoons, concept art for the cartoons and games, magazine ads, comic book covers, strategy guides, or music you can listen to directly in the menu, this collection has you covered. Its really amazing to me.
I beat some of the games, but unfortunately did not jive enough with others to beat all of the games. As much as I love these turtle boys, I really was not big on any of the NES games and some of the Game Boy games. Perhaps I am too spoiled by the SNES and beyond. Nonetheless, I did at least try every game on here, so I feel that I am at least somewhat "eligible" (so to speak) for reviewing this game. The games in this collection that I beat include the following: the original arcade game, both versions of Turtles in Time, Hyperstone Heist, and Fall of the Foot Clan. I completed them all without use of any of the emulation features I felt were cheating (save states and some of the included Enhancements). This means I didn't beat the original NES game, the NES port of the arcade game, Manhattan Project, Back From the Sewers, Radical Rescue, or all the different versions of Tournament Fighters...unfortunately that's a lot of the collection that I didn't take the time to beat, but I suppose it is what it is. I didn't bother with the online for any of the games with added online functionality, either, but I am glad the option is there for those that really want to play Tournament Fighters, Turtles in Time, or the arcade game with some online buddies. I'm sure there are some people out there that will get a lot of use out of this game's online.
I wasn't going to dedicate a paragraph to this but I constantly think about it ever since I first noticed it watching people playing the game before release at booths and whatnot, so...what's up with this game having a song from the first 2003 TMNT game on PS2/GCN/XBOX? It is the only song that plays when you navigate the menus and has been there in a lot of pre-release footage. I mostly just find this so noteworthy because that game is, of course, not present in this collection. I can only wonder why it was chosen, part of me hopes its because it means we'll be getting a collection for the 2003 TMNT games next.
Overall, I think this game is simply amazing at being a retro collection. I think I'd go as far as to say its the best ones, at least when it comes to extras and bonus content. Even if I don't like every game on here, I could still see myself firing this game up from time to time to replay Turtles in Time or Hyperstone Heist (was really surprised by how much I liked that game considering how I never played it before). I could see myself taking some time just to look at all the cool bonuses in the Turtles Lair, too.