Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Cowabunga Collection - Review
I have some very fond memories of the early Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games, the arcade ones, my parents would play indoor cricket and I would beg them for money to play them. Over the years, there have been plenty of games, but there was always something special about those original releases. Now that they are all bundled together inside the Cowabunga Collection, have they aged well or is my memory of them tinted with radioactive ooze?
As far as games inside the collection, there are some that hold their age better than others, basically anything that had double the bit count, but even still some of the older ones are still a blast to enjoy. I feel like I need to point out that I put the game through its paces on Switch, there was just something natural at playing TMNT games on a Nintendo platform, more so given that most of them were on Nintendo consoles in the first place. Playing them is just as I remember, with plenty of Ninja action and a whole lot of me dying/getting captured, but I couldn’t help but keep going back for more in each game. The collection includes 13 titles, but some of those games are duplicates, or better yet, clones of another game in the collection, for example, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the arcade, is on the NES as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game. While there are some differences between the two, it is mostly the same game and the same can be said for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters, which offers up three versions of the game.
This lack of original games doesn’t hurt as much as you might think, because each of the games feel different to play, after putting a few hours into some of the Super Nintendo games, I had the idea to connect my Super Nintendo controller for my Switch to the console and give it ago. I did have to remap the buttons, but it worked without issue, so there I was, sitting in front of the TV, playing Turtles in Time, like I had done some 30 years earlier, it was honestly an amazing feeling. Having had some success with that one, I connected my Nintendo Entertainment System controller to the Switch as well and was able to enjoy those games as well, but this one had an issue. I mentioned before how I had to remap the buttons on the SNES controller, that was because instead of using A and B, they were using B and Y, not a big deal, but frustrating to me. Once I connected the NES controller, it offered the exact same problem, except on the NES controller, there is no Y button, thankfully the collection lets you remap any button in the game, so it was a quick fix, just something that didn’t need to exist.
In addition to the games, there is a veritable library of classic materials to enjoy in the collection, from comic covers to music from the games and a lot in between. I list comic book covers because many people don’t realise that the series started as a comic book, before it was adapted to tv in the cartoon series that really kickstarted everything. What is a let down with the comics is that they are only the front page of the 50 or so issues included, which is kinda pointless, it would be like having a category of tv series and not showing.. or wait they did that too. Now I understand that putting in all the episodes from the 80’s, early 2000s, the 2012 and 2018 series would not fit or be feasible, but even the opening animations from each would have been nice, instead you get a bunch of stills from each one, without any explanation as to the episode or context about why it’s there. The Turtles Lair, which is the name of the place where all these things are, also contains box art, manuals, strategy guides, design art and music, it is loaded with content, so in that regard there isn’t much to complain about. One aspect that quickly frustrated me, was the games inability to load things up, now when I was looking at anything that was a picture, which is everything but the music, the game would only load things as I selected them. Which is fine for the first time, but if I am in an instruction manual, surely it would know to load the next page or two, instead each time I flicked, to the next image, I would have to wait for it to load, it was weird.
On the presentation side of things, for once I am not going to focus on game graphics, doing so for a game that is almost as old as I am, seems a bit pointless. Instead we will focus on the options for the games, across the the collection, you have a few options, you can have the image display in its original aspect ration, have it fill your screen or stretch it to a widescreen view. Now that last one is by far the worst, as nothing was designed for it, but thanks to all the games being pixel in nature, it doesn’t look completely terrible, it is just not my preferred way to play. If you have the widescreen option enabled, then you don’t need to worry about borders, but if you are like me and enjoy the games in the original aspect rations, borders can help fill in that black void around it. My issue with the borders is that they don’t appear to be images designed for them, leaving you with characters half cut off, while the action takes place in front of them. Another issue is that there is only one per game, and the options are only on or off, nothing else, it just seems a bit of a missed opportunity to do something fun with them.
In terms of playback options, you enjoy a few filters over the onscreen image, CRT, Monitor and such, to help replicate the screens that these games would have been enjoyed on when they first released. The filters are perfectly acceptable, they do the job they are designed to do and you can enjoy them without it feeling like its taking the focus off the game, but if you play without them on, you can enjoy the games in all their pixel glory. Some games have minor differences between the Japanese release and the Western release, but I never played a lot of the the Japanese ones to tell you what they were all about. Some of the games, mostly the NES ones, allow for you to remove the slowdown or the flicker, problems that arose due to the hardware limitations of the original console, so if you want to turn that function on, it can make things look and play a little better, which is a nice bonus.
On the audio side, the game audio is clear and sharp, well as sharp as it can be from their original platforms, but as many of the game contain amazing music, hearing it in any form is great. The music player that the game offers is basic, select the game and then the track, the only downside is that you can’t have the music play, whilst you are enjoying the gallery, it’s the same single track on repeat all the time.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cowabunga Collection is impressive, if you are a fan of the games, from the number of games to the sheer amount of historical documents, box art and more, there is more here than can fit in a half-shell. The gameplay options are decent, some games even let you choose levels to start from, or give yourself more lives, should you need it. While the duplication of games and the lack of border variety cheapen the package, there is still enough turtle power contained within, that it really doesn’t matter.
The Score
8.5
Review code provided by Konami
The Pros
+The amount of content within the collection is insane and any Turtle fan will enjoy it
+Being able to replay the games with their actual controllers, made everything feel more special
The Cons
-The default button layout is not ideal, not a massive issue, just weird
-Not being able to listen to the music from the Lair, while perusing the gallery seems stupid
