This game has been attempted multiple times. “The TMNT beat-em-ups from the 90s, lets do that again”. Most attempts have not been that great, often adaptations of modern TMNT shows and it just doesn’t work because it tries too hard to be modern. Shredder’s Revenge, however, is perfect. It’s set in the Classic Cartoon / Comic continuity, it has a braindead plot, it has world-class gameplay, it has a good variety of core mechanics, and it has ludicrous 6 player online drop-in/drop-out multiplayer.

The core mechanics show that Dotemu are the undisputed kings of the modern-retro 2d beat-em-up. All characters are just unique enough, with differences in power, speed, basic moves, special moves, combos, assists, supers, etc. Yeah the walk loop is identical for all the turtles, but everyone is unique enough to truly feel different.

The art is outstanding, high-rez vibrant pixel art with super emotive animations. It’s just all the best of what you’d want from this kind of game, fun, punchy, emotive. Simultaneously retro and also modern and super fluid. Music is also great, mix of classic game jams and a couple vocal tracks that are shockingly not cringe.

And best of all, these games get exponentially better the more players you have. The 4 player arcade game was better than the 2 player home versions. Just was. Shredder’s Revenge goes further beyond, supporting up to 6 players, with not just functional but legitimately good online mp. I played through the whole game with 5-6 players, often with upwards of 250ms ping across all players. The game did not care. It was like we were playing shoulder to shoulder. The only times we had issues were occasionally people would fail to spawn in on level launch (but you could drop out / rejoin), and occasionally when we’d do something that triggered an achievement for everybody it would get choppy for a few seconds.

As far as other issues go, idk, it seems pretty damn solid. There’s the slowdown and desync issues (which are recoverable). Over several play sessions, the only thing we didn’t have a solution for was if the AI wandered off screen (or, in some cases, run off screen at high speed), and just never come back. If an enemy goes way off screen and decides not to come back you’re straight up softlocked, and in Arcade mode that’s a death sentence. In Story Mode you can at least all drop and restart a new lobby at the same level. But in Arcade it just straight up doesn’t work. It only happened a few times, it hopefully gets patched soon.

The only real fault for the game is that there really isn’t much to it. It’s fun, but it’s basically just 16 ~5 minute levels. There’s 7 playable characters, but that’s it. There are two modes (Story and Arcade), and Arcade is basically just Game Rush. Story Mode has collectibles (super easy) and 3 challenges per level (ranging from easy to stupid, like “beat this level taking no damage” or “beat this level without using your super attack”). The 7 characters are different enough to feel different, but I don’t see this as something I’m compelled to beat 7 times.

But who knows! It’s only a couple hours to beat, and playing it with bros online is super fun. And at “Game Pass or $20”, it’s a super great deal. Highly Recommended.