A large percentage of the gaming community are millennials and older adults who grew up with fewer game options to play and limited access to video games at home. Arcades were popular for a reason, and for a while, the games that were being made for home consoles were just like the ones you could play with a quarter at an arcade. Maybe their parents thought that they’d outgrow their love for videogames, like kids do with toys, but the opposite has happened. As that original group of gamers grew up, the games grew up with them, becoming more mature, more complex, more realistic. But those simple games, the side-scrollers and the fighting games, still resonate with those gamers. That’s why “retro” games remain popular. 

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge” was made with these people in mind. For an 80s kid, a side-scrolling, beat-em-up starring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is going to strike a chord of nostalgia thought to be long lost. 

The format of this game is very familiar. Shredder and his fellow villains are up to no good, so the Turtles and friends take to the streets to fight them. After picking a character, you run through a series of levels, using combos and timing to take out waves of enemies and bosses to a stellar, high-energy soundtrack. It’s a classic gaming formula, and still makes for fun gameplay. 

Of course, players are playing a game designed to be like older games. Sure, there are quality of life improvements and added complexity to move sets that you wouldn’t see in an arcade cabinet, but there’s still limited mobility, inputs and actions. Characters have different fighting styles, but it doesn’t make too much of a difference while playing. In other words, to play “Shredder’s Revenge,” you must be willing to sacrifice the options and variety offered by most modern videogames. 

For most gamers, this likely will not be an issue. It will mainly frustrate younger gamers who grew up with things like “Minecraft” and “Fortnite.” “TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge” is a love letter to the retro style. As such, it will be right up the alley of the many people who grew up with old school games, one of many “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movies or shows or both. And if you’re not familiar with this kind of game or the turtles, this is a good place to start.