Let’s play a game. I want you to think of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now, depending on your age, you’re either picturing the 80s cartoon, the 90s live-action film, the excellent 2003 series, or if you’re particularly cultured, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
That’s one of the best things about TMNT - there are so many different eras of the turtles, each willing to try their own thing. Some focus on comedy like the 2013 show, others on action like the (UGH) Micheal Bay movies, and there are even a few powerhouses that manage it all. Some iterations of the Ninja Turtles are objectively better than others, but you can never fault the franchise for not trying something new at every turn, something that extends to the comics as well.
Now, what’s the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game that pops into your head? It’s a 2D side-scrolling beat-em-up, isn’t it? No, I don’t have April O’Neil’s psychic powers, it’s just the only thing that developers have wanted to do with the adolescent karate reptiles over the past several console generations.
That’s not the case anymore, however. Yesterday, it was confirmed that a game adaptation of The Last Ronin, one of the best TMNT stories of the past decade, is in the works. It’s clearly several years away from being playable, but a game based on such a dark and interesting Turtles story is great news. Even better - it’s a 3D single-player action RPG in the vein of the Norse God of War saga.
Although I think an Arkham approach would suit The Last Ronin more than anything Kratos ever did and, we have no idea who’s actually making the game right now, it’s an adaptation that makes total sense. More than anything, I’m just glad that the next TMNT game isn’t another 2D side-scroller.
Ever since Turtles in Time released in 1991, TMNT games have closely followed the credo, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Don’t get me wrong, I love the 2D Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games. Turtles in Time more than earned its reputation as a classic, as did its many clones and semi-sequels like The Manhattan Project. In fact, Shredder’s Revenge is not only a fantastic side-scroller, but the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game of all time.
That’s precisely why we don’t need another one. Shredder’s Revenge was a loving tribute to 80s cartoons that took the well-established formula from Turtles in Time and improved on it in every single way. As much as the 2003 Turtles diehard in me wants to see Tribute Games’ take on that iteration, the Ninja Turtles are all about variety and trying new things and developers need to embrace that.
The Last Ronin is a chance to finally give us a fully-fledged 3D Ninja Turtles game that doesn’t feel half-hearted or chucked onto Xbox Live arcade for a quick buck. The closest to greatness we’ve ever come was Platinum’s Mutants in Manhattan, but even that dream pairing somehow went wrong with a lack of variety, weird mission structure, and short runtime.
There’s simply never been a 3D Ninja Turtles game that makes full use of the characters and does anything other than mindless brawling. Even my favourite, Battle Nexus on the PS2, is just another beat-em-up, albeit one with a lot of love for the 2003 series.
With a focus on action-RPG mechanics, it sounds like The Last Ronin is going to try something a bit different this time around, which is why it’s so exciting. The Ninja Turtles are so much more than just violent reptiles, they’re complex characters with heart and soul - no arc represents that more than The Last Ronin, which makes it the perfect choice for a whole new era of Ninja Turtles games, one that will hopefully redefine how the team is viewed in the gaming world.