What got me into brawlers in the first place was the sheer accessibility of the gameplay, which mostly revolves around beating waves upon waves of enemies senseless. These turtles have proven to be quite the enduring franchise Sure, modern brawlers likely won’t reach the heights their ancestors did decades ago, but there’s still life here that’s worth supporting. That’s what I love most about it – the fine balance between new and retro – which is what I believe can push this niche genre back to some form of relevance. The game oozes nostalgia by the bucketload but never relies too much on it to appeal to modern and old-school gamers alike. So my excitement was almost through the roof when I heard they were making Shredder’s Revenge, and I’m very glad that it didn’t disappoint.
Admittedly, I didn’t mind that there was this paradigm shift occurring back then, but I did miss the chance to play my favorites again with a better understanding of their charm. These old-school brawlers would seemingly fade into the background in the turn of the century, a time when the gaming industry was banking heavily on 3D graphics and home consoles. Some of my favorites included Konami classics like The Simpsons, X-Men, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.
Having been born in the mid-90s, I have fond memories of visiting local arcades as a child to play some of the quintessential games of the once-popular genre on aging machines that were at the tailend of their lifespans. The side-scrolling brawler genre is all but dead and the few indie releases each year are there only to satisfy the ever-shrinking niche of hardcore fans – at least that’s what I thought before I played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.