Discover the Turtle’s Lair: a virtual museum housing all things TMNT. Listen to retro game tunes and let the nostalgia take you back in time. Dig into the creative process of how the games were brought to life with concept sketches not previously seen by the public until now. Revisit original game manuals lost to time and painstakingly restore them to prime conditions. But to keep up with the times, the collection features quality-of-life upgrades such as save and rewind features to pick up or restart wherever players choose. Watch-and-play mechanics allows players to let the game progress through levels on its own to help them get past difficult game stages before jumping back in to take control. In addition, fun battle modes that enhance the gameplay experience have been added to spice up familiar game levels.

The Cowabunga Collection

So, what games does it feature (next to the extra stuff)? Let’s discuss them all briefly:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Arcade)
  • My favorite Turtles game from the NES era is tough as nails, but some excellent memories of working with my little brother to defeat Shredder; The player chooses from one of the four Ninja Turtles: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael.
  • After Shredder kidnaps the Turtles’ friend April O’Neil and their mentor, Splinter, they must give chase, save their comrades, and defeat the evil Shredder. Up to four players (two in some versions) can take control of any of the Turtles. Donatello has slower attacks, but a more extended range and Michelangelo and Raphael have faster attacks. Still a shorter range and Leonardo is a well-rounded Turtle with average range and speed.
  • Most of the Turtles’ enemies are the Foot Soldiers, all color-coded to indicate their attack patterns and weapon of choice. Some enemies, such as the standard purple-clad Foot Soldiers and Roadkill Rodney robots, can restrain the Turtles’ mobility and drain their health, leaving only the player open to attack for other enemies. The bosses in the game include Rocksteady and Bebop (individually at first in that order, and later the two of them together), Baxter Stockman (in his human form), Granitor, General Traag, Krang, and Shredder himself.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (Arcade)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, released as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: Turtles in Time in Europe, is a beat ’em up arcade video game produced by Konami and released in 1991. A sequel to the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, it is a scrolling beat ’em up type game based mainly on the 1987 TMNT animated series.
  • Like its predecessor, Turtles in Time was available for the arcades in two- and four-player versions. In the two-player versions, each player gets to choose which of the four turtles they wish to control, whereas in the four-player versions the characters are assigned to the control panel from left to right in the following order: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. Each playable character has his own strengths and weaknesses. New features in this game include the ability to execute a power attack by hitting an enemy several times in a row, and the ability to slam Foot Soldiers into surrounding enemies.
  • Players guide the turtles through a series of levels. The first takes place in the streets of New York City. Later levels transport the turtles to representations of various historical eras. Players in each level face enemies from the 1987 cartoon and the feature film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, including Foot Soldier and Stone Warriors. Bosses include the fly form of Baxter Stockman, Metalhead, Tokka and Rahzar, and Leatherhead.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, known as Geki Kame Ninja Den in Japan and Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in Europe, is a 1989 side-scrolling action-platform game for the Nintendo Entertainment System released by Konami. In North America, it was published under Konami’s Ultra Games imprint in the US and the equivalent PALCOM brand in Europe and Australia.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a single-player action game. The player starts the game as Leonardo but can switch to any other Turtles at any time by pressing the Start button to access the information screen. The information screen shows each Turtle’s health, whatever special weapon he has obtained, a map grid of the current area, and messages from either Splinter or April. Each Turtle’s unique primary weapon has a different speed, power, and reach. When the player’s current character runs out of health, falls into a fatal trap, or is run over by a Roller Car, he is captured by the enemy, forcing the player to change to one of the remaining Turtles. The player loses the game when all four Turtles have been captured. There is an opportunity to rescue a captured Turtle once in each stage, beginning in Stage 3. There are a total of six stages in the game.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES)
  • Same as the Arcade Game – but the NES Version this time.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project is a side-scrolling beat-’em-up released by Konami for the Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan in 1991 and the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in 1992. It is the third video game iteration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES. The game features play mechanics similar to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game. Still, it is an original title for the NES without any preceding arcade version. It is based on the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series and was released after the show’s 5th season.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III can be played by up to two players simultaneously, each player controlling a different character. The player can choose between the four turtles: Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello, each wielding their signature weapon. Two different 2-player modes are featured in the game; the first mode allows both players to hurt each other with their attacks, while the other mode disables this feature. The player has a limited number of lives that get depleted every time the player’s energy gauge runs out. If one player has run out of lives, they can use the remaining ones from the other player’s remaining stock (this is possible in the one-player mode as well). The player is allowed to change their character every time they lose a life. Up to three chances to continue are provided.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (NES)
  • The NES version of Tournament Fighters was the final game Konami released for the platform in North America and the PAL region in 1994. It was also the fifth TMNT game released for Nintendo home consoles. Unlike the other versions of Tournament Fighters, it was not released in Japan. Tournament Fighters was one of the few fighting games released for the NES during the fighting game boom.
  • The game’s single-player Story mode has the player taking control of one of the four Turtles (Leonardo, Raphael, Michaelangelo, and Donatello) as they hold a contest amongst themselves to see who is fit to take on Shredder’s challenge. After defeating the first three opponents, the player proceeds to fight Casey Jones and then Hothead (a character based on the Dragon Warrior from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comics and the action figure of the same name) before the final match with the Shredder. In addition to the Story mode, the game also has two Versus modes (one against the CPU and another against a second player) and a four-player tournament mode. An option mode where the player can adjust the game’s difficulty continues, and speed is also available.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (Super Nintendo)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, released as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: Turtles in Time in Europe, is a beat ’em up arcade video game produced by Konami and released in 1991. A sequel to the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, it is a scrolling beat ’em up type game based mainly on the 1987 TMNT animated series. Originally an arcade game, Turtles in Time was ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992 under Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time, continuing the numbering from the earlier Turtles games released on the original NES. It’s also one of the more expensive games on the SNES to get ‘nowadays.’
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Super Nintendo)
  • A tournament has been organized, and many fighters have entered, Shredder being one of them. The Turtles decide to participate in stopping their nemesis and proving their strength in the tournament. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, the SNES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters has four enhancements, featured in the original as Button Codes.
    • Playable bosses – Allows the player to play as Rat King and Karai in Versus Mode.
    • Extra versus stages – Allows two additional stages to be accessible in Versus mode.
    • Maximum speed – Grants the player access to the hi-speed three feature in the in-game options menu.
    • Extra lives – Allows the player to select up to 10 credits for Story Mode in the in-game options menu.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist (Sega Genesis)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist, released in Europe as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist and in Japan as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Return of the Shredder, is a 1992 side-scrolling beat ’em up game developed and published by Konami for the Sega Genesis, based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book characters. It was Konami’s debut title for Genesis. The game was re-released as part of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection in 2022.
  • The gameplay of The Hyperstone Heist is heavily based on the second TMNT arcade game, Turtles in Time, which was ported to the Super NES during the same year. The controls are similar to Turtles in Time, but the ability to dash is now assigned to a specific button, and the player can no longer throw enemies toward the screen.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Sega Genesis)
  • The Genesis/Mega Drive version of Tournament Fighters was released in North America, the PAL region, and Japan around the same time as its SNES counterpart.
  • In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, the Genesis version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters has the sole enhancement of playable bosses, allowing the player to play as the Triceraton, Krang, and his Android, and Karai in any game mode, increasing the number of playable characters from 8 to 11.
  • Each of the three boss characters is represented by a silhouetted character icon above the original eight playable characters. Each boss character’s silhouetted icon is outlined in a different color, and their respective character’s name is below each icon. Choosing one of the three allows playing as that character.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of The Foot Clan (Game Boy)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan, released as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan in Europe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (ティーンエイジミュータントニンジャタートルズ) in Japan, is a Game Boy game developed and published by Konami in August 1990. The game is based on the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles television series. The Turtles’ first Game Boy game is a platforming-style game where Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello must battle against Krang and Shredder and save their friend April O’Neil. The game was re-released as part of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection in 2022.
  • The player takes control of one of the Turtles through five stages, battling Krang and Shredder’s minions. Enemies include Foot Soldiers, Mousers, and Roadkill Rodney, among others. If a Turtle runs out of health, he is captured, and the player must select another Turtle to pick up where he left off. If all four Turtles are captured, the game is over. One can regain lost health by collecting pizza or winning hidden mini-games scattered throughout each stage. There are five stages, each with a unique end-boss: Rocksteady, Bebop, Baxter Stockman, Shredder, and Krang. The player can choose which stage to start the game on, but the game needs to be completed from Stage 1 to see the whole ending.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From The Sewers (Game Boy)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers, released as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles II: Back from the Sewers in Europe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 in Japan, is a 1991 Game Boy game by Konami. It is the sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan.
  • Similar to Fall of the Foot Clan, the previous Game Boy game in the series, the player can switch between turtles before each stage. Each Turtle has its strengths and weaknesses. For example, Donatello has an extended range of attacks but attacks slowly, Raphael’s attack is fast but has a very short range, and Leonardo and Michaelangelo are well-balanced. When a turtle is defeated, he becomes captured by the enemy. The game is over when all turtles are captured. After completing a stage, the player is given the opportunity to rescue a captured turtle by defeating REX-1 in a bonus stage. If no turtles were captured, the player enters a bonus stage instead.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue (Game Boy)
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue, released as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles III: Radical Rescue in Europe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Turtles Kiki Ippatsu in Japan, is a Game Boy game by Konami, released in November 1993. It is the third Game Boy game based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, following Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers.

Conclusion

So, to conclude! The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection is one for the fans! Those who haven’t played the games will have a blast with this very complete collection of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games available on all different platformers (pre-Nintendo 64). Just ask yourself if you want to dip into this collection or just boot up your NES/SNES/Genesis. The extras didn’t really do it for me, but I know some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles enthusiasts that would die for that extra piece of information.

8/10

Tested on Steam (Steam Deck).