Tribute Games has made plenty of great homages to gaming’s past over the years from Wizorb to Mercenary Kings. It was no surprise that this same team would revive the grand tradition of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beat ’em ups, but the story of how it got there is an interesting one. In the lead up to the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, Tribute co-founder Jean-Francois Major sat down with DotEmu CEO Cyrille Imbert to chat about how the game came to be and why it’s modeled after the original 1980s cartoon rather than any more recent Nickelodeon adaption.
It turns out that both Tribute and DotEmu were working separately on pitches for a new TMNT brawler in the style of Konami’s legendary entries in the genre. DotEmu (which is publishing Shredder’s Revenge) is the driving force behind the revival of Streets of Rage and WindJammers, so this arcade comeback fit right into its wheelhouse. When Nickelodeon revealed that both companies were actively pitching a new retro revival, the two entities had a meeting and decided to team up to bring the game to life.
As for why the game harkens back to the franchise’s origins, Major said that it only made sense. Not only is this the version of the franchise that the developers grew up with, but it was the one that was associated with this type of arcade spectacle.
“I feel like the TMNT games were really at their prime during the arcade era of the ’90s, so it only made sense to go back to the roots,” said Major.
The first episode of the developer diary speaks more to these ’80s and ’90s inspirations and even showcases an idle animation where Donatello pulls out a Game Boy and starts playing it.
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