A lot of games lately have taken old games and remade them or took an old series to make a new "old" looking game and many of these have felt like cheap nostalgia cashgrabs. This game does not feel like that. It is a solid game with a lot of detail put into it's references.

At a gameplay level, it's not the most complex of beat-em-up games around, it's difficulty isn't that high either but it is very in-line with the older arcade and console games in the series difficulty-wise where clearing the game itself isn't too bad but doing it with as little damage or as fast as possible is what you come back for. That and it has the more modern feature of collectables and missions to do each stage. If we judge the game on that, a gameplay aspect alone and void everything else this is enjoyable for fans of the genre; even if they have low knowledge of TMNT in general (A friend of mine I played the game with knew little of the series but still enjoyed the core gameplay.)

Graphically the game has it's charm. It takes the Pixel-Sprite aesthetic to capture the era and while simple, the visual clarity is great and it's very easy to see the characters motion as well as breakable objects as well as traps and attacks with no issue. The CRT and CRT curved filters are little heavy-handed and go too much for me, but the VCR filter, even with the occasional wave distortion looks great. Visually the it might not be the most impressive game out there but for the style it's better than a lot of other games that try a pixel-sprite style.

Sound wise, it's OK. Sound effects and voice acting are good, you can tell who is supposed to be who, the hits and tings are all to an expected standard. The BGM is enjoyable but I do prefer the REMIX style, making the songs feel more with the early-90's feel to fit with the rest of the game over the 'original' BGM for the game. The cheers of the catchphrases during the level for clears and bonuses is an enjoyable touch and really adds character and very fitting of the era the game is a throwback to. I am not too keen on the opening remix, it just sounds off to me but I can understand that it had to be a remix and they couldn't just use the original too directly.

Now the real question on Nostalgia- Does this feel based on the original series.
A huge part of the game is just how much effort the team put in squeezing in references and throwbacks to the original cartoon. Each level, each 'new' enemy and boss that popped up was a huge blast of nostalgia. The first few levels throw usual stuff at you, expected bebop and rocksteady bosses. But then it starts throwing boss characters at you that you really had to watch the original to know or remember. I knew it was going to be a treat when one of the early bosses was Rat king was when it really start to hit the nostalgia. Having the last boss before the Kraang and Shredder bosses being Slash was always a nice throwback.
As someone who had grown up watching everything released, the cartoon, all the movies, the abomination of the 3D series and only dropping off during the late part 2003 series the game is full of so many references that I'd completely forgotten some of the characters and jokes until the game itself brought them up. It's rare that a game being a throwback to an older series goes into such detail with it's references so it's really an absolute gem in that aspect.
Honestly; I wish more games referencing older IPs put even half the effort this game does.

Other than it being a bit grindy to level up the characters individually and the CRT filter being a bit too over the top, I have no real huge flaws with the game that stand out. It's a great, decently lengthed arcade style beat-em-up game full of nostalgic flavor. If you love beat-em-ups and turtles this is a must play for sure.

A lot of games lately have taken old games and remade them or took an old series to make a new "old" looking game and many of these have felt like cheap nostalgia cashgrabs. This game does [u]not[/u] feel like that. It is a solid game with a lot of detail put into it's references. At a gameplay level, it's not the most complex of beat-em-up games around, it's difficulty isn't that high either but it is very in-line with the older arcade and console games in the series difficulty-wise where clearing the game itself isn't too bad but doing it with as little damage or as fast as possible is what you come back for. That and it has the more modern feature of collectables and missions to do each stage. If we judge the game on that, a gameplay aspect alone and void everything else this is enjoyable for fans of the genre; even if they have low knowledge of TMNT in general (A friend of mine I played the game with knew little of the series but still enjoyed the core gameplay.) Graphically the game has it's charm. It takes the Pixel-Sprite aesthetic to capture the era and while simple, the visual clarity is great and it's very easy to see the characters motion as well as breakable objects as well as traps and attacks with no issue. The CRT and CRT curved filters are little heavy-handed and go too much for me, but the VCR filter, even with the occasional wave distortion looks great. Visually the it might not be the most impressive game out there but for the style it's better than a lot of other games that try a pixel-sprite style. Sound wise, it's OK. Sound effects and voice acting are good, you can tell who is supposed to be who, the hits and tings are all to an expected standard. The BGM is enjoyable but I do prefer the REMIX style, making the songs feel more with the early-90's feel to fit with the rest of the game over the 'original' BGM for the game. The cheers of the catchphrases during the level for clears and bonuses is an enjoyable touch and really adds character and very fitting of the era the game is a throwback to. I am not too keen on the opening remix, it just sounds off to me but I can understand that it had to be a remix and they couldn't just use the original too directly. Now the real question on Nostalgia- Does this feel based on the original series. A huge part of the game is just how much effort the team put in squeezing in references and throwbacks to the original cartoon. Each level, each 'new' enemy and boss that popped up was a huge blast of nostalgia. The first few levels throw usual stuff at you, expected bebop and rocksteady bosses. But then it starts throwing boss characters at you that you really had to watch the original to know or remember. I knew it was going to be a treat when one of the early bosses was Rat king was when it really start to hit the nostalgia. Having the last boss before the Kraang and Shredder bosses being [spoiler]Slash[/spoiler] was always a nice throwback. As someone who had grown up watching everything released, the cartoon, all the movies, the abomination of the 3D series and only dropping off during the late part 2003 series the game is full of so many references that I'd completely forgotten some of the characters and jokes until the game itself brought them up. It's rare that a game being a throwback to an older series goes into such detail with it's references so it's really an absolute gem in that aspect. Honestly; I wish more games referencing older IPs put even half the effort this game does. Other than it being a bit grindy to level up the characters individually and the CRT filter being a bit too over the top, I have no real huge flaws with the game that stand out. It's a great, decently lengthed arcade style beat-em-up game full of nostalgic flavor. If you love beat-em-ups and turtles this is a must play for sure.