Or maybe even in the of AAA and GaaS, loot boxes and open-world nonsense, people still appreciate simpler beautiful games.

You mean it's not "Game of the Year," as people around here were touting?

It is for me, at least.

Only thing that may knock it off may be Stray which I'm excited to get into tonight.

I don't think anyone touted that, so much as rebuked your claim that the game wasn't going to be a hot item. You said only old school tmnt fans and fans of 90's beat-em-ups would be playing this, with the implication that it wouldn't be a big hit.

But it has already sold a million copies, and released to critical acclaim, and that's while also being on GamePass. It's a great success by any measure.

I guess I also rebuked your claim that the game didn't innovate, which was proven by the gameplay itself, which did advance the formula from the old games, by a noticeable measure.

All in all, it just seemed like you were annoyed about the praise this game was receiving, pre-launch, and hyperbolized any positive sentiments towards it, in order to easily tear said praise down.

Person A: This game looks great!

Person B: Why are we acting like this is going to be the greatest game in the world? Ugh.

Go through this thread. There was people literally saying that. 2-3, at least.

Certainly, I'll give it that.

Well, for some people I think it is their game of the year, which is fair.

As for a general consensus on goty, I don't think we ever really have one.

I wouldn't pick this game, that's for sure, so I see what you mean, but it seems like a fair enough personal choice.

Sure, and there are plenty of games that fit that description but that don't need familiar characters and/or nostalgia to pull people in.

Unraveled, for example, is incredibly easy to learn but difficult to master, and the graphics are gorgeous. Overcooked is a completely different kind of game, but it's also very easy to learn the basics, and it's not a game that is masquerading as some kind of a movie.

I like River City Girls, which is the same basic genre, more than this new TMNT game in every way except that it's not TMNT.

Anyway, I could keep listing examples but I think you get the idea. Clearly there's an audience for both a TMNT game and beat 'em ups generally, but if people want "simpler" and "beautiful" games, there are tons of options. Remove TMNT from the title and this game would not have received half the reception.

I really don't know how people feel other recent beat 'em ups like River City Girls or Streets of Rage 4 (which i played and I liked both), are so good but some find TMNT mediocre or boring. I mean...not only do they all play rather similar, but the TMNT game actually has the best pacing. The levels are neither too short nor do they drag on either. The bosses are well designed. Each character has enough moveset so you don't have to button mash the same moves (if you don't want to).

Like I don't get it.

Does River City Girls have the same sort of RPG elements that River City Ransom had? If so, that's the reason, right there.

Yes. You level up, get more moves, can go to stores to special moves with money you get from defeating enemies, etc.

Bingo. And, in my opinion, a significantly better soundtrack.

I was able to beat TMNT by button-mashing the same two or three moves, with a handful of exceptions. TMNT's pacing was actually a little frustrating at times, because I felt like there were so many levels, each with a random character thrown in (gotta scratch that nostalgia itch!), just for the sake of it. I didn't like Streets of Rage a whole lot, but with River City Girls there was actually incentive to backtrack here and there, and not all of the boards were linear.

Double Dragon Neon had, in my opinion, a better soundtrack and more engaging gameplay.

Again, TMNT isn't bad and of course all of this is subjective, but I still stand by my view that if you were to strip away the license, most of the people raving about the game wouldn't feel nearly as strongly about it.

Haven't played it but I think that's a very fair assessment.

Probably a very good game but there's zero doubt in my mind that nostalgia for FW TMNT is what got the proverbial foot in the door. It could have been any "old" IP and might not have had the same exact reaction, but to a degree.

Same exact game, same exact mechanics, but a brand new IP? Nobody cares at all. Pretty sure that would be the case, yeah. And I'm a big beat-'em-up guy, but I'm not under the illusion that it's a genre people under 35 have any significant yearning for.

IDK, I do enjoy a good beat-em-up. Hell, if they just re-skinned this with say... Battletoads and Double Double 2 with the exact same gameplay, I'd dig it.

Though to be honest, TMNT just had a certain style to it. It plays similar to Turtles in Time with more moves, and not all beat-em-ups play with that particular speed and combos. Even Streets of Rage 4 that also encourages you to rack up combos doesn't play like this. Skateboarding and hoverboard levels wouldn't make sense in Streets of Rage. And some of the bosses are very cartoon specific, like Chrome Dome where his only weakness is his back like in the episode he was featured in, plus the SNES TiT reference.

But games like Streets of Rage 4 and so forth, I'd still get em if they were some other IP but looked and played as good. I mean two beat em ups I got that were based on either new or not popular IPs were Mayhem Brawler and Final Vendetta. As long as they look and play good and have a decent soundtrack, I'll grab em.

Not to take a page from superstaff, but I know that the general thought around here is "stfu Andrew, you're a stupid head for hating on these beloved beat'em ups!" (it's fine, I don't care, and my only complaint is that there is so much reverence for Konami doing the same game like 10 times with no attempt at any sort of evolution whatsoever) but I do think there's ways to evolve them and bring them into 2022 if that's what we really want to do.

OK, I'd say take something like the Turtles in Time remix for PS3 years ago. They brought that game into modern 3D, sort of. Crudely, but there was an attempt. So let's do that, but with PS4/PS5 graphics. Keep it a 2D gameplay playing field but a 3D graphics engine. Use an overworld map to stitch all of the "areas" together, like "Rescue Palooza" did. Sure, maybe you could even drive the Turtle Van on that, why not. Add in the RPG kind of elements from "River City Girls" and that series has, but unique to a TMNT game. Maybe there is trainings you can do in the sewer with Splinter to raise your stats, maybe there is a free range "fight crime" mode with Casey where you look for and find and stop crimes in progress, a little like the "Arkham" games but more like a flashing light you can drive to on the overworld map and then go to and it flashes back to the beat'em up mode for the muggers or bank robbers or what-have-you. Perhaps in all of these things you can get parts that you can take back to Donatello to craft better weapons or something.

Well of course the license is part of the appeal. I wouldn’t be playing this game is it wasn’t a tmnt game.
But I still enjoy it on multiple levels. The gameplay is fun, don’t get me wrong. It’s def engaging and fun enough to pull me through a super charming sprite-crafted world of TMNT levels, characters, and pretty good music.

If the license were the only good thing about it, that’d be an issue. But a licensed product is always going to derive some of it’s enjoyment from placing you in the world of the license.
Otherwise, what’s the point of using the license?

The River City game already sounds more fun to me though. I want more stuff like that in this game for sure. Just sounds like it adds more depth and that’s a good thing imo.

Shredder’s Revenge is good. Maybe even great. Not mind blowing.

Same with TLR.

I just think all these average-to-great releases blowing up speaks to a hunger for the property. Finally some stuff that isn’t crap and look how well it all sells. Funny that people even here claim the brand is dead.

The fact that we're drowning in merchandise, far and apart from the game, shows that's definitely not true!

This just goes to show: No matter how hard you try or how well you do, you can't please everybody.

Weird argument.
There were a lot of games about Turtles, which had failed. Its like you believe that people will buy anything, with TMNT label, which was proven wrong time and time again.

You got me good sir - there are plenty games that are not AAA...except I've never said SR is an exception, so you did not got me at all.

Do you speak English?

Anyway, if my deciphering of this nonsense is right, you do believe RCG is somehow MORE beat'em up, than SR, which is ludicrous.

Beat'em up is a genre where you go around and beat some thugs. That's it. This is only qualification you need for this genre. Everything else is arbitrary bulldang.

Its weird to compare game that require backtracking and designed with RPG elements in mind and one that does not.

Soundtrack I give you that - its amazing.
Gameplay - one of the worst piles of crap I've played in my life. Slow, clunky, unwieldy. Its like developers put everything I hate about beat'em ups gameplay in one single game and multiplied it on 3.
It didn't helped that game was crushing with no reason at all.

At the very least it still would have amazing animation and multiple playable characters. More than RCG and SOR4. Not bad, even without license.

You also the guy who thinks that fighting games with 2D gameplay are outdated, because, they have 2D gameplay, so any and all of your opinions about gameplay of anything, should be discarded by default.

Also, Konami literally made only 3 TMNT beat'em ups in a classic era. Four, if you add Hyperstone Heist, which was a remixed port of Turtles in Time.

And what would be the difference?
Everything you had proposed can be realized in 2D and would look much, and more importantly, work much better, since 3D beat'em ups are not really good at emulating 2D speed and preciseness. Not to mention wonky collisions.

But, oh, it will be in 3D graphics, which is enough to make it hip and modern in your eyes!! Some dudes, still act like its 1998, when it was en vogue to hate everything 2D and some people haven't grown past that.

Also, I let you on a secret: most modern 2D games are using 3D engines, which is exactly how you get those colorful special effects, transformations and other stuff, which was nigh impossible to do in 16-bit era. Not sure, if SR runs on 3D engine, though, but still. So, SR might be a 3D game cleverly disguised as a 2D game.
How do like this, Obama?!:lol:

Pretty much this.

Pleased? Sure. Blown away? No. There is a difference.

I'll mostly ignore the condescending nature of your second question (and all of your typos), but in regard to your first question: you might be the only one playing "gotcha." Is it not possible to express a different view without it turning into some kind of argument? Holy hell, just chill out. You love the game. You're entitled to that view. I think it's OK but that there's better out there. We both have our reasons, and that's fine.

I do still find it odd that you'd feel so negatively about this game's soundtrack. Granted, River City Girls' soundtrack is also pretty good, so I won't fault that opinion. I just think Shredder's Revenge's soundtrack is equally as good. That being said, they do offer very different feels. River City Girls is definitely more modern sounding, while Shredder's Revenge is very late 80s and early 90s.

I don't think I feel negatively as much as I think it's largely forgettable. There are a few cool tracks, but a lot of it is sort of ho-hum, and a few tracks are pretty bad.

Seriously, it's normal to be underwhelmed by something. Is it hard to accept that someone wasn't digging this game?

We might get a good peak at the artbook today at https://twitch.tv/tigerwriter, starting around 3 PM PST:
https://twitter.com/kobunheat/status...19920907038720

Did you meant to post this on the Cowabunga Collection topic?

Yeah, I can barely tell the threads apart these days. Today I just assumed the most active game thread would be the Konami collection since we've actually received some news.

just got a notice from Signature Edition Games that mine's on it's way.

It's a valid opinion, I'm just surprised about it in relation to the soundtrack in particular. But it's also because it's the best thing about the game to me, specifically. I probably should stop pressing about it, though, because I don't think anything's going to really make me understand that point of view no matter how hard I try to wrap my head around it. But I guess that's just how it probably is with musical tastes?

For the game itself, while I like it a lot, I do have several issues with it. Plus, I'm not really the biggest fan of this version of the TMNT. But the soundtrack to me was an aspect of this game I thought was astronomical (not counting the lackluster remix of the theme song at the start). But I guess that's just my own personal tastes, and the kind of music I tend to like. There might also be bias because I've always been a huge fan of Tee Lopes' music, having followed him on YouTube for forever.

I honestly think you have some pretty good ideas here. The issue would be that at that point we're no longer looking at a budget $20 game.

Well... except for the use of 3D models, anyway. Sprites (i.e. hand-drawn animation) is way more work to do than 3D models, but the work apparently often goes underappreciated. I honestly prefer the 2D look more than using 3D models, especially for something that's meant to be a throwback aesthetically.

When can we expect the physicals from Limited Run Games to be shipped?

Amazon has September 27th as the ship date for the physical.

I thought they were only available for preorder directly through LRG.

For this game, the singular release was also available at retail given the IP. The deluxe versions were only through LRG.

But You DoN't UndERsTAnD: 2D is OLD and DEVeLopErs SHouLd diCARSCrd it in faVOr of 3D!! BeCAuse 3d was cOOl WHEN I wAs A kid and A fUtUrE!!
:lol:

Yeah, the Special Editions were LRG exclusive, but the Standard is available pretty much everywhere.

Gotcha.
Man I want to play it now. I avoided the digital so I can try it for the first time when the physical arrives.

That was my worry from the beginning with Limited Run. I was hoping they would’ve at least had the retail out from the start and those that wanted something special and cool could get the deluxe … but alas.

Hey, if they want to do sprites, great, but as long as they're doing sprites in at least 1080p. Not 360p, like "Shredder's Revenge." It's cute but in 2022 it is retro just for retro's sake.

As if it was not the whole point of the project.
Also, HD sprites are hard as **** to do. And extremely expensive.