New TMNT Game for 2023?

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Filespit

This. Although it doesn't have to be limited to TLR as I'd like all four turtles to be playable. Here's what I want.

* A Batman Arkham/Spider-Man type of game
* Set in Manhattan, with at least lower Manhattan explorable
* Map should be parkour-able in a way that makes sense for the turtles
* Sewers should be used as quick travel points
* Lair always visitable for upgrading, learning new skills etc
* Combo based battle system
* All four turtles playable with their own unique movesets
* Main story involving Shredder/Foot Clan
* Side quests involvning other villains (Baxter, Rat King, Purple Dragons etc), some quests could also be specific for each turtle
* Territories for villain gangs/clans (as seen in Spider-Man)
* Loads of skins for all turtles

All of that would be great to see, but let's face it, the Very First Bullet Point is asking for WAY too much for a game based on this franchise, and in turn makes all the other points exponentially more unlikely as well.

There simply will not ever be a AAA TMNT game that comes anywhere near Arkham-level because no company will ever pay the development costs on that type of game. It simply is not going to happen, not in any of our lifetimes. I'd love to be wrong about this, by the way. I would LOVE to be wrong about this, but I am not going to be wrong about this.

Not to say there won't ever be a "AAA" TMNT game again; there might be. But it would likely be something a lot smaller in scope and scale. Maaaaybe something like the FIRST Arkham game, but I suggest people play that game again AFTER playing any of the sequels to relive just how f*cking tiny and barren that game really is. There's not even any reason at all for it to be an "open-world game", you could take out the Riddler Trophies and the hub and just make everything play out linearly in mission fashion and it would be the exact same game. The sequels did a great job of making "true" open-world Batman games, but the first one really isn't. At all. It's just a bunch of short mission rooms connected by a large, barren hub with no enemies to fight. The only purpose for the "open world" was to collect Riddler Trophies, and you can't get most of them until after you beat 90% of the main game anyway, so there's no reason to even explore the map. The "best" way to play the first Arkham game is simply to play the game exactly as the game tells you to, because going off the beaten path for even a second is literally a waste of time, there's no reason to.

So I mean, something like THAT, maybe, I could see a TMNT game being like? But I don't think people mean they want a TMNT game like Arkham Asylum, they want one like Arkham City. And yeah, no, you're not getting that. Not now, not ever. It'd cost too much to even develop it and there simply is no evidence they'd sell the numbers to make the money back.

The success of Shredder's Revenge and the Cowabunga Collection doesn't even factor in one bit to this, because all that proves is that old-school side-scrolling brawler TMNT games still sell a lot. There simply is no precedent that an Arkham-style TMNT game would, though. And without that precedent, no company would ever put up the money for development. They want PROOF of return-on-investment before the checkbook even opens, that's how the business works at that level. It's not as simple as "TMNT games are popular again!" It's apples and oranges.

So yeah, you've described what I'm sure is most people's Dream TMNT Game, and mine as well quite honestly, but it's not something I even waste a single second of hope or wishing on. It's never gonna happen, I don't think about it. Why give yourself blueballs for nothing, y'know?
---------------

For whatever it's worth, and just to illustrate my lack of bias on this kind of thing, I have similar conversations with people on the He-Man board, as well, because they too spend WAY too much time hoping for a AAA video game that simply will never happen. In their case, it's even more unlikely, because TMNT at least does have a strong video game history behind it whereas He-Man has Zero good games and only a handful of games in existence, period. I love the franchise but I'm aware enough to realize that no developer would even touch a franchise like that with a 10-foot pole, given its lack of track record in the video game sphere.

And they go on and on about how the brand "Needs" a great big-budget video game, because it's like the one thing the franchise never had which is necessary for "credibility". They even hold TMNT up as an example of how popular games are integral to a franchise's lifespan; "Even when TMNT was dead people still loved the games and there were still games being made sometimes. That's what WE need for THIS franchise!" And it's like, in theory, yes, that would help. But again, without any evidence that a game would actually SELL, it simply won't get made. And on and on, they say "It MIGHT happen, though!" And I keep having to say, "No, it won't ever. Stop it. You're hurting yourself with this. Accept Reality."

In either case, it always falls upon me to be the one to say out loud what nobody wants to hear: "The big-budget Triple-A game your franchise 'needs and deserves' simply will never happen, because like it or not, this thing that you love with all your heart Is NOT Actually Popular Anymore, at least not enough for your wish to ever come true."

And boy do people love to shoot the messenger. Can't help it, though; I don't have it in me to lie to people and I have a compulsive need to force-feed people their medicine so that they can stop living in denial.

[Turo602]

Do you realize how many unproven projects get made? It's the video game industry, everything is a risk, established IP or not. It's all in the execution, but even a great game won't sell if it doesn't have the right appeal. That's where licensing comes in. The name TMNT is already established, that automatically puts it ahead of any original idea.

However, TMNT's biggest obstacle is not only with how poorly its corporate overlords have chosen to exploit the franchise, but in making a 4 player game. The Arkham games already laid out the groundwork for mixing stealth and combat in an open environment. That's not the hard part and would be very easy to rip-off. What would be difficult is making an actual 4 player stealth action game which itself is an unproven concept, not the name TMNT. Even Gotham Knights couldn't manage it.

That's where a concept like The Last Ronin becomes appealing because you can very easily make some sort of Arkham City rip-off and keep it a tightly crafted single player experience because the precedent for it has already been laid out. You can't just slap TMNT on a box of viagra if the viagra itself hasn't already been proven to work. Just look at how the success of Resident Evil 2 has ressurected dead franchises like Dead Space and Alone in the Dark. Both far less established IPs that can now ride the coattails of Resident Evil.

TMNT has been all over video games lately and the success of Shredder's Revenge and The Cowabunga Collection is nothing to scoff at either. If these rumors are indeed true, then it was only a matter of time. Given the current landscape of licensed video games, it's no longer a question of will they make a AAA TMNT game, but when.

[ProphetofGanja]

Originally Posted by shredder orokusaki

Yes even i must admit that while my new game SHREDDER REVENGE is the best game of the year and best action game of the year it is not a AAA game.

this is so off-brand for you but I love how you tried to keep it in character

Originally Posted by Filespit

Here's what I want (in a Triple AAA TMNT game):

* A Batman Arkham/Spider-Man type of game
* Set in Manhattan, with at least lower Manhattan explorable
* Map should be parkour-able in a way that makes sense for the turtles
* Sewers should be used as quick travel points
* Lair always visitable for upgrading, learning new skills etc
* Combo based battle system
* All four turtles playable with their own unique movesets
* Main story involving Shredder/Foot Clan
* Side quests involvning other villains (Baxter, Rat King, Purple Dragons etc), some quests could also be specific for each turtle
* Territories for villain gangs/clans (as seen in Spider-Man)
* Loads of skins for all turtles

What are we even meaning, really, by using "Arkham" as shorthand? What would that mean in a TMNT game? In any case though, I agree with your list of wants for a TMNT game. I want to explore Manhattan just like in the Spider-Man games. Well, kinda like the Spider-Man games. The Turtles wouldn't be doing massive, soaring web-swinging like Spidey but more grounded parkour moves, at least at first, and later on in the story after visiting Harold Lilja and the Fugitoid enough times they'd probably get some decent tech for the player to have some fun with.

I would think the player would only need to control one Turtle at a time. For some missions, all four should be present and the player could quick-switch between them for combo moves, or they could stay as one Turtle to use the fighting style of their preference, because each of the Turtles' styles should be unique.

Me personally, I think the game would be best set in a universe based on the IDW TMNT. It could basically be based on the first volume of the IDW comics: start the game, Raph is separated from the rest of the Turtles. Beat Old Hob and find Raph, the Turtles gain an ally in Casey. We learn the Turtles and Master Splinter are reincarnated from their past lives in Feudal Japan, where the Foot Clan began. In the current day, the Shredder has recently just began a sweeping takeover of the city's underworld.

I just think it'd be neat.

Originally Posted by Leo656

There simply will not ever be a AAA TMNT game that comes anywhere near Arkham-level because no company will ever pay the development costs on that type of game. It simply is not going to happen, not in any of our lifetimes. I'd love to be wrong about this, by the way. I would LOVE to be wrong about this, but I am not going to be wrong about this.

I dunno man, as technology improves the cost of developing games goes down. There are definitely less likely things happening out there. And until then, hypothesizing and wishlisting is as good as it gets lol

Originally Posted by Turo602

You can't just slap TMNT on a box of viagra if the viagra itself hasn't already been proven to work.

Originally Posted by Turo602

However, TMNT's biggest obstacle is not only with how poorly its corporate overlords have chosen to exploit the franchise, but in making a 4 player game. The Arkham games already laid out the groundwork for mixing stealth and combat in an open environment. That's not the hard part and would be very easy to rip-off. What would be difficult is making an actual 4 player stealth action game which itself is an unproven concept, not the name TMNT. Even Gotham Knights couldn't manage it.

What's the drama with Gotham Knights now, I didn't think the game was even out yet

[Turo602]

Originally Posted by ProphetofGanja

https://y.yarn.co/00ef1583-c48b-48f4...adefe_text.gif

You've never had TMNT themed viagra?

Originally Posted by ProphetofGanja

What's the drama with Gotham Knights now, I didn't think the game was even out yet

It's a game starring 4 characters but it's only 2 players in co-op. Seems like quite a blunder.

[Leo656]

We'll see.

Full disclosure, I'm partly re-using an old strategy that worked in the past pretty consistently. If I want something that seems highly unlikely, once I give up all hope and become firmly entrenched in the idea that it will never, ever happen... THAT is when it finally happens, just to spite me and gift me all at the same time. As I've said many times, "The biggest piece of evidence I have that there might be a God, is that SOMEone is definitely f*cking with me on a cosmic scale."

So yeah, you guys should be supportive in my pessimism because the more certain I am that this game will never get made, the more likely it is that it actually WILL, eventually. I know it seems counterintuitive but I'm asking you to trust me.

Once upon a time I said "Man, it sucks that Ghostbusters is dead and they never got a good game, or like, how cool would it be if they made one Now? Too bad it's hopeless." And then like not even a week later, they announced it was in development. Or a few years ago I was saying to my wife, "Man, He-Man was so important to me, and it sucks that it's dead forever." And THEN they suddenly started pumping out a bunch of new stuff, most of it incredible.

You can all thank me for the Arkham series, as well, because I said the same sh*t about Batman games once upon a time, too. "They'll never make a good one, let alone a great one." And look where we are now. You're welcome! And let's not forget the Snyder Cut! That was all me and my "Sh*t"s never gonna happen" attitude, too! If I hadn't abandoned all hope, they'd never have finished it.

Some people say, "Never give up hope, good things will happen if you believe." Doesn't work for me, Brother! Why, I don't know. I only, ONLY ever get the good things I want AFTER I've completely lost all hope in them coming true. I cannot explain why this is.

But it's a very consistent strategy, and so far it works about 95% of the time so I'm certainly not gonna abandon it Now, I'd be an idiot.

[ProphetofGanja]

lmao you know what, you're right that sounds just like some quantum physics bullsh!t that's so crazy it's actually true

keep on railing against the possibility of a good TMNT game ever being made, and that will somehow ensure that someday one is

[Turo602]

I don't know, I prefer my method.

[RaphaelinSTL]

As I think about upcoming games for 2023, we got immensely spoiled with both Shredder's Revenge and Cowabunga Collection this year. The thought of a new TMNT game next year is really great, but what the game will be, it's developer and the style it goes for has me cautiously optimistic.

Since Activision dropped the license, I'm guessing we'll either hear who has the license now or if Paramount just decided to not go the route anymore.

The one thing that's giving me pause that it's an actual AAA style game is the source — the magazine calls the Cowabunga Collection a "re-master" ... so what's the qualifications for AAA then?

Was Mutants in Manhattan AAA? Was Out of the Shadows AAA?

I have both games TMNT games I ever wanted. A spiritual successor to the classic 90s games and a compilation collection. I'm pretty much settled unless Paramount gives me Cowabunga Collection 2 or DLC/sequels to Shredder's Revenge.

[PizzaPower]

I want a turtle game where we can actually drive the turtle van. The only other game where we can do that is TMNT on NES.