Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection

For gamers who weren't yet born in the 1980s, it may be surprising to learn that Konami’s pedigree was once second only to Nintendo’s first-party output. Undyingly creative and highly quality-driven, the innovative glow that earmarked their arcade years was never truly rekindled post-1994.

Hot on the heels of Shredder’s Revenge, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection doesn’t just deliver refashioned nostalgic elements of the past: it is that nostalgia, undiluted and conscientiously presented. After a short but classy cartoon intro you can head to the Turtle Lair and dive into 250 original comic book covers; complete music playlists for every game; stills from every season of every Turtles cartoon series; a complete set of original game manuals, and, impressively, a mass of design documents showcasing Konami’s '80s and '90s concept artwork.

Elsewhere, Online Play beckons. Perhaps the collection’s most alluring attribute (and one conspicuously absent from Capcom’s Arcade Stadium releases), its utilisation of rollback netcode, ensures it works like a charm. You can create lobbies for friends or strangers and set a frame delay of your choosing to guarantee a smooth experience. With both arcade titles, Mega Drive Hyperstone Heist, and, crucially, SNES Tournament Fighters supported, childhood memories of late-night sleepovers and arcade coin drops are ready to be reawakened.

The game library menu is elegantly wrapped in artwork-rich black and white comic book pages, with a central video fixture running footage of each title. With a whopping 13 games on board, available in both US and Japanese regions, value for money isn’t an issue. While it may be of concern that many entries are repeated as ports, Konami’s tailoring of conversions makes each a mostly unique experience. There are also varying “Enhancements” for each title, including God Mode invincibility, stage selections, Nightmare and Turbo Modes, and in the case of Tournament Fighters, an option to unlock extra stage backgrounds for versus play. Additionally, aspect ratio, wallpapers, image filters, rewind, and save state features are all available from the pause menu.

While superior Turtles titles would eventually follow Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (arcade, 1989), the sentimental power of its four-player scrolling-beat-up action cannot be overstated. Once the focal point of every early-'90s arcade, its evocative audio and inimitable aesthetic are all present and correct, and developer Digital Eclipse (Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, SNK 40th Anniversary Collection) seems to have slightly refined the control inputs, too. While we’re of the suspicion that the game’s challenge is a tad lower than the arcade’s original default, this could also be the misguided result of arcade operators boosting the cabinet’s difficulty when we were kids. Regardless, it’s a slick piece of history, although one that gets repetitive when played solo. Unless you master it totally, it becomes trying in its latter half, sitting somewhere between arcade masterpiece and shrewd business exercise. At the same time, teaming up locally or online with three other players to crash your way to the Technodrome is still a magical adventure.

Turtles in Time (arcade, 1991), an all-round fairer and more varied sequel, also comes online multiplayer ready. The one-strike Foot Clan killer is gone, but with the introduction of a dash, shoulder-barge, and glide attack, it’s a more involving combat repertoire. The green foursome find themselves sucked into Shredder’s time warp and sent on a beat 'em up romp through the ages, from prehistoric lands to the dazzling highways of a future metropolis. It’s lengthy, diverse, and tons of fun to play with a team. It’s also beneficiary of the vocal track “Pizza Power”, a slice of certified '90s gold pinched from the studio album “Coming Out of Their Shells”.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES, 1989) is as nostalgically relevant as its arcade cousin, released the same year, but famous for entirely different reasons. Almost every kid who had a NES either owned or played this at some point, driving the Turtle van overground before entering the sewers to navigate side-scrolling action platform sections. You swap between Turtles in an attempt to keep them all alive, and knowing who has the advantage in cheesing certain obstacles and bosses (nearly always Donatello) helps a lot. Although it’s received a belated backlash over the years, primarily due to its vicious difficulty and unwieldy controls, we found it an enjoyable revisit. While still incredibly frustrating at times, Konami’s team did a better job with the first console outing than many give them credit for.

Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES, 1990) did the unthinkable, squeezing the arcade original into an 8-Bit cartridge. Obvious concessions are made in terms of audio and graphical fidelity, but it plays a fast, absorbing, and altogether fairer game than that on which it’s based. With two new stages, Baxter Stockman as a new boss, and other little touches like extended sections and variations, it’s certainly different enough from its arcade cousin to warrant attention.

Turtles III: Manhattan Project (NES) followed in 1991, maintaining the scrolling beat 'em up angle while introducing a slew of new bosses in the form of Rahzar, Tokka, Groundchuck, Dirtbag, and Leatherhead. At eight stages, it’s a lengthy, graphically polished affair that plays similarly to its NES predecessor — but for us is perhaps the weakest of the NES trilogy. Still, with save state support it won’t be too taxing for folks intent on seeing the ending.

That brings us neatly onto the 16-Bit era, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES, 1992). Revered as one of the highest-quality arcade ports of its time, it mimics its arcade counterpart astonishingly well, allowing you to throw enemies into the screen and get creative with combat mix-ups. Changes include Bebop, Rocksteady, and Super Shredder entering the fray, and there are even visual improvements thanks to a little Mode 7 wizardry on the Neon Night-Riders stage. Graphically, its detailed backgrounds and superbly animated sprites really pop. The only thing it drops slightly is speed, owing to the SNES’s occasionally sluggish processor.

One won’t really feel that speed difference, though, unless they play it back-to-back with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist (Mega Drive, 1992) which moves at a comparatively breakneck pace. Hyperstone Heist has only half the number of stages compared to Turtles in Time, rips backgrounds from both arcade games and mashes them together, and introduces all-new stages and bosses, notably feudal Japan and Tatsu the Ninja henchman. While it cuts some elements back — like the ability to throw enemies into the screen — and is limited to an hour of game end-to-end, it’s still distinctly arcadey thanks to the Mega Drive’s architecture. With bold sprites and great animation, its increased zip makes it incredibly fun to play, and some may even prefer its immediacy over its spiritual SNES equivalent.

With Turtle mania sweeping globe during the '90s, it’s unsurprising that Nintendo’s dominating handheld received a trilogy of its own. The Game Boy’s dot-matrix format remains undeniably charming, reconstituting arcade action in a miniature form.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (Game Boy, 1990) is a side-scrolling action game that has more in common with Strider than Final Fight, having you pace right and swat Foot Soldiers across five upbeat Turtle-themed stages with excellent designs. The sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers (Game Boy, 1991), is somehow inferior in sprite work, showcasing a graphics artist who can’t draw a decent flying kick, but much broader in scope, with skateboarding stages and the ability to traverse greater areas of the screen. The final entry in the Game Boy trilogy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue (Game Boy, 1993), switches from straight-up action to maze-style adventuring as you set about ‘rescuing’ your pals to make them playable. Each Turtle’s unique abilities can then be used to progress, not unlike Castlevania III or Metroid, into areas previously inaccessible.

Turtles Tournament Fighters (SNES, 1993) will be, for many, the package highlight. Released during the Street Fighter II boom, it’s both beautifully drawn and animated, with a gritty look and large, weighty sprites. It still plays superbly almost 30 years on, each Turtle sporting a repertoire of special moves spread across four buttons. Street Fighter-style inputs blast out stylish attacks and there’s plenty of combo building and experimentation to indulge in. The system includes a super attack gauge (and is one of the earliest games to feature one) and a finely balanced cast of ten playable characters and two bosses.

Even though the computer AI plays a mean game, Tournament Fighters holds up well for both single and competitive play, and joins the ranks as a new online multiplayer experience. The rollback netcode really comes to the fore here, and it's fantastic to be able to match up against human opponents. As a plus, the Japanese version contains slightly altered voice acting and an attire adjustment for Ninja girl Aska.

While SNES Tournament Fighters really demonstrates Konami’s 16-Bit mastery, the same can’t be said of the Mega Drive version. Pretty much all-new in terms of visuals and mechanics, you can play as April O’Neil and even break through certain stage barriers to reach new areas, and the music, by Suikoden composer Miki Higashino, is a noteworthy perk. As a fighting game, though, it falls into average territory. It’s playable, certainly, and has some unusual Contra-inspired backgrounds to boot; but, in spite of its brisk movement, it lacks the technical depth of the SNES game, making it better for a brief foray.

Finally, the North American and European-only NES Tournament Fighters (1993) is something of a curio. It’s actually fairly impressive for an 8-Bit console, and, pared back to very basic elements though it is, offers some reward. It’s short and simplistic, but its back-and-forth attacking and a Splinter icon randomly throwing a power ball into the arena makes it at least worth a look.

TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection is indisputably the best thing Konami has released in a long while, meeting all expectations and then some. Bar absent difficulty settings for the arcade games, it’s an anthology that finally gets it totally right. Digital Eclipse and Konami have done the fans justice, offering a comprehensive library that doesn’t hide content behind a paywall, while going above and beyond in terms of features and bonuses. With online functionality and rollback netcode being the icing on the cake, this is now the gold standard for retro collections. Capcom, pay close attention.

Scoring Policy Review copy provided by Konami

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I would look at having four online titles in this collection as a pro, actually, but maybe I'm too easy to please. Bring on pizza and games night!

Really looking forward to this. Cowabunga!

I found it interesting that the Genesis version of Tournament Fighters is considered to be lesser, and doing some searching around, apparently it's almost another case of SNES Aladdin vs Genesis Aladdin, though with more similarities than differences.

And fun fact: a good chunk of staff who worked on Radical Rescue went on to work on Symphony of the Night.

Great news! That’s a purchase then!

Well roll on Tuesday!! Already pre-ordered and waiting patiently!! This is gaming wish 2 out of 3 come true, so really happy about this release and the great review just makes me more impatient for Tuesday to arrive 1st gaming wish was an updated version of TMNT in time (which we kind of got with Shredders Revenge) and the 3rd is a similar collection, but with the old Star Wars games: NES Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, along with SNES Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The cherry on top would be all the Rogue Squadron games and Shadows of the Empire remastered and added together as a collection as well. Any devs interested in making that happen? You have my money already!

Perfection, as predicted. Will just be waiting for Amazon to bring it to my door Tuesday afternoon. Then it'll be this, pizza, and marathoning the original movie trilogy and the 2007 CGI animated TMNT film. 🤘🍕🐢🤘

Just ordered it now from the games store now that I know the switch version is good thanks nintendolife

It bothered me that no release date was announced for months, but I guess it was in order to not harming the release of Shredder's Revenge. Once it proved successful, "mysteriously" the release date of what I for one consider the best of the two releases surfaced: August 30th.

It's the most anticipated release of this year for me, no kidding. Digital Eclipse makes great collections -I bought them all- and this is really a comprehensive one. Several other classic collections leave some versions out, especially portable ones, it's something that happens in Disney Classic Games Collection, for undisclosed reasons, but Cowabunga Collection gets it right at last.

So does this have less lag than Shredders Revenge?

I remember being blown away by the original arcade games as a kid. I loved the ports of NES Turtles 1&2 on my Spectrum (despite the drawbacks on the weaker system) and had fun the one time I played Turtles in Time on a SNES in a shop (though as a Mega Drive owner I was hesitant to get too attached to a SNES game…)

I know it’s a different system, but when the uncharted collection was released on ps4 the online for 2 of the games wasn’t included. When the bioshock collection was released, the online for bioshock 2 wasn’t included. So getting online play for 4 games on 1 release isn’t too bad. I’m just happy to get the collection of what’s on there.

Seems like everything I could have wished for plus nice extras. Definitely a must have of this year. I will try to beat every game without save states. At least Turtles I on the NES. Many of the games are new to me, so I am really looking forward to this collection.

Very very compelled to get this just to reward them for doing a great job on a collection, and getting a great collection of Turtles games to boot. Very good to hear.

@Clyde_Radcliffe where is the lag in shredders revenge I’ve played it through a few times and not noticed any even played it with a wireless 8Bitdo arcade stick and not noticed anything at all

Dumb question that could easily be answered via google but I choose to ask here….what is “Rollback Netcode”?

I can’t wait to get my copy tomorrow. I hope they add online to the rest of the multiplayer TMNT games in a future update.

@karatekid1612 100% this for the SNES Star Wars games 🤩

@Schopenhauer77 fingers crossed!! If they managed to sort out the licensing issues with the TMNT collection, I'm sure they could do it for a Star Wars collection as well?! Here's hoping as I'm sure it would sell lots of copies!!

Right on. Preordered and just waiting for my copy to arrive. Never thought I'd see a collection like this and considering all the extras, they outdid themselves.

Just looking at these photos gave me so much feels…. Really looking forward to replaying these memories from my childhood. ❤️❤️

Lovingly-crafted physical collections of classic video games are one of my favorite things to buy. Konami, thank you for bringing all this TURTLE POWER back to the gaming world! I hope you profit handsomely.

It will be a total memory trip replaying the first arcade and NES games for the first time since like 1990 😁

Can i ask .. am i the only one who skips down to the bottom to see what the score is and then goes back up to the top to read the review? LoL or am i a weirdo

@karatekid1612 I think about that potential collection a lot. Needs to happen.

@nymbosox I always see people talking about it like it’s a good thing, but I have no clue. Hoping somebody can answer this!

@Krambo42 I hope so too, as I'm sure both collections I mentioned would sell well! I started a NL forum chat (Anyone interested in a Star Wars collection) which seemed to generate a lot of interest. So I would say the appetite for such a collection is good?

I was nervous the games would come in a bare bones wrapper, and I’m thrilled to read it’s top notch. What a year for the Turtles! My inner child is shrieking with delight.

@Gs69 - Solo and local multi play super smooth, but online has a bit of lag. Not a big deal though, just hit the buttons sooner. It’s not game breaking by any means. This one should be super smooth with rollback.

@karatekid1612 good to hear! Also, they keep releasing old Star Wars games, so I assume they’ve been selling fairly well?

@bimmy-lee ok thanks for the explanation never played it online so wasn’t aware this was a problem

@Krambo42 Yep KOTOR 1 and 2 recently, generated a lot of interest and I'm pretty sure the sales were good too.

@nymbosox @Krambo42 I wrote a (very general and simplified) summary explaining it in a news post a couple of years back, might be helpful!

"For anyone not up on their netcode lingo, rollback netcode (as opposed to delay-based netcode) is often favoured by fighting game fans for a more satisfying, snappier online experience. In a nutshell, delay-based netcode delays updating the game state until player inputs have been received from wherever around the world they've been sent, and is therefore very susceptible to network fluctuations and often results in a chugging experience for both players - far from ideal in a fighting game.

"Conversely, rollback netcode does things differently; it logs when inputs are received and adjusts (or 'rolls back') each player's simultaneous game state to match. This can result in players appearing to 'teleport' as new input info is received, and can also lead to desyncing between each player's games, but generally offers a smoother online experience."

Further reading here if you want more info.

@dartmonkey that’s super cool (and helpful), thanks so much!

I do wish Konami would have sprung for the original 1987 theme song for the '89 arcade game like Arcade1Up did for their second compilation in their Turtles in Time arcade cab. I would think Konami has more money to do so than a new smaller outfit like Arcade1Up. Oh well.

I have the Xbox 360 version of the original arcade game which does have the tune included in any case.

@farrgazer I think the SNES version is the one that people still play in tournaments. I think there was a side tournament for it at EVO this year. I only played the Genesis version when I was a kid and was shocked at how different the SNES version was when I finally got to try it later in life

It's odd the SNES version of TMNT 4 doesn't support online, considering it's "better" than the Aracde version. Still, I prefer the Mega Drive version, and glad that has online support.

I wish they gave us the option to have the Europe versions. The Mega Drive PAL and Japan versions actually have improvements over the USA version.

"Konami’s pedigree was once second only to Nintendo’s first-party output."

Konami made some pretty good games, I am not sure if they were second to anyone back in the 80's. I would say they are on Par with Nintendo's 1st party games. And in some categories easily surpassed them. Nintendo did not put out anything similar to Contra or Castlevania.

@dartmonkey thanks man, that is quite informative and I completely understand it now. It’s funny because I was playing Switch Sports and would always notice people “teleporting” whilst playing Tennis or Badminton, i thought they were cheating. Turns out it’s rollback netcode, however; that proved a disadvantage as them “teleporting” would enable them to rally back shots that they normally wouldn't get to in to time, so it has it’s pros and cons imp

Sounds like a great package, but it's a little pricey for me considering that I actually have a lot of these on the original cartridges. The arcade perfect ports are the main draw for me, as well as the Game Boy games, since I don't have those, but I will wait for a sale. I am glad to see though that they put a lot of extras, etc. into this and it really looks fantastic!

Have to disagree with the review on one thing: there's no way TMNT 1 on NES is better than TMNT 3. It's a horribly designed platformer that won't even let your turtles swim. Enough said.

My childhood of games right here. They still hold up well today. Can’t wait to have this.

I dont think I have any choice but to buy this...

Can’t wait for it to arrive. A fair few of these versions I never played and another few are some of my fave of all time.

@PKDuckman or you just lack patience to get through the nes tmnt game which most of us like the challenge.

@TriniKwan I would love this. In retrospect the games weren't that great, but I'd still play the **** out of two of them: I LOVED the first SNES MMPR game and the Sega Genesis movie game

Wow, I can't say I'm shell shocked though! I pretty expected this score and glowing review. I can't wait til tomorrow!

The heroes in a half-shell have done it again. Mad to think we've not only had two TMNT games this year, but both have been utterly fantastic in their own right. I may not have much nostalgic attachment to this era of Turtles specifically (came in with the 2012 series) but man they knocked it out of the park with this one, fantastic stuff.

Pre-ordered it around the first of the year. Have been waiting for a collection like this as long as I can remember.

So glad I double dipped! My Collector's Edition for Switch & standard edition for PS5 will be delivered tomorrow! I never thought I'd see Turtles in Time & Tournament Fighters released on modern platforms, but here we are. I'll probably pick up a copy for Series X as well, when the price drops. These games are my childhood! I'm so excited!

@nymbosox It's a netcode that predicts frame/input implementation online seconds before you actually make em. When a game got register for online rollback, all the possible input possibilities were assign to the netcode which it kept into memory, this prevent the netcode from having to second guess an input so like say if Capcom put a game like Street Fighter II online for rollback, Capcom actually register all of Ryu's movesets and inputs onto the netcode so quarter circle forward would always going to be for the Hadouken (Energy Fist) and quarter circle back would always be for the Tatsumaki Kyaku (Hurricane Kick), when you attempted one, rollback already knew which inputs are for which, all it wait for now is the correct button you press.

Pressing the correct confirm button would perform the move and reduce lag since rollback didn't had to wait to read the input as it was already put into memory, all it was waiting for was either the punch for the Hadouken or the Kick for the Hurricane Kick. Pressing the wrong button would result in the move getting cancelled. Unlike rollback, a typical online netcode would required to read both inputs and wait for the correct confirm button, this is why most netcode tend to had lags cause all inputs are not put into memory so every time when a move needs to be perform, a bad internet connection from one user could potentially lag the game due to the netcode struggling to read inputs from both players.

Another good example of rollback is Shang Tsung's morph in the disc and cartridge version of a 2D Mortal Kombat game, on disc Tsung's morph are not put into memory as disc had no RAM support, this is why console such as PS1 and Dreamcast required separate RAM/memory cards. The game had to wait in able to load him into the data of the other fighter in able to morph into them, on cartridge all his morphs inputs are put into memory within the cartridge's own RAM so whenever he morphs he could load directly to the intend fighter quickly without lags as every inputs for his morph were already save onto memory from the get go. Rollback is similar to this.

Note: This is a copy and paste from my past post as I'm too lazy re-writing it. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/08/tmnt-the-cowabunga-collection-features-rollback-netcode-for-snes-tournament-fighters

@RiasGremory That doesn't automatically make the game good, nor is having tricky platforms and the infamous underwater level. I'm sure "patience" can also get you through the NES's worst platformers/shooters like Conan and Silver Surfer.

Wait…. which are the four games?

Turtle Power! Can’t wait until this arrives!

@farrgazer Almost but not really. Super NES Aladdin and Sega Genesis Aladdin may be based on the same Disney's animated movie but both were developed by different devs, Super NES version was made by Capcom and Sega Genesis version was made by Virgin Interactive. TMNT Tournament Fighters for Super NES and Sega Genesis were both made by Konami but were made differently. The Super NES version was made with the 6 button controller in mind whereas at the time of development, the Sega Genesis didn't had a 6-button controller yet so its version of Tournament Fighters had to use only 2 buttons with the third button been unused.

Yes the Sega Genesis version of Tournament Fighters came out the same year as Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition (the first game on Genesis to support the 6 button controller) and Sega Genesis model 2 in 1993 but development on the game actually starts in early 1992 when the 6-button Sega Genesis controller was not known yet. At the time Konami did not know of the 6-button controller until after Street Fighter II came out on the Genesis. Had Konami was notified about the 6-button controller support, the Sega Genesis version would had use the same 6-button setup as the Super NES version did.

I'm not even 'into' the Turtles anymore, but this collection just sounds like a must-get for the nostalgia alone. I've spent many hours in my youth with the NES, SNES and Genesis TMNT games, and I never had the pleasure of playing the Game Boy entries, so this sounds more than worthwhile to me.

Got my limited edition yesterday and I have to say the art book is fantastic.

So dope! I'm amped for yet another TMNT Game.

This seems like a great collection handled with reverent endearing care & detail compiled nicely into a compelling package as it should be and hopefully is more of a standard moving forward.

Hopefully this does well and inspires a resurgence & renaissance of cool, fun, licensed arcade brawlers updated and coming to Switch with modern features (X-Men, Simpsons, Bucky O'Hare, Die Hard Arcade, Battletoads)... basically keep it up Konami and call some license holders/devs to get some more ish made!

It's a good year to be a TMNT fan.

@Tom-Massey "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza." <3

Can't wait to get my copies tomorrow. Pre-ordered the physical version for each of Switch, PS5 and Series X.

@RadioShadow I am also in the camp that the SNES version of Turtles in Time feels much more polished than the arcade version.

That said, I think (emphasis on think) the arcade one gets the online support because of four-player mode.

@The_Top_Loader I read the conclusion and the joys and cons sections.

Maybe the presentation is just that good but the value doesn't really seem there. Yeah 13 games but turtles in time is repeated, and tournament fighters is repeated. I'd think it should be $30 max. It's cool, just like doesn't seem like $40 is a good value.

I was concerned when I heard digital eclipse was involved, since they helmed the mega man LAGacy collection. MM9 and 10 performed perfectly since they weren’t Emulations, but the others felt broken and extremely sluggish.

Either way, whatever. I’d still buy regardless just to have them all in one toitleTastic collection 👀👌

Can't wait to get my preordered physical copy!

One thing to note is that Triceraton, Krang's Android, and Karai in the Sega Genesis version of Tournament Fighters are all available from the get-go now. These are the 3 characters that originally can't be selectable (unless you use Game Genie codes) through normal means in the original game now finally unlock and playable for the first time in this collection.

They really could have cowabungled this collection, glad that's not the case.

"My toes! My toes!"?

@Godlike_Virus Same here, except I'm gonna be playing Shredder's Revenge to get ready. I had recently unlocked Radical Mode for Splinter, truly making him into a Radical Rat!

i really wish Nintendo would jump on the "retro collection" bandwagon (without any odd "limited digital" bs) since i would definitely buy the hell out of a retro mario, zelda, kirby etc collection with this kind of love put into it.

@PKDuckman Agreed. The third NES games is also quite a bit better than the second game. In fact, I consider "Manhattan Project" to be one of the overall best games on the NES.

@Hikingguy I think many people would argue that Metroid was very similar to Castlevania.

Just to answer a few of your questions and comments, folks:

@farrgazer I don't even think they're in the same ballpark to be honest. Tournament Fighters SNES is taut enough for actual tournament level play, which is one of the reasons online is so important for this particular game. The Genesis/MD version is still enjoyable, but it's not on the same level in my opinion.

@Clyde_Radcliffe I experienced no real lag when reviewing Shredder's Revenge, or this. However, if that is an issue for you, do what I did and check your setup. Even newer LCD/LED panels can contribute horrible lag, so look for a 'game mode' on your TV, attempt switching TV, and then go to your tools (bluetooth pads, arcade sticks) and test wired where possible.

@YoshiF2 You gotta read the review rather than just the Pros and Cons! The four online games are listed there.

@nymbosox Plenty of good replies here. Simplest way to think about it: Rollback Netcode predicts the next frame, and you can alter the speed of that prediction by lowering the frame value at the detriment of it having time to catch up. The default is set to 4, and I'd say tinker with 3 or 5 depending on how you find the online connection.

@RadioShadow SNES Turtles in Time was the one I was expecting there would be complaints about (if any) regarding no online. Whether or not it's better comes down to preference, but it certainly plays a fairer, more console-friendly game. It would have been nice to have had it online along with Hyperstone Heist, but I suppose they felt one incarnation of this particular game was enough. I'm not so sure either.

@The_Top_Loader I don't mind that whatsoever - at least you actually read the review!

@strongest_link I am not sure anyone would argue that. Do you honestly think the NES Metroid is similar in any way to any of the NES Castlevanias? Or Super Metroid is similar to Super Castlevania IV?

Considering the article was about an 8/16 bit collection of classic Konami TMNT games, I was referring only to the 8/16 classic Castlevania games. I do not think they resemble Metroid (besides being a video game) in anyway. Later iterations of Castlevania might have some similarities, but not the classic 8/16 bit games. I could be wrong, it has been a while since I have played Metroid.

Konami is only shell of what they were in the 80's and 90's.

Speaking of Konami when are they going to fix the buttons on Zombies Ate My Neighbors and give me a rewind there too lol.

Glad to see they put in the effort! For collectors who often already have all the oldies they want in cart format or are emulation enthusiasts for arcade titles, what opens our wallets is presentation. Awesome job, Konami!

Just remembered i bought the amiga version of TMNT.. really impulse buy.. hated it .. so no nostalgic feelings here.. do love the recent remake though

better music in the amiga version though https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzI-v3HFsyc

Still can’t buy it in the eshop tho as of 8am on 30th. Just give me my gd turtles.

I love being a turtle!!!!!

Today will be remembered in Turtle history as the day the fans finally got THE wish at least 20 years in the making. Im constantly looking out the window for Amazon to show up. I bought both Collector’s and standard editions because……..go green machine!

Also excited to finally commit to finishing Radical Rescue and checking out Tournament Fighters outside of the SNES one.

What’s this I hear that the arcade version doesn’t have the theme song as the original cabinets did?! Oooofff…..if so, this game went from 100 to only 98% complete! Major bummer amigos!

A disclaimer: for some reason this game does not support single Joy-Cons as controllers, despite all the games available easily being playable with the amount of buttons on them. It's a shame, I had to cancel my co-op evening plans because of this since I just assumed all simple multiplayer games would support them on Switch, especially a package like this.

@Tuulenpoika that’s got to be a patchable error. This does not make sense.

Does the cartridge contain everything or is there anything that require download or online data?

I’ve been playing this all night and it’s a masterclass in how to make a retro collection. An amazing amount of options for the games, like rewinds, filters, etc. I can’t think of a feature I’m missing. And then the “Turtles’ Lair” has an insane amount of content to look at. A true TMNT museum and I am going to love looking at all the art, manuals, ads, comic covers, cartoon stills, and more. What a fantastic collection. Turtle Power!

The gold standard for retro collections but not a 10/10

Absolutely amazing collection, and the best retro collection I have ever played. Really top notch. The games are great, the extra "Turtles Lair" content is just out of this world. I spent well over an hour just looking through all of it before playing a single game. It's like a collection of some of my finest childhood memories in one excellent package. Way to go Konami.

Got it and already a lot of fun. Slightly annoyed though that all the guides, artwork and boxes always need a second to load. Give us a new Switch Pro goddammit!

@SuperToe No. 10/10s shouldn't be handed out lightly. This is a collection of pre-existing games of a good standard - albeit with varying quality - that will appeal to a select audience, but not all.

Playing the original NES TMNT with rewind, save states and an old school strategy guide on the pause menu is quite enjoyable.

Watching the video review, I was caught off guard by someone calling the consoles nez and snez.

I would give this a 6/10. I loved these games back in the day but unfortunately they are too basic and do not hold up. I really liked how the compilation was put together though. As a fan of Turtles & Beatemups fan i have no regrets on my purchase (PS5 & Switch versions)

@Clyde_Radcliffe IT HAS MORE LAG THAN SHREDDER'S REVENGE & SCOTT PILGRIM COMBINED.

Did this reviewer actually test the online play?

They say that it “works like a charm” but a lot of people have been complaining about the game becoming unplayable with more than 2 players online. Complaints about the online are all over the internet, across all versions.

My experience with the online has been awful. Every single time a 3rd player joins in the arcade game or Turtles in Time the game turns into an unplayable slideshow. In its present state, the game plays much worse than the Capcom Beat ‘em Up Bundle online; a game which was heavily criticized for its online play.

how do you play online multplayer on the switch on cowabunga collection.

@RushDawg. how do people join you online cause im on switch is it random?

You have to select “Online” from the main menu. From there, you can choose from 4 titles.

You can create a lobby or join a lobby. If you a lobby it will be with randoms. If you create a lobby you can play with randoms or make it private and invite your friends.

Am hearing bad things about huge input lag in some of the games in this collection....putting me off what had seemed like a certain purchase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ4MQsmn-2g&t=1s

"Did this reviewer actually test the online play?

They say that it 'works like a charm' but a lot of people have been complaining about the game becoming unplayable with more than 2 players online. Complaints about the online are all over the internet, across all versions."

They being the review’s author, Tom Massey.

Tom’s review made no mention of online issues and specifically praised the game’s online. However, numerous people have experienced issues with the game’s online play, myself included. I find that the online play works fine for two players, but slows to a crawl when there are 3 or 4 players. 3-4 players online has been consistently bad and unplayable for me.

"They being the review’s author, Tom Massey."

(some alternative forms of language for referencing this "author": "He" and "he")

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