Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection from Konami and Digital Eclipse is one of my favorite retro collections ever. It is chock full of amazing bonuses in addition to many games that have been great to revisit or experience for the first time. The enhancement options and features available elevate these games quite a bit as well. If you're a fan of the games or want to check out classic TMNT games, this release is an essential.

Getting all these titles with minimal compromise? That's awesome! Righteous! Bossa nova!. . . Chevy Nova? Or simply: Cowabunga! [Issue #62 – November/December 2022, p. 68]

In all fairness, the online mode is just a box to tick against something that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection doesn’t need. The real hook is that this particular series is something we don’t see packaged together very often – an omnibus of memories, specially tailored for fans and friends alike, who were once touched by the games and the franchise at its peak. I was lucky enough to be one of those kids, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection is, without doubt, one of the most nostalgic compilations I have ever had the pleasure to experience.

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.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Cowabunga Collection is one of the best retro packages I’ve ever played, providing a nearly definitive encapsulation of the Turtles games of the era while also presenting them in the best way possible. You can play them roughly as they were when they came out, or make use of the enhancements and rewind functionality to get through hard spots. Or maybe you just want to watch a playthrough of Hyperstone Heist just because. Cowabunga Collection presents so many ways to experience the Turtles games of the ‘80s and ‘90s, making it enjoyable for anyone who has any interest in the Turtles or their video game exploits. This truly is radical.

If you're a fan of the Turtles, this is the collection for you. If you're a fan of arcade brawlers, this is the collection for you. If you're simply curious about this specific time in gaming history, the Cowabunga Collection is still worth owning. It's a phenomenal piece of work and a reminder of why the Turtles remain such a relevant franchise in video games to this day.

A great selection of games make this a strong collection, and I also appreciate the accouterments that Digital Eclipse has thrown into the package. If you're a beat-'em-up or a TMNT fan, The Cowabunga Collection is going to offer a lot of fun for you and your friends.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection is a great compilation, being its multiple configuration possibilities, its extras and its online mode its most outstanding aspects. However, it can be improved, since not all titles are at the same level and online is limited to a few games.

The Cowabunga Collection frankly lives up to the expectations placed on it. Despite its status as a “simple” compilation, the work of the Digital Eclipse studio is a lesson for all publishers who bring out the old things of the past. If the 13 games do not show the same interest, we can only bow to the avalanche of options and bonuses integrated into this compilation. Admittedly, some productions have aged and the lifespan is not enormous, but the user-friendliness is there and in the field of compilations, this Cowabunga Collection holds the dragee high for the tenors of the genre. In such conditions, it is difficult not to be seduced.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection features 13 nostalgia-inducing games, each of which serves as the perfect reminder of why many of us love 1990s platformers. It’s a worthy purchase for TMNT fans or even just those of you that are after a challenge

I’ve not played every game here to its end, so I can’t say with absolutely, unfaltering, bet-the-farm-on-it certainty that the emulation is flawless throughout, but everything I have witnessed in The Cowabunga Collection has played smoothly, responded promptly, and been free of bugs or crashes. If you’re planning to pick this up after Shredder’s Revenge expecting more of the same, please, allow me to pause your purchase for a second - these are bare bones indeed after that moreish delight, so buy knowing that you’re getting improved-feature-set versions of much older games, with save-anytime (one slot per game) functionality a real plus, but they are still much older games. Then again, if you’ve the truest Turtle power in your veins, you already know what this is all about and you pre-ordered it ages ago.

The Cowabunga Collection is a great look back at the Turtles games of yore. The franchise's stranglehold on side-scrolling beat 'em ups is fully on show with some of the best examples from the era, while the rest of the collection is still worth playing. A worthy selection for TMNT fans looking to delve into the past.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection does right by the retro collection format, although at around $60-$70, even for digital, it’s on the pricier side, which won’t sit well with too many gamers, I suspect. That’s a pity, because it’s the kind of historical approach to curation that I wish more companies would take seriously.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection is one of the best retro gaming collections to come out in years. Obviously the developers absolutely loved the series, because every single moment of this collection is bursting with Ninja Turtle love. From including some of the best home console and arcade games, to including the most in-depth behind-the-scenes look at the games, The Cowabunga Collection sets the new standard for how retro collections should be. While the collection includes a few less than stellar games you should probably avoid, there are 8 great games to jump in to and have a great time. These are some of the best games to appear on a Nintendo (or Sega) console in the past and a great way to revisit these classics again today on Nintendo Switch.

TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection is a treasure trove of Turtle games, but our online experience was barely functional when matchmaking. Couch co-op fares a lot better, but some may notice an increased input delay over the originals. All said this is still a great collection for fans.