Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge was not only a great tribute to the 1987 incarnation of the titular turtles and classic beat ‘em ups, but was one of the best games of 2022. Since its release Shredder’s plot for revenge has been thwarted countless times by the Turtles and friends, so it’s time to add something new to the mix. Dimension Shellshock is the new expansion that expands on the shell-kicking action by adding a couple of new playable characters and a new challenge mode.
The two new playable characters are the samurai rabbit Miyamoto Usagi and Shredder’s former lieutenant Karai. Like the current cast of seven playable characters, these two fighters bring their unique skillset in the fight against the Foot Clan offering a new set of moves to master. Both of these new characters are available to to all game modes, so in addition to running through the new Survival mode for leaderboard dominance, they’re a great reason to revisit the Arcade and Story modes.
Survival mode is the biggest addition to Shredder’s Revenge. The Turtles’ interdimensional pals the Neutrinos crash the Turtle’s pizza party in a cry for help. It turns out that chrome dome Shredder is trying to conquer the multiverse itself and only the Turtles and their friends can stop him. This is a challenging mode where the player is faced against a seemingly endless horde of Shredder’s minions. After completing an area two portals will appear that determine the next stop in the dimensional battle. There are numerous random occurrences that can happen during interdimensional travel, but the risks and rewards are part of the fun.
Traveling through Survival mode offers many variable challenges to the Turtles. In addition to being an endurance run against the Foot Clan and their interdimensional cronies, there are several random modifiers that exist just to make things more challenging, such as missiles randomly raining down on the Turtles or enemies that explode when defeated or even mutating into their greatest enemy. Survival modes by their very nature are meant to be challenging, so it would be disappointing if this wasn’t the case. But like Story mode, by collecting enough crystals of different colors the chosen character will gain perks akin to leveling up which can help make climbing the leaderboard more feasible. Success in Survival mode will not only allow the player to see a variety of new stages inspired by different eras of the Turtles, but also unlocks new color palettes for them.
Dimension Shellshock doesn’t make significant additions to the story of Shredder’s Revenge, but does bring additions that help breathe new life into the game, similarly to how Mr. X Nightmare did in Streets of Rage 4. Survival modes aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but for the people that enjoy them it’s implemented well. The fact that the Neutrinos crashing their party seems like it could have happened in an old episode of the cartoon makes it even better. The same can be said of the new characters; Usagi was such a cool action figure so getting to finally play him in a TMNT game was a treat. Overall the new characters and content make a great game even better. A more in-depth look at our impressions can be found in ourreview.
