Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, behind the scenes of the game with Fred Gémus of Tribute Games

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

We had the opportunity to spend half an hour in the company of one of the founders of Tribute Games, as well as the designer of this new and eagerly awaited Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, of which we have recently also proposed our tried. But we didn't just talk about nostalgia, which undeniably plays a very important role in this case: we also focused on that faint difference that passes between the obligation to pay homage to the past and the need to create a new and captivating product for both those who 'was, that for all newcomers.

Here's what Tribute Games' Fred Gémus said in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge interview.

Nostalgic Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder's Revenge: immediately pull out the Reebook Pump which soon starts the Festivalbar Like so many ninja turtles have exploded in my face, then cartoons, toys, films and of course video games, in the arcade and at home . I'm the perfect target for this game and for the whole Dotemu production ... is that just the reason why I find Shredder's Revenge irresistible?

Fred Gémus: Like you, we are all big fans of the whole franchise but the first era of cartoon was a universe with a specific sense of humor and full of creative characters, and then of course video games, all of these crazy toys that we all remember. Consequently, for us it was an obligatory choice to go back to that period, adapting it to certain current canons because, although for some it is nostalgia, the franchise is still relevant today. Even the youngest, who have not had the opportunity to experience the birth of the Ninja Turtles, will find in Shredder's Revenge a good starting point.

In your opinion, is the original graphic style that you have chosen to take back so fascinating only for a nostalgic fact or did it really have something unique that has been lost over time?

Like Tribute Game, and the name says it all, we love that style, plus pixel art continues to be important. Today you can make it really rich in detail, especially if like us you have some of the best pixel art artists in the world. Going back to that specific style for Shredder's Revenge was a way to establish a connection with the old games, allowing us to grow it without the limitations imposed by the hardware of the era. In this love letter, I especially refer to the animations of our game, impossible in the days of the originals, we tried to make the dream game of when we were young. Our roster of characters is more varied and their moves the same, this allows Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge to look old school, while still running on pretty modern gameplay.

A modern Beat 'em Up

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder's Revenge: You are like my bike, you are just like her, let's go for a ride if I were you I'd be there ... How do you approach a video game that must be at the same time a tribute to the past and a totally new product?

The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games were very good for the time, but they also had some gameplay choices that appear questionable today. By replaying them you realize that not everything is as well made as you remembered; our work has focused on creating a new game that you can remember as if it were a classic that has always existed, to which, however, all those abstrusities of the past have been eliminated and replaced with a "quality of life" in step with modern productions .

For example, starting from the multiplayer qualities of the time, we immediately added the possibility to enter and exit a game as quickly and easily as if you were in the arcade, and the game automatically adapts the game. difficulty. Same thing with April to whom we have given more agility than the other characters, and she is an April who knows how to fight since spending all that time with the turtles she also started training and studying martial arts. We tried to create characters that work as gameplay and also make sense.

For the first time, correct me if I'm wrong, April and Splinter will be playable characters. How did you approach these two new fighters?

In the fighting game genre absolutely yes, it's their first time as playable characters. When we created the turtles, we tread on their different personalities that can be seen emerging not only during combat but also in their walks. We took the same care to create April and Splinter that we wanted from the beginning. For the master Splinter, given his role as mentor, we thought of moves slightly slower than those of his students, but considering that it is the sensei, he could not fail to be the one with the most powerful hits. Splinter also has some particularly effective special moves, it can disappear and reappear across the screen, and others that we have borrowed from games of the past.

Between a coin-op and a Super Nintendo ...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder's Revenge: afterwards let's go to the arcade but be careful not to get fooled by the Swatch Scuba Are you inspired by a particular ninja turtle game? And which of the original features could not be missing in your game?

Of course from the original arcade and Turtles in Time, the games we all grew up with and remember with particular fondness. We tried to capture the essence of these games, fighting games like many others but particularly dynamic, where the enemies are often very numerous and must be eliminated as quickly as possible. This is the most important principle that we have tried to respect, developing an accessible game with a good depth that makes it interesting for a long time and that knows how to entertain a large number of people.

Conversely, are there any gameplay elements of the original games that you had to change because they became too old-fashioned?

Replaying the old games you quickly realize how simple it was, the limited moves, and this is one of the first things we chose to improve. One of the biggest changes in my opinion is how super moves are performed: in the past you had to sacrifice part of your energy to activate them, now we have used a different and more modern system, which pushes the player into combat instead of making them a submissive turtle. until the next pizza. We have thus introduced a bar that fills up quickly eliminating enemies and which will allow you to use these special moves (or the moves that the turtles can perform in pairs).

Physical copy for collectors

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For us it is certainly not new considering past works such as Panzer Paladin, Mercenary Kings, Flinthook ... this is the genre we are most familiar with, among the founders of Tribute Games there are those who created Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World and the TMNT fighting game for GameBoy Advance. [...] We can therefore count on some experience to understand what is good to do and what is best to avoid. This baggage allowed us to get started on Shredder's Revenge pretty quickly, fully respecting the original works that inspired us.

Since you mentioned it, considering what happened with Scott Pilgrim that for years it has not been on sale anymore, what is your opinion on the need to preserve video games, especially today that with digital it is possible to erase a product from the face of the earth with a simple click?

You are talking to a great video game collector, I own more than three hundred, so I can only consider the topic very important, and the same goes for the others at Tribute Games and, I'm sure, in Dotemu . In the case of Shredder's Revenge, we pushed to also have a physical edition of the game even if this will arrive a bit late compared to the digital release because obviously the copies must be produced and distributed. We are also striving to have the final version of the game on the disc, which needs nothing more than the hardware it was designed for.

Beepop and Rocksteady

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder's Revenge: 100,000 Lire for a game? And there weren't even the Steam discounts ... From what I know, you weren't the only ones asking Nickelodeon for the rights of the Ninja Turtles, I don't think you beat the competition with just the nostalgia card ...

Because Tribute Games together with Dotemu were already the dream team they were waiting for! Joking aside, we immediately found ourselves in tune with the same passion, the same ideas that led to this decision.

Would you like to work on a bigger project in the future?

Working with ninja turtles is a kind of dream come true for us, so we are delighted to have got our hands on this brand, this license. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge will certainly be a milestone for our career, a kind of turning point. There is time for the future, now we're just busy putting the finishing touches on our latest game. But we do not preclude anything, not even other fighting games that deserve to return to the fore.

Have you noticed any mistakes?