DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER: Super Evil Megacorp

REVIEWED ON: Nintendo Switch from a copy purchased by the author.

For a while, it looked like the best days of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the video game space was disappearing in the rearview mirror. Publishers like Activision, Ubisoft and development partners like PlatinumGames tried to capture the lightning in a bottle of their early 90s hits in the arcade and on 8 and 6-bit platforms but couldn’t quite recreate the same pizza recipe. Heck, even Konami tried again in the early 00s and didn’t match the same level of cultural zeitgeist.

Today it’s a different story as it looks like the Turtles takeover of the video game industry has only just begun. Between the exceptional Cowabunga Collection, the beloved Shredder’s Revenge and the in-development The Last Ronin game, there’s no shortage of ways to enjoy playing as your favorite hero in a half shell in the interactive space. This year alone fans are getting not one, or two, but three unique TMNT games from different companies coming to home consoles.

The second among them following Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate. A once Apple Arcade original that has now found its way to the Nintendo Switch as a timed exclusive, Splintered Fate can easily be considered one of the best TMNT games ever crafted. Blending the anthropomorphic reptiles roots in the arcade with the roguelike space, developer Super Evil Megacorp has modernized the halcyon days of the TMNT into something that simply cannot be missed.

Splinter, the father figure of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, has been taken. His sons plan a daring rescue to bring their beloved sensei home, but standing in their way is Shredder and his deadly Foot Clan, out of control mutants, hungry Mouser robots and mysterious portals controlled by an unknown force. It’s up to the Turtles, their trusted allies and mystical helpers to navigate their way through the enemies that stand in the path and the portals before them to make their family whole again.

Splintered Fate is not a game that wants to bog you down with overly long cinematics, and wisely keeps story sequences brief to get you back into the action. It’s also largely saved between runs when you settle in to take a breather. There’s but a few pauses between biomes where you stop and chat to supporting characters like Casey Jones. Narrative is rolled out through still images – featuring beautifully produced art of the characters that inhabit the TMNT universe – accompanied by voice over from talented voice actors including Yuri Lowenthal, Roger Craig Smith and Fred Tatasciore.

For anyone who has been following this franchise over its 40 years of existence, little explanation is needed when characters like Leatherhead, Karai, Bebop and Rocksteady, Slash and Metalhead pop up, but some knowledge of the recent IDW comics help to fill in some of the blanks. During runs, the Turtles will talk about how Baxter Stockman has become mayor which is not a development in many iterations of the TMNT. Regardless, players both young and old shouldn’t have much trouble following the tale that Splintered Fate is trying to tell. This is mostly kept to banter between the brothers during play too and largely used to organically build out this specific take on the Turtles.

This game marks the first time a developer has blended the TMNT property with the roguelike genre, and the combination works as perfectly as four baby turtles and ooze from TCRI. Starting out in the sewer home of the Turtles before moving to the streets and rooftops of New York, Splintered Fate has players running through procedurally generated rooms populated with randomized fodder like Foot ninjas, Mousers and Punk Frogs before battling bigger boss enemies. Upon death, you begin a new run back at the start to try your luck again making it to Shredder.

Played from the isometric, three-quarter perspective, Splintered Fate‘s camera is positioned such that it’s easy to read the environment whether playing on your own or with friends both locally or online. A game like this comes down to intelligently managing crowds, which never becomes a problem here as the camera is zoomed out just far enough that you can read a room with few obscurations to your view. About the only difficulty you’ll run into is when hacked Mousers get mistaken as enemies as you zone in on clearing out a chaotic room.

What makes Splintered Fate so enjoyable, even after you’ve sunk dozens of hours running through the same areas, is how good it feels to play. Each of the four Turtles feel fast and responsive as you dash around the map, controlling crowds, learning patterns and pummeling goons with swords, sai, nunchaku and bo staff. Everything starts to click further once you start applying upgrades both random and permanent.

Each run through Splintered Fate whether a success or failure rewards you with valuable currencies. Some can be used to offer permanent upgrades to your health, power, or a boost to your luck in getting certain modifiers while another only applies to run specific power-ups. Splintered Fate falls into the trap that many modern games do by having multiple versions of universe specific money, but it never becomes overwhelming. It won’t take but a few runs to know what money you need to succeed and how to go about obtaining it.

On paper, Splintered Fate sounds like a game that would wear out its welcome pretty quickly as you’re more or less venturing through the same areas ad nauseum but that’s not the case at all. Just as you get used to the patterns of a boss or enemy type, your next go around will shake things up by giving bosses powers they never had before or by swapping out mini-bosses for others. This is a game that constantly keeps you alert while saying “just one more run” as hours unknowingly disappear. After you take down Shredder but once, challenge portals begin to appear that test your skills like never before.

A lot of the enjoyment also comes to the various room rewards you get and learning how to match each Turtle with their best loadout. Elemental powers such as fire, water, and lightning can be applied to your hits and further supplemented with ninja abilities that can make you hurl throwing stars after basic attacks. If you get the correct rolls, a character like Leonardo can turn Splintered Fate from an up-close melee action game to a bullet hell shooter as you fill the screen with electrified ninja stars that ricochet between enemies.

After a few runs, you will begin to settle in on set strategies, but you’re also kept on your toes because you can’t always rely on desired upgrades showing up. Even after charging up an artifact that increases the chances of fire based perks showing up, you’re never guaranteed to get the one you covet. Shredder might fall easily as you rain fiery meteors on him from above and then have you sweating but one run later simply because of how the dice rolled.

Splintered Fate might not quite pop in the same way that Shredder’s Revenge did, but it still has a painterly look that evokes the comic book origins of the TMNT brand. Similarly the portraits for the Turtles, their enemies and allies all evoke that same ripped from the page aesthetic, so while it may not be the most production heavy TMNT game, it still manages to honor the simple roots of the franchise. The music, while perhaps not as catchy as say a Shredder’s Revenge, never grates on you even after you’ve sunk hours into Splintered Fate and matches the fast-paced action well.

You can tackle this game both solo, or with friends both locally and online. A brilliant feature allows you to populate your run code such that random people can hop in to assist you if you wish. On launch date, I streamed Splintered Fate on our twitch channel and had someone who was watching hop on to assist me. Even while broadcasting and playing online, the game’s performance did not buckle one bit. This game has a lot of systems going on, but the button commands are few. Splintered Fate demands your attention, but it’s also friendly to newcomers who are willing to learn alongside experienced players.

Players are not starved for choice when it comes to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games, but lovers of the property would be doing themselves a disservice by passing on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate. The fast paced action evokes the best TMNT arcade games and the roguelike design modernizes the concept of sinking quarters into a cabinet to see how further you can get. Throw in upgrades and power-ups that allows players to customize how they want to go about tackling it and you have a game you can easily lose yourself in whether playing on the Nintendo Switch or on a mobile device.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is available now as part of the Apple Arcade subscription service and as a one time purchase on Nintendo Switch.