Now, I’m not exactly a gigantic fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – I was born a little too late to get swept up in the initial mania, and a little too early to appreciate the newer incarnations of the franchise, like the CG cartoon and whatever the hell Michael Bay was playing at. However, even I, with my infinitesimal knowledge of all things half-shell, know you’ve gotta have a few basic components in every instalment. You need the Turtles. You need borderline infuriating 90s swagger. You need Italian cuisine. You need April O’Neill in her retina-searing yellow coat. You need an assortment of comically ineffective foes for the gang to batter. And, finally, you need resident mutant rat sensei, Splinter, to dispense wisdom and platitudes about the bonds of brotherhood.
It’s Splinter time
The new TMNT game, Shredder’s Revenge (which comes courtesy of a Tribute Games x Dotemu power couple) looked to be including all these elements… with the exception of Splinter. What with the title being a gorgeously rendered love letter to the IP, featuring all the parallax-scrolling arcade gameplay one could hope for, fans questioned the rodent’s absence. These concerns can now abate, as thanks to PlayStation Blog, it’s been revealed Splinter will indeed be present; and not only that, he’ll be playable. Talk about icing on the cake (pizza?).
Eric Lafontaine, marketing manager of Tribute Games, writes: “long before the actual start of the project, the creative team at Tribute Games had already had this discussion. ‘If we did a new Turtles beat’ em up game… what would be the ‘must haves’?” Unequivocally, the resounding reply was ‘we need to have Splinter as a playable character!’” See, if only they’d availed of my handy checklist above in the first place, they could have saved themselves the fuss.
What’s interesting is that, in early iterations of the franchise, Splinter was less an active participant in the requisite brawling and more a passive, wise mentor that sat on the sidelines. This added to his mysticism – kind of like Yoda in Star Wars, at least before Attack of the Clones got a hold of him. Speaking on this, Lafontaine continues: “in our youth, we all imagined Splinter was a capable combatant. However, as much on television in the original animated series as in the early licensed video games, rarely did we see the master show off his skills. Tribute Games and Dotemu are thrilled to offer the possibility to take the Turtles’ sensei from a more passive character to a fully-fledged playable fighter!”
Check out the TMNT trailer
In terms of playstyle, the announcement promises Splinter will have a versatile moveset that takes advantage of his refined mental state and skills with a cane. “A multitude of attacks, jumps, slides, and special attacks” are included, as is an “astral projection strike [and] a ground bounce that permits the player to create some massive combos.” Hmm. An old, wise cartoon character bouncing around on a cane? McDuck Enterprises would like a word, Splinty.
All of this is illustrated in a new trailer showcasing Splinter, which you can check out below:
Fans of the series and gamers alike will doubtless be thrilled to see the papa rat make his way to the party, and it’s another exciting addition to a steadily growing roster. TMNT: Shredders’ Revenge is set to be released later this year on PlayStation 4, and we plan to cover it quite extensively, so keep your radical, bodacious eyes peeled. To the extreme.
Via, PlayStation Blog.
