Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1989 arcade game) (version found in the Switch port of The Cowabunga Collection played for review)

I’m old enough to remember the spectacle of TMNT as it was meant to be played, a communal experience between youthful wannabe miscreants pumping quarters into a tall cabinet and admonishing each other for hogging the pizza AGAIN. In a modern context, with freeplay on and having experienced many better brawlers, TMNT remains a fun time with surprising wit, making it easy to forgive occasional one-hit KOs, a lack of player expression and combat options (throws don’t double as crowd control, for starters), and a few uninspired boss fights. There’s better TMNT arcade games, but I had fun revisiting this.

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