When you’ve got an entire army of ninjas, mutants, and alien threats from Dimension X looking to take over New York City, four color-coded brothers skilled in martial arts may not be enough to save the day. Fortunately, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is bulking up its roster, as the turtles’ sensei Master Splinter will be a playable character in the game.
In an update on the PS Blog, Tribute Games marketing manager Eric Lafontaine described how Splinter’s inclusion was a chance for the TMNT mentor to show off his own set of formidable skills.
“In our youth, we all imagined Splinter was a capable combatant,” Lafontaine said. “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–and this scarcity quite likely charged Splinter’s mysticism.”
Unlike the Ninja Turtles gang, Splinter is designed to be a little bit calmer and collected in his movements, fluidly chaining together attacks using his rat-like physiology, martial arts prowess, and his cane. Using those skills, Splinter sets up windows of opportunity that allow him to dish out punishing combos, which are further enhanced by a unique ranged magical charge attack.
Splinter’s design and attack animation–which is also based on his look from the original 1987 animated series–even references the opening credits of the cartoon for a brutal series of strikes using his entire body as a lethal weapon.
In addition to Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo, April O’Neil will also be a playable character in the upcoming beat-’em-up game. Interestingly, April is also showing off her journalistic talents in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, where her mic skills make her a force to be reckoned with.
Shredder–the best character in all of TMNT and who even has a canonical victory over Batman–sadly isn’t a playable character. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is scheduled to launch for Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC in 2022.
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