The best part about this remake of a sequel to an old classic is the sheer feeling of having four people in the house beating the beejesus out of Foot soldiers while walking to the right. Each of the Turtles in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time Re-Shelled (phew!) can be differentiated with their special attacks and reach . But then again, everyone will pick Donatello because of the range of his Bo staff, which equals a lesser chance of getting hurt. Picking either the cheapest Turtle or the one with the best special attack; that’s the way it was back then when I played the original arcade Turtles In Time in an amusement centre in the States.

So why in God’s green earth didn’t the developers follow the SNES version? While it stayed true to the arcade original of Turtles In Time, the SNES version far exceeds the arcade version in content and fan service. There’s no Technodrome stage, no battle with Shredder in a machine where you chuck Foot soldiers at his direction (*coughBattletoadscough*), no Slash, and even no Rocksteady & Bebop in this remake. I know it’s a little silly to bellyache about this, but it needs to be said that the devs could have just added those bits with the liberties they have at “re-shelling” the game.

And the graphics, hoo boy the graphics. Granted , it’s not as horrible as some reviewers claim it to be. It just feels a bit less colorful and drab than what I remembered, and doesn’t give the original sprite-based beat-em-up justice. It’s at least serviceable, especially with the “Boom” and “Pow” clouds that appear, and the “throwing the Foot Clan through the screen” bit never gets old.

If you’re expecting more than just a change in aesthetics and online functions, you’ll be sorely disappointed. My advice? Unless you’ve played it to death, get the 400 MS Points Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade game from Konami and Backbone Entertainment instead. It’s cheaper, concise, and more colorful than this remake.