Transcript

[00:00:15] Speaker B: Since finishing Death Stranding, I have started well. Whilst also playing Death Stranding, I was playing Resident Evil 2 remake, which I’m still going through.

And I also actually just started Final.

[00:00:26] Speaker A: Fantasy 10 Remastered Final Fantasy 10, and. Well, I. I won’t spoil anything for you. That was a good one. I played that in middle school right when it came out, because I had actually, I think I played basically greatest hits versions, copies of 7 and 8, although only got through half of those at that point and went all the way through 9 and loved it. And so I immediately got 10 when it released and it was also very good. So 9, 9 and 10 are up there in my favorite Final Fantasy games. I don’t think I’ve played a ton of any of them since then, except for replaying the older ones. 10 is good.

[00:01:01] Speaker B: About five hours into 10 so far. I’m enjoying it. I really like the characters. Titus Waka, who I’m with now, you’ve.

[00:01:10] Speaker A: Already started playing Blitzball, then, if you’ve met Waka, haven’t.

[00:01:14] Speaker B: Haven’t done a blitzball tournament yet.

[00:01:16] Speaker A: Gotta get in there.

[00:01:17] Speaker B: I have a feeling that. I have a feeling that’s coming up pretty soon in the story for me. But it’s.

It’s been fun.

[00:01:23] Speaker A: It’s funny that walk. His weapon is basically just a water polo ball.

[00:01:27] Speaker B: Yeah, it is. Yeah. But, yeah, it’s. I. It’s one I never got to. I played nine way back in the day and I. But I don’t fully remember. I really hope that they do sort of like seven, a remastered version, a nine.

I think that’d be incredible.

[00:01:42] Speaker A: I think it is very well received and probably they. Well, they might consider it. I don’t know.

Took a long time and. And three different games for the three discs of Final Fantasy vii. So I don’t know, maybe in like ten more years you’ll get a nine remake.

[00:01:59] Speaker B: I know. Otherwise I might have to.

I think they did. They sort of did like a rematch or. They did. They did something that you can get on Switch and I think I have it on my PlayStation, like a remaker. I might go back and play that maybe after 10, but I am. Yeah, I’m enjoying Final Fantasy 10 so far and I’m enjoying Resident Evil 2 remake so far. But it is terrifying, but it is.

[00:02:21] Speaker A: Fun, tense, and tough. And if you’re not playing it with headphones, you are both playing it wrong and also playing it right. Because 3D audio and hearing a zombie behind you is crazy creepy.

[00:02:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I’ve done both. And yeah, it’s.

It is very creepy.

[00:02:40] Speaker A: Jump out of your seat.

What about you?

Been playing much since we finished, but yeah, I gotta jump back into Persona 5 Royal and I don’t know, maybe start up something new. We’ll see. Anyway, getting into season two here, we both tend to enjoy palette cleanser games after going through anything like lengthy stories like death stranding, whether that be by changing up the setting, the gameplay genre, or the approximate length of a game.

Well, we’ll be doing that here and for scheduling reasons, this will be the first of a few bottle episodes, or rather bottle seasons. Considering we’ll give each game a pre play expectations episode and a post playthrough discussion. That means the next few games on our list are estimated at being anywhere from two to six or maybe eight hours of gameplay and therefore can be completed within a week or even less, maybe even a single play session. So coming up for season two, we will be playing through Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Now, Turtles in Time was released as an arcade cabinet in September 1991 as a sequel to the 1989 arcade game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It allows four people to inhabit the four turtles and run through the world’s different biomes. It was a major hit, and in 1992 it was ported to the Super Nintendo.

Curious, Alex, how you actually refer to Super Nintendo? Because it seems like there’s a million ways I’ve heard Super Nintendo, super nes, snes, some people call it a snes. Do you have one way that you refer to that whenever you talk about it?

[00:04:19] Speaker B: I usually say the super. I usually just say the Super Nintendo, sometimes snes.

Okay, Mostly I’ll just say, oh, I played it on the Super Nintendo.

[00:04:29] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, good call. There’s some people have, I think for.

[00:04:32] Speaker B: Us since we were younger, since it was Nintendo and then it was just Super Nintendo, we just called it Super Nintendo.

[00:04:41] Speaker A: I think a lot of people have very strong opinions about what you call it, which I don’t have any preference really. I didn’t actually own one at any point. I was a Sega Genesis kid. But anyway, this was then ported to Super Nintendo as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Four Turtles. In time, it made some adjustments to gameplay, animation, sound, and even shuffled some levels, enemies, bosses to accommodate that switch to the home console. It also of course, meant it had to reduce the number of co op players from four to two because of the available controller ports on Super Nintendo. Despite that, fans loved to play the game at home instead of just feeding quarters into an arcade.

Both versions were beloved games and while there is still debate about which is better, it is clear that both versions have their supporters and the variety of the two options was good to have. Sometimes it’s good to get out of the house. Turtles in Time is now most readily available as part of the Cowabunga Collection. If you haven’t picked up a Super Nintendo cartridge and have a CRT TV to play on. The Cowabunga collection was released in 2022. Developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Konami, the cowabunga collection features 13 TMNT games that were developed by Konami originally between 1989 and 1994, including both the arcade version and the Super Nintendo version of Turtles in Time, which is great news for us.

And Cowabunga Collection is how we’ll be playing it and thanks to the online support, we plan to play this one Co op.

How was your.

[00:06:11] Speaker B: Yeah, we’re going to play both versions, both arcade and the Super Nintendo version.

[00:06:18] Speaker A: Right. Time allowing, it’s. It’ll be good to play through both. I think it’s a bit different and if you have the time in your week then. Then go for it. It seems a good way to sort of get some varied experience.

[00:06:32] Speaker B: Yeah, it is now gonna say for Turtles in Time. It’s a. It’s a. It’s the fact that it’s in this Carabunga collection is nice. I’m sure this Carabiner Cowabunga collection goes on sale quite a bit if you don’t own it, I believe. As for PlayStation, we got it for free as one of our monthly games.

Cow Bunga collection. I was just looking it up because the actual Super Nintendo like cartoon loose is about 35 to $40 itself.

[00:07:01] Speaker A: Okay. If you want to buy it, it’s not terrible really. If you have a.

[00:07:04] Speaker B: But then if you want to collect it and you enjoy it and you want it complete, it’s about 165 to $175.

You’ll probably look for it a bit more so.

[00:07:13] Speaker A: A bit more what? You can get versions plus 11 other games digitally and all that. So it’s all up to the way you like to do things. It’s also available on Switch I that may be available on Steam. I think we’ll be playing it through it on PlayStation because we’ll play it through PlayStation. It’s available through various subscription services.

It is frequently on sale on the PlayStation Store and the Nintendo Switch Store. So worth checking out.

I’m not sure about you, Alex. So I was a massive Ninja Turtles fan as a kid, a very young kid. Of all my fandoms through the years, it’s the one that my parents still bring up the most frequently. My first pet was actually a turtle and I named it Raphael. So, you know, there, that. That shows you something about young me. But I haven’t really followed anything Ninja Turtles since being a kid. I guess I. I haven’t seen the movies, the recent movies. I saw the. Those 90s ones. I haven’t seen the recent movies from the.

I’m a bit intrigued by the Mutant mayhem movie from 2023, mostly because of the involvement of some of the actors I know Seth Rogen was behind a large part of that and Paul Rudd’s in it, things like that. So maybe I’ll watch that one with my son one day. I did also recently pick up the three Last Ronin graphic novels in the recent Prime Day sale at a good discount.

Both because if there is something Turtle related I’ll enjoy now as an adult, it’s the more dark adult tale. And also because there’s supposedly a game adaptation of the Last Ronin. It was announced a couple years ago.

Who knows if that will ever be released since there hadn’t been much news recently and a lot of studios are laying people off and canceling games these days. But here’s to hoping. My ears also perked up for the lead up to Shredder’s Revenge, which is the newer Beat Em up that was widely praised as the best modern take on this old TMNT Beat Em up formula.

I haven’t played that. But you said you have, Alex.

[00:09:05] Speaker B: I have, yeah. I played Shredder’s Revenge. I played it one, actually I beat it in a night. In a night gaming session with two other friends of mine. It was a lot of fun. It’s a. It’s a good Beat em Up. It’s a.

It’s a really cool callback and throwback to the old school beat em ups. And like these turtle games, the character designs look great. The battling felt really good.

But as I said, we kind of just. We played through it very quickly in a night. Like there’s more that you can do to it, like if you play every character or do a bunch of stuff like to unlock other characters.

[00:09:35] Speaker A: It even had a dlc, I think gave us some additional characters as well.

[00:09:40] Speaker B: Yeah, I haven’t played that yet. But it. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. Only took about. I think it took us about, I don’t know, maybe four, five hours max, maybe to beat the whole thing.

[00:09:53] Speaker A: Here’s the important question.

Who is your favorite turtle and. Or which one did you use in Shredder’s Revenge?

[00:10:01] Speaker B: But my favorite turtle is. It’s probably a toss up. It’s probably between Leonardo and Donatello.

[00:10:08] Speaker A: Okay. Okay.

[00:10:09] Speaker B: For my favorite, this is like a personality revenge.

Yeah. In Shredder’s Revenge with my friends, one of my other friends, his favorite is Donatello Tello by far. So he picked him.

And my other friend really liked Leonardo, so he picked him. So I picked. I picked Michelangelo, which actually, I’m not gonna lie, Michelangelo in the game was actually really fun to play as it was kind of a little bit more kooky and fun.

Had some cool moves.

[00:10:32] Speaker A: Well, so that. That poses the question then, who are you going to use in Turtles in Time?

[00:10:38] Speaker B: I would like to use Donatello.

[00:10:41] Speaker A: Okay, I will give you that.

[00:10:43] Speaker B: That would be my top choice.

[00:10:44] Speaker A: I will let you do that.

I will most likely use Raphael because that was my favorite growing up.

In our first playthrough of either arcade or Super Nintendo. I don’t know which one. We’ll go through first. And then the second playthrough, I’ll switch it up just for some gameplay change and choose one of the other ones. I don’t know.

[00:11:02] Speaker B: Yeah, if I switch it. Yeah, if I switch it up for the second one, I’ll probably play as Leonardo or Michelangelo.

[00:11:07] Speaker A: Nice.

[00:11:08] Speaker B: So I’m not gonna lie to you. Raphael, unfortunately, is my least favorite of the rough.

[00:11:13] Speaker A: I just had the.

[00:11:15] Speaker B: They’re all still really cool, but I just.

[00:11:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it’s the moody, brooding personality is what got me, I guess. Or I think it was really just the cool. The SAI is a cool weapon that you don’t see all that often in a. In media.

[00:11:30] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:11:31] Speaker A: I.

[00:11:32] Speaker B: My backstory for.

[00:11:33] Speaker A: For.

[00:11:33] Speaker B: Just for Turtles, you went through years. I mean, I was. I enjoyed the turtles as a kid. I know I had quite a few of the toys. Like the original. I think they were.

I know that they’ve remade some of them. I think they were ones that you could store stuff in their shells.

[00:11:49] Speaker A: Nice.

[00:11:49] Speaker B: I had some. I actually have still some of my figures. I might actually have all four. My original figures from when I was a kid. I think in storage somewhere. I kept them. But I’ve seen the. I’ve seen the original movies. I love the original movies. The first one’s great.

Second one’s good. The third one’s interesting.

[00:12:10] Speaker A: I don’t remember them enough. I just remember that they were all created. I think it was in collaboration with the Henson Group. So it was.

Yeah, they’re very like.

[00:12:19] Speaker B: They’re. They’re not animatronic.

[00:12:21] Speaker A: They’re real, real actors. Yeah, it was cool.

[00:12:23] Speaker B: Yeah, they’re a big thing for me as a kid, but not as big as I know for me as a kid. Power Rangers was my.

[00:12:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I was huge on Power Rangers too. Honestly, I was between the two. I don’t know which. Which of the two came first, but I was very into both of those.

[00:12:37] Speaker B: And I had those games on Super Nintendo and I loved those games.

[00:12:41] Speaker A: The Power Ranger games.

[00:12:43] Speaker B: Yeah. I’d love if they. I don’t know if they have. If they remade those, like remastered those in a collection. That would be cool and something to think about. But for Turtles, I saw, as I said, saw the 90s movies. I saw the 2010 movies. I actually really enjoyed those movies.

I think Alan Ritchson, who is.

[00:13:01] Speaker A: I think he’s Raphael.

[00:13:02] Speaker B: Raphael. Yeah, they were cool. They were a bit darker, but they were there. I enjoyed it.

[00:13:08] Speaker A: Think I’m saying I should check them out.

[00:13:10] Speaker B: Are they Michael Bay movies? There’s quite a bit of action.

[00:13:12] Speaker A: Megan Fox was in those two.

[00:13:15] Speaker B: They were good. And after those, I haven’t seen any other. I watched the cartoon as a kid.

[00:13:19] Speaker A: Yeah, the cartoon one, obviously. Where it all started, I think on my end.

[00:13:23] Speaker B: Yeah. But I haven’t watched any of the newer stuff since. I don’t even know.

[00:13:29] Speaker A: Probably since the start of Nickelodeon, show wise.

[00:13:32] Speaker B: Probably since. Yeah, I. I don’t think I’ve watched any of the Nickelodeon stuff Right.

For it. Yeah.

[00:13:40] Speaker A: So. And as far as Turtles in Time goes, I remember I rented Turtles in Time once at Blockbuster and I couldn’t even play it because I had a Sega Genesis, not a Super Nintendo. So returned it and rented what must have been this game called the Hyperstone Heist, which was supposedly a very similar game for the Sega Genesis, which is also in this cowabunga collection. May or may not give that a shot at some point, but that. And supposedly Turtles in Time had this infamous. Because it was originally developed as an arcade game, it’s still super hard. It was super hard as a very little kid. Just constant repetition, trying to get past the first level. Even being an arcade game, it was designed to eat as many coins as it could. So it’s a challenge. It helps coax out those repeat plays.

It Makes sense why it’s hard. Let’s see how hard it is. We’re adults with a lot more gaming years under our belt.

[00:14:34] Speaker B: Hopefully it’s not too difficult.

[00:14:35] Speaker A: I mean if it’s a one to two hour game, I can’t imagine it will be, but I. I can’t believe it will be.

[00:14:40] Speaker B: I will tell you, Shredding Revenge was not too difficult the remake, but I also think that had a difficulty setting. But since this is older. Yeah, this. Yeah, I don’t think it’s going to be too difficult, but it’s going to be maybe a lot of fun just to see this old school.

[00:14:55] Speaker A: This game is a classic, right. It’s been. It’s still referenced by people that are into beat em ups or whenever a new beat em up comes up, it’s a usually a reference. I’ve always wanted to try it out. So I’m so glad the Cowabunga collection was made to make it more easily possible.

As far as general expectations go, I haven’t really played any beat em ups since the 90s in their heyday.

So I’m excited for this blast from the past. I do know from the box art of the Super Nintendo version as well as the title itself that we will be traveling through time. We will at minimum see dinosaurs, maybe a train, some pirates, ride a futuristic skateboard or hoverboard, find some aliens. You know, the typical travel through time type activity tropes that always happen in anything that involves traveling through time.

And as far as gameplay goes, I mean, I think it should be, you know, you just. It’s almost a button masher, I think. Well, it most likely gives you a bit of detail about what the buttons do and you know, it’s just a good quick couple hours with a friend.

[00:15:58] Speaker B: Yeah, it will be. Yeah, it’ll be a nice few hours. Yeah. As a co op friend game.

Yeah. As you said, button mashing. I’m sure there are little. Each character I’m sure has their own special moves which will be fun to see. Must be and try out. So especially against bosses and boss battles and see who the bosses are from all the lore and the world of tmnt.

[00:16:19] Speaker A: Got to expect at minimum the. What is it? The Foot Clan, I think is the name of the general generic ninjas. Gotta be fighting Shredder at some point. Bebop and Rocksteady I think are a rhino pig possibly. Okay, good. And Casey Jones is a just a regular dude with a hockey mask, maybe a hockey stick. I’m sure April o’ Neill will show up.

That’s the extent of what I’m expecting out of this. If it covers those things.

[00:16:45] Speaker B: Maybe Crang.

[00:16:47] Speaker A: Who is Krang? I don’t remember Krang. Yes, I think that sounds right.

[00:16:50] Speaker B: But the one that has the brain in his stomach.

[00:16:54] Speaker A: Okay, don’t remember that at all.

Was there a Triceratops, anthropomorphic Triceratops at some point in this franchise?

[00:17:01] Speaker B: Yeah, there was. I don’t not sure who.

[00:17:03] Speaker A: Well, maybe he’ll show up in the dinosaur level. Maybe that’s why it exists in the first place.

[00:17:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I want to say it’s called it was. Crang is one of the. I think you’re another one of the main bad guys.

[00:17:14] Speaker A: I think I read that in one of the quick synopsis of.

[00:17:18] Speaker B: It’ll be cool if you see if he shows up as one of the boss fights.

[00:17:21] Speaker A: But yeah, I’m I’m expecting just a good couple good couple hours and that’s. That’s where it is.

So Turtles in Time is supposedly quite short and can be completed in about one to two hours. So this should be a light, quick playthrough and give you some time for other games or activities before we chat about it. Next episode we may even play. I think we’re definitely at this point will play both arcade and Super Nintendo versions because why not? There’s the time. If you want to join us in our playthrough of Turtles in Time, give it a go this week and we’ll catch you next week for our post. Play Chat.

[00:17:57] Speaker B: Thanks everyone for listening. If you want to follow along and discuss our playthrough of any games on the Gaming Backlog Book Club Podcast, please give us a follow on your podcast platform of choice. Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Amazon Music or Pocketcasts, as well as our Discord and Instagram under the same name. Thanks.