A new leak suggests that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge might release in the middle of June. Developer Tribute Games and publisher Dotemu announced that they were partnering up to produce a new side-scrolling TMNT game in the style of the SNES-era beat-em-ups that marked the Turtles’ gaming heyday last March, heralded by a retro-style Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge trailer set to the classic 1987 cartoon theme.
Since then, gamers have been slowly but surely getting more information about how TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge channels the fanbase’s nostalgia for the classic Turtle era, such as bringing back the original cartoon’s voice cast to reprise their iconic roles and including April O’Neal and Master Splinter as playable characters alongside Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. All of the side-scrolling action and classic cameos of the old-school Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade games are present and accounted for in TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, as well as an overworld map in which players move between levels, online multiplayer that allows up to four friends to join forces to take on the Shredder and his many ninja minions, and special TMNT: Shredder's Revenge combo moves to help deliver justice throughout a multitude of colorful stages. However, while TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge has already unveiled a special collector’s edition and limited physical release that will be packed with bonus items, fans still have no word on when the game is actually coming out aside from a vague “mid-2022” launch window.
Now, a leak from the PlayStation Database suggests that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge might launch on June 16, at least according to the PlayStation Game Size Twitter page thanks to an apparent tip by a user named justinxrubin. However, nothing official has been confirmed by Tribute Games or Dotemu, and even PlayStation Game Size notes that this listing could just be a placeholder. Still, this suggested launch date does line up with previous reports that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge will arrive sometime in the middle of 2022, and the recent announcement of a special edition release seems to be an omen that the game’s street date could be sooner rather than later.
While some TMNT fans are growing weary of the franchise’s current focus on games modeled after the old ’87 era rather than more recent Ninja Turtles adaptations, 2022 is shaping up to be an exciting time for gamers who grew up playing the older TMNT side-scrollers. In addition to Shredder’s Revenge, March’s PlayStation State Of Play livestream saw the announcement of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, a remastered bundle of some of the very classic beat-em-ups that Shredder’s Revenge draws inspiration from.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge looks to be a promising and nostalgic throwback to the golden age of TMNT gaming, and fans might not have to wait too much longer to dive into the mutant-bashing and pizza-munching action. If this recent leak from PlayStation Database is correct, then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge could be jumping onto all major platforms in just a few short weeks on June 16.