As June 2022’s exceptional Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge showed, the arcade beat ‘em up genre is enjoying a righteous revival right now, with some absolute classics of the belt-scrolling kind coming out long after many a grey-haired player assumed the style was done and dusted. We’ve had Jitsu Squad, Young Souls, River City Girls, Streets of Rage 4 and more of late, all delivering the immediate thrills and blood-pumping action of the 1980s and ‘90s but with a healthy slug of sizzlingly fresh features. And if Shredder’s Revenge was the shot in the arm that the famously pizza-loving Turtles needed in the gaming space, here comes the chaser: a 13-game collection of Konami’s 8-, 16-bit, handheld and arcade releases.
