We not too long ago reported that Dreamcast coding legend Ian Michael was engaged on a port of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection for Sega’s radical platform. We use the time period ‘port’ very loosely although, as a result of in mild of the Dreamcast not getting an official launch of The Cowabunga Collection, Ian has truly gone above and past and created what is actually a definitive model of the compilation, arguably bettering what was formally launched on present gen platforms by Digital Eclipse and Konami.

The results of 5 months of onerous work, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection for Dreamcast truly contains extra content material than the Konami launch, and because of the ‘indie’ nature of the Dreamcast model, it additionally contains content material that in any other case would not be doable to incorporate in an formally sanctioned port resulting from licensing points.

The entrance finish is marvellous!

So with the Dreamcast model of The Cowabunga Collection in all probability being the definitive compilation of half-shell based mostly retrogaming goodness, what precisely does it include? In reality, an absolute treasure trove of completely emulated 8- and 16-bit TMNT titles from a spread of traditional methods (operating at 60fps in some instances), episodes of TMNT cartoons digitised from VHS tapes, a Vanilla Ice music video (price it for this alone in my view), scanned recreation manuals, full soundtracks for all video games, VMU icons and logos, bespoke menus, show choices…the checklist goes on. 

Super NES emulation runs at 60fps.

Vanilla Ice lastly makes his Dreamcast debut.

What’s additionally fairly fascinating is that The Cowabunga Collection FAQ states that it’ll not run on an emulator – you will want an precise Dreamcast to play it, so the truth that each GDEMU and burnable disc photographs can be found is a bonus. Here’s a full rundown of what you may count on by way of playable titles included:

• Super Nintendo: Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (NTSC-U/PAL), Turtles Tournament Fighters (NTSC-U/PAL)
• Nintendo Entertainment System: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NTSC-U), Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NTSC-U), Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NTSC-U), Turtles Tournament Fighters (NTSC-U)
• Nintendo Game Boy: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan (NTSC-U/PAL), Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles II: Back from the Sewers (PAL), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue (NTSC-U/PAL)
• Sega Mega Drive: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyper Stone Heist (NTSC-U), Turtles Tournament Fighters (NTSC-U)
• Miscellaneous / ROM hacks: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (ZX Spectrum), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Coin-op! (ZX Spectrum), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of Rage Remix (Mega Drive), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of Rage: The Final Shell Shock (Mega Drive), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyper Stone Heist Remixed (Dreamcast/Beats of Rage), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Lost in Space (Dreamcast/Beats of Rage)

As you may little doubt inform from this checklist of options and video games, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection for Dreamcast is definitely one of the spectacular issues to return out of the Dreamcast indie scene for fairly a while, and big props should go to Ian Michael and artist Adam Burrell; and people from the broader Dreamcast neighborhood who supported the event course of. 

VMU art work is a very nice contact!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection for Dreamcast feels so polished it could possibly be mistaken for an formally sanctioned title; and if it weren’t for the truth that there are unlicensed roms included on this assortment we dare say sure Dreamcast publishers can be snapping this up for a full bodily retail launch. It actually is that good – from the menu music to the standard of life options (there is no must mushy reset the console to return to the principle menu…which is such a small factor, however so welcome!), every thing about The Cowabunga Collection for Dreamcast simply oozes high quality. 

There’s additionally an intriguing ‘first’ included in The Cowabunga Collection, whereby FMV is layered excessive of different screens, creating a really good visible impact (the principle title display screen is an effective instance of this). Believe it or not, this can be a completely new tecnique created by Ian and has by no means been carried out in a Dreamcast recreation earlier than. Nice.

It even options guide scans which might be absolutely zoomable.

Dreamcast BOR variants function too.

Really good added options embrace recreation controls information screens.

If you’d prefer to see the title display screen impact, entrance finish in movement, and likewise the standard of the assorted flavours of console emulation on show, take a look at Ian Michael’s video presentation under:

The Cowabunga Collection for Dreamcast is an actual deal with and the very best bit is that it’s very free to obtain and revel in your self on actual {hardware}. If you’d prefer to help Ian, you’ll find his Patreon web page right here…that stated, I would not be stunned if he will get snapped up by emulation specialists Digital Eclipse based mostly on this interactive resume!

Head over to both the Dreamcast-Talk boards or Ian Michael’s radical YouTube channel for obtain hyperlinks, which together with the sport additionally embrace the beautiful PAL and NTSC field artwork variants.

Be impolite to not play Turtles video games on the inexperienced Dreamcast!

Have you sampled The Cowabunga Collection on Dreamcast? If so, tell us your ideas on this bodacious launch within the feedback!