A NEW TURTLES BEAT-’EM-UP IS FINALLY HEADING HOME AFTER YEARS OF DELIGHTING ARCADE-GOERS – WE TALK TO EUGENE JARVIS AND MARC-ANDRÉ JUTRAS TO LEARN HOW THIS THROWBACK BRAWLER CAME TO BE, AND HOW IT’S BEEN EXPANDED FOR CONSOLES
If you’ve popped into a seaside arcade or a bowling alley in recent years, you’ll know that the kinds of games that thrive these days are racers, lightgun shooters and giant versions of mobile games that have been adapted for ticket redemption. Finding a traditional game with joysticks and buttons is far from guaranteed – but if you do, it’s likely to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Raw Thrills. So why try making a multiplayer beat-’em-up for a coin-op scene in which they’re practically an endangered species?
“We’re all Turtles heads from way back, and we love the original Konami arcade games,” enthuses Eugene Jarvis, president of Raw Thrills and legendary designer of games like Defender and Robotron: 2084. “The other thing we were really excited about was the Turtles TV series that ran from 2012-2017. That was so well done – I know it was up for a number of Emmys, and the art style I thought was just incredible,” he continues. “It had just been a long time since there was a cool Turtles arcade game. It was a passion project, and we just thought, ‘Hey, this is a great game style.’ You know how things get forgotten in all the 3D simulation hysteria – it’s like, ‘Let’s have some classic joystick play.’
“Turtles In Time was the game we really loved, it just had that classic Turtles sidescrolling beat-’em-up gameplay,” says Eugene, and the team’s admiration for the game is clear as soon as you see the Turtles throwing enemies at the screen. Raw Thrills sought to have fun with bosses and additional power-ups, and also allowed players to choose the order of the stages. “I think in the arcade now it’s more casual players and sometimes they have a favourite level, and they want to play that,” says Eugene. “If you make them play three or four levels to get to that level, then it loses its appeal.” Not every idea made it, though. “I wanted to, instead of side to side, at some point just to go into the screen. And I think the team at that point was pretty tired,” he laughs.
The key goal was to preserve the fun of the local co-op experience. “You’re in meatspace. You’re with your buddies, scream
