Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up is a 2.5D fighting game for the Wii and PlayStation 2 video game consoles featuring characters from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. It was co-developed by Game Arts, Toylogic, and Y's K, and released by Ubisoft in September 2009 in celebration of the TMNT franchise's 25th anniversary.

Gameplay


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up is a four-player platform fighter. During battle, players attempt to KO opponents by depleting their life bar, knocking them off the stage or into traps. Each character has their own unique move set, with many able to perform additional techniques such as clinging to and leaping from walls. Characters are color-coded on-screen via an optional glow effect to help players keep track of their character. Like Super Smash Bros., the game features many customizable options for battles.

The game stresses interaction with the environment, and stages in the game feature traps, changes to the stage itself and interactive elements. Items will occasionally appear on the stage for players to collect, including life-restoring pizza and ninja skills that grant players special abilities like fire breathing and electrical shields.

In addition to standard Battle Royal multiplayer battles, Smash-Up offers several other gameplay modes. Arcade features a brief story with unique endings for each character. Survival challenges players to defeat 100 opponents before they lose three lives. Swap-Out allows players to choose two characters and switch between them at will in battle. Mission Mode requires players to complete certain objectives in 51 pre-set scenarios, such as attacking targets or defeating an opponent within a time limit. The game also features Tournament and Practice modes, as well as additional mini-games and online multiplayer features. Players can collect 'shells' during battles or mini-games and use them to unlock special features, including additional character costumes, concept art from various TMNT media, and trophies that other players can win in online tournaments.

Characters
Smash-Up features 12 playable characters, only seven of which can be used in the game's Arcade mode. The Wii version of the game features four additional characters, including three guest characters from Ubisoft's Rabbids franchise, for a total of 16.

• April O'Neil

• Casey Jones

• Donatello

• Foot Ninja

• Fugitoid

• Karai

• Leonardo

• Michelangelo

• Nightwatcher

• Ninja Rabbid

• Raphael

• Raving Rabbid

• Shredder

• Splinter

• Splinter Rabbid

• Utrominator

Plot
As part of their training, Splinter announces that he and the turtles will compete against each other in a fighting tournament, inviting April and Casey to join them as well. He offers the winner a trophy and an item from his personal collection as a prize.

As the tournament concludes, the turtles receive an emergency communication from the Fugitoid, who has been captured by the Shredder. Before they can trace his location, Shredder cuts off Fugitoid's message. Karai appears and warns the turtles that Shredder intends to have Fugitoid build him a large-scale teleporter, allowing him and the Foot Clan to teleport anywhere in the world at will. Though they suspect a trap, the turtles agree to follow Karai.

The turtles reach Shredder's base and defeat him. Karai turns on the turtles, revealing she helped them as part of a plan to usurp Shredder and take control of the Foot. Shredder recovers and attacks, but Leonardo kicks him and Karai through the teleporter, sending them away. The turtles free Fugitoid and use the teleporter to return to their lair, where Splinter rewards the winner. Each character has a unique ending showing how they celebrate their victory.

Development
Smash-Up was developed by Japanese game developer Game Arts, who had previously worked on Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and by several former members of Team Ninja, who previously worked on Ninja Gaiden II and the Dead or Alive series. The game's existence was teased in late 2008 before being officially revealed on January 26, 2009. While Smash-Up is not specifically tied to any previous Ninja Turtles license, it bears a similar artistic style to the 2007 CGI animated film TMNT and features voice acting by the cast of the 2003 animated series. Mirage Studios helped influence the game's character roster, which was said to include characters "you know well in addition to surprise characters you certainly wouldn't expect". The game's arcade mode cutscenes were co-written by TMNT co-creator Peter Laird and illustrated by Mirage Studios artists Jim Lawson and Eric Talbot.

Reception
The game received "average" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.

IGN said of the Wii version, "It's a Smash Bros. clone, but it just makes you want to play Smash Bros., instead." GameSpot said that the same console version "has good combat and solid content, but it lacks the refinement and razzle-dazzle to earn a title shot." Even so, some fans reacted negatively to the roster, which is significantly smaller than that of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and contains characters only seen in the 2003 cartoon series and 2007 film, while characters from the 1987 series and other films were ignored.