TMNT (2007)

Play it on: GBA

Before there was Shredder’s Revenge there was TMNT for the Game Boy Advance. One of the last great games to arrive on Nintendo’s handheld during its chaotically brief lifecycle, it was easily confused with the other game by the same name released in the same year for half a dozen other platforms, including the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS. Both were licensed movie tie-ins timed for the Turtles’ return to the big screen, but one was garbage and the other wasn’t.

While both were made in Ubisoft Montreal, the GBA game was a side project that ended up forming the pixel art brawler blueprint for gems like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. TMNT married the twitchy satisfaction of Konami arcade beat ‘em ups with the combo depth and RPG-lite mechanics of the River City Ransom games. It’s a formula some of its developers, who went on to form Tribute Games, later perfected with Shredder’s Revenge. But nothing can ever replace the vibrant retro charm of this outing’s GBA aesthetic. — Ethan Gach