The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a franchise that is a few decades old, and it has seen many iterations in both video games and movies. This summer, the Michael Bay-produced Ninja Turtles reboot is coming back with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, and there will also be a game called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan to be released at about the same time.
The Verge reports that PlatinumGames, the Japanese studio responsible for Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising, Revengeance, and Vanquish, has developed a brand new game based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that has a lot of brawling and visuals taken from the decades-old franchise.
The game looks like it is an update of a coin-operated video game released back in 1989, back when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had their first hit animated series. That game could be played by up to for players, and involved taking Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo through various stages in the sewers and on the streets, taking out whatever foes were in the way. This game was extremely well-received back in the day, and ended up being ported to consoles for a few sequels.
Both the game and the original animated series had the Shredder and Krang as the primary villains. The next movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Out of the Shadows is going to have the return of Shredder as well as Krang. Cinemablend reports that this will occur, even though Krang might look different than fans will remember him from the animated series.
TNMT 2: Out of the Shadows will also introduce some other well-known characters associated with the franchise. Just as there has never been a Krang in any of the live-action movies, including the ones from the early nineties, there has never been a live-action version of Bebop and Rocksteady. In the original animated series, these characters were half-human mutant hybrids of other animals who served the Shredder. They were quite unintelligent, and Bebop was a warthog creature and Rocksteady was a half Rhino. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Secret of the Ooze, the Shredder created henchmen, but they were from different animals.
For the latest movie, William Fichtner is reprising his role as Eric Sacks, so it looks like his plan is to use Rocksteady and Bebop to take out the Ninja Turtles, and then open a portal to Dimension X to carry out whatever nefarious plan he has this time (at least this is what the trailer seems to depict). As far as other reprisals go, Megan Fox will be back as April O'Neil, and Will Arnett as Vernon Fenwick.
There are other Ninja Turtles characters from the franchise that are brought to life in the reboot-sequel. Stephen Amell from television's Arrow will be the masked vigilante Casey Jones, a longtime fan-favorite character. The one and only Tyler Perry will be Baxter Stockman, a brilliant scientist who often helped Shredder in his schemes. Also, on board is Laura Linney, but it is not known what part she will play, according to IMDB. The same goes for Judith Hoag, who played April O'Neil in the original Ninja Turtles live action films.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows will be released to theaters on June 3, 2016. As for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan game, the best date we have so far is "sometime this summer", probably in time for the movie, and it will be available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.
