The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have had a long history of venturing into mediums like comics, movies and television. However, they have had a limited presence in gaming in the past decade. It's been even longer since the brothers have had a highly successful title, with one of its greatest hits being the arcade cabinet Turtles in Time in 1991 (though the newly announced Shredder's Revenge may be coming for that crown). It's been long overdue for the turtles to get a new game, and the answer may lie in Rocksteady Studios, the creators of the Batman Arkham franchise.
Batman: Arkham Asylum was originally released in 2009 and fundamentally altered how titles featuring licensed characters can be handled in video games. Batman's success would inevitably lead to games like Marvel's Spider-Man and Injustice: Gods Among Us and helped usher in a new era of superhero games. That success was earned due to a large focus on making sure the player could experience the definitive Batman game. The risk paid off and could also pay off for the TMNT in a new way.
One of Rocksteady Studios' greatest strengths has been how amazing the storytelling has been. The studio would craft a grim yet hopeful world for three games that surrounded Batman and carried as much emotional weight as any movie. A TMNT game could do the same. Borrowing from the original Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird series' more mature roots, the game could perfectly represent New York City's dark underbelly and show just how dangerous and powerful the turtles can be. The story would center around four brothers who haven't quite become the perfect team while facing the Shredder and the struggle with staying in hiding but wanting to live on the surface.
The core teamwork between the turtles could be an expanded version of Batman: Arkham Knight. In that title, Batman could join forces with heroes like Robin and Nightwing to take on dozens of thugs. Players could switch between the heroes at-will, but when a combo meter was maxed out, they could perform team takedowns. The same mechanics could be expanded on with a new Turtles game by making the core emphasis on teamwork. The turtle's combat skills can also be upgraded as a whole, ensuring no brother is left behind.
To help vary the number of enemy types in the game, the turtles would be forced to take on thugs, ninja, the Shredder and mutants. The mutants would be born from the same ooze that created them and would be much stronger than the average enemy. The mutated enemies Bebop and Rocksteady would be bosses that the player would have to face at certain points in the game. Other side-villains could appear as side-missions like in the Arkham games. These enemies could include the ninja Karai, or mutants like the Mutagen Man, from the original cartoon.
With their training as ninja and Donatello's endless supply of gadgets, the turtles would have an endless supply of tools to help them succeed. The brothers would never be without the right tool for the right job, from shuriken that operate like batarangs to shock and stun weapons that incapacitate large crowds. Parkour would be the backbone of traversal, and rather than gliding, the turtles would vault and jump from rooftops, gaining more speed. Fast-travel would be used by entering sewers, as all perfect TMNT games should.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles deserve another chance at video games. For now, that chance is coming in the form of the TMNT: Shredder's Revenge game that will play like a classic arcade beat-em-up. However, when the time comes for the four brothers to "evolve" into a new gaming genre, Rocksteady Studios would be a great place to start.