IGN mini-doc examines the history of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video games

There are two instances in my childhood where I vividly remember multiple people talking about certain fads dying out. One of those was roughly a couple of years into the Pokemon franchise, and the same goes for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There were some rather loud voices who claimed both brands to be nothing but quick cash-grabs that would be quickly forgotten by the masses. Decades later, it’s lovely to see how wrong those dissenting voices were.

Against the odds and expectations of many, the heroes in a half-shell managed to stay a big part of pop culture long after their debut. From comics and TV shows to movies and merch, TMNT has been killing it for years now. The latest example of that is TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection, a gathering of some of the turtles’ best video games from throughout the years.

In a new mini-doc from IGN, we get to take a trip down memory lane to see how the mean green machine came to be, the moment things really took off, and the expansion into greater pop culture. Of course, a huge focus is put on the many games that the TMNT brand saw over the years, some of which were fantastic, and others best forgotten to time. No matter the quality of the games, the constant flow of game content was one big way that the Turtles managed to stay in the public eye.

If you’ve got 20 minutes to spare and a huge appreciation for the Turtles, you’ll definitely want to check this feature out. It’s a wild dose of nostalgia, and a great love letter to the teenage turtles that took the 90s by storm.