Put this very solidly in the ‘rumor’ bin, but I like the idea so much I couldn’t help myself but post it. Over on PGN, a rumor has been posted and argued for and against, that the next game for developer ‘RockSteady’ of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City would be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles title, developed for the Wii U, Xbox and PS3.
Now, his main ‘evidence’ (if you can call it that) is that the titles could be made similarly, DC and IDW have a relationship (DC publishes Batman and IDW publishes TMNT) and he talked to some guys from RockSteady at E3 about the idea. That’s pretty weak for a rumor, but he’s come up with all kinds of details somehow.
Remember, this is a rumory as it gets, and it really feels like he just made the whole damned thing up, but the idea is so great I want people to talk about it, and let RockSteady know that it’s a great idea, even though they’re probably working on another DC title. The details that have appeared are as follows, and it really reads like a fans dream, which it probably is.
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Manhattan Crisis is the alleged name of the title
- Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo are the four playable characters, each with their own varied move set and weapon of choice (sword, bo staff, sai, and nunchucku…respectively)
- Flashbacks are played as Master Splinter/Hamato Yoshi
- Shurikens, smoke bombs, grappling hooks, and climbing foot spikes.
- Gameplay and story/stage progression similar to Batman: Arkham City.
- Classic characters such as Bebop and Rocksteady (warthog and rhinoceros), Dr. Baxter Stockman, Shredder (Oroku Saki), and Krang act as bosses and in the case of the humans-turned-mutants, you fight them in both forms throughout the story.
- The Turtle Van and Turtle Blimp will be present and with them and other gadgets, the Wii U build is expected to have touch screen controls for specific actions.
- Multiplayer is unknown.
- Graphics engine used is that of Arkham City.
- The game is expected to be more dark than slapstick, but the turtles themselves and their interactions with the Foot Clan, bosses, and story characters like April O’Neil and Casey Jones will still have comedy attached.
- Purportedly being in development for Wii U, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
- Careful selection of voice actors to bring the universe to life as well as Rocksteady did with their two Batman games.
- Manhattan Crisis shares a similar name to the 1991/1992 NES title, “The Manhattan Project”, but is very much its own title.
Hey, thanks for expressing your interest in this possibility and for linking to my site. This is most definitely a rumor and although there are a few pieces behind it that make it seem “fake” (the fact that Nickelodeon and Paramount are handling the Turtles cartoon/movie), there are a few other reasons that just might make it “real”.
Case in point: Warner Bros. owns DC Comics, DC and IDW just made a cross promotion comic of Star Trek and Legion of Super-Heroes. What else does IDW make? A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series that’s about 6 issues in.
We’ll see what happens and certainly hope for the best. I don’t put rumors up often, but this one sounded too cool to pass up on (and I actually left it up to the readers to decide whether or not I should even share it).
I contacted Rocksteady and hope they get back to me so we can put the rumor to rest…or celebrate that it’s in fact a reality. Like I said though, I’ve got no idea whether it’s real or not, but it sure sounds epic!
Thanks again for your feedback. Cowabunga!