Review: Turrican Anthology I and II for Switch

Turrican Anthology I and II

Developed By: Ratalaika Games

Published By: ININ Games

Date of Release: July 29, 2022

Price: $34.99 each

When it comes to the classic run and gun genre, a lot of people will argue that Contra or Metal Slug are the absolute best. But IMO that crown is reserved for the likes of Turrican. Sure it came out a bit later than contra, but it had a nice level of polish and flair in comparison, with astounding graphics for the time (so good that Apogee Software ripped them off for Duke Nukem II!), and a masterful soundtrack by Chris Huelsbeck. And now with the Turrican Anthology parts I and II anyone can experience these glorious games on modern systems thanks to the work of Ratalaika and ININ. Both collections span three systems from the Commodore Amiga, Super Nintendo, and the Sega Genesis. There's an excellent variety available here, and the gameplay bang for your buck can't be beat.

The first volume contains the first two Amiga Turrican games in all their glory, as well as the regular and directors cut version of Super Turrican and the score attack mode for Mega Turrican. As for the second collection it has the Amiga version of Turrican 3, the regular and director's cut versions of Mega Turrican, Super Turrican 2, and the score attack for Super Turrican 1. Between the two packages there's enough there for any Turrican fan to be entertained for quite a while. They've managed to cram in a new map system, jukeboxes, remixed and CD-based soundtracks, alternate covers, and an absolute buttload of other goodies. This is as definitive as it gets.

The emulation is as far as I can tell spot on to the originals, though you will notice a difference in framepacing for the Amiga games as they run at 50hz. The usual plethora of Ratalaika's superb CRT shaders are on offer here as well. The controls are completely remappable and don't suffer from input lag at all, and playing on the OLED Nintendo Switch's screen the pixels absolutely POP. All in all these collections are the ultimate way to experience the series for anyone new to the scene or hardcore Turrican fans alike. 

It's a shame there was a false start with the previously released and buggy as hell Turrican Flashback, but don't judge these releases on that collection's shortcomings. It would have been nice to have some sort of upgrade path for people who bought that release, but sometimes things can't be that simple. Despite the previous flubbed attempt I wholeheartedly recommend these collections, so if you haven't bought Flashback be sure to skip it and buy the Anthology packs instead. And if you have bought Flashback already, just delete it to make room for these masterpieces.