Turrican Flashback from Factor 5 and ININ Games is a collection with four awesome 2D action games in the series. Learn more in our Turrican Flashback review!

 

Turrican fans… the wait is almost over! The Turrican Flashback collection from Factor 5 and ININ Games is on its way to the Nintendo Switch with a January 29 release… and since I got early access to it on Nintendo’s console, it’s time for a Turrican Flashback review! For this particular collection, we’re getting four games in the series in one go: Turrican, Turrican II: The Final Fight, Mega Turrican, and Super Turrican.

The first game in the series released way back in 1990 on the Commodore Amiga, pushing the hardware hard to give us a superb 2D action game that drew some inspiration from the beloved Metroid on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was followed by a sequel in 1991, the aptly titled Turrican II: The Final Fight. As is usually the case for sequels, everything is bigger and better, with bigger levels, better graphics, more action, and one of the best videogame soundtracks of all time.

 

Mega Turrican is a version of the series developed for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, launched in 1994. It was later ported to the Amiga as Turrican III: Payment Day. This particular game has a more streamlined level design while introducing a new gameplay mechanic that changes the feel of the game: a grappling hook! Thanks to this, you can swing around – Bionic Commando style – from platform to platform as you search for the many hidden secrets the game has to offer.

And then, there’s Super Turrican. For this Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game – which actually released in 1993 before Mega Turrican on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis but is presented as the last game in the collection -, there’s no grappling hook, but we do get access to a freeze gun. The reason why it’s presented as the last game in the collection, and the lats one to discuss in our Turrican Flashback review, is because it’s sort of a “best of” game that combines the best elements from all previous games to give us a mix of bigger levels when compared to Mega Turrican, but more action and a bigger “oomph” when compared to the first two games in the series.

 

The digital and physical editions of the game include the four aforementioned games, but there’s also the option of visiting our good friends over at Strictly Limited Games, you can grab the Turrican Anthology Volume 1. This particular physical version is a bit different in that it also offers Super Turrican Director’s Cut on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. You see, way back in the day, Super Turrican was to be released on a six megabit cartridge, which for the time was a big deal. Unfortunately, the game’s publisher decided the game was to ship on a four megabit cartridge in order to reduce manufacturing costs, which meant that a whole level, some of the music, and some enemies had to be removed for this version, with the graphics also taking a hit here and there to save some cartridge space. If you get the Turrican Anthology Volume 1 from Strictly Limited Games, you’ll get to play the full version of the game as originally envisioned by Factor 5! That “Volume 1” part also means there’s a Volume 2 as well, with the first one changing Mega Turrican for the Score Attack version, moving Mega Turrican to Volume 2, alongside Turrican 3 on the Amiga, Mega Turrican Director’s Cut on the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Turrican 2, and Super Turrican 1 Score Attack.

 

Since these games were originally released decades ago, one would expect the Turrican Flashback collection to include different configuration options to make the game look and feel as close to the original presentation as possible… and you’d be correct in thinking this! Since all four games are presented in 4:3 – with a pixel-perfect option as well – there’s the option of changing the wallpaper around the playing screen, adding a soft, crispy, or razor-sharp scaling filter, adding a CRT filter with the option of experimenting with the scanline intensity, sharpness, curvature, triny-curve, corner round, and CRT gamma, and there’s even a rewind option so that you can quickly fix any mistakes made while playing!

If you’re a fan of the Turrican series, then Turrican Flashback on the Nintendo Switch is a no-brainer. It gives us four games in the Turrican series at a $29.99 asking price, only missing Super Turrican 2, which is more of a run n’ gun take on the franchise, with smaller stages and a bigger focus on the action. Turrican Flashback is out on Nintendo Switch on January 29, and you should definitely check it out!

Disclaimer
This Turrican Flashback review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by ININ Games.