I don't think I'll ever graduate from 90s cartoons and side-scrolling arcade games, so I was excited when I fired up "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge," Konami's arcade and SNES hit " It's a modern version of Turtles in Time. It starts with a fully animated intro, a cover of the Saturday Morning theme song, and even the promise of the original voice actors returning, albeit with rougher voices after 30 years.

This is a strong first impression, and a tough one to live up to, but developer Tribute Games has succeeded in restoring its classic brilliance.

With its powerful two-legged front and center, "Shredder's Revenge" is an absolute delight to watch and listen to. Even though the majority of the game takes place in New York City, from the graffiti-filled streets outside the TV station (where the bad guys paint the word "Foot" over signs that make sense and signs that don't) to the Broadway chase, the filthy sewer crawl, the trip to the zoo, and beyond, each environment is distinctly felt. Given that "Shredder's Revenge" is about four times as long as "Turtles in Time" and far more detailed, the background is rarely repeated, which is impressive.

Character art is similarly lush, with few frames shared among the turtles, even though they all have the same body type. Their animations capture their personalities and make them easy to track in battle. When sprinting, Leo leans forward with a stoic glare, Mikey sprints with his nunchucks flailing behind him in exaggerated cartoonish motions, and Raphael lunges low with his teeth bared. Vigilante Casey Jones comically changes costumes during his attacks, wearing a golf cap when swinging a 9-iron and a baseball helmet for his game-deciding sliding attack.

Although it lacks the time-travel gimmick of "Turtles in Time," Tribute Games finds an excuse to lovingly redesign and pack almost all of the classic enemies from the previous film with clean animation. My only complaint is that there aren't many new enemies, but there are a few interesting surprises. For the most part, the enemies are fun to smash to pieces, too, and they feel like they belong in an old 90s cartoon. In particular, the crossbow-wielding silly foot ninja shoots sink plungers instead of pointy bolts. Shredder's Revenge is kid-friendly from start to finish.

Its lavish attention to detail also applies to the hordes of expendable robo-ninjas you'll be fighting most of the time. Many of the color-coded variants have their own animations and styles, and almost every stage plays out a variety of visual gags. When they take over a TV station, there are ninjas in the reception area, cooking on the set of a cooking show, or doing sit-ups on a training show. I grinned almost the entire time.

But the soundtrack didn't make me smile. It made me grin like an idiot. Composed by the prolific Tee Lopez ("Sonic Mania," "Streets of Rage 4" DLC), the soundtrack is spectacularly bouncy and energetic. Almost everything is toe-tapping, and I have to give special kudos to the talent of the Wu-Tang Clan (open in new tab) for one of the few vocal tracks in the game. They deliver epic antics, belting out silly lyrics about levels and battles.

Like the art, the combat, while greatly enhanced over "Turtles in Time," feels familiar. The basics are still the same simple one-button combo chain, dive kick, and grapple, but Turtles and friends now have a dodge button that allows them to slip through almost any attack with an extra invincibility frame. Dodges can be chained together to attack or take damage, making it a seamless technique that can be integrated into a routine without disrupting the bouncy rhythm.

The new Super Move is virtually a bomb that wipes out your surroundings. This adds a fun rhythm to boss fights, especially in co-op, where I would tag team with a friend to move to a safe spot in the arena to taunt and recharge. Taunts can be used outside of combat, so you can start a fight with at least one super bar charged.

Shredder's Revenge has another new technique that does not work well. Ostensibly intended to break through defensive enemy guards, I found it almost useless after two plays. Against blocking enemies, Grapple and Super Attack were almost always faster, and Power Attack felt like a missed opportunity.

For the first time in a TMNT beat-em-up game, Shredder's Revenge has a dedicated story mode, but it feels somewhat empty. While the arcade mode runs through 16 stages in a single breath without saving or pausing, the story mode adds a level-select world map, a very basic XP/level-up system, and ad hoc challenges and side quests. I ignored most of the challenges. Too often I was asked to complete all stages without taking a single hit. As for the side quests, we could expect nothing more than to pick up themed collectibles and deliver them to someone on the map in exchange for a handful of experience points.

The experience system also feels fundamentally flawed. If you play the full story mode, you'll get enough XP to max out one character and finally max out their super special moves at the last couple of levels, to max out all seven (including Splinter, April O'Neil, and Casey Jones), 6-player co-op or a massive grinding match is required, which feels at odds with the concept of a fast-paced arcade game. In arcade mode, all abilities are available from the start, without the need to grind to unlock them.

While I can't shake the feeling that there should be some sort of happy medium between arcade mode and story mode, Tribute seems to have signed some sort of Faustian deal in the name of modern design. Shredder's Revenge is too easy, even on the middle difficulty level of the three difficulty modes. Regular enemies don't pose much of a threat unless you're caught off guard, and bosses are surprisingly easy to take down if you get into the habit of dodging well-planned attacks.

While arcade games have demi-god-like strong enemies, you usually have to repeat a number of continuations to complete these types of games, but in this game, I rarely lost a life even when playing solo. In the story mode, lives are replenished at each stage. Cooperative play exacerbates the balance problem: having at least two players adds a down state, and instead of dying instantly, your partner has 10 seconds to revive you and get you back into the fight at no cost.

My first play was a 2-player co-op, and while there were a few embarrassing cases of me zoning out and forgetting which turtle I was controlling (a mistake I still make frequently even after switching to playing as a sprinter, so it's not the game's fault), neither I nor my partner didn't lose a single life until the final level.

The highest of the three difficulty modes, "Gnarly," has a bit more friction, with more aggressive enemies (and slightly more aggressive behavior) and enhanced boss health bars without feeling excessive. In terms of difficulty, Arcade mode is more authentic, but the edge is dulled in Story mode because all players' lives are fully stocked at each stage. Arcade mode is best if saves are available, but neither is ideal.

Surprisingly, there seem to be no unlockable extras other than Casey Jones (a reward for clearing a stage once). No hidden modes, no curve balls. It's nice to see exactly what I ordered in the game, but I may be spoiled by other recent beat-em-ups. Most of [Shredder's Revenge's] shortcomings are in the details that are on the fringes. The core of the game, the nostalgic pseudo-arcade experience of bashing down thousands of mooks with friends you can only put in a room (or via the Internet), is powerful. In that regard, "Shredder's Revenge" is charming and stimulates all my nostalgia neurons.

The problem is its longevity. The best arcade games hold up on their fifth or tenth go-round, but this one feels like I've seen it all after only two rounds. I don't see it coming back in a few months or years like "Streets of Rage 4" (especially the DLC) or "Fight'N Rage". Like the work of the returning voice actors, Shredder's Revenge is a heartfelt and passionate performance that feels like a slightly strained attempt to recapture lost glory.