Turrican Anthology Vol.1 and 2 Switch Review

Just last year Inin Games released the Turrican Flashback anthology. The anthology collected four games from the Rainbow Arts/Factor 5 2D shooter Turrican series. Those four game from this fantastic series were: Turrican, Turrican II, Mega Turrican and Super Turrican. The Flashback anthology – of which you can find our review here: Turrican Flashback Switch Review | Invision Game Community (invisioncommunity.co.uk) – was rather barebones but did complete its objective by introducing the series to possible new fans and making old, existing ones like myself as happy as can be. However, at the time of its release, Inin had the Turrican Anthology Volumes listed for a future date, which made me wonder why the Flashback Anthology was released at all.

You see, as much as I love the Flashback Anthology, the newly released Turrican Anthology Volumes supercedes it in every way.

Rainbow. . . Art?

Now the Turrican Anthology has two separate Volumes, I and II, but we’re lumping them together in one easy, handy review for you. Our final score for both volumes will also mirror the final score for each volume were we to write up separate reviews.

On the off chance that you may not know the series, Turrican began life back in 1990 under developer Rainbow Arts. The mission statement was to create a series of games that weren’t linear, level based affairs but were designed with verticality in mind as much as traditional linear progression. As such, the game was a pseudo open world side-scroller that let you tackle your journey to the end as you desired. At least as much as was possible at the time.

Later instalments reduced the size of the stages and became more linear in their approach, but what didn’t change was the addictive, hard as nails gameplay, superb platforming and stunning 16-bit soundtrack. Oh and the art, the truly gorgeous 2D art that stands up just as well today as when it first came out. From Turricans movement to the detail littered through each stage, to the superb explosions when something bites the big one, Turrican is still, in my opinion, a visual masterpiece. For this collection, the games look beautiful and run perfectly as well.

Turrican Buffet

Split across the two volumes are eight games from Turricans heydays, from 1990 to 1995. This is what you’re looking at:

Volume 1:

• Turrican,
• Turrican II,
• Super Turrican,
• Super Turrican Director’s Cut,
• Mega Turrican Score Attack.

Volume II:

• Turrican 3
• Mega Turrican
• Mega Turrican Director’s Cut
• Super Turrican 2
• Super Turrican Score Attack

As you can see, that’s a whole lot of Turrican for your buck with five games per Volume, even though six of them are variations of the original games. Of course, one must remember that during this period a lot of games were receiving Super or Mega versions which were only differentiated from the original games in terms of running speed and difficulty. Though the Turrican waters do get a little muddy with its Factor 5 developed Super Turrican sharing the same visual style but its own set of levels.

Now hold up, you say, I see Turrican II and Turrican 2, so what gives? Well Turrican II is the follow up to the original Turrican by Rainbow Arts while Turrican 2 is a Factor 5 developed game that is a completely different game, both in terms of design and visuals. While Turrican II adheres to the original games design document, Turrican 2 is a linear 2d shooter experience and, in my opinion, the weakest of the bunch.

Mega Turrican!

So what else are you getting in these two Volumes that elevates them above the Flashback release? The answer to that is a whole hell of a lot.

The games have Standard and Challenge modes, Accomplishments, Cheats, the ever handy Save and Load States system, the ability to customise controls and a nifty rewind feature. You can also set the games to run at 50hz or 60hz, though it must be noted that they were designed to run at 50hz. My favourite addition has to be the ability to view the games map. If you press down on the right analog stick, the game pauses and you can zoom in and out of it to see the entire map layout, including enemies and items. You can remove or reset the map fog as you please but for anyone interested in videogame map layouts or those interested in game design, it’s a wonderful addition to see how the game has been put together. You can screenshot it as well and it looks wonderful as a wallpaper or a print for collectors and enthusiasts.

The rest of the additions are wonderful quality of life improvements and artwork for enthusiasts.

You’ve got a Gallery mode, two forms of jukeboxes, wallpapers to display behind the games, different display modes including the original aspect ratio and 4:3. You can swop out the colour spectrum from RBG to B&W and more. There’s also the obligatory customisable CRT shader, though I rarely engaged it myself. For me the three best additions are the digital inclusions of the games original manuals, the original box art for each game by region release and the option to use either CD quality music of the original emulated tunes. The box art and manuals take the cake though. They just don’t do things like this anymore.

It’s hard to believe that Turrican came out thirty-one years ago. Even harder to believe that the games still stand up as well as they do, both in visuals and gameplay. The Turrican Anthology Volumes are now the best way to experience these games. And experience them you should. Whether you want to simply try your hand at the smaller Flashback Collection or splurge on these fantastic, comprehensive Anthologies, what matters is that you get some Turrican in your life!

Developer: Factor 5
Publisher: United Games Entertainment GmbH
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

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