In 1987, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird developed a storyline for his or her creation that by no means got here to fruition. Titled “The Last Ronin,” Eastman and Laird envisioned it as the ultimate Turtles story set 30 years sooner or later. While Eastman and Laird by no means received round to creating that storyline within the unique run of their comics beneath their firm Mirage Studios, the concept caught with Eastman by means of the years, and a long time later, as a part of the franchise’s new life with IDW Publishing, he labored along with his longtime collaborator Tom Waltz to convey the concept to the pages of a five-issue miniseries that ran from 2020 to 2022.
The story is bleak and gritty, establishing a universe the place the 4 beloved brothers have been taken out one after the other. It’s set in an alternate future the place New York has been ravaged by fixed battles beneath the thumb of the fascist grandson of the Shredder, Oroku Hiroto. The final remaining Turtle, bearing the weapons of all 4, goes on a quest to avenge his fallen brothers towards Hiroto.
One of the central mysteries surrounding the storyline is with regard to which of the brothers is the only survivor. As the miniseries resulted in 2022, the reply is clearly available on the web, however we cannot spoil that right here, although we do not know if the sport will observe the identical path because the comedian
The Last Ronin was a shock success and, in response to Eastman, introduced in followers of the franchise from all eras and walks of life. “It just opened up like a Pandora’s Box of a lot of original fans finding it or maybe fans that were fans back in the day but have not picked up a Turtle thing in years were coming back to it,” he says. “It just had the snowball effect that people that have never read Turtles or even some of the kids that were introduced to the Turtles in the 2012 series […] but have grown past that middle part of the animated series, but they still liked the Turtles but were looking for something older and edgier. It was just right place, right time, and it just clicked and jammed and worked, and we were all like, ‘Wow!'”
Paramount, which now owns the TMNT franchise, needed to capitalize on the success and acclaim of The Last Ronin by taking it multimedia, however considerations emerged about conflicting with the 2023 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem movie. “It was such a clever idea by Paramount and Nickelodeon in the surprising success of The Last Ronin,” Eastman says. “They were already well down the road with the incredible Mutant Mayhem project and everything they wanted to do there, and they said, ‘We’d love to do something with The Last Ronin, but we don’t want to battle each other and take away from [Mutant Mayhem].’ I’d describe Mutant Mayhem as a kids-of-all-ages movie, much like the first Turtle movie that Steve Barron and Jim Henson did. [Paramount] said, ‘Let’s go and adapt it as a video game because we can give it all the edge and all the attitude and intensity that you did in the comic series and even go a bit deeper.'”
Officially revealed in 2023 by means of a cryptic teaser trailer, we all know little or no about TMNT: The Last Ronin. However, we do know that it’s being developed by Black Forest Games and revealed by THQ Nordic for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. While Eastman readily admits he isn’t the largest gamer, he had a hand in most of the early video games that many take into account the top of the TMNT franchise in video video games and is working with the builders on this title. When I ask him how TMNT: The Last Ronin is coming alongside, he isn’t able to spill any particulars, however he is positively optimistic about how the sport is coming collectively.
“Everything I’ve seen – we’ve been interacting with the development crew – and it looks like some of the sets and some of the characters have literally walked right off the pages of the comic,” Eastman says. “So beautiful. So fantastic. And so pretty much every fan of Last Ronin that I’ve talked to is really, seriously pumped, like, ‘We get to have an older version of the Turtles just for us as a video game!'”
Closing out my dialog with Eastman, which was largely targeted on the historical past of the TMNT video video games, the co-creator as soon as once more circles again to how impressed he’s with the progress of TMNT: The Last Ronin, however by means of the lens of the final a number of a long time of video video games. “Adapting The Last Ronin as a video game using the latest and the greatest artisans and writers and coders and technologies, it’s great to see the Turtles being able to adapt into that,” he says. “And if it’s done the way we all hope and the way it’s taking shape, then I think we’ll get to play in this arena for a long time to come, and that’s up to the fans to decide. We’re going to do the best job we can and hope for the best.”
If you’d prefer to learn extra from Eastman and others concerned with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video video games through the years, make sure to take a look at the brand new situation of Game Informer, which incorporates an enormous characteristic on the historical past of TMNT inside video video games. TMNT: The Last Ronin was formally revealed in 2023 and doesn’t at the moment have a launch window. However, we do know that it’s slated to come back to PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
If you’d like to organize for this sport by studying the supply materials, TMNT: The Last Ronin is on sale now by means of IDW Publishing, and TMNT: The Last Ronin II – Re-Evolution situation #1 is obtainable this week.
