Rumor: Is Rocksteady Studios’ next game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Manhattan Crisis!?

What are you up to, Rocksteady?

Two days ago in this story, I said that I heard of a few rumors and rumblings going around regarding what’s next game that Rocksteady Studios is developing after their very successful duo of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. I left it up to you to decide whether I’d even put up the story, because as I said before, this would clearly be a rumor (and one that I tried verifying its validity, but have not been able to do so just yet). You voted “What the hell…why not. We’ll take it as a rumor and not complain if it turns out false.” almost unanimously through comments and e-mails. And from my own internet searching, it’s what you wanted…

Take it for what you will, but here’s what I got:

- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Manhattan Crisis is the alleged name of the title.
- Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo are the four playable characters, each with their own varied move set and weapon of choice (sword, bo staff, sai, and nunchucku…respectively).
- Flashbacks are played as Master Splinter/Hamato Yoshi.
- Shurikens, smoke bombs, grappling hooks, and climbing foot spikes.
- Gameplay and story/stage progression similar to Batman: Arkham City.
- Classic characters such as Bebop and Rocksteady (warthog and rhinoceros), Dr. Baxter Stockman, Shredder (Oroku Saki), and Krang act as bosses and in the case of the humans-turned-mutants, you fight them in both forms throughout the story.
- The Turtle Van and Turtle Blimp will be present and with them and other gadgets, the Wii U build is expected to have touch screen controls for specific actions.
- Multiplayer is unknown.
- Graphics engine used is that of Arkham City.
- The game is expected to be more dark than slapstick, but the turtles themselves and their interactions with the Foot Clan, bosses, and story characters like April O’Neil and Casey Jones will still have comedy attached.
- Purportedly being in development for Wii U, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
- Careful selection of voice actors to bring the universe to life as well as Rocksteady did with their two Batman games.
- Manhattan Crisis shares a similar name to the 1991/1992 NES title, “The Manhattan Project”, but is very much its own title.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Project

Before I ask you what your thoughts are, let me tell you why it might be real and why it might be fake.

Real:
- The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themselves fight similarly to Batman, in that they rely primarily on martial arts expertise and a variety of weapons, rather than incredible super powers. This would lean me towards believing that the transition between Arkham City and Manhattan Crisis, from purely a control standpoint, wouldn’t be that difficult.
- The amount of bad guys, the voice actors attached to them, the story…once again, all seem pretty comparable in approach and style to Batman’s last two games.
- The terrain and environments of a night time based, poorly lit Manhattan City and its respective buildings, bad guy lairs, etc., seem from a structural standpoint, pretty easy for Rocksteady studios to create…especially after the blueprints that went into Arkham City.
- At E3 2011, shortly after awarding Batman: Arkham City with Paul Gale Network’s “Best Adventure Game of E3 2011 Award” and PGN Ninja Star Keychain, I spoke with a few team members, saying how cool I personally thought a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game would be if done dark with a dash of comedy, following a similar model as the Batman games…by Rocksteady Studios. At least the couple of individuals that I spoke with, found the idea amusing and
ironic when I pointed out that Rocksteady is also a classic Turtles baddie.
- IDW Publishing is currently handling a new Teenage Mutuant Ninja Turtles series. What’s important about that? IDW Publishing and DC Comics (in Quarter 4, 2011) launched Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes, a crossover comic book that brings the two properties together…a first ever uniting, which shows that it’s possible that Rocksteady could make such a game (taking their whole DC friendship into account).

Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes

Fake:
- Plain and simple, I don’t have a source directly tied to the alleged project that can confirm its truth.
- I contacted Rocksteady Studios and got no response (which is expected in a case like this).
- Nickelodeon acquired the TV rights to do 26 episodes of a new, cgi-based TMNT series in 2012.
- Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon are releasing a live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes production company in 2012/2013.
- At E3 2011, which was seven months ago, I shared this idea with a few people at Batman: Arkham Asylum’s booth. Yes, I’m using this as not only a plus for it being real but also one for being fake…because could it be “too” coincidental?
- To my understanding, Rocksteady’s next game will probably be directly DC character based…so maybe an IDW/DC comic crossover isn’t enough to make this game a possibility.

New logo for DC Comics (full article here)

There you have it. I definitely encourage you to take it for what I’m telling you it is: A RUMOR. If indeed true, I would personally love it and make a video of myself Cowabunga’ing in my next martial arts tutorial video (see section). If fake, at least the idea that it might have been considered a possibility is enough to make me smile and think how cool it’d all look like. What do you all think? Would you buy this game for Wii U, Xbox 360, or PlayStation 3 (or PC, 3DS, PS Vita if that would be the case)? Do you think it’s real or fake? Perhaps more importantly, do you WANT it to be real? Maybe it’s not in development and Rocksteady is still in “thinking mode” of what to do next…and if your voices are positive and loud enough, in supporting such a project, they’ll go ahead and do it.

I know some will ask, so I’ll say it now. This isn’t the Wii U/3DS game (see story) I was talking about. And I haven’t forgotten about Title Fight (see story), but I’ve got nothing to share on it at this time. Furthermore, as with Retro Studios’ new project (see story), I will do what I can to bring this all to a final resolution.

Thank you for your thoughts. I’m really looking forward to hearing what you all have to say. Turtle Power!

Related articles:
Rocksteady teaser
Title Fight story
Retro Studios’ new project for Wii U
Wii U/3DS game in development
New DC Comics logo
Martial Arts Section