Turrican Anthology Vol. I & II: Do You Need All the Turricans?

Last Updated on October 15, 2022

I once believed you can never have enough Turrican. To challenge this, developer Factor 5 teamed up with ININ to issue a two-volume Turrican Anthology collection, gathering all the Amiga, SNES, and Mega Drive releases from the Turrican series.

But how does this differ from 2021’s Turrican Flashback? Well, the earlier release featured just four games: Turrican and Turrican II: The Final Fight, plus Mega Turrican and Super Turrican. Rewind and save states are available with these games, and the same is true with the much larger anthology collections — and more besides. With the Turrican Anthology Vol. I and Vol. II, you get six standard Turrican releases, along with “Director’s Cut” and “Score Attack” variants.

Turrican Anthology Vol. I

The first collection features:

• Turrican (Amiga)
• Turrican II (Amiga)
• Super Turrican (SNES)
• Super Turrican Director’s Cut (SNES)
• Mega Turrican Score Attack (Genesis/Mega Drive)

Turrican Anthology Vol. II

The second collection boasts:

• Turrican 3 (Amiga)
• Mega Turrican (Genesis/Mega Drive)
• Mega Turrican Director’s Cut (Genesis/Mega Drive)
• Super Turrican 2 (SNES)
• Super Turrican Score Attack (SNES)

In both cases, the key differences are the “Director’s Cut” and “Score Attack” inclusions.

Turrican Director’s Cuts

Not quite the the complete Aliens, the Director’s Cuts in these anthologies are essentially pre-release versions, perhaps material available on magazine cover disks back in the 1990s. They don’t really add anything new to the Turrican series, and are largely forgetable.

Turrican Score Attacks

These are basically Turrican mashups. Based on the SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis and SNES versions, it’s difficult to be certain what element comes from what level in these games.

To be honest, I wasn’t entirely enamored by these inclusions. The new features and unlockable content are more interesting. While new levels might be desirable, there is nothing particularly new here.

Do you need the new content?

Both volumes ramp up the VAC (value added content) quotient, bringing a whole map view (with peel-back layers and overlays), different soundtracks (emulated, Chris Huelsbeck’s original remasters, anthology soundtrack), a jukebox of each game, and even the option to use classic (Amiga, SNES, or Mega Drive/Genesis) controls rather than the host console (this review uses the Nintendo Switch version).

Unlockable cheats are also included, along with a gallery with never-before-seen concept art, scans of the game manuals, improved rewind, and a choice of game covers.

These are all lovely additions. No lover of Turrican would argue against having them, but they’re not necessary to really enjoy these anthologies. What is necessary is the ability to complete the games and therefore unlock some of the bonus material — and that can be pretty difficult.

Speaking personally, I’m reasonably confident with Turrican, a bit less with Turrican II (both Amiga versions). I’m next to useless at Turrican III (basically Mega Turrican but on the Amiga), and never thought the console versions were as much cop as the Amiga’s.

Turrican Anthologies vs Flashback

Look, any Turrican experience is good one. While Turrican and Turrican II have a particular importance to me as a gamer of 40+ years, it doesn’t really matter how I play them, as long as I can. For this, Turrican Flashback is more than adequate.

But the Turrican Anthology I and II bring something more desirable to the table: a new take on Turrican, unlockable features, and a new way to experience the original packaging. This VAC might drift into the arena of a classic Doctor Who DVD or Blu-ray release (stoppig just short of providing the pack shots and manuals as downloadable PDFs) but the inclusion of Chris Huelsbeck’s remaster of his memorable soundtracks is possibly the biggest draw here.

The choice is clear: if you just want to blast some baddies, opt for Turrican Flashback. If you want a brand new way of appreciating the games with a bunch of digital extras, you need the Turrican Anthologies.