Casey Jones Is By Far Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate’s Best Character

For as long as I’ve been a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, I’ve had no trouble saying that Donatello is my absolute favourite of the four brothers, no contest. Don’t get me wrong, I love Leo, Mikey, and Raph but, like most proud and self-aware nerds, Donnie’s intelligence, kind-heartedness, and choice of a weapon I could probably use in real life make him the cream of the ooze-altered crop for me.

While Donatello has always been my number one turtle, he’s not my favourite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character. That honour goes to the Goongala man himself, Casey Jones, who has been my TMNT MVP ever since I was first introduced to him through Elias Koteas’ godly good looks in the 1990 movie.

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Boyhood crushes aside, no matter what era of TMNT it is, Casey Jones has never had a bad adaptation and his down-to-earth New York charm shines brighter than the Turtles themselves at every turn. From his arguably most beloved showing in the 2003 series to the time-traveller we saw in Rise of the TMNT, there’s a reason why he’s become such a core part of the series and appeared in pretty much every game.

Casey Jones Is Splintered Fate’s Best Character By A Mile

All of that is to say that I love Casey Jones, and I’ve been putting him up to bat to become playable in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate ever since post-launch plans were announced. I practically cheered when that was confirmed to be the case for Splintered Fate’s first DLC, Junkyard Jam, and I’m even happier with the end result after diving back into the game and getting sucked into the roguelike routine for the third time.

Junkyard Jam comes with two main additions, the first and most important being a playable Casey Jones, who already appeared as an NPC during the base game. Right from the get-go, Casey is easily the most unique character on the roster, as his default move is a projectile hockey puck attack that makes him the only member of the team with a guaranteed ranged move.

It’s a small change in the grand scheme of things, but one that adds a new layer to combat and makes Casey more versatile than the Turtles, who need to get lucky with abilities during a run for any kind of ranged capability. While his puck isn’t quite as strong as Raph’s OP special, it’s better than the rest of the Turtle’s movesets and has the edge for opening combat up and letting you play a little more carefully.

I was expecting the hockey puck to be what makes Casey special, but it’s his starting tool, called “The Juice”, that really makes him shine. Whenever this tool is used, Casey’s hockey puck attack recharges on its own and his overall damage is given a massive boost, making him an absolute unit against pretty much every enemy in a run.

The Juice can even be upgraded to become even stronger and when it’s combined with Casey’s puck projectile and his wide-reaching hockey stick basic attacks, it’s almost unbelievable how powerful he can become with the right abilities and upgrades. Raph used to undeniably be the best character in the game, but he’s taken a backseat to the Goongala king.

I was always going to be a Casey Jones main, but he’s such a strong new addition that I’ll probably never play as any of the Turtles again. Developer Super Evil Megacorp has shown what they can do with additional characters and now they’ve mastered my favourite, I’m fully on board with whoever they add next.

Jamming In The Junkyard

The second big thing that Junkyard Jam adds to the mix is a new area called, you guessed it, the Junkyard, which appears as an optional path to take once you’ve beaten Karai at the Docks. Once I’d gotten past having to fight Karai, my least favourite boss, over and over again to reach the Junkyard, I was so happy with what it brings to the table, even if it’s not quite as good as Casey himself.

As a Casey fanboy, the highlight of the Junkyard is his involvement in the story, which starts with him telling the Turtles that it’s a shortcut to reach Shredder. In reality, the Punk Frogs have seemingly stolen Casey’s car, the Slamboni, and he’s trying to get the Turtles to help out without actually asking them for help.

Splintered Fate already had a good handle on Casey, but he’s even better as a playable character in Junkyard Jam. His voice lines and sports references are consistently some of the game’s funniest, but he’s also got a deeper, more human side to him that you see in his nostalgia for the Slamboni and reluctance to admit to the Turtles that he needed a hand.

Outside of Casey’s involvement, the Junkyard is pretty much what you’d expect from a Splintered Fate level, although the spray-painted colours and abundance of tough frog enemies that used to only appear on rare occasions during normal runs does make it a bit more interesting than the rest of the game’s locations. Gigi and the Punk Frogs are also a treat to run into, even if their boss battles are surprisingly tough and a harder alternative to Bebop and Rocksteady.

My only big gripe with Junkyard Jam is that there’s not much story added to the game beyond what you see in the Junkyard itself. Casey does have some unique interactions with bosses, but he doesn’t get added to cutscenes beyond that and his new additions to the plot cease once you’ve been through the Junkyard five times.

As someone who has already put more than 40 hours into Splintered Fate across two consoles, I can tell you that five runs doesn’t take time much at all, even if you’re likely to fail a few of those attempts due to how tough the bosses are. Once you’ve done that and gotten to grips with Casey and the new artifacts, you’ve basically seen it all.

Even still, that didn’t stop me from putting more than ten hours into Junkyard Jam simply because of how great Casey Jones feels to play. While the Junkyard itself doesn’t spice things up too much and can feel a little short, Casey absolutely carries the DLC and feels like an essential addition to the game. More than anything, I’m just happy that TMNT’s all-star has been done justice once again.

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