Nickelodeon originally wanted the developers of Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl to use the 2012 versions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. However, they pushed to use the 1987 versions instead - in spite of that iteration never having aired on Nickelodeon at the time - with their reasoning being "we're old".

Following the success of All-Star Brawl, other Nickelodeon crossover games would begin using the 1987 TMNT, including Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3, of which the previous two games used the 2012 TMNT, and Nickelodeon would begin airing the 1987 TMNT animated series on their channel in promotion for the film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.