If you, or your offspring, grew up in the 90's, you probably remember many a Saturday morning or after-school couch session spent being entertained by some unforgettable friends. They are the TV cartoon characters who regaled you on a daily basis with their tales of adventure and who undoubtedly helped to shape a generation.

Many of them have long been written off the program lists, replaced by high definition versions that are more in sync with today's iPad wielding youngsters, but lets take a moment to reminisce…

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

While most 90's cartoons now exist only in our memory banks, a handful have been given a second chance at life, spawning spinoffs, games and even movies. The Ninja Turtles series was one of the lucky few. Leading on from a comic that was released in the early 80's, the original show first aired in 1988, running for a whopping 10 series and a total of 193 episodes. With the franchise's fourth feature film slated for release next month, die hard fans will be able to get their TMNT fix almost 30 years after it first hit our screens.

Pokemon

Another series that began as a byproduct, Pokemon first aired in the late 90's, thanks to the popularity of a Japanese Game Boy game called “Pocket Monsters”. Paired with the spin-off trading card game that took over schoolyards and distracted classrooms worldwide, this show's weird and wacky creatures had a firm grip on the hearts (and pocket money) of kids everywhere.

Rugrats

The adventurous toddlers of Nickelodeon's Rugrats franchise first crawled onto Aussie TV screens in 1994. Despite the fact that they were still in nappies, ringleader Tommy, scaredy-cat Chuckie, twins Phil and Lil and manipulative Angelica had kids of all ages hooked, perhaps due to the show's sidelining of all adult characters. It aired for 13 years, and remains Nickelodeon's second longest running cartoon.

Captain Planet

Captain Planet and his multicultural group of Planeteers spawned two TV series, between 1990 and 1996. With the characters' element-inspired superpowers combining to save the environment, the popular show managed to sneak a little bit of education into our weekday TV viewing.