Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Overview

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a one player game in which the players can switch freely between the four turtles at will. The game is split between overhead worldview sections and sidescrolling platforming sections. Once one turtle dies, the player is reset with the next available turtle and has the option of searching the level to rescue the defeated turtle. The difficulty of the game is very extreme and has sent many a controller sprawling across the room.

The box art to the game is taken from a reprint of Eastman & Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 Vol. 1 which is why all four turtles have red headbands. The original comics were in black and white so there was little reason to give each turtles differing colors. The full cover has Donatello swinging his Bo at an alien named the Utrom, which was used as the basis for Krang in the classic cartoon. The image was cropped so consumers who were more familiar with the cartoon would not get confused from it. This along with the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade Game were published by Konami for NES under the Ultra name to get around Nintendo's publishing limits.

Story

This game has little to do with the comics or the cartoon beyond the characters. Even the trademark theme song is no where to be found. While Bebop, Rocksteady, and Shredder all make an appearance, there is nothing really said about any sort of evil scheme. The turtles just know they need to stop the evildoers.

Gameplay

Each turtle can attack in four directions, including up and down. Donatello is the usual go-to turtle because his attack reaches the farthest and also swings around to hit in the opposite direction. Leonardo has the next useful attack as the swords will swing around. Michelangelo and Raphael are near useless as they have the shortest range in attack. Enemies on screen are repopulated once the screen is refreshed similar to the Mega Man games on the NES. Only the mouser and foot soldier have any influence from the cartoon. The rest of the enemies were made specifically for the game.

The game consists of multiple levels:

1. Rescuing April from Rocksteady and Bebop
2. Disarming bombs placed at the Dam
3. Using the Turtle Van to reach the center of a city
4. Finding the Turtle Blimp in a Foot base
5. The Technodrome