This is an ongoing list where I attempt to do the following: Play, Complete, and Rank every video game in the known universe in order to finally answer the age old question "What is the greatest game of all time?" For previous entries find the links on the attached spreadsheet.

How did I do?

I didn't grow up as much of an arcade kid. I don't remember one being relatively close to our house or the school I went to, and outside of birthday parties I really don't remember visiting them much in my youth. I was born into a house that already had a home console from older siblings. My Dad was into computer games, so I never had to go looking for games, they were just around. All of this translates to the fact that I played so many games that were ports from the arcades without knowing they were arcade games. Sure, there were certainly clues to be had, but as an oblivious kid, I just assumed these games were made just for my console.

TMNT: Turtles in Time was one of those games. It's easy to look back now and see that this couldn't have been more of an arcade port if it tried, but I certainly don't remember thinking that the first few times I played it. Boy oh boy, did I play this game a lot. My best friend, who of course was the closest in proximity to me, loved the turtles, so it meant that whenever we wanted to both play a game we enjoy this was one of the few games in a constant rotation.

For those unaware, Turtles in Time is a side scrolling beat-em up. You take control of one of the four ninja turtles, go from left to right fighting your way through the stage and then fight whichever boss is in the area. The crux of the game is that the Turtles are sent back through time and need to fight their way back to the present, so you have levels where you are dealing with dinosaurs, levels in the wild-west, etc. Tossed in for variety there are a couple levels where you are in riding vehicles for an auto-scroll level.

The turtles themselves, all have their unique weapons, move-sets and special ability to help you through the stages. However, no one in the world will be able to convince me that Donatello is not the best simply because his perceived reach with the staff is far greater than other turtles. Could that simply be a trick of the eye or the game? Maybe, but I still always pick him first if I am doing a nostalgia run of the game.

The game, in my opinion, did a great job of capturing the essence of the cartoon show that was on at the time. Its a bright game, there is some minor voice acting from the characters, and a sense of humor that the show had. It also had a surprising variety to the enemies, given how few baddies actually exist in the turtles lore. Sure you could argue that you just fight 10,000 members of the foot clan, and they are just color swaps. You aren't that wrong, but I would argue that they behave differently despite the color swap and at the very least have different weapons, instead of the game just throwing the same purple ones at you over and over again. Instead though, I am talking about the variety in bosses you get to fight. Of course there is Shredder and Bebop and Rocksteady, but you get to fight Baxter, Takka and Rahzar, Krang, Slash, an Alligator that I don't know the name of and more. It was nice to see a wide selection of bosses to fight.

The game also moves at a good clip. I find that in some beat-em ups there seems to be groupings of levels that all have the same motif or energy. In turtles, you are constantly moving from locale to locale, and honestly its refreshing. When you start getting tired of one location, you are whisked away to a whole new area. Do any of these levels really feel all that different? No, moving left to right on a pirate ship isn't that much different then left to right on a train, but the backgrounds, music, and enemies all change with the locale so it doesn't feel as stale as spending three levels fighting in the streets.

If there are negatives with the game, I would assume the two most levied at it are relating to its length and difficulty. In terms of difficulty, I get it, even today I can breeze through the game and only use a couple continues before beating it. I tried looking it up, but I honestly don't even remember if it has unlimited continues, or if there is a set limit that forces you back to the title screen should you die too much. In my head, there are unlimited continues, and I could be wrong, but if there are unlimited continues I can understand why people would find the game too easy. You could beat the game every time with that approach. Personally, that isn't always a bad thing. I liked knowing that I could sit down with Turtles and beat it if I had the time and determination to do so, whereas a game like Final Fight would always kick my ass.

In terms of the game's length, I actually don't see a problem with it. Can you beat this game in 2-3 hours? Yes, yes you can. Would you feel that it might be a waste of money if you spent $60 on this game and beat it day 1? I can see that, but the amount of time I have replayed turtles, beating it as each character, or playing with a friend, I never felt like this game was a waste of money. That obviously is going to be a different answer for every person, but to me the 10 levels and length of levels was the right length. If you padded this game out longer, I would have wanted a save or password system, and any shorter would have left me really wanting more.

TMNT: Turtles in time is a fantastic game. I have seen it described as the greatest beat-em up of all time, and while I can say it is the best I have played, I can't scientifically say its the best until all games have been ranked. It's hard to wipe nostalgia out when talking about this game, because I played it so much as a kid and retained so many memories of how to play/beat the game now, but even when I fire it up today, I still get excited the first time I throw a footclan at the camera.

Is this game the Greatest game of all time: So close

Where does it rank: I wanted to maybe push this game into the top 5, but I do think Mario 64 is a better game than Turtles, so I have TMNT: Turtles in Time ranked as the #6 greatest game of all time out of 53 games. It splits the Mario games, falling behind Mario 64 at #5, but being above Super Mario Bros at # 7.

Up Next: Heavy Rain (PS3)

Anyone looking for it: here is the link to the list and more if you are interested in following along with me (this is not a self promotion). Here. I added links on the spreadsheet for quick navigation. Now if you missed a blog of a game you want to read about, you can get to it quickly, rather than having to scroll through my previous blogs wondering when it came up.

Thanks for Listening.

P.S. We did it! 5 blogs in 5 days, for a total of 6 games ranked. What an achievement for all humankind! I have to assume in 5 years I will look back on this moment with a crazy sense of pride. I have been toying with a notion in my head that I can't shake. So let me purpose the following idea:

I would love to incorporate the GB community into these talks/reviews/rankings outside of the comments and was thinking if people were willing to play along at home I would love to host a few members each review to have a streamed/recorded chat talking about their experiences with the game.. loved it/hated it, where they would rank it, etc.

I would still do a write up, rank it on the big board, but I would also embed/attach/link to our recorded chats where people could hear from others and not just me. Its not quite a podcast, and not quite a deep dive, but a friendly chat about the game.

Here is a short version of how I think it would work. I would announce the next game for review, or what I am currently playing, give people X amount of time to start/finish it or gather their thoughts from a previous playthrough. Then host roughly 3-4 other community members on a stream where we would talk about the game for an hour to an hour and a half. It would end with everyone ranking where they think the game goes on the list and we say our goodbyes. You wouldn't have to commit to every episode, you could only throw your hat into the ring for games you actually want to talk about/play etc.

I haven't worked out all the kinks yet, just gauging interest.. My feelings won't be hurt if no one wants to talk these out with me outside the comment section, but if you are interested.. leave a comment below, or send me a tweet @Imunbeatable80 and we can work through some details.

That's a great game and exactly where I would have put it. My dad bought it for us at release (I want to say it was $50 back then), and was so disappointed in its length that we returned it, but when it was rereleased digitally, I fell back in love with it. It's a completely solid beat-em-up and you're absolutely right that it nails the spirit of TMNT.

And I think the gator was Leatherhead. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

This is certainly up there in the conversation of my favorite all time games. Is it the best game of them? nope, but this game has so much nostalgia packed in to it AND it is a solid, fun game that I play through it at least once a year.

My favorite arcade to SNES conversion was Sunset Riders. Unlike you I was a youth of education and discernment so I knew it was an arcade game*.

Turtles in Time features a number of changes between the arcade and SNES version, beyond the necessary graphical downgrade etc... They moved some stages around, created a new one, added bosses, etc... They did some significant work to it. It's a great conversion and a very strong version of a great game. People who complained about its length and difficulty didn't really understand what these kinds of games were for. They were like sports games or action movies, meant for repeated playthroughs. I miss the days when you could pop in a good SNES conversion cart, play through the game, and not have to worry about modern day BS.

Turtles in Time definitely had a 'right game right time' fortuity to when it was released and is fondly remembered by a lot of people. It doesn't hurt that it's a damn fine beat 'em up, and looks great. It's a top game. Some might say top 6 of all time, but those people are probably ill informed.

Fun fact: All the tennis games on the SNES were chock full of tennis. Lots of it! You would have loved them.

I might be down for an audio or text conversation type of game club deal, but I'm not comfortable putting my face on the Internet in a discussion about video games for professional reason. There's a stigma around them, even though it's unfair, and especially given my tendency to make lots of dumb jokes, some of which can be taken the wrong way, I try to keep the Internet footprint that can be linked to my real life identity pretty clean. I swear that it has nothing to do with me being wanted by the law. I can honestly say that there has never been a warrant out for my arrest in the vast majority of states, and that's also true of many foreign countries! So for your video streams some other brave community member will have to step up and explain why all your rankings are wrong and also offensive and why aren't you playing better games and can you honestly say that you're flossing as much as you could be? As you should be? Really? Tell the truth!

*My local pizza place had a Sunset Riders machine. My dad actually bought me Sunset Riders on SNES because I was wasting so much money on the arcade machine he was just like "here, now never ask me for quarters to play that machine again." It was a sweet deal! I'm surprised you never saw a Turtles machine at some random gas station or corner store, since a lot of them had arcades back then and it was a fairly popular title.

@sparky_buzzsaw: Thanks for the read! Leatherhead sounds about right, but no one can say for sure.

Glad you agree with my placement.. my heart wanted to place it higher, but my brain overruled it.

@bobafettjm: Its such a fun game to fall back into, and since the commitment is long or grueling i dont feel like i need to drop everything to play it for an evening.

@bigsocrates: I really didnt get into tennis games until the dreamcast, so any system prior will be all new for me. Not saying this is converting to an all tennis list soon, but maybe some day.

Whenever i came across random arcade games they were either of the very classic kind (ms. Pacman, popeye, etc.) Or of the sports variety (golden tee, blitz, jam). Maybe the suburbs of chicago just wasnt a turtles town.

I was thinking of using streamyard, and you can use anyname and elect to not use your camera. That way the world would and could still just know you as your handle. Just a thought if you still wanted to do it.

@imunbeatable80: My dad loved tennis the sport so he bought me NES tennis as one of those "gifts" that was really for him, and we both played quite a bit of it. It really wasn't too bad for the time, though I doubt it has aged well.

I believe you that you never ran into a TMNT machine because everyone knows that the TMNT live in New York and can't go to Chicago because they only travel through the sewers. I do NOT believe you that you only ran into classic or sports games. There is no way you never ran into a Street Fighter II machine in a pizza place or convenience store or something. Those things were EVERYWHERE. You couldn't walk down the street without bumping into a Street Fighter II machine in the early 90s.

If I could shroud my identity in mystery I would be down to explain to you why Cooking Mama: Cookstar is the 37th greatest game of all time and not the 39th and to claim otherwise is not only factually incorrect but also potentially treasonous.

@bigsocrates: msg me your info.. or follow me so i can send you messages on this here site.