Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (arcade game)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a beat-em-up video game developed and published by Konami for the arcade in 1989. It was later ported to several home platforms. A modified version was published by Ultra for the NES under the title, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game. The game is based on the characters and art style of the 1987 TV series.

I remember playing the game in arcades in the early 1990s. I was a big fan of the Ninja Turtles, and the game was really impressive looking to me at the time, although especially difficult. I think I first played it at a pool hall with my father, and I kept stealing more quarters from him to get further in the game. I also remember playing it in the arcade of one of those ridiculous Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park camp grounds. Another kid I met there and I would scour the trash cans for bottles to get refunds for quarters to play the game.

Status

I used to own the NES port, but I no longer do. I have beaten the NES port.

Review

• Overall: 5/10
• Best Version: Arcade

Good

• The graphics are very well drawn and animated for most of the ports with attractive cut-scenes.
• The game is closely tied to the TV series. All of the main characters are included and play their roles properly, and a lot of the characters are pulled over giving a lot of variety. Also, unlike the home version game, there aren't a bunch of no-name characters thrown in the mix.
• The arcade game allows for four player simultaneous game play which adds to the fun.
• The levels have various breakable objects that can be used as weapons against your opponents, which is pretty cool. There are also various hazards that must be avoided.
• I also love how the enemies interact with the environment. The foot soldiers have all sorts of interesting ways of entering the playing area like braking through doors, popping out of sewers, and jumping through glass windows. It's also hilarious to see thrown foot soldiers splat against walls and watch Bebop and Rocksteady smash into each other.
• The background music is upbeat and incorporates the theme song of the television show.
• The speech sounds like it's taken from the show because the voices match properly.
• The NES port adds two additional levels.

Bad

• Like with most beat-em-ups, in order to survive in the game, you can't just walk up to enemies and attack them. Most of the time, you have to dance around enemies, evading them as much as possible while using a lot of jump attacks and the special attack to avoid getting trounced by your enemies. This makes the game look a little silly rather than cool.
• Despite the variety in levels, the game is still pretty monotonous because there is little in the way of player control, and you're basically just smashing the Foot Clan for a half hour.
• The NES port has several graphic glitches.
• The NES port has a lot of shameless Pizza Hut product placement.

Ugly

• The game is extremely difficult. It seems to be designed to drain quarters rather than be enjoyable.

Media

Videos

• youtube.com/watch?v=RqlECTcW61M - Longplay, Amiga.
• youtube.com/watch?v=QyRIxVEpi3o - Longplay, Arcade.
• youtube.com/watch?v=aR5nbWlW87U - Longplay, Commodore 64.
• youtube.com/watch?v=QMm6NIhJFJ4 - Longplay, NES.
• youtube.com/watch?v=GGRF5c_5_CI - Longplay, ZX Spectrum.

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English (Europe)	Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles
English (Europe, NES)	Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles II: The Arcade Game
English (North America)	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
English (North America, NES)	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
Japanese	スーパー亀忍者	Supa Kame Ninja	Super Turtle Ninja
Japanese (Famicom)	ティーンエージ ミュータント ニンジャ タートルズ	Tineiji Myutanto Ninja Tatoruzu	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Links

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• arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=10052 - The International Arcade Museum.