Game of the Week 48/2006: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

In Games




This week I chose the turtles game, because I quite like it. Can't say much more. It's very well playable and the graphics were nice, too. Music was not annoying, so we have a very good game there.
Unofortunately I don't have the cart yet. I borrowed it back in the day, but nowadays I have to rely on emulators. It's a shame I know...

Cover and box art!
Japan:


America:


Europe: (Same as America. The title was changed from "Ninja Turtles" to "Hero Turtles" though...)


Cowabunga!

I would have to say that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is in my top 5 favorite NES Games. The game play was laggy, the graphics weren't all that great, and over half of the enemies were not even from the show! Yet, the game was freakin awesome! I recently sat down and tried to go all the way through it again. Didn't quite beat it (damn tunnels in the last level) but I still had a blast doing it.

Box-art, I liked the US the best.. But, why the hell are all the turtles red?



Simple explanation... that was how the original turtles were in the original comics by Eastman and Laird. I guess the colors were adopted to make it more kid-like. I'm not positive, because I haven't researched it, but I've heard Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a bit more dark than what was presented to pop culture.

As for box art, I like the N. American version for the very reason stated above... it's how they originally were. Pretty cool history. It would be a tie with Europe and North America except for the whole renaming thing.

There are a couple of cool things about this game. One, challenge. It's a pretty tough game that you have to work on. Another one is that the Techno-Drome is in a different spot everytime. That keeps it interesting in the later levels. I like this game alot.

Always liked it, never got even close to beating it. What always perplexed me was that the foot soldiers exploded when killed. Sure, maybe I'd like to think they were robots, but I knew they weren't! I guess it was the most convinient death sequence, and I suppose I always got a kick out of it, seeing as how explosions are everywhere nowadays.

Think "5th Avacado." You know what I mean.


Think "5th Avacado." You know what I mean.
What the hell are you talking about?

Anyway, one of the first NES Games I became attached to. I would always just get past the underwater bomb defusing, get to the second turtle mobile stage, and get owned around there. I prefer it to the second and third games.

I don't really understand why people hate it so much, it's a classic! It was the forth game I played for the NES, and ever since then I always liked it. It brings so many memories. All right, it has some few bugs here and there, but it's old anyway! That's why I like them.

I own this one. Back in the 80’s, I played it quite a bit. I used the Nintendo POWer magazines I had to get further and further into the game, and eventually I made it to the area where there are searchlights scanning the ground. That was as far as I could get. I picked it up again just a couple years ago, and was on a mission to conquer it. I surpassed the searchlight level, and got to the shredder level. It took about 2 nights once I got that far to actually beat shredder. That technodrome level is tough.

Back when I used Nintendo POWer for tips, I was convinced that I had to have each turtle maxed out with 99 scrolls each before leaving level 3. It seemed quite tedious and boring back when I was a kid, and the idea of just popping in a different game seemed a lot more appealing than trying to beat Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It also used to be so frustrating when I’d lose a turtle, even though you could simply go rescue him on level 3. I love how they made the weapons realistic with the long range of the bow staff, short range of the sai, etc. Another random memory is about how I used to experiment with things, such as attacking those snowblower-like vehicles on the very first level. You had to be careful, since they changed direction at any given moment, but eventually I killed one with those little turtle weapons.

I played this game loads as a kid, but never beat it. It's a good game with lots of variety. I prefer it to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 and III, which I find a little too repetitive.

I always wondered why all the turtles wore red on the box (thought it was maybe a printing error) so thanks for the explanation Roth.



Simple explanation... that was how the original turtles were in the original comics by Eastman and Laird. I guess the colors were adopted to make it more kid-like. I'm not positive, because I haven't researched it, but I've heard Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a bit more dark than what was presented to pop culture.

As for box art, I like the N. American version for the very reason stated above... it's how they originally were. Pretty cool history. It would be a tie with Europe and North America except for the whole renaming thing.

There are a couple of cool things about this game. One, challenge. It's a pretty tough game that you have to work on. Another one is that the Techno-Drome is in a different spot everytime. That keeps it interesting in the later levels. I like this game alot.¨
I haven't noticed that before, the American box art is just like the European, except for the renaming thing. By the way, it is weird that Eastman sold his share of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Laird. I think he did it because he wanted to stay in California with his wife and kids.



Simple explanation... that was how the original turtles were in the original comics by Eastman and Laird. I guess the colors were adopted to make it more kid-like. I'm not positive, because I haven't researched it, but I've heard Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a bit more dark than what was presented to pop culture.

As for box art, I like the N. American version for the very reason stated above... it's how they originally were. Pretty cool history. It would be a tie with Europe and North America except for the whole renaming thing.

There are a couple of cool things about this game. One, challenge. It's a pretty tough game that you have to work on. Another one is that the Techno-Drome is in a different spot everytime. That keeps it interesting in the later levels. I like this game alot.
I haven't noticed that before, that the American box art is just like the European, except for the renaming thing. By the way, it is weird that Eastman sold his share of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Laird. I think he did it because he wanted to get out of California and stay with his wife and kids.