Customer Reviews

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The original Ninja Turtles was a lot different from its sequels; instead of the arcade action, this was a platform sidescrolling adventure which occassionally transitioned to overhead map views and cruising around in the turtle van.

THE GOOD
It was fun, of course. You got to change your turtle within a mission and select different weapons that you collect along the way. The music was good, especially when considering the time period of this game. Some might this as a burden, but I enjoyed its difficulty. As I've said in my other reviews, this game was made back in the day when NES games kicked your [...] and forced you to defeat it on its own terms. When comparing this to the much easier 2,3, and 4, I enjoyed this much better (but I still like the others for their multiplayer ability, don't get me wrong).

THE BAD
While this was difficult and I enjoyed it, there were some things that do place a detriment to the game. The turtles are uneven in their abilities. Leonardo has a long reach, but is the weakest of the four (why do that to my favorite turtle?!). Mikey is not much better than Leo in terms of weapon power. Raphael is good for his fast attacks despite his up-close range. Donatello pretty much defeats all of them because he is the strongest AND has the farthest reach. You could beat this game on him alone.

If you're a fan of the Old School NES, you will no doubt enjoy this game (or perhaps just a fan of the Ninja Turtles in general). It's a good platform game that is unique in comparison to the sequels that followed. Today's gamers will no doubt turn away from it because of its dated graphics (which aren't bad, especially considering the time period) and its more difficult levels.

"It's too hard!"
Well, I suggest you try harder. This game doesn't spoonfeed you; it's a difficult adventure. So strap on some turtle shells (and even a game genie if you want it) and some weaponry and engage yourself in a classic game.

As a kid, I actually somewhat enjoyed this game. It came to Nintendo's virtual console, so I decided why not download it for a change? After all, in the late 80's early 90's I really enjoyed this game. It was really something to have. Years later it's apparent of two things: The game was horribly designed, and it CAN'T stand the test of time. The fact that on Nintendo's VC it's also a dollar more than the other NES games is also questioning. It's hard to make a game this bad.

If you were a fan of the Turtles a long time ago back in the early 90's the first thing you'll notice about the game is that it hardly has anything to do with the show at all outside of some of the major characters. Outside of that there are no foot soldiers, and most of the enemies you encounter you never saw in the show in the first place. You will come across Bebop and Rocksteady but none of the other enemies were actually ever in the show in the first place. Kind of daunting.

What really makes the game horrible, however, lies within the gameplay. Firstly, the turtles themselves are unbalanced and put to unfair use. You can switch between any of the turtles at a time, but for the most part, only one of them is of any use to getting you through the adventure. Michaelangelo and Raphael are completely useless, as their weapons lack to the range to actually do anything. Leonardo is alright, but Donatello is the only real useful one here, as he's the only one who can attack downward and at a range. More than likely you'll only want to use the other three to sacrifice so that Donatello can do some beating up on enemies.

The way the levels are designed is also horrendous. You basically walk around an overworld map and go into sewers, warehouses and whatnot. The problem is that you never know where to go next. This non-linear style wouldn't be so bad if there weren't so many blasted dead ends. To make the experience even more grueling, the game is just FULL of enemies that will respawn almost the second you turn around. You could go through a tough warehouse fighting tons of tough enemies, only to find you can't go any further. So now you'll have to backtrack and you may have to fight all those enemies again. So if you don't lose a turtle getting to a dead end, you'll probably lose him getting from it.

The game isn't really difficult, it's just unfair and frustrating. The fact that two of your four players are completely useless tells you something. The later turtles games were far better than this. Skip the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game. It's so unfair that the experience is frustrating. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II and III were far better, and there's still no turtles game that beats the all time best: Turtles IV: Turtles in Time. If you need a classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fix, the first Turtles game on the NES isn't going to do it.

Ok so here we have a game that over the years have been bashed by many reviewers but what are they all really saying other than this game sucked? Well it's not so much true depending on your gaming patience this game is hard as Hell I'm not going to lie and the characters well they don't fit anywhere from the cartoons or the classic arcade game from time before this was made. We are given some nostalgic items to enjoy beyond the turtles we get the pleasure of driving the turtle van and seeing Splinter in game along with April at a different segment was interesting enough. Most of the main bosses beyond the inappropriate so called "side" bosses stuck to the turtle scene. Graphics wise well for a NES game it isn't too bad until you get more than two enemies on the screen because everything slooooooows down. In addition some of the jumps are hard to judge as it seems you can easily get from one side to another next thing you know you're dead. The one thing I have to warn you about is a loud beeping noise if you're playing this game you definitely might want to mute the TV because anytime the health bar gets too low well away it goes and anyone who has played this game knows what I'm talking about. Overall it's not too bad it's hard as hell and the slowdown of processor and the impossible jumps well that kept me from giving this more than a three star rating. To be included was the ridiculous unheard of baddies and the side bosses which were really the normal enemies with a health bar ridiculous. Well I hope you enjoyed my review more game reviews to come.

This game was literally the very first game I every played and still to this day it is one of my favorites. Any Ninja Turtles fan should have this in there collection, or if you enjoy playing old games pick this up and give it a shot

TMNT was a game that came out before you could change the difficulty level and it is very possible that this game could have been the reason for difficulty levels. This game started out hard and just got harder and I loved it. People have said it before but it was a huge accomplishment to make it down the hole without losing any of your turtles to the spikes. Once you actually made it inside the Technodrome, things just got worse. I remember running like a scared little girl from those flying astronauts and was happy when I found out they at least let you recover a fallen turtle, though you'd often lose a guy from the effort or recovering one.

The reason why I rank this game so high is because it was and seems to still be a challenge. There are too many games that you buy and only get a couple hours out of before you beat it. It made me happy to read that people still can't beat this game. It is cool to be on an apparently small list of people that have beaten this game. The 2nd arcade style game was fun as a cheap easy thrill but if you play a game to be challenged, then this is definitely a game for you, even if it is a little old.

I first played this game in 1990, when I was 6 years old (ok, I was one year late, but we rented games and tried them out before we go out and spend $50+ on them). I was a big Turtles fan, so I did'nt care. It was fun selecting different Turtles (who varied in speed, damage in Turtle weapons, and range in Turtle weapons), and picking up and using different ninja weapons such as boomerangs, shierikens, and TNT (best weapon), other than your main weapons. Graphics (for its time) were awesome and so was the music score and the controls. I love that. I only gave this game three stars because I do have 3 major complaints about the game.

-1. It was way too difficult. Even with your Nintendo Power Strategy Guide, you had to play this game 50 times to master beating it. I think this game went beyond the levels of difficulty such as how easy it was for the Turtle to die and the random changing groups of enemies throughout the game (making it hard for you to strategize your attack or moves). Even though it had some of the dark elements from the comics, the game was suppose to be for kids so there was no reason for the high levels of difficulty.
-2 Choice of characters was my main problem with this game. The cartoon series was already on their second seaon when they were designing this game. I sense that they were trying to mix in the cartoon series (Bebop, Rocksteady, and The Technodrome) with adding more elements of the darker comics, but when the hell were flying missle balloons, flying robot heads, chainsaw guy, frog man, fireman, butterflies, MechaTurtle and flying astronauts appear in the ninja turtles universe?!? How uncreative!There were alot of Ninja Turtle enemies to choose from, but omitting Krang really took the cake. It was great fighting the moving Techonodrome, but there would be NO TECHNODROME without Krang! I don't think they did the proper marketing research before making and releasing this game.
-3 You don't hear the Ninja Turtles theme music anywhere in the game. What copyright contraints were the developers under!? As a child, I was confused.

Other than the three complaints, the game was playable and it would be much better to use game genie to beat it. I know its cheating, but its more fun that way and it was the only way I was able to beat the game. Although this game was a hit, Ultra/Konami knew they messed up a bit and responded by improving the game play and character selection on the future TMNT titles plus targeting them more for kids because kids were the large fanbase of TMNT.

NES - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Three Stars - Tremendously popular when released, still good today

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" were a hot property back in the late 1980s. They had spawned a successful comic book series, a television show, three feature length movies, and other related merchandise. They were even featured in Pizza Hut advertisements.

So it was natural someone would feature them in a NES game.

Enter Ultra, a shadow company of Konami. Ultra was a subsidary of Konami and created for the sole purpose of publishing more NES titles than Nintendo allowed a developer to publish in any given year.

There was already an arcade game as a four player beat'em up released in Japan when Ultra released TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES in North America. Rather than do a port of that title, Ultra developed their own title. The arcade port would be released as TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II: The Arcade Game. Although billed as a sequel, the port of the arcade title had nothing to do with the original NES game, and had much different gameplay. Instead of four player, the NES TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II had two player. Otherwise the game as largely identical to the original arcade title.

The game proved very popular back in the day. This video game would even appear in the 1989 NES commercial posing as a feature length Hollywood film called THE WIZARD. (Interestingly enough, Lucas ("I love the Power Glove. It is so bad!") is now a convicted felon due to sex crimes.) It's great to hear Beau Bridges complain about the Technodrome! It's even better to read Roger Ebert's review of THE WIZARD where he discusses the games as well.

The overall gamestyle is either top down perspective or sidescrolling, and this title uses both constantly and interchangeably, similar to ZELDA II, although there is more to do in the overworld perspective than ZELDA II..

The game features all four turtles as playable characters from the start. You are able to switch out any turtle at any time (provided they are still alive and have energy). Leonardo has medium range sword attacks. Raphael has the worst attack range but has the very powerful attack. Michelangelo has medium range and power but is the fastest turtle (and the best to use in the infamous water stage). Donatello is by far the best turtle to use due to his attack range and power, almost making the other three turtles obsolete at best.

Like previous reviewers have noted, the game strangely lacks any major enemy characters from the franchise, which is a rather strange omission given the fact Konami was marketing this product and kids obsessed with the turtles. For bosses, Bebop, Rockseady, Turtle Van, Blimp, the Technodrome, and Shredder are the only main characters from the franchise that make an appearance. Where is Krang (my personal favorite), Leatherhead, the Rat King, Casey Jones, etc? Nowhere to be found.

The game overall is short and brutal. You only get three continues. There are only six (long stages), but trust me, those stages will have you pulling your hair out at the end. Although there have been complaints about the controls, they are not THAT bad. The Angry Video Game Nerd has shown in his famous review of this title a spot where you must jump over a certain hole in the floor that you actually just run over. That is the exception, though, not the rule. Overall the play control is rather good.

Like several NES games, "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES " features a stage notorious for its difficulty. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is rather infamous for the water stage where you must guide the turtles through an insanely challenging swimming level where you must disarm explosives before the bad guys blow up a dam. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES gives you 2:20 minutes to swim through this underwater labyrinth in an attempt to disarm the bombs. You must avoid water currents, electric beams, pink seaweed that is very difficult to avoid. Other stages that are difficult are Stage Four, the spiked wall sequence, and the final boss.

The difficulty and the length of this game was in line with other titles and these features were rather common in that era. Other famous difficult levels from the NES era are 8-3 from the original "Adventure Island", the "Battletoads'" racing level and snakes level, "Ninja Gaidens" 6-2 and beyond, and the Yellow Devil boss from the original "Mega Man". The games were just hard as balls back then and short. The length was due largely to the technology of the time

The reviewer who complained about the ending being "the worst" he has ever seen is rather laughable. It is a NES game, after all. Overall, the endings to NES titles were always rather lame. As far as the "worst", I would probably nominate GHOST AND GOBLINS, because after beating the game, you discover you have literally been tricked by Satan (!), and the only way to see the "true" ending is to go back and beat the game a second time. As that game is damn near impossible, this ending just adds insult too injury. How Capcom ever got Satan past Nintedo's censors (who wanted all religious content removed from North American NES video games) I guess we'll never know. Shigeru Miyamoto's 1983 DEVIL WORLD even went unreleased in the United States due to the title.

For availability, obviously you can get the game used for your NES or emulate (which may be safer for your controller, as you can save state your way through the more difficult sections). Nintendo also sanctioned the title's rerelease in the Wii's Virtual Console (the greatest invention in the history of mankind, if I do say so myself!), although TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is 600 points rather than the standard 500 points for NES titles due to licensing issues.

Although now in the twenty plus years the game has been out, it has become favorable to blast the game for its difficulty and other perceived offenses (largely due to the AVGN review), it helps to remember that TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES sold over four million copies when first released, making it one of the most successful third party NES titles ever. Nintendo Power gave this game their Game of the Year award in 1989 as well.

Much like ZELDA II: THE ADVENTURE OF LINK, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES was a tremendously popular game, and much of the hostility present toward the title in the present gaming culture was not present back in the late 1980s (though this is probably more true of ZELDA II than TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ).

Although difficult and sometimes frustrating, this is one of the great NES titles. The video game website IGN rated this title as the 98th greatest game on their top 100 NES games of all time.

Near the late '80s, the Turtles franchise was taking off after starting out as a comic book series. The transition from comic books to the TV screen proved to be successful. After the excellent arcade game came out, Ultra Games (or Konami as we all found out afterwards) announced and then released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES. Of course, it sold very well based on the brand recognition but it divided up the fans when it came to who liked the game and who didn't. It was not a port of the arcade game but rather an original action game with open world game play elements mixed in. To this day, some called it a classic, while others called it average. I side with the latter as it could have been much better.

In this game, you take control of all four turtles from the get go. Each turtle has his own weapon, health bar and were able to use weapons such as scrolls, etc. You had to navigate through 6 stages with goals to complete before you were able to face the boss at the end of each stage. There were two views of action in the game: the top down, overhead perspective like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and the regular side scrolling view where you walked from left to right and vice versa. There were weapon and pizza icons to pick up to help you along the way. If you died using a turtle, you start at the beginning of the stage with the next turtle available. The game did offer you a chance to "rescue" your turtle on some stages in certain places so as you were able to find him. When you die using all of the turtles, the game is over and you are allowed three continues before you start from the beginning of the game.

The PROS: The graphics were decent enough and the overall presentation is okay. The controls were easy to use as alternating between the turtles proved no problems to be had. The music was also pretty good to listen to. Ultra Games used most of the enemies from the TV show and added new ones to populate the stages. Several villains also made appearances here like Bebop, Rocksteady, Mecha Turtle and of course Shredder. You were given control of all of the turtles from the get go and had to manage their weapon count and health bars. This added strategy as you'll use a combination of them at certain points in the game. There are six stages in total and while it sounds like it's not a lot for a game, they were all rather long. Plus, it was incredibly difficult, which pleased some gamers.

The CONS: I borrowed this game from my best friend at the time and beat it in a week; the hardest week I ever experienced back then. Here's why:

Every stage had objectives to complete. Sometimes, you can use the map when you hit the start button and see the location for some objectives; others you were left on your own to find it. Second, the game never offered any hints so you had to roam the open world parts to find out which way you would go. Third, the game demanded precise jumping skills so it was common to try again and again to cross small and large gaps. TMNT had gained a reputation for being one of the most difficult games to beat (the underwater section in the 2nd stage, the spiked walls closing in on you in the 4th stage & facing off against the Technodrome in the 5th stage are examples of intense sections players had to pass through.) Finally, TMNT had one of the WORST game endings.....ever. The feeling I had after I played it every day for a week and then seeing it for myself was of disappointment and anger; I realized it was not worth it and never ever played it again.

Some players had fond memories of this game when they were younger. I didn't and while it was popular for a while, that didn't excuse it from the areas that needed work. The top down perspective wasn't helpful, the game didn't offer any hints as to where to go, you had three continues to beat the entire game and it was brutally difficult in certain sections that frustrated many players. Having one of the worst endings ever in a game was inexcusable and that was only seen by those who actually completed the game like myself. If you want an exercise in pain and also see a part of the Turtles history in games, you can download this title for the Wii from the Virtual Console for 600 points (US $6.00.) On the other hand, use an emulator because it's safer.

THIS GAME IS NOT LIKE ALL THE OTHER SIDE SCROLLING GAMES I HAVE PLAYED THIS GAME GIVES YOU MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHALLENGES BUT A LIMITED AMOUNT OF CONTINUES I ENJOY IT ALOT YOU ALSO GET TO RIDE THE TURTLE VAN & PLAY WITH ALL 4 TURTLES AT ONCE

the game is old so yeah it looks funny! but it is really fun if your a old school turtle fan like me u have to have it! yeah its hard but if it was to easy it would not be any fun either!