Customer Reviews

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TMNT Tournament Fighters [Nintendo Super NES]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There's been quite a few Street Fighter II clones, and most have been pretty shoddy. TMNT: Tournament Fighters holds up quite well, especially for Turtles fans. There are 10 selectable characters plus two playable bosses, for a total of 12. Besides the four turtles, characters are drawn from the cartoon, original comic books, and Archie series, making for a unique blend. The most interesting inclusion is Karai, who was established in the comics but only entered the mainstream with the 2003 animated series.

Graphics are well-realized and detailed, the fighters animate smoothly. Some more background animation and activity would've been appreciated, as well as unique finishing poses (instead of simply being a freeze of one of the character's moves). Music is forgettable but unobtrusive. The games' biggest letdown is that it only uses 4 buttons instead of the Street Fighter 6, but the fighting engine is still pretty good. There are even chargable super moves that can quickly turn the tide of battle.

TMNT fans will want to track this game down. Fans of the genre should also feel safe adding it to their collection.

This game is freckin awsome. I loved this game as a kid and I really want to get ahold of another copy of it. I swear it is one of the coolest TMNT games of all time! :)

I remember this game being a bit more easy as a kid of 12 or so when it came out,but jeez louise did my bro,his 2 buddies and I have trouble getting anywhere on the easy level,haha! They're all extremely avid gamers(mostly of the classic systems),but even they were stumbling just as much as my no-more-gamin' butt! I gave it 3 stars simply cause you can still have fun playing vs mode,but why would the story mode be so damn hard?!

When this game was released in 1993, the Ninja Turtles' popularity was declining so Konami took advantage of the fighting game market (that was booming thanks to the popularity of Street Fighter 2) I would have to thank that lame third movie (that came out early in 1993) for the declining popularity plus copycats like Biker Mice from Mars and Battletoads that were taking its place.

The SNES version on the game proved to be decent, borrowing elements from Street Fighter 2, except it was more kid friendly. Characters and colorful atmosphere were directly taken from the Archie comics and the "real" animated series. You get the choice of the four turtles, Cyber Shredder, Wingnut, War, that shark dude, Chrome Dome, and the sexy Asaka (the only character made for this game only) who was slightly cencored for the American releases. The story mode is basically a tournament (hosted by April O'Neal) of which after you defeat Karai (only character taken from the darker Mirage comics) you get lots of money and unique ending for each different character, if you play fair. Gameplay is decent and so are the controls, and choice of characters to use and fight from the Ninja Turtle universe. I kinda wished that Tokka and Razhar, and Bebop and Rocksteady were playable characters, but they are clearly not skilled ninjas so the later set was placed in the background in one stage. This game is no picnic (its sooo damn hard) so it'll take a while to beat it.

Turtle fans, get this game and ignore the same titles from the other consoles because they are horrible and the worst is the Sega Genesis version. Although the Sega version had the best storyline and graphics, it was too dark and difficult for kids plus the controls were sloppy, the game play was slow, the music score was awful, and the taunt button was a waste. Shredder should have been the final boss (he is no where in that game and he's the turtles' main villian) instead of Karai. Karai was ok, but the target audience were more familar with the cartoon series, not the Mirage comics.

a great game buried in the shadow of street fighter and fatal fury. each character has a set of moves som unique and some very familiar for street fighter and fatqal fury players. raphael for example is like m bison though he has a fireball ball his main attack i like bisons psycho crusher, michael angelo is like blanka and ken/ryu. the only draw back is that u have to put a code in to play as the bosses akai and rat king, other than that theres no down side to the game but i will admit for a beginner it may be a little challenging but for a veteran sfII or ff player there should be no problem. if youre interested in this game get this version snes the nes and genesis versions arent as good as a matter of fact there completly different games al together

I absolutely hate bias, especially when it rubs off badly on a game as great as this. In particular, the biases I've seen against this game are that Street Fighter II is perfect, and that the silly 1980's cartoon series should represent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Let me address the latter first: that show does NOT represent what TMNT is about. TMNT is dark and mature, not childish and silly. That was the first thing this game got right; much more inspiration is taken from the comics than from the TV show. In fact, the only issue I have in this regard is the Japanese version takes voices from the 80's cartoon.

Next up is the former bias. The thing is, I don't think Street Fighter II or its successors are all that amazing. They're good, but nowhere near perfect. Balance is screwy, physics are not always smooth, and some of the characters are unimaginative (especially true for the more recent versions). TMNT: Tournament Fighters is better in this regard. The characters are all nice and unique, the cast is balanced, and everything feels perfectly smooth.

The presentation of the game is another big plus. Some of the voices sound a bit cheesy (Shredder's "ha!" comes to mind), but the sound effects, voices, and music are all great. I especially have to point to the announcer voice, which is much better than the one from Street Fighter II.

One criticism I've seen of this title is that the game uses only 4 buttons for attacks. Personally, I think this was a good idea. Think about it: does it honestly feel natural to use the shoulder buttons like that? Unless you have a Fighter Stick SN, the 6-button scheme is incredibly awkward. I don't understand why some people tout the SNES as "perfect" for Street Fighter II, because it's not; it may have 6 buttons, but 2 of them are in awkward positions. TMNT: Tournament Fighters fixes the problem entirely by only utilizing 4 buttons, which feels much more natural if you're using the normal SNES controller. Sure, you only have 2 punch/kick strengths as a result, but that's a small price to pay if the game accommodates it properly, and this game does.

The game is also great with its options. Speed is one in particular; normal speed feels great at first (unlike the slow speed of Street Fighter II), and there are also two "high speed" speeds available. Entering the Contra Code at the title screen with the player 2 controller also gives access to a High Speed 3 mode, which is incredibly fast. There are also quite a few other codes you can enter at the title screen; one unlocks the boss stages, one unlocks the bosses in vs. mode, and one allows you to use special moves in story mode.

I didn't mention special moves, one of this game's innovations that Street Fighter II doesn't have. Below your health bar is an "attack" bar that fills up as you successfully attack your opponent (blocked moves count). Once it's full, it flashes and makes a sound, and you can press both strong attack buttons (X and A by default) at the same time to activate the character's special move. Some moves are a bit bland-looking, but some are quite interesting (Chrome Dome's self-destruct, Armaggon's wave attack, War's "bounce around the screen like a ball" attack).

Of course, the game isn't perfect. Some of the moves are kind of bland (especially the very similar lightning attacks used by Shredder and Karai). The charge times seem to be no shorter under high speed modes, meaning anyone playing with a character using mostly charge attacks is at more of a disadvantage if the speed is set higher. Also, I gotta say... just looking at Karai, it's impossible to tell that she's a woman. I mean, she has huge muscles, she has no noticeable breasts, and most of her voices sound like they could be a man. Couldn't they make her form factor more like a woman?

But in truth, these flaws are far from game-breaking. The bland moves can be looked past, the charge time issue is only a minor one (just use normal speed if you're worried about it), and Karai is interesting enough for you to ignore the fact that she looks kind of masculine.

Before closing, I should mention the Japanese version of this game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Warriors. Since the American version was released before the Japanese version, the Japanese version features some improvements:
- Faster passing of the bonus display after each fight
- Allows you to choose the alternate colors for the characters (many of which look better) by pressing Start, while A gives you the normal colors.
- Some blood is shown when a character gets hit
- Aska has been visually revamped with more revealing clothing and a new victory pose
- Aska's uppercut move has been tweaked

Unfortunately, though, the Japanese version also puts the game closer to the stupid 80's cartoon series, which means the turtles have voices from the cartoon and many turtle-related graphics (namely that blimp thing they ride) look a lot more childish. I personally don't much like this, and as a result, I still play the American version sometimes, but overall, the Japanese version is better than the American version.

Overall, this is a great game that I would recommend to anybody, far better than any incarnation of Street Fighter I have ever played. If you own an SNES or are willing to rip the ROM to use it on an emulator, buy this game or its Japanese counterpart. You will enjoy it.