Developer: Konami
Publisher: Ultra
Release Date: June 1989
If you’re pushing forty like me than it’s likely Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a big part of your life. I know it certainly was for me. In fact TMNT and Nintendo were probably my two favorite things at the time. The first TMNT game also came out at just about the perfect time to be very well remembered. 1989 was the peak popularity of the console, and it would be the one of the last holiday seasons before Super Nintendo came out. This makes TMNT one of the most famous games on the console. It’s right up there with Duck Tales as most famous game based on a cartoon. Since just about everyone who has ever played NES knows this game it certainly garners some strong opinions. Even if you haven’t played it you probably know that infamous underwater level with all the bombs and electric seaweed. It stands as a symbol of overly hard NES games. It also received more attention when the Angry Video Game Nerd did a video on it back during his peak popularity. It was a good video, and many of his points were valid, but it definitely increased the game’s reputation for being bad. Well I’m here to rehabilitate the game somewhat. Sure, it’s too hard and at times unfair, but Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a good game that everyone interested in classic games should play. Hey, you can still enjoy a game even if you can’t finish it.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles already has one strike against it for being a game based on a tv show. Games based on existing properties were usually thought of as quick cash grabs. The main goal behind them was to pump them out quickly while the IP was still hot without much regard for quality. It was a strategy that was depressingly successful. The Simpsons managed to have four games on the NES, and at least three of them are awful. Bart Vs. The World isn’t a very good game, but I owned it and played the heck out of it because I loved The Simpsons so much. So it’s a bit of a surprise just how intricate Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is. This is no quickie cash grab. It’s big, it’s complicated, and it never gets repetitive. It’s full of strange, unique enemies yet still manages to feel like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They could’ve just filled the game with Foot Clan mooks and been done with it. Instead, we get a world filled with flaming humanoids, clay monsters that turn into smaller clay monsters when hit, crawling robotic eyeballs, and all manner of strange creatures. It makes for a much more memorable experience than the typical tv show game.
And for what is essentially an action platformer, the gameplay is almost as complex as the enemies are strange. It’s a game full of sprawling levels that require careful planning to complete. You switch between turtles at will, and each has their own life bar. When their life runs out they are captured, and while there are a couple opportunities to save them it’s really important to keep them alive. This makes for a game that’s almost as much about party management as it is about fighting giant bugs. Donatello is the most powerful character by far, so he’s the one most in need of protecting. Only in a video game can a stick be more powerful than a sword. Keeping the turtles alive between power-ups is so vital that it becomes a game where every decision matters. It’s not a game that you can sleepwalk through. I can’t think of another NES game where every power-up means so much. You have to know when to use each turtle too. Raphael and Michelangelo might seem useless at first, but they are vital to the swimming and driving sections where less combat is needed but lives can still be lost. You’d hate to lose Donatello to electric seaweed.
Of course, your enjoyment of this game might come down to whether you truly have to finish a game or not. I’m a mediocre gamer with a touch of ADHD, so I can usually enjoy a game even when I don’t finish it. TMNT really is as difficult as its reputation suggests. The second level is the most infamous, but I don’t even think it’s the hardest one. The underwater section is probably the single hardest section, but the later levels are all so large and maze-like that it’s easy to get lost and lose lives. It’s something I love about the game personally, but I can see why it might turn some people off. I don’t think I’ve ever made it past the fourth level legitimately, and even using save states I’ve never gotten through it all the way. I enjoyed just about every attempt however, so it’s one I still go back to when I need fuzzy NES memories.
Of course, if this game was a bit easier than more people would’ve seen its brief but bonkers ending. Skip this part if you don’t want it spoiled, but it’s an ending fit not just for the game but the franchise as a whole. You defeat Shredder, and Splinter just decides that he can now turn back into human form. No other media as far as I know give Splinter the ability to transform at will. So Splinter turns into Buster Keaton, the turtles celebrate with a pizza, and it is implied that this is the true ending for all their adventures. It’s funny that they would do this in a game that no one ever finished, but that was probably intentional. Hey, if you played this game long enough to become and expert and actually finish it you might be done with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well.
So the difficulty is certainly going to knock it down a few places, but I still think Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a good game. It’s one that made it on the IGN list that I fully endorse. At least I don’t think there will be 100 games on the console that are better. It’s also fun to write about, and anyone who played it as a kid has a story about it. It’s one of those great community games that made video games blow up in the early 90s. As for my rankings it ended up even higher than I expected. I put it right between the infinitely playable Qix and the NES version of Galaga. TMNT is obviously not a better game than Galaga, but I will concede that it will always be best at the arcade. That puts Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at #20 on the overall list and #5 on the NES specific list. I was thinking it might be a bit of a stretch, but maybe finding 100 good NES games isn’t as hard as I expected.
NES Quality Percentage: 19/34 or 55.88%
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