It’s time to take a shell of a ride back to the past!
Putting it humbly, I was a Turtle fanatic as a child. Everything in my 5-6 year old brain ran through a turtle filter. I had the Turtle Van, the Turtle Blimp, action figures based on the cartoon, the movies… I had VHS copies of all three live-action Turtle films, all of which were quite worn out by the time I parted with them. Best of all, there were Turtle games!
Let’s get down to brass tacks for a moment. The first Turtle game on console, the infamous NES title simply known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is frakking hard. It’s one of those games that kicks the arse of just about anyone who plays it. Don’t believe me? Play it. Get to the underwater bomb disposal section, and try to not pull your own hair out one follicle at a time.
Fortunately, Konami (under the ‘Ultra’ label) had the good sense to not make the same mistake twice, and so the second Turtle game to appear on NES was a port of TMNT: The Arcade Game. I played the arcade cabinet when I could, usually at Chuck-E-Cheese, but was too poor to afford to be able to play for long. You see, it was also quite hard. But it was a smoother game, and more fun to play, so it didn’t create the same frustrations as the first console game.
The NES port of The Arcade Game had its difficulty scaled back somewhat, since it didn’t have to worry about trying to make the player cough up more quarters. This also had to do with limitations of the platform. Graphics, animations, and AI were scaled down to make the game work on NES. On console, The Arcade Game was referred to as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, and was so successful and popular that it was quickly followed up by the console exclusive, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project.
I spend this time reminiscing here, and in the video playthrough, because I lived and breathed this game in its NES form. So, when the Xbox LIVE Arcade port appeared in 2007, it was a bit of a system shock to me. This was tougher than I remembered! And there were moves and animations for the turtles and their enemies that I was unfamiliar with. Ultimately, I have to concede that the true-to-the-arcade version that was made available for download is the superior game in most ways, with better graphics, animation, voiceovers, and expanded co-op. I just wish that the flying attack could be better controlled, and of course, the Xbox 360 controller has nothing on the precision of the old NES pad.
Unfortunately, the LIVE Arcade version of The Arcade Game has been de-listed and is no longer available for download. But I don’t doubt that there are emulators out there which can let you take this game for a ride. It’s a classic beat’em up that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Double Dragon, Fatal Fury, and Streets of Rage, and makes for one shell of a nostalgia trip.
TMNT: The Arcade Game gets a solid B from me, losing points only for some sloppiness with the special/jumping attacks.
For more thoughts on the game, and a full playthrough, check out my video below:
FIN
Leave a Reply