Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Year Of Release: 1989
Studio: Konami
Description
To say that Konami struck gold when the acquired the, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license is a huge understatement. This would be the first arcade game based on the Ninja Turtles to be released after the TV series aired in 1987. The game was a huge hit and is still to this day regarded as one of the greatest beat em ups of all time. The game would be released in two different arcade cabinets. One would be a standard two player arcade cabinet that would let the player pick from one of the four Turtles. The other was a deluxe four player cabinet with each Turtle having their own joystick.
Konami managed to capture the look and feel of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series very well. Graphically the game still holds up well to this day. Each Turtle despite not having a ton to say in the game feels like their TV counterpart. The game makes great use of the Ninja Turtles theme and back in the late 80’s and early 90’s it could be heard blasting across arcades all over the world.
Game play wise on paper this is a very simple game, but it’s also a great deal of fun to play. You pick your Turtle each with their own advantage. Donnie for example has a longer reach, but is slow. Raph & Mikey have a shorter range, but they are fast. Leo is the well rounded character with a decent reach and a reasonable speed. You need to make it through levels such as a burning building, city streets, the sewers and even the Technodrome. Each level also has an end of level boss. Your Turtle despite only having one attack button does have a decent amount of attacks to fend of the vast amount of Foot Soldiers who keep coming your way. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a game that many people have fond memories of and as crazy as it sounds can still be found in many modern arcades.
Current High Score: 584 by Jason Wilson
Related Titles
Konami would port the game to the NES and many home computer systems as well. The NES version is famous for having additional stages and also having in game advertising from Pizza Hut. The game would be released on the Xbox Live Arcade to tie in with the 2007 movie, TMNT.
While Konami would port this game, before it they would release another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game in 1989 for the NES and home computer systems. They would also release a third game on the NES called, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project in 1992.
But a true sequel to this arcade game would be released in 1991, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time. This game would be ported to the Super Nintendo in 1992 and the Super Nintendo port is regarded by many as one of the greatest side scrolling beat em ups of all time. Turtles In Time is held in even higher regard than the first Ninja Turtles arcade game.
Konami would make games based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles up until 2005. Ubisoft would hold the license after for a few years. Currently, Activision are the studio who are releasing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video games.
