Genre: Beat ’em up
Year: 1991
Developed by: Konami
Published by: Konami
Platforms: SNES, Arcade
#156
Feeling Like: Bury my shell at Wounded Knee
Mitch and I just saw the latest Ninja Turtles movie, Mutant Mayhem. I loved it, though I am predisposed to love everything our heroes in a half-shell are associated with. Well, almost everything. This being the last turtles entry on the 500, now is the time to fully explain how much I love the Turtles.
It all stems from the original movie released in 1990. It was my very first obsession, something only a six year old could get whipped into a frenzy about. Although knowing that, for nearly a decade, it was the highest grossing independent movie of all time, I wasn’t alone.
Every commercial resulted in further begging my parents to take me to see it. I was instantly hooked on the dark look, this very much seemed like turtles “for adults”. The costumes were incredible, still are. My mom knew the stunt performer of Donatello. She also dated Stan Rogers in college. And she’s friends with the creator of the Big Comfy Couch. My mom is very cool.
Raphael was the coolest. I loved how brutal the fights looked, I thought Shredder beating the crap out of the turtles near the end was a stroke of genius, and he barely looks like he’s trying. I was shocked to learn later on that the film was made in North Carolina and the New York City Streets were built sets, or background artwork. Could’ve fooled me. I can still see and hear and even smell the sewers in that movie; they’re more akin to medieval dungeons or gothic lairs than the bright and bouncy cartoon. Hell yes.
Since the movie was my new religion and I’ve seen it probably 25 times at this point, I was then obligated to try every turtles video game I could get my hands on. There have been multiple entries on the 500 citing this, most of them Beat ’em ups, but the crown jewel and the undisputed best turtles game is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4: Turtles in Time.
It helped that it was released in 1991, early in the Super Nintendo’s lifespan. This gave millions of gamers ample opportunity to rent it from the store. Easiest sell in the world. It wasn’t overly challenging (except for Slash in the dinosaur level), it could be beaten quickly, it lent itself well to multiple playthroughs, everybody knew the turtles and the controls were as simple as they come. Mostly.
There were a lot of subtle movements you could do to vary your attacks that really deepened the experience. You had your standard jump attack, sure. But if you delayed hitting attack until your jump was nearly over, you’d do this weird horizontal yoga style kick that would careen you halfway across the screen. If you hit attack mid-air at your apex, you’d be able to swipe your weapon multiple times as you drifted slowly to the ground. So, we’ve gone from a standard jump attack to three, all with varying effectiveness.
You could move, or sprint. Sprinting, then attacking led you to shove your shoulder into anything in your way and opened up a new combo. I don’t know if some enemies were more exposed to this style of assault, but let’s just say they were. It felt like they were, anyway.
Possibly what the game is most famous for is the slams and the throws. I could never quite figure it out with 100% certainty, but if you attacked an enemy in close there was a chance you’d grab them by the arm and slam them over your head, then again, then again. This would have the added effect of hurting any nearby baddies AND getting a higher score on the kill. I think for every 100 points you got a free life.
Even COOLER was the addition of the Mode 7 style throw. If you attacked an enemy, got close-ish and timed it correctly, you would throw the foot soldier INTO the screen towards you. This was a big deal in 1991. Sure, we’d seen something like this in the first boss fight of Battletoads, but this was on a whole other level. It soon became a competition based on who could throw how many dudes rather than focusing on the task at hand.
I’m not done with the controls! If you jumped while sprinting you could do endless forward-flips and then if you attacked, you’d slide on your back with your super cool ninja turtle feet out, decimating anything in your path while avoiding any oncoming projectiles.
This is an impressive assortment of maneuvers, even for mutant adolescents fueled by pizza and ninja training. It’s not even immediately evident, I don’t recall a tutorial explaining every single move. Arcade ports typically didn’t waste much time with TELLING you what to do, you just did it. Warp in, swords, fight, boss fights, pizza. What else is there?
The soundtrack is appropriately funky. Roger Ebert once described the movie’s theme as a merry go round that’s spun out of control and the music here very much feels home in a carnival that’s overly eager to please you. Neon Night Riders is surprisingly chill track, possibly my favorite in the game. The Boss fight theme is an earworm, but not necessarily in a good way. For whatever reason when you landed damaging blows, there’d be this weird voice that said…I don’t know, keep going? The audio sampling on the SNES wasn’t exactly sophisticated, but you could definitely make out the stage names when a voice proclaimed…
Many games on the 500 are associated with specific moments, or a particular individual. Not Turtles in Time. I probably ran through this one with at least a dozen friends and family members, it was just too easy to rent, too easy to please and too easy to pick up and play. It was the perfect selection for rookie games, or my video game obsessed buddies. You could play it solo, or at a party, or for just a few minutes before your parents came to pick you up. It was simple, but the right kind of simple.
Cowabunga.
The 500 