Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a big part of my childhood growing up. The first Ninja Turtles movie is the first movie I remember going to the theater to watch (and it’s still pretty great today, in fact!). I watched the cartoon show all the time, and I had tons of TMNT toys. And of course, I loved the video games. The NES ones were pretty tough for me as a little kid, so I ended up using a Game Genie to help me beat them. Turtles in Time wasn’t so difficult to require a Game Genie. Plus, I used to play multiplayer with my cousins, which was a lot of fun. Of course, we had to argue over who got to be Leonardo (Yes, he was the favorite turtle for all of us, believe it or not), but hey, the rest are still cool, so it wasn’t all bad.
Turtles in Time just oozes Ninja Turtle charm. It’s hard not to like this game if you’re a fan of TMNT at all, or if you’re a fan of beat-em-ups. If you’re a fan of both, then this is the game for you! It’s got some classic stages and villains, and the levels are fun and varied. The enemy AI is a bit lacking at times, at least with Foot Soldiers, and there are a lot of those things. The combat is fun, of course. I love being able to throw enemies into the screen. That was a great touch. The bosses can be pretty difficult, despite having fairly predictable patterns. They usually attack frequently and fast, so it makes it pretty hard. Slash was always the boss I had the hardest time with, but I remember beating him without losing a single life the last time I played the game. It was a triumphant moment for me.
I think just about all the levels in Turtles in Time are pretty fun, and they’re pretty memorable, too. The graphics are very colorful and well done. I think my favorite level was the pirate ship, but there were several good ones. The little sound bytes (MY TOE TOE! PIZZA TIME!) as well as the announcer (BIG APPLE 3 A.M.) gave the game a little extra charm as well. It’s a shame that the Re-Shelled remake didn’t turn out so well. It would’ve been awesome to re-experience the game in a new generation, but alas, it was not meant to be. Probably the one downside to Turtles in Time was that it was so short, but at the same time, it probably contributed to its replayability because we could beat the game quickly, pick different turtles, and go at it again.
Before I conclude this writeup, I’d like to give a shoutout to Hyperstone Heist, which was basically the Genesis version of Turtles in Time. It had entirely different levels and bosses and stuff for the most part, but there were only like five levels total (although most of them were much longer than the average Turtles in Time level). It was also more difficult because the random enemy AI was more aggressive. Turtles in Time is better, but Hyperstone Heist is a good game in its own right and worth playing.
Bonus Question: How would you rank the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
(Correct answer is Leo > Mike > Don > Raph, for the record)
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