Is Turtles in Time overrated?

[ToTheNines]

Originally Posted by sdp

I remember as a kid The Next Mutation did have a decent marketing and licensing push. I was hyped as heck for TNM despite never actually getting to watch it, I still had some figures, a coloring book and whatnot.

While it did get a handheld Tiger LCD game, I'm surprised it didn't get a cheaply made PS1 or even Game Boy game. I'd love to have had one even if it had been bad.

https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6056/...6af65ea162.jpg

A sh*tty Next Mutation game on PS1 would have gone so hard.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Rocksteady and no Bebop is indeed odd. But arcade Turtles in Time didn't have either guy!

That is a part of the reason I love the boss roster for the SNES much more. The only time we get to fight The Rat King and of course Slash, Bebop, and Rocksteady over a non-character like Cement Man. Considering Chrome Dome made his one appearance before Shredder's Revenge I wish he would have taken Metalhead's place in the second level. I honestly would rather they switched places and Metalhead be in the Tournament Fighter and echo the Sega dark versions even if a couple of years difference in production.

Baxter the Fly
Metalhead
Rat King
Razhar & Tokka
Slash
Bebop & Rocksteady
Leatherhead
Krang x 2 (Android body)/mini-space ship
Super Shredder

Just before we had:
Rocksteady
Groundchuck
Slash (mini-boss)
Bebop
Dirtbag
Mother Mouser (mini-boss)
Leatherhead
Rahzar (mini-boss)
Shredder
Tokka
Mother Mouser (mini-boss)
Krang-Pre-Final
Super Shredder-Final

I would have removed the big mousers and put Rat King in the first and General Tragg in the second fight's place.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by MikeandRaph87

Slash

Turtles in Time hit video arcades in March 1991, and was probably developed in 1990, maye already in 1989.

Slash debuted in 1990 (action figure and Fred Wolf episode), and his Archie counterpart didn't appear until August 1991.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

A sh*tty Next Mutation game on PS1 would have gone so hard.

It would have the potential to rival Superman 64 on the N64, I guess.

[IMJ]

I'm probably the odd man out in that I always though that the original TMNT arcade game was the better game. Turtles in Time was great, don't get me wrong....

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by IMJ

I'm probably the odd man out in that I always though that the original TMNT arcade game was the better game. Turtles in Time was great, don't get me wrong....

It's a pretty good game, yes. The best old school Turtles game right after Turtles in Time, really.

Shredder's Revenge is pretty damn fun but it really should blow both of those out of the water and it doesn't. Even if you think Shredder's Revenge is the best TMNT game to date you will still have fun with Turtles in Time and the 1989 arcade game, even if those two in theory are much more bare bones than Shredder's Revenge is...

[IMJ]

The original Arcade Game felt like playing in the most appropriate TMNT universe and settings and so on.

Turtles in Time was great in every way except for the weird time travel angle. Time travel / space travel all of that just seems like a step away from the primary rules of the I.P. It was like when TMNT '03 went all "The matrix in the computer". It was just.... a step away from the rules.

Not a HUGE Leap obviously, but a step away from the "Daredevil mutant ninjas of Hell's Kitchen".

[CyberCubed]

This was the 4th game in the series, time travel seemed like the next logical step. There's only so many street or sewer levels you can do over and over. Plus the Turtles traveling to the prehistoric with dinosaurs, the future, pirate ships, the 1800's have all been done in Mirage and other universes at some point or another.

[Heyowakka]

My one wish for Turtles in Time is that I wish there were more time travel levels. I may come off as selfish but only five time periods go by in a flash.

[IMJ]

You know, I'm not sure if I ever played The Manhattan Project. I know I never owned it......

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by IMJ

The original Arcade Game felt like playing in the most appropriate TMNT universe and settings and so on.

Turtles in Time was great in every way except for the weird time travel angle. Time travel / space travel all of that just seems like a step away from the primary rules of the I.P. It was like when TMNT '03 went all "The matrix in the computer". It was just.... a step away from the rules.

Not a HUGE Leap obviously, but a step away from the "Daredevil mutant ninjas of Hell's Kitchen".

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

This was the 4th game in the series, time travel seemed like the next logical step. There's only so many street or sewer levels you can do over and over. Plus the Turtles traveling to the prehistoric with dinosaurs, the future, pirate ships, the 1800's have all been done in Mirage and other universes at some point or another.

Plus remember they did a time travelling two-parter in the cartoon around the time Turtles in Time was developing with that Easter Bunny named Hokum. Perhaps time travelling was a popular trope in the 90s?

Originally Posted by Heyowakka

My one wish for Turtles in Time is that I wish there were more time travel levels. I may come off as selfish but only five time periods go by in a flash.

Yeah, only about half the game actually involves time travelling. It's the Turtles game where you get to the Technodrome the earliest, in fact. It's only the 4th leve in the game. You return to it in the final level but it's just a boss fight. The actual Drome level is played on the first visit.

Originally Posted by IMJ

You know, I'm not sure if I ever played The Manhattan Project. I know I never owned it......

I only owned NES TMNT 1 as a kid. As a young adult I finally got Turtles in Time. The other NES, SNES and GB games I've only played on emulators.

As for 21st century games, I own the GC version of Battlenexus and PS2 version of TMNT 2007. And ofc, Shredder's Revenge on Steam and the Cowabunga Collection on the Switch.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Plus remember they did a time travelling two-parter in the cartoon around the time Turtles in Time was developing with that Easter Bunny named Hokum. Perhaps time travelling was a popular trope in the 90s?

Time travel has been a popular trope since 1895, when The Time Machine by Herbert George Wells was first published.

And when Once Upon a Time Machine first aired and Turtles in Time hit the video arcades, both in March 1991, it may have been an attempt on riding on the Back to the Future (1985–1990) wave.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

Time travel has been a popular trope since 1895, when The Time Machine by Herbert George Wells was first published.

And when Once Upon a Time Machine first aired and Turtles in Time hit the video arcades, both in March 1991, it may have been an attempt on riding on the Back to the Future (1985–1990) wave.

Perhaps. I had completely forgotten about Back to the Future when making that post for some reason. It's a classic of that time period, indeed.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by IMJ

You know, I'm not sure if I ever played The Manhattan Project. I know I never owned it......

I believe when I was a kid I never owned it either, I'd just rent it from Blockbuster, beat it within an hour, and then never play it again until I was an adult and emulation.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by sdp

It sitll baffles me that Re-Shelled was exclusively based off the arcade version. I mean it was already a remake redoing everything from scratch including the music, there was no way to 'toggle' classic sprite mode or anything of the like, they literally could've made a best of with everything from both SNES/Arcade..


As far as Arcade vs SNES, here is the unpopular opinion but the Arcade version is better than the SNES one. The added sewer level? While a nice extra it's just reusing the original arcade's sewer level basically. The added villains? sure they're cool that's the only plus and the only reason people say the SNES version. But that's about it.

Arcade on the other hand has better graphics, animation and frames, it's 4 players, the soundtrack/sound is so much better, better physics, more challenging,Neon Night Riders is inferior, same with sewer surfin even if there is no boss, bosses aren't as easy, and have an actual 'defeated' animation.

Are we really going to say the SNES version is better because the end boss is Super Shredder instead of Shredder? That's basically it, changing cement man for Slash, adding Rat King makes it a better game?

OK so I played the arcade version of Turtles in Time again on the Cowabunga Collection a couple of weeks ago.

While the arcade version does indeed have better graphics, frames and animation; I don't find it any better or worse than the SNES port in terms of gameplay. So I still prefer the SNES port of Turtles of Time, overall. Yes, having The Rat King, Slash and Bebop and Rocksteady makes the game more enjoyable for me. A big important part of licensed games is having as many characters of the series in the game as possible. It's part of the experience, making it moe enjoyable.

Also, the Arcade is a more powerful machine than the SNES, and yet the SNES version is just as good gameplay wise and more enjoyable than it overall. That's quite a feat. 4 players? Irrelevant in 2026. The game's online is dead since it's pretty poor, from what I've read. So unless you were around in 1989 and old enough to play video games, you will never get to experience the 4-player co-op in the arcade version of Turtles of Time, anyway.