Count-Down Retrospective of TMNT Video Games

[Ninja Tiptup]

I have bought every single TMNT console and portable game baring some ports of the same game on other systems and while I am just one guy and this is merely my opinions and not neccessarily anyone elses I decided to make a count-down retrospecitve of TMNT video games released thus far on the consoles, portables and of course the arcade. As I never got any of the PC versions of any of these games I really can't comment on them but I have played them and the ports are pretty awful and Manhattan Mission's game seems fine but I can't really judge it without playing it more extensively and I honestly never bothered to do so.

So without further ado I begin the...

COUNT-DOWN RETROSPECTIVE
OF
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
VIDEO GAMES

26) TMNT 2007 (DS/PSP)

To cash in on the 2007 CGI animated movie Ubisoft produced 3 notably different games between the portables and consoles available in 2007 and the worst by far was the DS and PSP version. The game looks terrible and plays worse. Much of the levels are made up of jumping from platform to platform supposedly to be ninja-esque. It ends up getting quite boring after a while but the fight scenes thrown in to break up this mini-game type adventure include quite possibly the most mundane fighting found in any TMNT game and that is saying something. Avoid it, even if you find it cheap unless you really want to bang your head on the wall out of boredom and frustration.

25) TMNT Mutant Melee (GCN/PS2/Xbox)

A TMNT game that plays kind of like Power Stone or Smash Bros. sounds pretty sweet right? Well you can hope TMNT Smash-Up makes good on that concept but this game was an absolutely wasted effort. The controls are terrible, the graphics are pitiful for the time and the playable roster is downright frustratingly laughable. The starting roster was alright as it had everyone you would expect in it but the unlockable fighters were a cruel joke. 2 extra Casey’s, 2 extra Aprils, 2 extra Shredders (one being Oroku Saki who may have played a bit different I guess), various Foot Ninja, an alien of absolutely no significance and a monster from a movie Michelangelo watched during an episode of the show do nothing more than pad a pathetic roster making it even more pathetic. Where’s Usagi? Where’s Bishop? Where’s The Fugitoid, Master Yoshi and Baxter? Given they were in the previous games based on the 2003 series it was unthinkable that they would not be included in free for all fighting game. What a waste. The game’s cover had one of the monsters from the episode “Notes from the Underground” and you couldn’t even play as that thing.

Seriously what a waste of potential. The weak roster may have been forgivable if the game at least played well but the controls were stiff as a board. Even so you can have some fun with it with 3 friends but you’ll find it wont take long before you feel like chucking it in favor of any Smash Bros game or Power Stone.

24) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES / Wii VC / Ported to Many Others)

Ah yes the first NES TMNT game. Everyone knows how bad this game is. It’s unforgivably bad due to poor design and an incredibly frustrating difficulty level. Despite that apparently he final boss (who I personally never managed to get to) is pathetically easy to put down. Rather strange… I guess the challenge is actually getting to Shredder more so than fighting him. If you were looking for something close to the cartoon you did not find it here but I actually believe some of this games charm is in how it’s a mesh of various TMNT universes or at the very least a more Mirage feeling take on the old TMNT cartoon and it’s characters. What doesn’t make sense is the massive number of bizarre baddies that look ripped right out of Metroid.

Game play is actually not too bad besides the terrible design which adds to the difficulty of progressing the game. The graphics and the game play feel very similar to Castlevania in my opinion so much so that you could take the player from either game and put them in the other to create either Castlevania: Urban Adventures or TMNT: Castle Quests. They are both made by Konami so I guess that’s understandable. If you like Castlevania games you may very well enjoy this game as much or more than the beat ‘em ups but in my opinion they made this kind of of TMNT game much better on the GB several years later with The Radical Rescue.

The best part of this game is the music. It’s unique, memorable and quite catchy. I love the intro music even if it isn’t the cartoon theme. Is this worth playing? Yeah I think everyone should at least give it a shot. You’ll probably find it to be unbelievably difficult but some people have managed to beat this game so you never know. It might be just the right amount of challenge for a hardcore gamer.

I’d rate this game higher but with it being single player and not very fun to suffer through the replay value is shot entirely unless you’re a masochist like a certain angry nerd. You might find it worth picking up but stay away from the ports they play even worse than the original.

23) Fall of the Foot Clan (Gameboy)

The first Gameboy TMNT game is decent for a quick on the go gaming experience especially since you can pick any level to start playing on but the overall experience really does not hold up well compared to most of the more recent TMNT portable beat ‘em ups. The controls are basic and the animations are still and lifeless. The game plays rather awkwardly because of this and greatly lacks variety. The graphics are slightly charming and look pretty good on a Gameboy Color but the larger sprites make the game feel very cramped and that will get noticeable as soon as you start playing it. Its not a bad game for a short-term distraction but the reply value suffers from it being a single player game without much variety. Pick it up on the cheap maybe but don’t expect much.

22) Back from the Sewers (Gameboy)

The second Gameboy game plays as stiff or even stiffer than the first (which is an accomplishment I guess… in the wrong direction) but the sprites are sized a bit smaller making the screen a bit less cramped and allowing the game to give you some breathing room between the barrages of foot ninjas, mousers and other robots. Unfortunately the barrages feel endless and the single plane surface area makes them bee-line directly at you from forward and behind and that gets to be more of a chore to deal with than an enjoyable experience. It’s longer and more difficult than Fall of the Foot Clan so you’ll get a lot more out of this one but you’ll probably put it down out before you beat it as it’s a rather boring game. Pick it up on the cheap for novelty sake you might have some fun with it and its kind of rare.

21) TMNT 2003 (GCN / PS2 / Xbox / PC)

It was big news when it was announced that Konami would once again be making games based on the TMNT license. The initial previews looked promising and while it was utterly unforgivable that the game was not 4 player by the Xbox generation I still eagerly awaited it’s release. Konami was making it… how could it be bad right? Very very easily apparently. You want a prime example of how mundane endless fighting in a brawler can get when it lacks variety and fluid controls? Look no further than TMNT 2003.

So the first problem is obviously the lack of 4 player. There was absolutely no reason not to make this game 4 player. There’s 4 turtles, there’s 4 ports (on GCN and Xbox anyway) and everyone agrees the best TMNT games are the ones that let you play with 3 friends or even 3 complete strangers. So why no 4 player? Quite the oversight and thus we once again have a case of severely wasted potential.

Graphically the game was just decent for it’s time but it had a nice animated feel to it and it was a great representation of the style of the 2003 cartoon. The cell-shaded or should I say shell-shaded graphics did their job bringing the cartoon to life but looking decent did not help this game win over very many players young or old.

Game play wise it’s a average 2 player experience that had a reasonable level of challenge. Kids might have some fun with it. Older folks might as well but only if they’re TMNT fans. A hardcore gamer wouldn’t give this game a second glance. It’s too simple and too mundane. Had enough of me saying that word? I think it the repeated use of that word really drives the point I’m trying to make about how boring the game play gets when it’s the same thing over and over and over again.

The best feature by far is the 2 player VS mode which makes for a decent fighting game. Better than Mutant Melee at any rate. That adds to the replay value enough to make it worth playing more than a few times.

The overall replay value of this game is higher than the previous games listed and thus why I rated it higher than those games though some would argue they may be better than this one for single player experiences. If you find this game on the cheap you might want to check it out but you’re better off buying either of the other two game from that generation of TMNT console games based on the 2003 series.

Tune in for rest in future posts in this thread but you'll probably find I have more to say about the games I disliked or hated than the ones I enjoyed.

[Brodie]

TMNT is way more fun than the original Turtles game. As well as Mutant Melee...

[Ninja Tiptup]

The DS and PSP game? I'm not talking about the console game that's higher in the list as is the GBA game which is MUCH higher on the list.

If you really feel that way about the DS / PSP game then feel free to point out the possitives of that version. Clearly I hated it but that's just my opnion. Maybe I didn't play it long enough to get to the good part but I beat several levels or much of the same thing before I put it down out of boredom.

[Jester]

I liked Melee, but sadly I broke my disc 1.

[TurtleGuy]

I'm gonna have to say that I disagree with the comment on the 1st TMNT 2k3 game. I honestly prefer it over the enemy projectile spamfest that is Battle Nexus. It plays like an old school Turtle game and that's good enough for me. I honestly only bought Battle Nexus for the Arcade game.

I haven't played the 3rd one yet, but I will soon when it comes in the mail.

[Ninja Tiptup]

You have a point there... Battle Nexus had some neat features but ultimately the gameplay suffered a lot. I may bump up the first 2003 game given that. Mutant Nightmare puts both of them to shame however, at least IMO.

I enjoyed all of these games on some level including Mutant Melee but it's my opinion that there are far better TMNT games hence why it's so low on the list.

[Jester]

That I can agree with, there are much better games than Melee, but Melee was still a fun challenge.

[oldmanwinters]

I'd put Mutant Melee above Electric Crayon Deluxe's TMNT: World Tour Coloring Game!
http://www.mobygames.com/game/electr...ur/screenshots


And don't forget to rank the PC's Manhattan Missons on this list:
http://www.scary-crayon.com/games/tmnt3pc/

[Ninja Tiptup]

I never had either so I can't really judge them so I decided not to include PC games... maybe that's short sighted but feel free to point out the good and bad qualities of Manhattan Missions where as the coloring game... I can tell isn't even worth mentioning.

[oldmanwinters]

The Best Part about Mutant Melee:

[TurtleGuy]

I'm replaying Battle Nexus and it wasn't as horrible as I thought it was. Although the projectile thing is still annoying, there's more variety to it than the first one so I guess that's why you put it above it.

And playing as Karai and Casey Jones is pretty fun, too.

[Ninja Tiptup]

You know I completely forgot about playing as the other characters. That was cool as was the Battle Nexus mode. Overall it has much more replay value than the first game IMO. So with that it'll remain higher on the list albiet not by much.

A guy I know on another forum was just telling me how much he dislikes Mutant Nightmare... I was a bit surprised honestly cause I thought without a doubt that was the best TMNT game for that generation of console games but I guess everyone's opinons are diffferent.

Now when I get a moment to write down the next 5 I'll update the count-down.

[Slap-Happy]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

The Best Part about Mutant Melee:

That Casey rap sucked ass.

[jasonorme666]

I loved the first TMNT 2k3 game.

If felt like the first arcade game did, by that I mean, we watched the cartoon and then played the game and saw the characters and locations from the show come to life. I don't think i've gone through a tmnt game again and again that much since the arcade games. It felt like a TMNT game without all the flash and gimmicks.

[raphael_is_cool]

I quite liked Battle Nexus. The combat felt a bit more 'free'. Those 'surfing' style levels were pretty fun too. And it was great when you got at least three people playing. We never did manage to beat the Battle Nexus thing though.

[Ninja Tiptup]

I realize this may be considered a necro-bump but I've been prodded about this on more than a few occasions by now so I decided to finish what I started.

Over a year after this thread was made. Welcome back to my Count-Down Retrospective of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Video Games!

It should be noted that two more games have been published since I started this list and as such I've changed some numbers in the first post.

So here were go, back to the sewer to talk about Ninja Turtles video games.

20) Battle Nexus (GCN / Xbox / PS2 / PC)

For the second game based on the 2003 animated series, Konami finally brought four player Ninja Turtles home with a new game as well as a port of the beloved original Ninja Turtles arcade game. Sounds awesome right? Well don’t get too excited because this game has a lot of short-comings. Four player turtles has never been so dissatisfying.

In Battle Nexus you can play through a slightly modified version of the second season of TMNT 2003 with up to three friends by your side. If there are less than four players then some or all the players will be able to control more than one character so that all four turtles are available in your arsenal. The reason for this is to make use of each turtle’s special attributes. Donatello can work machinery, Raphael can move boxes, Leonardo can cut through certain barriers and Michelangelo gets nice use out of his “eat feet” move from the first TMNT 2003 game in order to hover over distances. All of these are necessary to pass certain levels. It’s a nice throw-back to the first NES game to be able to switch out turtles on the fly but unfortunately in this game the turtles do not get their own health bars.

The health bar is one of the most bothersome mechanics of this game. Not only does each turtle share a health bar, each player does. This is an attribute that will make you dislike playing with inexperienced players in a hurry. Their pain is your pain and vise versa. On the bright side, you no longer have to fight over health items. Yeah… that doesn’t really make up for it.

Now what do you figure would be the one thing that would make a four player game practically unbearable to play with four people? Platforming of course. Go play some four player New Super Mario Bros. Wii and you’ll get the picture. Unfortunately it gets worse because the 3D environments make the jumps even more difficult to manage. You and your buddies will be missing your jumps a lot because the screen has to scroll with all four turtles. With only two or three players, these platforming sequences are slightly less exasperating and with one player they’re not a big hassle. Even so, I cannot even imagine what they were thinking when they decided having 3D platforming in four player game was a good idea. Maybe they just like to torment us.

Control wise this game plays pretty well eventually but when you start out you barely have any useful combos and your movements are slightly awkward. This makes the first levels a chore but once you obtain some combos and upgrade your move set the game’s controls are decent enough.

Presentation wise the game does an excellent job of letting you play the cartoon much like the first TMNT 2003 game. That game took actual animation from the show for it’s cut scenes but Battle Nexus treats gamers to originally animated cut scenes. They’re not quite as sharp as the 2003 cartoon clips but having fresh animation to tell the story more than makes up for that. There is an original character name Slashuur created for the game who is both a boss and a playable character. He happens to be an Utrom and a pretty awesome character. Karai, Casey Jones and Splinter are also available as alternatives to the turtles. I greatly appreciated this aspect of the game. Battle Nexus is the only TMNT console game other than fighting games and vs. modes that allow gamers to play as characters other than the turtles.

Compared to the first 2003 game and actually a lot of Ninja Turtle games this has a great variety of level designs. You play through various stories from season two in space, ancient Japan and modern New York among other locations. The music is fitting but not particularly memorable.

One other notable aspect of Battle Nexus is the Battle Nexus challenge mode. I personally have not gotten very far into that mode because it is indeed quite challenging but eventually you get to fight against the likes of Hamato Yoshi and Miyamoto Usagi. That reminds me, if Usagi is in this game then why didn’t they make him playable? That was a missed opportunity if ever there was.

I already brought up this game includes the first TMNT arcade game but let me clarify that. First of all, it has to be unlocked. You’ll have to play through about half of the game before you can unlock that bad boy. That’s not terribly uncommon with worthwhile unlockable in video games but it is still a drag. I have some more bad news though. While the first arcade game is faithfully ported visually the audio is a completely different story. None of the original music is retained. Making this the first of many recent ports of the original TMNT arcade game that lack the awesome original soundtrack. Supposedly they were not allowed to use the original music because all of it was derived from the 1987 cartoon theme song which 4Kids, Mirage and Konami could not get the rights to use in the port. Though considering the music is present in the Xbox Live arcade port of the first arcade game, I question if that was actually the case. Either way the music was replaced with boring synthesized schlock. Nothing the least bit memorable. Once again Battle Nexus fails to give turtles fans the four player TMNT gaming experience they crave. The arcade port is still appreciated despite this. Even without the original music if you have three buddies to play with and some music of your own playing it’ll be a passable four player home version of the first arcade game.

I mentioned this game had a lot of short-coming and it absolutely does but despite that it is not without its’ merits. The game play is solid once you get your combos and despite the flaws in the design it can be a fun two to four player experience. It would be pretty dull playing solo though but you might just end up doing it to avoid the frustration of plat forming with more than one player. If you find this one cheap, it’s not a terrible buy because it has some unique elements but there are much better Ninja Turtles games and if you are buying it for the port of the original arcade game, do yourself a favor and buy the Xbox Live arcade version.

19) Radical Rescue (Gameboy)

Imagine if you will that the first NES TMNT game was somewhat enjoyable and was no longer riddled with impossible jumps and all those other things nobody likes about that awful game. This would be that game.

Playing similarly to Metroid with some aspects similar to Castlevania, Radical Rescue has you finding your way through a large map to rescue the other turtles and eventually April and Splinter. You start out as Michelangelo and have to track down your bros in order to progress in the game. Each turtle has a unique ability in this game as well. Michelangelo can hover with his nun-chucks, Raphael can hide in his shell to enter small passages, Leonardo can drill holes in the floor with his swords and Donatello can climb walls and stick to them like Spider-Man. I’m not quite sure how Leo can drill holes and Don can stick to walls but I’ll roll with it.

There are a handful of bosses in this game including a Triceraton, Scratch, Dirtbag, Scale Tale and The Shredder. Compared to most TMNT games the rogues gallery in this one is chock full of surprises. Shredder was a given but back when this game came out Triceratons had only be used once in the cartoon and Dirtbag rarely showed up. I may be wrong about this but I do not believe Scratch and Scale Tale were ever in the cartoon or even the Archie comics. They were only present in the expansive TMNT toyline.

Overall this was a decent game and relatively unique amongst TMNT games sharing many game play elements with the first NES game as oppose to sharing the beat ‘em up game play the other two Ninja Turtles Gameboy games. A welcome change because the other two Gameboy games stiff controls made the beat ‘em up game play less than enjoyable. This game also has somewhat stiff controls but they are not nearly as bothersome as those found in the other Gameboy games. If you find it then I recommend picking it up. It is a pretty rare game and it’s an enjoyable alternative TMNT gaming experience. Believe me, after playing through several lack luster brawlers this game will be a blessing. It is also possibly one the better single player TMNT games but that’s not saying much. Too bad the first NES game wasn’t at least this good.

[Ninja Tiptup]

I couldn't post the whole thing in one post apparently so here's the other two.

1 TMNT 2007 Movie Game (All Modern Consoles except PS3)

Movie tie-in games. The very phrase sends shivers down gamers spines and with good reason. Most of them suck. The console game based on the 2007 TMNT movie though does not suck it’s just a bit unremarkable.

The game does a fine job presenting the story of the movie and using that movie’s visual style. The problem is, that movie’s story isn’t anything to write home about other than the dramatic face-off between Leonardo and Raphael. Using the four turtles you play through some stages and in others you can play as any turtle. You can do team-up attacks with the other turtles as you play.

The game play in this particular TMNT game takes several pages from Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia franchise. This is not surprising, given they were made by the same company. You can do fancier ninja moves in this game than you’ve ever been able to before. This makes up a sizable portion of the game play in each level which can become frustrating at times. The rest of the game is your standard beat ‘em up sequences that are mostly handled with one button and very little else. These sequences can last quite a while in some areas and they become as mundane as you would expect but not unbearable.

You are ranked after completing each level and there are shells you can collect to unlock features in the game.

Various versions of the game included different challenge levels and other than some minor control scheme tweaks and graphics quality the game does not different notably on any of the devices that play it. That is of course for the DS and PSP version which I already told you was at the bottom of the list.

Overall it’s not a bad game, it’s just not a great game. Game play is better than some and the acrobatic sequences are a nice change of pace from dash and bash game play of all of the 2003 series based console games. Or at least it was at the time. This one isn’t very hard to come by and if you can get it cheap it’s not a bad pick-up. Just don’t expect much. Especially in the replay value department.

17) Arcade Attack (Nintendo DS)

The most recent beat ‘em TMNT game is more of the same with a slightly different angle. Being the first co-op portable TMNT game earns it some points and so does the excellent presentation. Too bad that’s about where the good qualities end.

Arcade Attack is built on a unique engine and the turtles have some pretty great moves. The problem is, the controls are stiff and the button choices are less than preferable. For instance the X button on the DS is jump. Given the vast number of games that have the B button or A button as jump this is more than a little bothersome. There’s a kick attack, a melee attack and a block move. You can use certain combinations to do other attacks and throws which add a nice variety to your arsenal but you’ll end up using the same attacks quite often. The game is 3D but with a limited plane to move on similar to other TMNT games but the screen angles the action differently that most giving you a somewhat slanted perspective. This can make the ever useful jump kick a bit harder to aim than in some games.

The game is two player co-op. If you do not have a friend to play with you get a computer assistant of your choosing. As you may expect, they’re not terribly useful. They are fun to throw at the bad guys though. The co-op mode is much appreciated but almost useless as it requires to DS systems and two copies of the game. The added value isn’t tremendous either. I can’t imagine the game was too complicated or large to run single game multiplayer, it was probably a ploy to get more of the games to sell. Chances are, it didn’t work.

Each Turtle is ranked for their performance in the level, not so unlike the 2007 movie game. You use the points you score to unlock features in the game.

Graphically the game is ugly. I cannot tell you how much I wish this game was 2D. 2D games on the DS look marvelous but 3D games are a mixed bag. This game in particular is rather blocky. 2D would have been much better. Despite the in game graphics looking less than stellar, the game’s presentation is great. Mirage comic panels are revisioned into a visual graphic novel that starts with the Turtles taking down Hun in New York city, has the turtles fast-forwarding to the future and finally taking down the latest Shredder in cyber-space. Other than a game made for phones, Arcade Attack is the only TMNT game to use story elements and designs from the Fast Forward season of the 4Kids animated series. Personally, I did not care for most episodes of Fast Forward but it was still nice to see it not get entirely overlooked in the video games. Before you get too excited about the presentation I will say the cut-scenes aren’t all that impressive but for a long time turtle fan they’re a treat.

When I first read about this game being made I was hoping for 2D graphics, co-op with one cart and a pleasant throw-back to TMNT games of old. I got barely any of that in this game but that does not by itself make the game bad and the co-op element does still count heavily toward it’s overall quality. Maybe I even ranked this too high given all the reasons I can think of for not playing it again but it honestly wasn’t terrible. Just a bit mundane (that’s my favorite word for describing bland TMNT games) and I feel it could have been much better. If you find it on the cheap it’s not a bad pick-up otherwise it’s forgettable and you wont miss it’s presence in your TMNT game collection.



That's all for now. I had more to write about some of them than I had excepted. More will be posted in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading and your commentary is always appreciated.