The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collection and discussion thread

[DigitalSpace]

In honor of the TMNT movie that opened this weekend, let's share our TMNT collections. Here's what I've got:

NES:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters

I think I've only passed the water level in the first TMNT about twice in my life. It's still a pain in the ass. I have countless memories of TMNT II, as it was in my original NES collection (I even remember going to Pizza Hut to redeem the coupon for the free personal pan pizza!). I spent a LOT of time playing it with my younger brothers and cousin. I recently played it with a friend via Dreamcast emulation. Unfortunately, the game froze after the parking garage level. I'd like to get III someday, and while I wouldn't pass up a cheap copy of Tournament Fighters, it's not a game I absolutely have to own.

UPDATE (9/16/08): I found Tournament Fighters on the cheap last September - $1.99 at Goodwill. It's not bad, but it does make me wonder if anybody could have pulled off a better fighting game on the NES. I prefer to play it with friends. A few months before that, I got TMNT III for $1.99 at the same Goodwill. It's a great game, but II is still my favorite among the NES titles.

Genesis:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist

I hunted this down for the Genesis for a while - for some reason I couldn't find a copy under $10. Finally, I spotted a complete copy at a CD/Game Exchange for $5. Genesis owners got a TMNT game that may not have been superior to the SNES port of TMNT IV, but retained the fun of the TMNT games of this era. Highly recommended.

SNES:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters

Turtles In Time is my personal favorite TMNT game of all time. If you only get one TMNT game, make it that. I couldn't get into Tournament Fighters and never got too far into it, but I thought the concept was cool.

Gamecube:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I played a demo and decided I'd get this after a few price drops. One day, I spotted a copy on clearance at Target for $9.98. It's a decent game (and better than the other two on the last-gen systems), but I'm glad I didn't pay more than $10.

Game Boy:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of The Foot Clan
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From The Sewers

Decent but short game. The minigames weren't bad either. I'd like to get the other two games on the system.

UPDATE (9/16/08): I bought Kamino's copy of Back From The Sewers last year. It's a nice step up from Fall of the Foot Clan.

GBA:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I got this for around $4 on clearance at Circuit City. Despite not making a return to the pure beat-em-ups of the 8 and 16-bit eras, it's a solid (yet somewhat short) game. It's worth a look on the cheap. After reading the surprisingly good reviews on the newest game, I've decided that I'd probably check it out on the cheap.

Grand Total: 11 (4 NES, 2 SNES, 2 GB, 1 Genesis, 1 Gamecube, 1 GBA)

[ecresto]

i just picked up the new TMNT for the 360 . its ok , more less a kids game . its only one player though , would of been better if it was 4 player .

[Gradius]

For the NES:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game

For the SNES:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time

I remember playing these about a bazillion times when I was younger. The cartoon and movies were huge when I was a kid, and I had quite a collection of the action figures and comics as well. And I'm not gonna lie, to this day, I still want a Technodrome!

p.s. how many people remember when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first came out as an graphic novel? It was very serious and dark and gritty, nothing like the carefree and fun cartoon that was eventually displayed.

[joshnickerson]

NES
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3

The third installment was by far the best. The first was too frustrating (damn water level) and the second was a shoddy port at best. Despite some extreme slowdown in the surfing levels, TMNT 3 was incredibly fun, with great control and unique moves.

SNES
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters

TMNT4 could be better known as "The game I played all throughout junior high". I played that game like mad, and loved every minute of it, even though I could point out each and every difference between it and the arcade game. Quite possibly the best Turtles game ever.

Gameboy
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Back from the Sewers
Back from the sewers had better graphics, bigger bosses, more levels and a skateboard sequence. So why is it that I enjoy Fall of the Foot Clan more? No clue, though perhaps because it was one of the first Gameboy games I ever bought might have something to do with it.

Gamecube
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Ugh. The core idea was good, take the traditional beat-em-up style and translate it into 3-D, but in excecution it was terrible. There's a reason good players could clear Turtles in Time in under half an hour... beat-em-ups can get old QUICKLY.

GBA
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The handheld version was better, but it was still kinda bland.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

I have all three for the NES and TMNT IV for the SNES. All the other posts have already stated my thoughts. TMNT IV = greatness (Still play this even today), TMNT 2 and 3 also equally damn fun. It was nice to hear them squeeze out some decent voice samples on TMNT 3. I will always have a special hatred for TMNT on the NES though. Countless times I could never beat it, died in the infamous sewers, etc.

p.s. how many people remember when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first came out as an graphic novel? It was very serious and dark and gritty, nothing like the carefree and fun cartoon that was eventually displayed.[/I]

I do! I actually still have the comic versions of them. Damn, they sure did go through a make-over (not for the better though)!

[Arasoi]

Awesome to see so much love for the Turtles.

LOVED this stuff as a kid, and I'm still fond of it.

I've been on the hunt for a TMNT 1 Arcade cab for a while now, for now I settle for Mame and 4 USB adapted PSX controllers on the projector screen and surround sound at work (with friends, of course)

I think I prefer the arcade version of Turtles in Time. The extra animations and details really made the game more enjoyable for me, despite the SNES extras. I do remember getting this game as a kid, first game for my SNES, and being happy to even get it at home though (ah, the days of pre-emulation)

I remember the graphic novels too, the ones I got had all the blood censored white, lame.

[bangtango]

Awesome to see so much love for the Turtles.

LOVED this stuff as a kid, and I'm still fond of it.

I've been on the hunt for a TMNT 1 Arcade cab for a while now, for now I settle for Mame and 4 USB adapted PSX controllers on the projector screen and surround sound at work (with friends, of course)

I think I prefer the arcade version of Turtles in Time. The extra animations and details really made the game more enjoyable for me, despite the SNES extras. I do remember getting this game as a kid, first game for my SNES, and being happy to even get it at home though (ah, the days of pre-emulation)

I remember the graphic novels too, the ones I got had all the blood censored white, lame.

One of the graphic novels I vaguely remember has a scene which was later copied by the first movie. It was the scene of either Donatello or Michaelangelo working on a truck with Casey Jones and they were calling each other names starting from A through Z.

I also remember a different graphic novel where these triceratops that walk on two legs were one of the adversaries for the turtles.

Opinions on the original cartoon are mixed and probably become more negative as time passes. I guess the main thing I remember about the cartoon is that oftentimes Shredder was as big of an oaf as Bebop and Rocksteady. He was one of the more bumbling villains you'll see in a cartoon but honestly that was a trend for a lot of cartoons during that era. The Shredder certainly wasn't menacing in those episodes of the cartoon and had some corny dialogue.

From one episode while planning an attack on the Turtles during lunch:

"The future leader of the world reduced to eating takeout chinese food" or something like that.

[Push Upstairs]

I think I prefer the arcade version of Turtles in Time. The extra animations and details really made the game more enjoyable for me, despite the SNES extras. I do remember getting this game as a kid, first game for my SNES, and being happy to even get it at home though (ah, the days of pre-emulation)

I'd sure like to play the arcade version of "Turtles in Time"...I've never actually seen it in any arcade I ever went to.

What are the SNES "extras"?

All the TMNT games I own are:

TMNT 2: The arcade game
Turtles in Time

But i'm seriously considering getting the new TMNT game for GBA, it sounds might nice.

I also have two Turtle figures: "old" style Don and the "new" cartoon style Don. Probably need to add a new movie style Don to that mini collection.

[poloplayr]

Still remember playing the utterly frustrating TMNT 1 on the NES with my best friend in 4th grade (I think). Great times. Eating way too many popsicles and junk food and trying, trying, trying to beat that damn game.

Also, must say that TMNT: Tournament Fighters is a highly underrated game for the SNES. Great control and overall game.

[bangtango]

NES:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game

I think I've only passed the water level in the first TMNT about twice in my life. It's still a pain in the ass.

That game doesn't get any easier. Level 3 is basically a maze of buildings. The level after that is in a sewer filled with precision jumps. If you mess up at all, your turtle falls into the water and you get sent back half the stage. As for the last two levels, which includes the Technodrome, even the "common" enemies are extremely strong. If you use anyone less than Donatello, it takes several hits to stop them and that is if they don't wipe out half of your life bar first. Even when you make it through there, Shredder is capable of "killing" your characters with one hit which doesn't even allow you to switch characters. He uses a gun which shrinks the turtles back into the size of house pets. Then again, I think it was the same way when you faced him in TMNT II but at least you had extra lives with one turtle and the next one would materialize right there on the screen.

Gameboy
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Back from the Sewers
Back from the sewers had better graphics, bigger bosses, more levels and a skateboard sequence. So why is it that I enjoy Fall of the Foot Clan more? No clue, though perhaps because it was one of the first Gameboy games I ever bought might have something to do with it.

I think it was because they kept the gameplay fairly simple. Fall of the Foot Clan was extremely easy to pick up and play. All you had to do was just move forward, jump and attack. No puzzles to solve (other than bonus games), no items to find or tasks to complete. Just good ol' fun. It was just challenging enough that the game wasn't a complete cakewalk but it was also something you could play through in less than an hour. I also liked the music. As for it being short, all of the early Gameboy games were. That includes the versions of Gradius, Castlevania and Super Mario Land. But everyone here already knew that anyway.

[Jorpho]

TMNT II: Back From The Sewers for the original GB had some of the best graphics and sound I've ever seen on the system. I suppose as a trade-off it actually had fairly simple gameplay, but on the whole it is quite splendid.

I almost ended up with TMNT III: Radical Rescue (which apparently has free-scrolling Metroid-style gameplay); instead I got Wario Blast. I'd still like to try it sometime.

[tom]

We had Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in Europe, mainly UK and Germany. Appearently 'Ninja' was too violent for little UK and DE kids, so they were turned into Heroes (still killing things mind you)

Also for C-64, Amiga, Atari ST.

Never played the games though

[Xexyz]

I've got:

NES:

TMNT
TMNT II: The Arcade Game
TMNT III: The Manhattan Project

GB:

TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan
TMNT II: Back From the Sewers
TMNT III: Radical Rescue

SNES: TMNT IV: Turtles in Time

GEN: TMNT Tournament Fighters

For you guys speculationg on TMNT III for the NES, get it! It is amazing, and follows the gameplay style of the arcade TMNT titles, and adds an extra move here and there. TMNT III for the GB is pretty good. It is a Metroid inspired adventure game, but some of the boss fights are stupid hard. I never beat that game because the final showdown was a huge boss rush, and by the time I got to Shredder, I was spent...

Tournament Fighters for the Genesis is utter garbage. I need to pick up the SNES copy sometime soon. I also desperately need Hypersone Heist for the Genesis. I played that one back on Sega channel, and I loved it. I never seem to come across this one in the wild.

[Yukio]

We had Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in Europe, mainly UK and Germany. Appearently 'Ninja' was too violent for little UK and DE kids, so they were turned into Heroes (still killing things mind you)

Also for C-64, Amiga, Atari ST.

Never played the games though

Does the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles count?
I got one tape for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum ... Need some work to manage to load past the initial Title screen . Since I do not have the original hardware (I never had a Spectrum machine) and some people wrote that it is legal to simulate this system I got some tapes to play. Like Green Beret and Yie Ar Kung-Fu.

Still trying to get the coin-op game ...

Maybe I would need to take the Turtles I/II/III for NES ...

[Arcade_Ness]

Well here's my modest collection.

TMNT: The Manhatten Project-Genesis
TMNT-Gameboy(though it's probably lost somewhere in my parent's garage)
TMNT: Tournament Fighters-Genesis

I used to have TMNT for the NES, but after seeing the AVGN's review of it I had to sell it off. His review reminded me of all the time I wasted playing that game back when I was a kid, and all the fustration that followed(particularly the dam portion). At some point I need to get my hands on Turtles in Time.

[Jorpho]

and some people wrote that it is legal to simulate this system

FYI, emulation (don't call it simulation) itself has never been illegal - only the copying and distribution of copyrighted software is illegal.

And now, back to thread.

[pragmatic insanester]

damnit. i read the title and assumed there was a "collection" (ie compilation) disc coming out with most of the Turtles games on it.

anyhow. i have TMNT 2 & 3 for the NES, Turtles in Time for the SNES, Hyperstone Heist for the Genesis, and Battle Nexus for the Xbox (which includes that crappy version of the original arcade game).