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)