Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles review - Nintendo Entertainment System

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles box art Fresh from the classic comics come the heroes in a half-shell!

Carnivorous robots chow down in Chinatown, while brutal Ninjitsu warriors, blood descendants of the deadly "Foot" Clan, bust-up bystanders from the Bronx to Broadway.

Police S.W.A.T. teams can’t stop them, but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can! Because, powered by pizza, they’re always ready to rumble – with nunchaku, katana blades, and a party bus loaded with anti-Foot Clan missiles.

So team up with the turtles - Raphael, Leonardo, Michaelangelo and Donatello - then switch on the turtle radar, following your map and sixth sense past savage traps and secret sewer passages.

Then knock heads with the nasty Ninjitsus, and either splatter them senseless or get turned into turtle soup yourself!

What the Mean Machines staff thought

I was a bit disappointed to discover that this isn't a conversion of the brilliant Turtles coin-op, but once I sat down actually played the game I soon cheered up. It's a very original and very addictive arcade adventure which requires planning and a good deal of arcade skill to battle through the sewers and kick some Foot ass without being captured. The graphics are excellent and the sound is a faithful rendition of the Turtles TV theme music (not the hit single, Turtle Power). Put it all together and you've got a totally radical game that every Turtle dude should get his mitts on - pronto!

To be honest with you I was expecting this to be a complete pile of turtle droppings. So I was pleasantly surprised to find a good game lurking behind all the hype: this is a genuinely original and interesting product. The graphics are excellent, if somewhat on the small side, and the soundtrack is fairly close to the theme music. The four amphibians come across as being different, each having its own abilities and weak points. It's a shame the game doesn't have a two-player option. Other than that, it's a very playable game that deserves to sell by the lorryload.

Retrospective comments

Now call me a Nintendo-hater, but at the time I just couldn't see what all the fuss was about with this game. It's a very basic platformer at the end of the day. Like Jaz says, it's a shame that Konami didn't convert the excellent coin-op sooner (that version arrived later). That was the version that everyone (including myself) was sinking all their pocket money into at the time.

I'm sure many NES owners have fond memories of this game as it was packed-in with many consoles, but to me it's a clear case of the Turtles brand power overriding common sense - this game is average in pretty much every aspect. The only positive memory I have of this game is seeing Beau Bridges play it in 'The Wizard' movie!

Have your say about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Chris - 28 Feb 2008, 14:31 GMT

I absolutely loved this game - even when you got further into the game and found that you had to repeat a lot of the sections over and over to get enough ropes and weapons!

Tris Wicks - 05 Nov 2008, 02:10 GMT

This game put me off my NES for a decade.

Stayrsaigh - 22 Mar 2009, 00:03 GMT

Ahh the height of turtle mania! This was the game I got free with my NES and I have to say I absolutly loved it! It really was a fantastic platformer and aside from a few flickery graphics and one or two frustrating moments I can't find anything bad to say about it! It always kept me coming back for more and will always be one of those games I most associate with the NES!

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