Teenage Mutant Ninja/Hero Turtles NES

Teenage Mutant Ninja/Hero Turtles -- NES

I beat this game a couple nights ago and it’s been on my mind since so I thought I’d ask everyone here his thoughts on it.
Questions =

(1) How would you rate it on a scale of 1-10? Specify whether you’re using Sega-16’s definitions (eg 10 is not perfect and 5 is pretty bad). Or, if you dislike scales, does it deserve a place on any NES list besides the top sellers?
(2) Do you like its genre approach for the Turtles? If so would you have liked a similar game for the Genesis instead of Hyperstone Heist? Not in addition to Heist, of course everybody would rather have an extra game in the library than not.
(3) Have you finished it? Do you think its reputation for difficulty accurate or overblown?

I thought TMNT NES was very unique even though it was awkwardly done. I beat it back in the day but barely remember it, the Technodrome was the last boss right? The game is challenging in the same way other glitchy side scrolling action platformers with tons of slowdown are. If TMNT the Arcade game or Golden Axe were released at the time that TMNT Ultra was I doubt I ever would have finished it.

As an oddity, I also played the heck out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit on NES around the same time.

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Originally Posted by StarMist

(1) How would you rate it on a scale of 1-10? Specify whether you’re using Sega-16’s definitions (eg 10 is not perfect and 5 is pretty bad). Or, if you dislike scales, does it deserve a place on any NES list besides the top sellers?

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Somewhere in the 7-8 range. It's got some frustrations but generally speaking it's fun and rewarding to play, and the soundtrack is among the NES's most polished and memorable efforts.

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Originally Posted by StarMist

(2) Do you like its genre approach for the Turtles? If so would you have liked a similar game for the Genesis instead of Hyperstone Heist? Not in addition to Heist, of course everybody would rather have an extra game in the library than not.

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The game is so much a product of its time and platform that I don't think that could have worked.

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Originally Posted by StarMist

(3) Have you finished it? Do you think its reputation for difficulty accurate or overblown?

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Yes -- but only in emulation with savestates -- and both. The dam stage is actually quite easy IMHO, and the rest of the game is very manageable if you learn the layouts and enemy patterns, manipulate them where necessary, get accustomed to the quirks of the controls, and know where all the pizzas are located (and aren't too proud to go back and fetch them when needed). The Technodrome boss fight has some glitchy instadeath possibilities, but otherwise Levels 1-5 are well within "play it enough and you'll learn it" territory.

That said, the last stage is brutal, and I was never able to legitimately pass it -- even with 99 scrolls per character, and even though I could blast through the preceding levels with little difficulty (well, Level 5 could be a bitch). I'm sure that if I practiced it with savestates I'd find ways to get through, especially vs. the rocketpack enemies who were the absolute worst...but given the amount of replay required to get to that point, it was a tough ask at the time.

I like the genre approach a lot, better than the straight beat 'em ups that followed (not that I dislike those games). But I think its reputation for difficulty is accurate and the difficulty is unfortunate. The controls/physics/collision detection just feel wonky to me. I've never beaten it, and I feel like I could if I really put my mind to it, but I always end up turning the game off in frustration. I think this is one of the games that Game Genie was made for, and I don't like using Game Genie (nor do I own one for NES).

If just a few things were cleaned up, and it was lengthened, it would be one of my favorite games. It's too bad that the computer versions (at least C64 and Amiga) are garbage and there wasn't a Genesis port or something.

I would rate it as one of the most "interesting" NES games, but not one of the best.

I played the first TMNT game back in the 80's on our old trusty Atari ST, and even though it was quite difficult and the programming was off (so floaty) I did beat it.

Pretty much the game that started my carpal tunnel syndrome. http://www.sega-16.com/forum/images/icons/talking.gif

Good version too, more detailed and colorful, but the person who did the Atari/Amiga intro/menu art must have gotten written descriptions
of what the TMNT characters looked like, that or he was blind.. the art was pretty bad. (April was grey and looked like a blowup doll)

Still pretty awesome version, it seemed to just keep going no matter how long I played.

I find it hard to rate it though, back in the 80's I would have rated it a 9, because it looked very nice, much better the the NES version,
and it gave me a lot of gameplay, and it was the Turtles boom! everybody spoke about the TMNT in grade school at that time.

so were I to rate it now.. well I'd give it an 8, its a solid platformer but too difficult and too long imo.

1. I'm not going to be forgiving of this game. When I was a kid I hated it and as an adult still I hate it. It's got awkward controls, poor level and enemy design, and if it were any other game not part of the Turtles franchise that came out at a time when said franchise was humongous it would've been ignored at forgotten. It's playable but that's about it. I wouldn't give it anything higher than a 5 if I had to put a number on it. It doesn't deserve a place on any NES list except maybe a list of disappointing licensed games. That said it certainly isn't the worst licensed game on the NES.

2. Honestly the approach isn't that bad, which is one of the big reasons I find the game a disappointment. I think a Ninja Turtles platformer was a good idea and they should have tried again instead of relegating the franchise strictly to beat'em ups. There's a lot of things that had potential but they didn't really pull it off.

3. No, mostly because I didn't enjoy the game enough to ever pursue it to the end. Also I do think its reputation for difficulty is well earned especially considering its target audience.

The soundtrack in the first NES turtles game was awesome! Its not exactly what I'd identify with TMNT, but its still great. Worth playing just for that.

I'd rate it as a 7, but nostalgia is playing a huge role in that score. I don't think I'd give it over a 5 if I were to attempt to play it now without previous experience with the game.

I haven't played it since I was a kid, but I would rate it a 7 as well. Not a bad game, but it's not up there with the NES greats. I did beat it exactly once, although I got really close to the end several times. If they made it control better, I would have enjoyed it considerably more.

One of my favorite games as a kid (mostly due to the license of course). Came to appreciate it more as an adolescent, but loathe it now as an adult. Sloppy controls, cheap hit detection and difficulty, tons of flicker and slowdown....yet it was the NES' best-selling 3rd party game nonetheless.

This game kind of irritated me back in the day given that I felt it was okay at best but sold like crazy because of the license. Sure, it wasn't the first game to do that but I was a teenager and I guess I had become old enough to analyze the industry more so it was the first time it really stuck out for me.

At the time I probably would have given it a 6/10. I would have to play it again to see if my opinion's changed and to better describe why it didn't impress me much.

I never beat it because I lost interest.

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Originally Posted by j_factor

I think this is one of the games that Game Genie was made for, and I don't like using Game Genie (nor do I own one for NES).

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I was never able to get this game to work properly with a game genie. I'm not sure if that was the case due to the revision of the game genie I had or if it just didn't work with them. To this day I've never seen the end of this game. I've never gotten all the way through level 5.

In spite of the difficulty it is still a fun and memorable game with an excellent soundtrack. It really stands out from its successors being that it is the only console platformer in a sea of brawlers. The level designs were varied and took a different approach than most generic licence platformers on the NES. I'd probably rate it an 8.

I would probably give it around 6/10 for the time and system, mainly for the aforementioned reasons, the gameplay feels flawed, and unpolished at times, but there are certainly some nice ideas in it.

I played it a lot at the time, and still own it, never completed it (though I wouldn't say I've made a huge concerted effort to do it any time recently), I never cheat with videogames though, never use save states, never use online guides or walkthroughs etc.

6.5/10. Looking back now I dont mind the approach they took but back then I was disapointed because it wasnt the arcade game.

Hmmmm this is a tough one. I ended up playing the Arcade game way before I played this version. I can't even remember when the first time I played this game was. I thought it was ok albeit hard as fuck but the swimming level wasn't that hard though. But I will say that the box art cover is nice as fuck though probably one of the best ever for the NES. But i'd probably rate that game as a 6 out of 10 though.

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Originally Posted by NeoVamp

I played the first TMNT game back in the 80's on our old trusty Atari ST, and even though it was quite difficult and the programming was off (so floaty) I did beat it.

Pretty much the game that started my carpal tunnel syndrome. http://www.sega-16.com/forum/images/icons/talking.gif

Good version too, more detailed and colorful, but the person who did the Atari/Amiga intro/menu art must have gotten written descriptions
of what the TMNT characters looked like, that or he was blind.. the art was pretty bad. (April was grey and looked like a blowup doll)

Still pretty awesome version, it seemed to just keep going no matter how long I played.

I find it hard to rate it though, back in the 80's I would have rated it a 9, because it looked very nice, much better the the NES version,
and it gave me a lot of gameplay, and it was the Turtles boom! everybody spoke about the TMNT in grade school at that time.

so were I to rate it now.. well I'd give it an 8, its a solid platformer but too difficult and too long imo.

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I've never played the Atari ST version, but the Amiga version is awful. The controls only support one button, which you tap quickly to attack, and press for a longer duration to jump. Swimming is impossible. The hit detection is really bad and the sprites are deformed and poorly animated. The backgrounds are decent, and the music is good, but that's all it has going for it.

Hmm... on the one hand I did like this game as a kid (the PC version; I'd only played the NES version once or twice, but own it for PC), but on the other hand I never got anywhere remotely near the end of the game (and indeed, the PC version actually has a bug (a pit in one required stage in level 3 or 4 that's too long to jump over, specifically) that makes finishing it impossible unless you use a level-skip cheat... but I didn't get far enough to run into that.), and in retrospect it's kind of a bad game. It's also most definitely much, MUCH worse than the arcade games; I knew that at the time, at least, even if I did like TMNT1 somewhat as well. It was kind of okay, but it's not TMNT: The Arcade Game, TMNT III (NES), or TMNT: Turtles In Time. Not even remotely.

On that note, TMNT III is my favorite NES beat 'em up. On the other hand,TMNT 1 probably wouldn't get anywhere near the list of best NES anything. 5 or 6 out of 10; same score for the PC version, because that impossible-to-complete-without-a-cheat jump is countered out with the fact that you can actually save on the PC (it does save which Turtles are still alive, though, and has the usual lack of continues, so it's still a quite hard game, but at least you can save, and if you manage to get through something with your turtles alive, it's quite handy.).

Yeah, I love the Manhattan Project. One of my favorite beat 'em ups; not just for the NES, but in general. It's a lot of fun and if I had to rank my 40-odd NES games, it'd have a respectable spot in the top ten.

Not really a fan of this one, though. Some good ideas marred by lots of slowdown, poor level design and what I can only describe as a "cheap" level of difficulty. Good ideas, terrible execution. 5 out of 10 from me.

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Originally Posted by profholt82

To this day I've never seen the end of this game. I've never gotten all the way through level 5.

In spite of the difficulty it is still a fun and memorable game with an excellent soundtrack. It really stands out from its successors being that it is the only console platformer in a sea of brawlers. The level designs were varied and took a different approach than most generic licence platformers on the NES. I'd probably rate it an 8.

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This was precisely my impression of the game till sometime earlier this year when I really pushed to reach the final level--and got destroyed. The final lv is the only I'd call unfair so there's the possibility of a swing either way: you might hate the game after seeing lv 6 or you might love it if you manage to squeak through. It may take some time to appreciate but each turtle is distinct, it's not just Don with three leftovers.
So to answer my own questions:

(1) = I'll give it an 8 with a leaning towards 9. That being said my all time favourite games would break the scale at 11/10. It's a must play for NES owners on the grounds of its prominence alone. Btw I was never a Turtles fan.

@ Complaints = There’s no problem with the hit detection, if anything it errs in one’s favour. Jumping can be a little weird at places because the turtles can reverse face mid air but it’s quite solid so long as one doesn’t get panicky. Respawning is manipulable and nowhere near so evil as in the Ninja Gaidens.

(2) = The setup’s the best part. TMNT 2 is a great game but the series shouldn’t have settled on the brawler mould; I certainly would’ve liked to see something closer to this attempted on the Genesis in lieu of Hyperstone Heist.

(3) = Different players struggle or thrive at different games so I suppose the difficulty reputation’s fair. I’d lean towards overblown except that the last few areas can turn disastrous so quickly. Personally I wouldn’t put it anywhere near the hardest games on the NES: the NGs, Battletoads, some of the shooters.
I stocked one turtle with 99 scrolls but wound up using only half those, perhaps as few as 40. It may be possible to beat the game w/o scrolls, or at least w/o any on the final level if they’ve all been spent keeping the turtles at full health before that (but hazards will still cause damage).
NB: I use the Max pad.

It might be easy to forget Spiderman vs Kingpin on Sega CD has a lot of the same elements. I actually wish that the map selection screen was handled like TMNT NES, that would have been very cool, but probably not very easy to believe considering the character.

Then again, the Turtles aren't exactly known for walking around on the streets in broad daylight.

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Originally Posted by StarMist

(2) = The setup’s the best part. TMNT 2 is a great game but the series shouldn’t have settled on the brawler mould; I certainly would’ve liked to see something closer to this attempted on the Genesis in lieu of Hyperstone Heist.

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Definitely agree with this, I'd love to have seen another attempt at a Turtles platformer. After Manhattan Project it was all just gravy for me as far as Turtles beat-'em-ups were concerned.

Also, does the changing from "Ninja" to "Hero" piss anyone else off? I understand the (stupid) reasoning behind it, but it still really bothers me.

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Originally Posted by jerry coeurl

Also, does the changing from "Ninja" to "Hero" piss anyone else off? I understand the (stupid) reasoning behind it, but it still really bothers me.

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It's annoying but more than that plain dumb. Eliminating the third word altogether would've been better, or even 'Kung Fu' in place to describe what they did. The change to 'Hero' reminds me of the changes on the Wayne's World set after they sold out in the flick.

Random thought--- the TMNT ending could be more lavish.

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Originally Posted by jerry coeurl

Also, does the changing from "Ninja" to "Hero" piss anyone else off? I understand the (stupid) reasoning behind it, but it still really bothers me.

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I never heard of "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" until many years later, on the internet.

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Originally Posted by StarMist

The change to 'Hero' reminds me of the changes on the Wayne's World set after they sold out in the flick.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9FUgzAJun4