retro Review: TMNT IV – Turtles in Time

icon1 Aaron | icon2 SNES | icon4 August 3, 2009 |


Review

“Shredder’s got some time to kill – three billion years of hi-tech Turtle terror!”


F A S T F O C U S
+ GOOD:
  • Faithful arcade port.
  • Solid 2P gameplay.
  • The turtles’ abilities are ever so slightly different.
 - BAD:
  • Not as detailed as the arcade.
  • I think there are three different types of enemies in this game.

What’s the story?: TMNT IV: Turtles in Time for the SNES is based on the 1991 Konami arcade game and is the sequel to “T.M.N.T. The Arcade Game”. In Turtles in Time, Shredder is once again up to no good. This time he’s had Krang steal the Statue of Liberty and it’s up to the Ninja Turtles to get it back. Just like the original, TMNT IV is a 2D side-scrolling beat-em-up, so gameplay here should feel very familiar.

retro_review_turtles_in_time_01 retro_review_turtles_in_time_04 What’s to like: Most importantly - the game’s solid single and two player action is fully intact, and while its graphics are not as colorful or as nicely animated as the arcade version, Konami added some effects to ensure people got their money’s worth with the SNES version. First, they added an entire stage: “Technodrome: Let’s Kick Shell!” is not at all present in the arcade version. The memorable thing about the stage isn’t the boring elevator ride up to Shredder’s control room, but rather the battle that takes place with him which has the Ninja Turtles tossing Foot Soldiers (one of their special moves) at Shred Head  who is sitting first person style in his “machine”. A welcome addition for sure.

retro_review_turtles_in_time_07 Another, change to the SNES version are the game’s “surfing” levels. Stage three, “Sewer Surfin’” and stage eight, “A.D. 2020: Neon Night-Riders” were switched from regular stages to bonus stages. The end of “Sewer Surfin’” now featured a battle with The Rat King; the “Sewer Surfin’” level at the arcade featured no boss battle.

retro_review_turtles_in_time_14 “A.D. 2020: Neon Night-Riders” also gained quite an improvement, taking full advantage of the SNES’s “Mode 7″ rendering capabilities – an effect that is surprisingly not found in the arcade version. Both versions of this stage featured Super Krang as the level’s boss.

retro_review_turtles_in_time_11 Another positive about Turtles in Time are the game’s unique stages: Prehistoric Turtlesaurus has Turtles in dino-land, Skull and Crossbones features a pirate ship, Bury my Shell at Wounded Knee with a 19th century train ride, and the aforementioned Neon Night-Riders has them surfing in the future.   These stages are a nice change of pace from the usual “city street” stages found in most beat-em-ups – even though the majority of them will only have you “side-scrolling” from left to right.

retro_review_turtles_in_time_13

What’s not to like: Knowing the nature of the genre and the game being a port to home consoles (and a good one), the problems I have with TMNT IV on the SNES are fairly minor.

retro_review_turtles_in_time_09 This SNES version just isn’t “Arcade Perfect”. Although Konami added a stage and pulled off effects like Mode 7 rotation, which was not present in the arcade version, it just could not match the overall animation or sound quality found in the coin-op version. For instance, in the arcade version every boss had a comment they would yell at the beginning of their respective battle – instead these are written on screen in a quote in the SNES version. It’s true something as minor as a missing sound clip can’t ruin your experience, but you just knew (even in 1992) there was a better version out there.

retro_review_turtles_in_time_10 A more important gripe is that Turtles in Time should have at least one more button as there are only two – attack and jump. Press ‘em together to perform a special move which consumes life. I hate that! The Turtles can also charge at enemies and perform slides, and yes, tossing enemies at the screen is one of the cooler abilities in the entire genre, but the overall move list could use some improvement.

Also, the game’s other two modes, Versus and Time Attack, are fairly worthless. If you’re wondering, in Versus mode you and a buddy can each select one of the four Turtles to duke it out in front of Splinter. In time attack mode you’ll have your chance to “time attack” three of the game’s stages. Fun.

The video below shows some major game play elements from TMNT IV: Turtles in Time. The Intro, the battle with Shredder at the Tecnodrome, Mode 7 Sewer Surfin’ stage, and the final boss battle with Super Shredder are all shown. Overall score below.

Score
Overall

For me, beat-em-ups are a love/hate thing. Fortunately, this one features the Ninja Turtles and some awesome time traveling stages to put it on the “love” side. If you’ve played any 2D beat-em-up you’ve pretty much played Turtles in Time. Even so, the game is a one of the best examples of a good title in the genre and ranks up near the top with classics like Final Fight and the original TMNT. As for this SNES cart, its highly collectible, and definitely worth your time and money if you can find it. Now, let’s kick shell!
User Score: 1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars6 Stars7 Stars8 Stars9 Stars10 Stars (6 votes, average: 8.17 out of 10)
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TMNT IV – Turtles in Time

Developer: Konami

Publisher: Konami

Genre: Beat-em-up

Released: April 12, 1992

Available on: SNES (Remake on XBLA 08/05/09)

ESRB: N/A



6 Comments to “retro Review: TMNT IV – Turtles in Time”
  1. Josh Josh says:
    August 3, 2009 at 6:26 pm

    “A more important gripe is that Turtles in Time should have at least one more button as there are only two – attack and jump. Press ‘em together to perform a special move which consumes life. I hate that!”

    Hmmm, someone didn’t delve into the Options menu… you CAN assign the Special Attack to a separate third button.

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    • Aaron Aaron says:
      August 3, 2009 at 6:51 pm

      Why thank you for your comment Josh but I think you misunderstood me there.

      “I hate” when special moves take off life. Pressing two buttons together isn’t a problem.

      And yes, I know you can assign your special attack to a single button, but this would not stop the move from taking away life or give you another original attack (like punch, jump and a kick for instance).

      That’s why I continued with “The Turtles can also charge at enemies and perform slides, and yes, tossing enemies at the screen is one of the cooler abilities in the entire genre, but the overall move list could use some improvement.”

      I’ve been playing this game for a long time and its one of my favorites. Thanks again for the comment.

  2. Right dare Rightdare says:
    August 3, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    What a classic game!

    I wonder if the remake will have the “Technodrome: Let’s Kick Shell!” stage like the SNES version, or leave it missing like the arcade machine?

    I want that battle with Shredder in HD!

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  3. Josh Josh says:
    August 3, 2009 at 9:46 pm

    Ah, sorry, I guess I mis-understood. The health loss never really bothered me, because I knew it was sort of a trade off with using a more powerful move.

    Great article, though.

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  4. Rahat Rashid liquidxtension says:
    August 4, 2009 at 12:17 am

    This game was probably one of the first games i’ve ever played. It has a special place in my heart.

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  5. John Harmon Little John says:
    October 4, 2009 at 1:46 am

    For me this is an alltime great because it was one of the few cartridges i had when i was really little so I played it until it wore out. awsome review!

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