Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project - NES (1992)
Everything that you could do in TMNT II you can do in TMNT III. There still aren't any combos, but the attacks are much smoother, and you can actually hit an enemy twice in a row without that strange invincibility period. Additionally, you can press Down and Attack to grab a foe with your weapon and toss them over your head, killing most regular foot soldiers instantly. Interestingly, each method of killing enemies will yield different points. The "grab and toss" manuever is easy to use, but will grant a lower score than if you killed them with regular attacks. Since the score determines how often you get extra lives, it's a small thing to consider. The strong attacks have been changed to Final Fight-style specials that cost a notch off of your health meter. However, you can still do them if it's down to the final notch, allowing you to take down a boatload of foes before they do you in. Furthermore, they differ for each character, and enough so that one might be extremely beneficial in a scenario where another would be completely worthless.
The stage designs are not only on par with TMNT: The Arcade Game, they're probably the best in the entire series. From the first stage all the way through to the last, you're going to see a lot that you normally wouldn't see in a beat-em-up. For instance, a few areas have two levels of elevation to walk on, which you'll notice will effect both attacking and dodging foes either above or below you - this is especially apparent with two players. There are also a few parts of the game where large chunks of the floor are missing, allowing you to hurl people off just as easily as you can fall off yourself. Any area with a pit also gives you the advantage of dangling from the edge of the floor to better avoid danger.
Maybe the most original part of the game is an auto-scrolling section of the Technodrome where you have to take on Foot soldiers while dodging rapidly moving laser beams at different heights. You also get to ride a surfboard at one point through an auto-scrolling stage. The various hazards are fairly well implemented, too. A good example is at the beginning of the sewer where a pipe explodes without warning, injuring your Turtle if you don't get out of the way right as the stage begins. One of the cleverest parts of the entire game is when one of the bosses will actually take advantage of a hazard in the background - an electrifying neon sign - and hurl you straight into the thing.
Anyway, TMNT III may not have been quite as big as the first arcade title, but it was still a massive time drain for a whole lot of people. When everybody was moving on to SNES and Genesis, this gave them a reason to plug their NES back in and play 'til the damn thing overheated. That made it the most sought after NES game of that year, and the last must have title for the console. And it's no mystery why - it's probably the best Konami beat-em-up for the system. Due to the numbering issues, it was called "TMNT II: The Manhattan Project" in Japan.
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Let's Go, Turtles!
TMNT III: The Manhattan Project
TMNT III: The Manhattan Project
TMNT III: The Manhattan Project
TMNT III: The Manhattan Project
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Return of the Shredder - Genesis (1992)
Yet, there's still a pirate ship level and a stage based on a portion of the prehistoric level. However, both areas are rearranged versions of the Turtles in Time stages, so they're not completely identical. The only levels that are practically stolen straight from Turtles in Time is the second half of the first level, which is an only slightly modified version of the city streets stage from that game, and a good chunk of the Technodrome stage. There are technically only five levels, but they're longer than any of the stages in Turtles in Time. Due to the Genesis color palette, the graphics aren't quite as colorful, and the status bar is a solid black as opposed to the transparent ones in the arcade/SNES games, but the visuals are still generally pretty good. The same can be said of the soundtrack - most of the music is the same, and while it's not technically up to the quality as either version of Turtles in Time, the songs are arranged so well that they sound at home on the Genesis sound synth. The voice samples are, however, very scratchy.
Interestingly, other parts of the game seem to be based on the NES titles. A few of the boss fights are virtually reworked versions of their appearances from TMNT III. There's also a surfing level, which is very similar in appearance to the one from part III, though completely rearranged. Said stage also throws in a bunch of hazards into the water to mix things up, like floating logs or jagged rocks sticking out above the water, and maybe ends up being better than the original for it. Another level is a reworked version of the ninja stage from TMNT II for NES, with a really cool original part where the ceiling is covered in spikes, preventing you from jumping safely. The boss as the end of this stage is Tatsu, the karate master from the first live action TMNT movie. Yet other areas are completely original - most notably the level four gauntlet, which takes place in a cave.
So, combined with the fact that the two share the exact same gameplay, it stands up pretty well to Turtles in Time. If you've played the previous games then it also has the extra appeal of seeing reworked version of stages and bosses that you'll recognize from elsewhere. Even though it doesn't offer much originality, it's good enough to do justice to the legacy created by the first TMNT arcade game, and it remains without a doubt among the best beat-em-ups for Genesis.
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Alleycat Blues
TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist
TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist
TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist
Comparison Screenshots
Related Titles: TMNT - Gameboy Advance (2007)
In 2007, a CG Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie was released to the theaters. Konami lost the license to Ubisoft, who created their own games for various consoles. The Playstation 2, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS versions are all 3D, and all terrible. Strangely, the Gameboy Advance one - developed by a completely different team within the company - is all 2D, and is a completely different game. It's a side scrolling beat-em-up, making it seem obvious that some were the staff were fans of Konami's titles.
This GBA version is far from a clone - it actually plays quite a bit differently - but it's a good spiritual successor. Konami's games were fast and loose - this one is slower and tighter. It's also quite a bit darker, attempting to mimic the "mature" look of the CG cartoon. The spritework and animation are decent, but the hordes of generic thugs and robots don't compare to the foot soldiers in the days of old.
Each character has a single combo, in addition to an uppercut move to quickly knock foes to their feet, and a kick to knock them across the screen. There's also a back attack, and a sweeping kick to attack foes from all sides. In addition to the standard jump kick, you can also execute a jumping knee attack, which allows you to bounce off enemies repeatedly. There are no longer any dash attacks, and there aren't any special moves that drain energy per usual beat-em-up protocol. However, in certain stages, once you've charged up your special meter, you can temporarily call upon the aid of a preselected turtle compatriot to pop onto the screen and wail on some bad guys for a few seconds. This is undoubtedly to make up for the lack of multiplayer.
The action is fun, even if the pace isn't nearly as hectic as the Konami arcade games, and the level designs are somewhat dull in comparison. There are a lot more weapons to pick up though, including giant swords, hammers, bombs, trash cans, and other stuff to throw at bad guys. You can actually reflect projectiles back at enemies too. And remember how you used to be able to whack parking meters and send them flying? Here, you can destroy them, steal the money that comes out of it, and use the debris to wail on more enemies.
Each turtle has similar attacks, but specializes in one of four stats. As you kill bad guys, your score will build up, eventually increasing your stats. If you wrack up huge combos, you'll get even more points, and level up faster. Enemies will also leave cold hard cash, which can be used to purchase items in between levels, allowing you to level up certain stats, or start levels equipped with special weapons. It's not nearly in depth as, say, River City Ransom, but it gives a nice amount of depth to the game.
While TMNT is a bit on the short side - it ends after seven stages - it carries on the legacy of Konami's licensed titles, simply on the virtue of it not sucking. Certainly, more licensed games need to be made like this.
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Stage 1
TMNT (GBA)
TMNT (GBA)
TMNT (GBA)
TMNT (GBA)
TMNT (GBA)
American Cover
Japanese Cover
TMNT III: The Manhattan Project
For their next NES release in the series, Konami was faced with the impossible task of following up their TMNT arcade port for the console. No matter how good the game was, what it was really going to be judged by was whether or not it would end up killing as many afternoons as TMNT II had. They actually did a pretty good job of it. It's based on the NES port of TMNT II, more so than it is the arcade version of the game. So, it basically works, feels, and looks very similar, only with much greater attention to graphical detail and better animation. The sound is similarly fantastic, with a number of voices (including the signature "COWABUNGA!" when you begin the game), and music that uses a lot of cool digitized samples, which is easily up there with some of Konami's better NES soundtracks. The plot involves Shredder somehow stealing the island of Manhattan and lifting it into the sky, causing the Turtles to cut their vacation short and leap into action.
Move Out
City of Half Shell
Theme of Half Shell
American Cover
Japanese Cover
TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist
Hyperstone Heist is a sort of odd release. It's technically an original title, but much of the game is based heavily on Turtles in Time. This is most noticeable in the fact that the combat is exactly the same, but with modified commands for the dashing attacks. The attack where you toss enemies at the screen is gone though - perhaps with the lack of Mode 7, the Genesis could not pull it off. It's still about the Turtles trying to get the Statue of Liberty and the entirety of Manhattan back from Shredder - this time, it's been shrunk with the power of the titular Hyperstone - but there's no time travel aspect to the story, whatsoever.
Back in the Sewers
American Cover
TMNT (GBA)
TMNT (GBA)
By the mid-90s, the Turtles fad had faded, as youngster moved on to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and other schlock. However, the franchise was resurrected in the early 21st century, with Konami publishing several more games for the systems of the time. There were three games for the consoles - the first game, Battle Nexus, and Mutant Nightmare - the latter two, as mentioned, contained unlockable ports of the arcade games. There were also three portable games - two for the Gameboy Advance and one for the Nintendo DS - which were 2D action-platformers. They're okay, but not nearly up to par with Konami's 8 and 16-bit games.
