TMNT II: The Arcade Game
Nintendo Entertainment System
Nostalgia Factor:
This game was absolutely huge when I was a kid. It came out in 1990. Turtles fever was at an all-time high. Most people in my life didn't enjoy the first Ninja Turtles game for the NES, but they loved the arcade beat 'em up. When the arcade game was ported over to the NES, the original TMNT game quickly became an afterthought to many.
This was a destination video game. If you went over to a friend's house and they had this game, chances are you were going to drop whatever you had planned to play this. Oddly, I never owned this game. I loved the Ninja Turtles. I still had my NES. I loved the arcade version of the game. Not sure why I never got this one! I likely asked for it for Christmas, but never got it - for some reason or another.
I remember that my stepbrothers had this game. They didn't live with me and my dad, but they did come over to visit every other weekend. One time they brought this game along with them. We played it all dang weekend. Right before they left to go back to their dad's house, I hid this game from them so that they'd go back home without it and I could play it for two weeks straight. My plan worked like a charm. Well, for a few days at least. My brother walked in on me playing it and was like: "They were looking all over for that game! I knew you took it!"
He ended up taking the game from me and holding it until my stepbrothers came back, and then gave it back to them. They barred me from playing it ever again. I was so mad. But at least I had gotten a few days worth of play time out of the game and had been able to beat it.
I wouldn't play this game again for about 15 years or so, when I met a girl named Jessica that I dated for a while. She had an NES and a copy of this game. I remember sitting down to play it, and all the fun memories came crashing back.
Again, I wouldn't play this game for an extended period of time, probably another 15 years. In fact, it was just last week that I got the TMNT: Cowabunga Collection for the PS4. One of the first games I played on the collection was this game. Again, the memories came crashing back. I instantly fell in love with the game, despite some frustration with the difficulty level of the last two bosses.
Before I spoil too much about my feelings for the game, I suppose we should dive into the official review.
Story:
There's not much to see here, but really, who plays these kind of games for their stories? You play as one of the Ninja Turtles as you battle through a series of stages, looking to rescue April and Splinter from the Foot Clan. Your battle takes you through sewers, city streets, burning apartments, and a frozen version of Central Park as you make your way to the Technodrome for the final battle with Krang and Shredder.
Again, the story isn't much to write home about, but I have to say that this version of the game does a much better job of capturing the spirit of the Ninja Turtles than the original NES game ever did.
Gameplay:
If you know beat 'em ups, you'll know how this game works. D-pad aside, there are two buttons you can use: the jump button and the melee attack button. I quickly discovered while playing this that the way to go is to hit jump and attack at the same time to unleash a super powerful attack that kills your enemies in one or two hits. Unlike other games, using this attack does not diminish your health meter, so I used it freaking constantly.
At the end of each stage, you will fight a boss character. The stages themselves aren't too difficult, it is mainly these boss encounters that will drain you of your extra lives. That said, most of these bosses are fairly easy once you figure out their attack patterns. The only super difficult bosses are Krang and Shredder. I abused the crap out of save states in order to beat this game. This is a relatively long game with a lot of button mashing involved. I didn't mind playing through this game dozens and dozens of times as a kid in order to be able to beat it, but in my wise old age I simply don't have time for that.
This is a two player game, but for this review I only played through it in single player mode. When my son is older you can bet your sweet patootie that we're going to spend hours and hours playing this and all the other Ninja Turtles games out there.
Graphics:
Obviously this game isn't going to look as good as its advanced arcade counterpart, but it looks really good! Never once when I was playing through this did I think the game looked ugly or outdated. The levels are well-designed (love the product placement!) and the characters look really nice. Visually, everything comes together quite well to create a really fun and authentic TMNT experience.
Sound:
This game has such a great soundtrack. I miss this era of gaming music. The NES produced so many games with banging soundtracks. I don't think there's a song on here I wouldn't put on my retro gaming music playlist. Really stellar audio design in this game that still stands up after over 30 years.
Overall:
I had SO much fun with this game. Everyone says that Turtles in Time is the definitive TMNT beat 'em up, but after playing through this again, I would have to beg to differ. Maybe it is just those rose-tinted nostalgia glasses talking, but I don't think so. I enjoyed this game in a much better way than Turtles in Time, Hyperstone Heist, the Manhattan Project, and really any other Turtles game out there. Aside from those last two boss battles, there wasn't a single second of this game that I did not enjoy.
And I am sure it will only get better, too, when my kiddo is old enough to play this with me. Man, I can't wait. I don't know if I can give this game a perfect score due to its repetitive nature, but it comes dang close. Dang close.
THE GRADE:
A
All my other TMNT game reviews:
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