What it was
Shredder has kidnapped April and holds a gun that could turn Splinter back into a man. You take the four brothers across New York in six missions, from the streets and a Hudson River dam to rooftops, JFK airport and the Technodrome, walking an overhead map and dropping into side-scrolling sewers and buildings for the fighting.
Only one turtle is on screen at a time, and you swap between them from a menu. Each weapon has its own speed, power and reach, so each turtle suits different enemies and gaps. Lose a turtle and the Foot Clan holds him prisoner until you find him, which is possible only once per area from the third mission onward. Lose all four and it is over. Pizza, in slices, halves or whole pies, restores health. The second mission, defusing timed bombs underwater, is the part everyone remembers.
Where it sits in history
Konami made it and published it through Ultra Games, a label it created in part to get around Nintendo of America's limit of five releases per publisher a year; Europe got it through a sister label, Palcom. It came out in Japan on 12 May 1989 and North America that June, one of the first games based on the 1987 cartoon. In Britain and Europe it was renamed Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, and a console bundle built around it helped the NES pass Sega's Master System in Britain over Christmas 1990.
It was a huge hit, selling more than four million cartridges and earning Konami $125 million by the end of 1990, and Nintendo Power readers voted it the best game of the year. It also began a long-running habit in Turtles games of pizza as the health item. Konami followed with the arcade game and years of sequels.
How it plays today
Parts still work. The music is strong, the overworld gives a sense of a city to explore, and swapping between turtles adds a layer of strategy the arcade game lacks. Deciding which brother to risk, and which to save for the boss, is a real choice.
Mostly, though, it is hard in ways that feel unfair. Enemies respawn the moment you step back and appear right on top of you, some jumps in the later missions are close to impossible, and flicker and slowdown are common. The dam level is a genuine barrier for many players, and the late platforming is harder still. Many of the enemies look nothing like the show's characters. It is a fascinating piece of history, but most people will want save states.
Compared with
Why it matters
Most kids who played TMNT in 1989 already had a favourite turtle, and the game made you pay for it. Each brother's weapon has its own speed, power and reach, and losing one means the Foot Clan holds him prisoner. So you choose who to risk, who to save for the boss, and which brother you can bear to lose in the dam level.
James Paul Gee calls the bond between player and character a projective identity: a blend of the real self and the character, shaped by what the player wants that character to be. The favourite-turtle question was never only about reach. It was about who you were: the leader, the joker, the brain, the hothead. Swapping between four brothers let a child try on four selves in an afternoon, and feel real guilt when one got captured. The game was cruel. The attachment is why it stung.
Read: Who you are when you play →
- Gee, J. P. (2003). What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy.
Verdict · 6/10
A best-seller with real ambition and a reputation for cruelty that it earned. Play it for the history and the dam level; keep your expectations modest.
