Remi-NES-cing: Turtles Kick Shell In The Arcade, Then On NES
As discussed in the previous entry, our favorite fighting mutated turtles didn’t exactly receive the best of starts on the NES platform. Their franchise kicked off with a subpar game which was vastly inferior in every way to the games that would follow. While the original cart was frustrating players everywhere in June 1989, a true representative of what a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game could be was stealing the lunch money and allowances of thousands of kids worldwide, the TMNT Arcade Game.
Featuring detailed full-color graphics, challenging levels and four-player compatibility, the TMNT Arcade Game was a player’s (and fan’s) dream come true. Apart from the aforementioned features, the game displayed a full intro featuring the classic TMNT theme song and filled the levels with recognizable enemies from the animated television series. Foot clan? Hordes of them, in all colors and carrying various weapons. Rocksteady and Bebop? Everyone’s favorite bumbling bad guys are here (twice in the arcade, and once each in the NES version). You say you wanted mousers? Try battling a giant one. Krang? The diabolical pink brain takes you on (artificial body and all) in the final level, before Shredder himself also appears. The lack of instant character recognition in the prior NES game does not show up here, which makes fans of the series feel right at home. Also, the easy learning curve as it relates to the controls made this a popular title for groups of friends to just go to an arcade, pick up the game and play. All one needs to know is the jump and attack buttons, and that a special attack can be performed by each turtle by pressing both buttons simultaneously.
Now, with the game having been out for the better part of a year, and resulting in a mass loss of disposable childhood income, the game was ported to the NES under the name of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game”. If you want to know why it was “TMNT II”, read the prior edition of “Remi-NES-cing” to see why Ultra Games left players with a serious case of shell shock in the first game. The NES edition of the TMNT Arcade Game plays very similar to its source version, with some differences of course. Being that the NES was only a 2-player system at most, the ability for a gamer and three of their friends to face Shredder and his minions all at the same time was gone. In addition, hardware limitations would necessitate the removal of the detailed graphics, cut scenes and voice clips so prominently featured in the arcade version. While these touches are somewhat missed, in the grand scheme of things they ultimately do not detract from what is one of the most timeless and fun beat-’em-up action games ever. Eagle-eyed players may also notice the addition of graphics advertising a famous pizza restaurant (it’s the turtles, what else?) in level backgrounds in the NES version…I swear, the corporate suits will find a way to latch onto anything. Talk about not-so-veiled subliminal marketing.
Two key differences as it pertains to the arcade and NES versions have to do with a level boss, as well as two additional levels themselves. In the original arcade version, the turtles would dispatch arguably the dumbest henchmen of all time in Rocksteady and Bebop individually in the first two levels, then face them both in a “tag-team” match (for lack of a better phrase) at the end of the fifth level. For the NES home version, the players instead do battle with deranged scientist Baxter Stockman. By this point, players will have already defeated the hair-brained madman in human form, but this time he returns in his mutated insect form and is a lot tougher. For the uninitiated who may be wondering how a sniveling, failed runt of a scientist is transformed into a homicidal insect, let classic animated history enlighten you:
Furthermore, two additional levels were added to the NES version, one of which was a snowfield that ended with players battling an evil, leather jacket-wearing polar bear….ok. To elaborate, the polar bear doing the bad Fonz impersonation was in control of a weathermaker, an electronic device that will change the weather of the environment in which it’s located at the whim of its controller. And since he’s a polar bear, of course NYC was going to be turned into a frozen tundra, a plot device which literally escaped the logical thought process of my 6-year old self who played this game years ago. I’m sure if Raphael were here, he’d make a smart-ass remark alluding to my dense-ness, and in this case he’d be correct.
For those who really want to play the game, but can’t find an arcade with the original version, or an NES to play the home edition, here’s some info for you. A port of the original arcade edition was included in the X-Box game “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Battle Nexus”, and in the X-Box Live Arcade for 400 Microsoft points. For those who want to again play the NES home edition, fear not, for it will soon be available on the Wii Virtual Console. TURTLE POWER LIVES!
P.S. For some serious comedy, go onto Youtube and check out some satire videos called “TMNT: Bastardized”. If you’re a fan, this is a guaranteed crack-up!
