N-Philes

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Posted by Archived.

At its height, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise was the it thing for young children. Transformers, G.I. Joe, Power Rangers, and Pokemon have all held this distinction. It just so happens that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles defined my childhood. I had Ninja Turtle backpacks, shoes, Halloween costumes, action figures, stuffed animals, sheets, and pretty much anything else you can slap a logo on. My first grade photo features me proudly sporting my Raphael shirt.

The television show and first two movies were positively excellent. Of course, none of these held a candle to Konami's string of videogames from the late 80's through the early 90's. The first NES game was a little too hard for most TMNT fans, and was neglected by them the minute the arcade game was ported to the system. The Arcade Game was a classic in every sense of the word and I can't tell you how many days of my life I dedicated to beating that game. There was a third NES game, The Manhattan Project, but I never got a chance to play it. The Game Boy also sported three TMNT games in its heyday, first with the magnificent Fall of the Foot Clan, and then two with Back to the Sewers and Radical Rescue, both of which sadly couldn't compare to the excellence of the first game. The Sega Genesis saw The Hyperstone Heist, but the real shell-kicking was going down on the Super Nintendo with Turtles in Time. The fourth TMNT game to hit a Nintendo console is arguably the king of all beat-‘em-up titles. And then, in the year 1993, the franchise took a nosedive into oblivion with the release of the third feature film and subsequent release of the Street Fighter rip-off Tournament Fighters for the NES and SNES at the end of the year, the only bad Ninja Turtles game to ever hit the market.

The Ninja Turtles disappeared back into the sewers, coming up only for a blasphemous stint on a short-lived 1997 live action series. The book on the Ninja Turtles seemingly closed forever when the show was cancelled, and I would be lying if I didn't say that I shed a tear. A few years ago, the Turtle camp began churning out a few juicy new rumours, most notably that a CG-animated movie would be produced by John Woo in the vein of the old Eastman and Laird comic book series, presumably aiming for a PG-13 rating. While they did prove true, the project was ultimately scrapped. However, in February of 2003, a new, darker Ninja Turtles series premiered on the Fox Box to acclaim of most Turtle fans. This show was edgy, true to the comic (a lot of the first episode's dialogue is taken straight from the first issue), and the fight scenes were amazing. The Foot Clan was returned to human form and, unlike how they've been portrayed previously, they're actual ninjas and quite a force to be reckoned with. Around the show's debut, Konami decided that it was high time that they revived their classic videogame line, with the release of the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game in ten years on the Gamecube.

I must first express my chief concern with this game, which is the accessibility of the Ninja Turtles to today's children. The Turtles are nowhere near as big now as they were ten years ago, and I would wonder if the new show and this game are being targeted towards children or the people like myself that grew up with the Turtles. Members of the latter group have extensively hyped this game, and I would wager to guess that majority of the sales will fall into that demographic. Judging from the look, feel, and difficulty, no one can safely call TMNT a "kiddie" game.

Story

There is not really a true story that drives TMNT; it just follows the episode progression of the new series. Each stage is named after an episode, with cut-scenes usually straight from the show cutting up the stage up into five or six stages. I only had watched the first four episodes of the new series (I had decided waking up at 9:30 on a Saturday was too early), but from what I could see, they followed the series faithfully. There are a few issues with putting Casey Jones' introduction (Episode 4) in "Things Change" (Episode 1), but it didn't really affect the cohesiveness of the storyline at all.

The cut-scenes themselves are of two different breeds. The first is done with completely real-time graphics and is less than spectacular. The turtles just stand there breathing and read their dialogue (all without moving their mouths), which you then have to click through when they're done reading it. It's not great, but it gets the job done well enough, and better than all previous Ninja Turtle games. The second is video taken straight from the cartoon. The video compression could stand to be a little better, but considering the amount of footage that made it onto the tiny Gamecube disc, I am very impressed. On a side note, all of these can be blitzed through with the simple press of the A button, in case you don't want to watch the same scene over and over again because you died (oh, if only Golden Sun had this). Since all of the levels accurately reflect the environments just depicted in the cut-scenes, the illusion of playing in the television show is effectively recreated.

Gameplay

When I originally saw the Nintendo 64 and its four controller slots, the first thing I thought was, "Man, I can't wait for a Ninja Turtles game." Four controllers, four turtles, it seemed too perfect. That generation came and went, but soon a new Turtles game was announced for the Cube and it looked as if my dreams would come true. I was sadly mistaken, because for some reason unbeknownst to me, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has only a two-player mode. I blame the PS2, but that system has a multi-tap, so I honestly don't know. That's not to say that it isn't fun with just one or two players, but the Ninja Turtles were meant for a four player showing. If anything, that is probably the largest flaw of the game.

Do you remember when Miyamoto said that the reason the A button is so large is because he wanted to create games that were so basically simple that you'd only have to push one button. I think the guys over at Konami took this to heart, because all you do is push the A button as fast as you can. You technically have four attacks: Throw Shuriken (Y), Uppercut (R), Strong (B), and Weak (A). The Shuriken is too weak to really cause any damage, and you only have ten of these to use. The Uppercut and Strong Attacks, while powerful, are too slow to justifiably to use in a combat situation. You'll get hit before you can even land a punch. So that pretty much just leaves the Weak Attack, which is so mad quick that you can string together combos. This works especially well when you're being ganged up on, and can change targets just by moving the joystick to evenly spread the damage. And truth be told, the Weak Attack really isn't that weak. Another move is the Dash (L), which gives your Turtle a mild speed burst. The X button controls jumping (and an extra tap in mid-air will give you a double jump), and I can't help but think that that button placement is somewhat questionable. Usually, most games utilize either A or Y and on rare occasions B, but never X. I mention this only because the Jump Attack (X and then either A or B) is extremely difficult to pull off (I guess that's what button configurations are for). Oh, and don't try to do the Jump Attack for the entire first stage, Master Splinter "teaches" it to you in a training stage later on.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a straight hack and slash action title. Nothing more, nothing less. Some people I know have gone so far as to call it shallow, and I can only wonder what they could have possibly expecting. As long as it was the same kind of button mashing that I grew up on (Battletoads, Golden Axe, and Turtles in Time), then I was sure to be love the game. And to that end, it manages to take the classic formula of the beat-‘em-ups of yesterday and successfully translate them into 3D. There is no 3D platforming, RPG elements, or deep plotline. It is simply beating up a group of two to five members of either the Purple Dragons or the Foot Clan and then moving onto another small band before finally reaching a boss. Boss fights require a little thought, but usually nothing more than figuring out their patterns hitting during their downtime between attacks. And you know what? It was fun then, and it's fun now.

On a few of the old TMNT games, namely the final two Game Boy games, there is a stark contrast between the four turtles. Raphael and Michelangelo had the quickest attack, but shortest range and weakest attack. Conversely, Donatello had the strongest attack (I would think Leonardo's twin swords would be more powerful than a stick, but I digress) and longest range, but the slowest attack. Supposedly, in this game, all of the Turtles are statistically balanced, but I think that's a lie. I originally set out on my quest as Raphael (he is my favorite after all), and while quick, he wasn't doing the damage I desired. I switched to Leonardo (whom is my least favorite) because his swords looked like they could cause some damage. I do not know if there is an actual difference or that I just happened to be a little more acclimated to the controls and gameplay mechanics playing a second time through with Leo, but the game seemed remarkably easier. The cut-scenes also alter slightly depending on which Turtle you select. For instance, you won't meet Casey Jones if you're playing as Leonardo, but you will as Raph.

The biggest addition to the franchise is the inclusion of saving. Turtles in Time had somewhere around fifteen levels, which you had to beat all in one sitting. It could be done in about two hours or so, but it was still a mammoth undertaking. This new game has considerably more levels though, with each major stage divided into five or six areas. Each area is recommended to take around four to ten minutes to complete (the stat screen at the end of an area says how long the level should have taken). At the outset of a stage, you are given six continues (which function the same as lives). There are no one-ups to be found, nor can you get an extra life when you hit a finite amount of points. You can recover health by cracking open boxes, but you will rarely find pizza. Most of the time you only get soda, hot dogs, and burgers. Now what kind of message is that sending to our children? When those six lives are gone, they're gone, and even if you're on the boss of the final area, you'll have to restart the stage over again. One time I was fighting a boss and thought I had spent my final life, and threw a little tantrum which included chucking my Wavebird across the room (perhaps wireless isn't the best way to go) and uttered a few choice words at the television before I noticed that still had an extra life (minor confusion on whether 1 or 0 was the final life, I've played games with both). The phrase, "Forty-five minutes down the drain has been uttered many a time while playing this game."

To spice it up a bit, in between every two or three stages, there is a Dojo Training Stage where Master Splinter sets out to teach you a new ability. It's here that you get the Jump Attack. One of the Dojo missions was nigh impossible though. I had to kill thirty Foot Soldiers without getting hit once. And this is not like in Smash Brothers, where every enemy only takes one hit; they each need about five, and I would argue the merits of putting this level so early in the game (if you don't beat it, you can't continue). It took me hours, but I finally figured out the nuances of the battle (note: the Dash is your friend). I was handsomely rewarded with an offensive stat boost, and coupled with my awesome powers of concentration (you do not kill thirty Foot Soldiers without becoming a master of the game), I quickly dispensed of the next few stages with barely sustaining a hit. Yeah, you can "ooh" and "ahh," I'm the man.

Visuals

When the first images of TMNT were unveiled, I made a point of showing them off to all my friends and family. They were absolutely flooring. Konami went all out for this game, going for a cel-shaded look (it's funny how my most eagerly anticipated games this year were Wind Waker, Viewtiful Joe, and XIII) to recreate the look of the animated series. Let me tell you that they succeeded. There is not a single jaggie to be found in this game. It's beautiful. Every enemy is modeled perfectly after their hand-drawn television counterparts. My personal favorite foe is the "Invisible Ninja" who is just a semi-transparent Foot Soldier. It's hard to try and track them down, and they just look stylish. As for the Foot Clan, after you kill one, they disappear into a wisp of black smoke. Very cool indeed. Bosses are huge; some are easily fifteen times the height of the Turtles.

As for the level design, it's magnificent. The dojo stages take place in the Turtles' sewer lair and are a perfect recreation of their home in the show. Each area takes place in a different location, ranging from a rooftop to a junkyard to a bridge to an art museum. My personal favorite is on top of an 18-wheeler. You can't actually fly off, but the wind will push you and your foes to the back of the vehicle. It was little things like that that made me think, "Gee, well they've never tried that before. Other levels of note include trudging through the sewers and fighting on a platform that is suspended by helicopter while flying over the city.

Audio

Forget everything you ever knew about the old Ninja Turtles: the voices, the music, everything. It's all gone. The soundtrack still gets my toe-a-tappin' with its electric guitar riffs, sometimes it feels a little out of place though. All of the sound effects, like attacking robots gives off a clang whereas bopping a Foot Soldier gives off a thwap (which is further illustrated by the world emanating off the body a la the 60's Batman or XIII). The vocal talent for the show reprises their respective roles as well. The voices themselves sound less like the original and more like those in the movie. Raph sounds almost identical and Donatello has just a hint of Corey Feldman in him. I love it all, I really do.

This game gets an N-Philes score of A-.

Quite simply, I love this game. Sure, they're not the same Turtles, music, nor gameplay per se, but that doesn't mean it isn't great. And I know nostalgia is still heavily figuring into my opinion of this game. Would I feel any different about it if it were the exact same game only with Street Sharks or the Power Rangers in place of the Turtles? Probably, but that still does not take away from the fact that this game is great to pick up and play with a friend on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Enjoy it, my friends, and your childhood that's not yet gone.

Posted in: Reviews

Comments (0) | Permalink | Digg | Reddit