For those that grew up in the Turtlemania craze, what to you think of the infamous first NES game?

[shadowman16]

The dam stage isn't anything compared to the nonsense that comes afterward, btw.

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Darn straight. Never understood why the Dam was always the talking point of the game whenever I see it mentioned because I never really saw it as hard back in the day. There's plenty of health around before and after the stage and you have four turtles. Once you learn where the bombs are, its a pushover. There's way more dangerous stuff in later levels by comparison, the bit that got me was always the final stage in the Technodrome (one particular enemy was a nightmare to fight against). Final boss is hilariously easy though. Don below Shredder basically stun locks him for instant win!

 

[tiesto]

if you guys think this game is conceptually interesting but a mess in terms of execution, you should try out Getsufuu Maden

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Literally just received a copy of this from Allan McCluskey's retro game sales (along with King Kong 2). There were so many great Konami Famicom games that never left Japan, I want to do a thread on it one of these days.

 

[andymcc]

Literally just received a copy of this from Allan McCluskey's retro game sales (along with King Kong 2). There were so many great Konami Famicom games that never left Japan, I want to do a thread on it one of these days.

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it's a neat game. great OST.

 

[Skiptastic]

I was a HUGE TMNT fan back in the day, but my friend owned it and we could never beat it, so I never bought it myself. I was always disappointed in how hard it was, especially the water level. Never beat it and am not a huge fan of the game. I also was super bummed because it didn't use the TMNT theme song motifs at all. The theme song was great on its own, but I didn't like the music all that much because it didn't feel like TMNT.

Then TMNT II: The Arcade Game came out and I had everything I had ever wanted. Then TMNT III: The Manhattan Project came out and it was more of what I wanted. I love those games so much and still listen to their soundtracks regularly.

 

[TheGhost]

Game was crap and not the arcade game. Was real bummed.

 

[andymcc]

Then TMNT II: The Arcade Game came out and I had everything I had ever wanted. Then TMNT III: The Manhattan Project came out and it was more of what I wanted. I love those games so much and still listen to their soundtracks regularly.

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There was a real novelty to getting the game for Christmas 1990, but, as someone that already had a Genesis and a Turbografx at that time, it was definitely a very "dated" feeling home conversion.

 

[BlockABoots]

Outside a few enemies, most of the enemies were incredibly bizarre. I was old enough to understand abstraction in video gaming, but tons of enemies just didn't feel like they belonged in the game at all.

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I always wondered if this game was something else before they got the Turtle license and just altered it to a TMNT game and left the majority of the original enemies in the game!?.

I didn't hate the game as a kid as only had a few other games so played it to death, i swapped it with Ghost N Goblins with a friend. Managed to get to the Technodrome stage which seemed to have a massive spike in difficulty and always used to get wasted by those flying robot guys

 

[tiesto]

Was super hyped for the game but it didn't live up to my expectations. Was expecting something along the lines of the arcade game (which was mindblowing for me as a kid caught in the midst of Turtlemania). Pre-pandemic, my friends and I had a "Ninja Turtle Gaming" day where we played a bunch of the early Turtles games - the first 3 for NES, the first 2 for Game Boy, the 360 port of the Arcade Game, and SNES Turtles in Time... all while eating pizza of course. So it was here I played it for the first time in ages - while I hesitate to call it a terrible game, it's definitely flawed. The confusing overworld maps where every area looks the same, twitchy jumping controls and weird hit detection, limited continues and no password save, ugly enemy design that doesn't at all resemble the show.

I never really had the trouble with the dam level that most others did, especially after a few runs and memorizing the layout. What's nice is that if you disarm a bomb and die, you don't have to re-disarm it.

 

[maximumzero]

It's not a great game by any stretch, but compared to similar NES games of its era it's not terrible either.

Brutally difficult in the second half though, again like most NES games of its era were.

 

[Akira86]

if it had more lives or unlimited continues, it would have been better. instead it had hard levels and I only ever made it so far, and never further. I think the dam level.

michaelangelo was useless.

 

[entremet]

I always wondered if this game was something else before they got the Turtle license and just altered it to a TMNT game and left the majority of the original enemies in the game!?.

I didn't hate the game as a kid as only had a few other games so played it to death, i swapped it with Ghost N Goblins with a friend. Managed to get to the Technodrome stage which seemed to have a massive spike in difficulty and always used to get wasted by those flying robot guys

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Apparently Konami didn't have much source material to work with.

 

[Rndom Grenadez]

i still have nightmares of the dam stage

fuckk

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This

 

[Skiptastic]

There was a real novelty to getting the game for Christmas 1990, but, as someone that already had a Genesis and a Turbografx at that time, it was definitely a very "dated" feeling home conversion.

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That's fair, but I didn't get a Genesis until 1995, and I only got a Nintendo in Christmas of 1991 or 1992...so I was pretty damn enamored with it!

 

[Zippedpinhead]

The first level is a lot of fun, but the difficulty spike of swimming in the dam level really destroyed young me. Then I got a game genie and could infinite health through just to get utterly and completely confused at level 3. I enjoyed the Arcade game NES release (and renting its sequel the Manhattan project) FAR more.

games were expensive back then, so the fact that I had not one but TWO turtles games just speaks to how obsessed I was with them.

 

[entremet]

There was a real novelty to getting the game for Christmas 1990, but, as someone that already had a Genesis and a Turbografx at that time, it was definitely a very "dated" feeling home conversion.

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Damn, you were rich, my dude.

 

[irradiance]

Loved it as a kid, but struggled with the final boss. There was a hint, "Use careful teamwork to win", but I didn't read much English at that age. So I asked my dad what "teamwork" meant. He suggested I call my British (and bilingual) cousin and ask him, so I did! He explained to me what "teamwork" meant, and I went back and beat the game!

 

[andymcc]

Damn, you were rich, my dude.

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i was an only child with a dad that played a lot of video games lol

my dad was a Master System fanatic. i think i learned to read watching him play Phantasy Star.

 

[Dary]

"They get stronger with how many hits they've taken"

WTF? I played this so much back in the day and never realised this.

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Michelangelo hits as hard as Donatello once he's low on health, with a much faster attack that covers a broader area. IIRC, I think Raph is stronger at full health? All the Turtles have their uses - people sticking to Don just because his strength was the most obvious might be why some had so much trouble with the game XD

Final boss is hilariously easy though. Don below Shredder basically stun locks him for instant win!

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Leo on the platforms above can stun-lock him in a corner, too. Was how I first beat him, back in the day, when I only had an old black and white hand-me-down TV from the 70s, and had to keep the game paused overnight because I was only allowed an hour of playtime per day!

 

[Like the hat?]

I didn't like it but I played the hell out of it.

 

[shadowman16]

Michelangelo hits as hard as Donatello once he's low on health, with a much faster attack that covers a broader area. IIRC, I think Raph is stronger at full health? All the Turtles have their uses - people sticking to Don just because his strength was the most obvious might be why some had so much trouble with the game XD

Leo on the platforms above can stun-lock him in a corner, too. Was how I first beat him, back in the day, when I only has an old black and white hand-me-down TV from the 70s, and had to keep the game paused overnight because I was only allowed an hour of playtime per day!

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Interesting to know about the health/damage stuff. I mainly used Leo and Don due to the range on their attacks, I'd keep the other two back for parts where I wanted to save Don/Leo for bosses or harder sections.

Nice one of completing the game, I know the feeling of leaving games on, hoping the games dont crash or fry as you try to get through a tough game!

 

[entremet]

Michelangelo hits as hard as Donatello once he's low on health, with a much faster attack that covers a broader area. IIRC, I think Raph is stronger at full health? All the Turtles have their uses - people sticking to Don just because his strength was the most obvious might be why some had so much trouble with the game XD

Leo on the platforms above can stun-lock him in a corner, too. Was how I first beat him, back in the day, when I only had an old black and white hand-me-down TV from the 70s, and had to keep the game paused overnight because I was only allowed an hour of playtime per day!

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Wait what? This game has a revenge mechanic? Wow lol.

Gotta love hidden mechanics in this old NES games.

 

[The Albatross]

I was a ghostbusters kid, not TMNT, and so thankfully I got to suffer between two difficult as fuck shitty games. I didn't hate the game as a kid, I just didn't love it.

for Turtles fans thankfully there were much better Turtles games. The side scrolling beat 'em ups on Genesis and in the arcade were amazing. Hyperstone Heist was such a great beat em up.

One difference between today and then or maybe being a kid and an adult, is that I didn't care if I was playing the *latest* game. Most of the games I played were a couple years old, usually when I could rent it and so I had a choice between them

 

[Dary]

Nice one of completing the game, I know the feeling of leaving games on, hoping the games dont crash or fry as you try to get through a tough game!

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I've no idea how I got through that final section before Shredder, though. When I played it through a year ago, I was definitely abusing save states to clear it!

 

[andymcc]

I was a ghostbusters kid, not TMNT, and so thankfully I got to suffer between two difficult as fuck shitty games.

for Turtles fans thankfully there were much better Turtles games. The side scrolling beat 'em ups on Genesis and in the arcade were amazing. Hyperstone Heist was such a great beat em up.

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Ghostbusters also had the really great Genesis platform action game by SEGA and Compile, probably one of the most underrated licensed games:



Also, New Ghostbusters 2 on European NES/Famicom is a really underrated game too:

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

I wasn't a fan. Especially after seeing what was in the arcades.

 

[shadowman16]

I've no idea how I got through that final section before Shredder, though. When I played it through a year ago, I was definitely abusing save states to clear it!

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Yeah, I've managed this bit a few times legit but its definitely the point where I find the game hardest, especially with the amount of annoying enemies the game chucks at you!

 

[WyLD iNk]

Its difficulty is overstated. There was never anything that told players, but the current in the dam level, for example, can be avoided by simply not swimming over the trigger. And as I showed in a thread a few months back, it's absolutely possible to go through without taking damage at all.

It isn't a well designed game, sure, but there is a method to the madness, and exploits abound. I put it up there with other so-called difficult games like Ninja Gaiden and Mega Man 1. Manageable with perseverance.

Brutally flawed? Absolutely. Still playable? Yup.

 

[Dary]

Also, if people think the NES version was a mess, you should try the Spectrum port...

I remember that being my basis for comparison at the time, since I didn't see the arcade game for another year or two (as with the console industry at the time, British seaside arcades were always a ways behind the US).

 

[Akita One]

The very definition of cheap and unfair difficulty, with over-the-top fanservice that duped everyone that ever watched the cartoon. It would have flopped if the same game was released in the 90s or later.

"Why can't I get past this stupid box"
"OMG PIZZA REFILLS YOUR LIFE"

 

[Cipherr]

Now that I think about it, TMNT 2 must be up there with the greatest sequels of all time.

Like..... Street Fighter 2 and Terminator 2 tier.

 

[andymcc]

Now that I think about it, TMNT 2 must be up there with the greatest sequels of all time.

Like..... Street Fighter 2 and Terminator 2 tier.

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I mean... it's a compromised port of the first entry of an arcade series? Maybe you could make the case for Turtles in Time? The Nintendo Turtles games shouldn't have numbered the arcade game port