Gaming Anniversaries May 12 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Released May 12’th, 1989 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Released on May 12’th, 1989 for the Famicom in Japan. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Despite being a bad game, Teenage Mutant ninja Turtles is one of the most iconic games of the NES era. Developed and published by Konami in Japan and by Ultra Games (Also Konami) in the US.

As a side-scrolling action game with some top-down elements. The gameplay is fairly simple. Upon starting the game, the player chooses one of the four turtles and starts in a top-down city environment. Avoiding the steamrollers that will crush your chosen hero into the ground you must find sewer entrances in order to defeat enemies, collect power-ups and progress the game. The story is actually fairly interesting. The turtles are tasked with retrieving the Transformer Gun from the evil Shredder. Who also incidentally, has the famous reporter, April O’Neil held hostage by Bebop and Rocksteady. After which, the turtles need to defeat a series of bombs and difficult challenges to finally defeat Shredder.

Gameplay

The gameplay is fairly simple. Upon starting the game, the player chooses one of the four turtles and starts in a top-down city environment. Avoiding the steamrollers that will crush your chosen hero into the ground. You must find sewer entrances in order to defeat enemies, collect power-ups and progress the game. The story is actually fairly interesting. The turtles are tasked with retrieving the Transformer Gun from the evil Shredder. Who also incidentally has the famous reporter, April O’Neil held hostage by henchmen Bebop and Rocksteady. After which, the turtles need to defeat a series of bombs and difficult challenges to finally defeat Shredder.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was never considered a great game. Most folks consider the game completely awful and more often than not, poo-poo its existence. Although it is still considered a classic. The game went on to sell over four million copies in the US and a great deal more in the UK and in Japan. Leading to several more sequels and even more success for the brand in the 1980’s.

 

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