Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time Review

During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the Ninja Turtles were the icons of all children. I have fond memories of waking up on Saturday mornings to play Manhattan Project with my father at around 5 am, and then watching the show when it came on later in the morning, after we defeated Shredder on our NES, of course. Despite impressive graphics for the time, a face-lift was in store and Konami delivered, in the form of TMNT IV.

The game’s graphics are lush and colorful. This is as close to the cartoon that any game has ever gotten, including the latest next-generation versions, which are based off of the new television show, a much darker side of the TMNT universe.

The only time that the game is blocky is when a foot soldier is thrown at the screen by one of your characters. The turtles’ animations are well done; walking, flipping, and running all are done well. The backgrounds are gorgeous and varied to keep the player entrenched in the action, without feeling the least bit repetitious.

The Foot Clan would have more of an enemy variety, at least you would think. You have your regular guys (purple), the guys with sai’s (blue), shuriken throwers (red), and more. While that might seem like quite a few, it does seem a bit repetitive after a while, but the boss fights always breathe fresh air into the game. The bosses featured within TMNT IV include Baxter, Rat King, Tonka, Rahzar, a robot controlled by Shredder, Slash, and more.

Each turtle, as in all TMNT games, has their own abilities. Beyond button mashing the B button, you can also throw enemies at the screen and slam them on the ground back and forth, which also damages nearby enemies. Jumping and kicking is an option, along with regular B button attacks with your weapon.

In addition to the single player mode, there is a two player versus mode, along with the ability to play two-player story mode. It is quite essential that you know that this is not a long game, it can be beaten in a couple of hours, especially with a friend. TMNT IV is the best TMNT game of the modern gaming era, as in post-NES. Don’t pass up the chance to purchase and/or play this, it is a SNES treasure.