Turtle soup has never tasted so good before.
Every game here can be swapped for its Japanese version, if you wish to check some regional differences such as Aska in the SNES version of Tournament Fighters. Pretty much every game offers some sort of Enhancement that can be toggled, from something as overpowered as God Mode, to something more functional, such as eliminating slow-down and sprite flickering or enabling Bosses in the Tournament Fighters. Pretty dope! As per usual with these collections, you get Save States, one per game, and a rewind function. They also went the extra mile with the "Watch" mode, in which the CPU plays the game for you... and you can drop in mid-watch and play the rest yourself at any time! About the only gripe I have is that you can't toggle options in the Arcade games.
And before I get into the games, which are ordered in the order I played them, it's also worth mentioning that the game has a ton of scans, from ads of the games to the instruction booklets, so there's a lot to see in between games as well.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project
I used to play this one a lot back when I was younger with my family, so I'm probably biased towards it. Regardless, it's a brilliant beat'em up, it has many distinctive stages and a lot of variety in the enemy department, thanks to color-coded Foot Ninja. It's 7 stages long, so it doesn't overstay its welcome either.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters(NES)
I already wrote about this one a few years ago, and there's not much else I could say about it. It's a fighting game on the NES, of course it doesn't work very well... but considering the hardware? It's an admirable effort. And it IS a bit of fun.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan
This one is very boring. It's a 2-D sidescroller in which you very slowly move to the right defeating everything that comes your way. All four turtles seem to play identically.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers
Another disastrous sequel to the previous game. It's pretty much identical, but each Turtle has a separate lifebar and you can swap between levels. The second to last level is a mess, you have to move up and right, and it's hard to know if you are making any progress. It's way cheaper than the first due to some honestly cheap enemy placement, as well as some sections having enemies respawning quickly and indefinitely. Not looking good for the Handheld TMNT games, to be honest.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue
Just as things were growing grim we get Radical Rescue, this one is a sort of Metroidvania. You start of as Mikey, and only Mikey, thrown into a large map. Your objective is to rescue the other turtles, by defeating bosses and collecting keys to open their cells. Each turtle has a unique ability to help with exploring the world, for example, Mikey can glide, Ralph can crawl, Leonardo can smash fragile block beneath him and... and it's Donnie, not Ralph, who can somehow cling to walls and climb them. The map is a bit hard to understand, since it doesn't show how everything connects, but you can add map icons, via game enhancements, to help you. This one is rather good, surprisingly so considering the two previous games, but it can get a bit tedious when it feels like you are trying to find your way someplace.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters(Genesis)
I wrote about this one a few years ago as well and I hated it. I don't know if they changed something, but this time around it was much easier to get to the end... not that it matters, as the game is still not very good. The sprite-work is very subpar, the proportions are kinda wonky, the Turtles' heads just look wrong, and the animations should've had more frames of animation. And even if it's easier, the AI is still insufferable, and it can get downright unfair when the Triceraton can get over half of your life bar out of a grab.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(NES)
I had never played this one more than a few minutes before. It's kinda interesting and kinda weird, because you get an overworld to explore, and it only turns into a sidescroller when you enter buildings or sewers. Each turtle has different range for their attacks and their own lifebars. It's not awful, but it hasn't aged very well, and you'll only get the most out of it using the built-in rewind and save states options.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game(NES)
A port of the original Arcade game, it's similar to The Manhattan Project, which would come out later, but slightly not as good. The gameplay is basically identical, but Manhattan project has more interesting locales, enemies and sections, such as surfing. It has more stages than the Arcade original, but less attack animations and the graphics are, obviously, not as good.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Arcade)
The first TMNT game by Konami, it's pretty good. It's a by the numbers beat'em up game, so you know the drill, move right and bash everyone in your way mashing the attack buttons. The graphics are really nice, the game is very colorful and the sprites captures the look of the show quite well, even if it looks a bit rough at times. It's a bit weird in some ways, for instance, there are no grabs, but randomly, when mashing the attack button, you'll instantly grab the enemy, only applies to basic enemies, and throw it, for an instant kill. The game is so basic that it's probably more fun with other players, but I found it entertaining even though when I played it I had just finished the NES port, which could've made me grown tired of it, but it's better enough as not to feel like I was replaying the game again.
Funnily enough, I went back to my original write ups of these two last games and... it turns out I preferred the NES version back then! But I was wrong!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time
Another TMNT game I played but never too much of. Well, I finished it now, and it was a step up from the previous game. It has way better graphics, as the sprites look prettier and less rough now, the colors are brighter and now it features more baddies from the show. The game is more dynamic, as now we get more and better attack animations, and now the random-grab that happens sometimes as you bash on enemies may lead to different results, including throwing enemies towards the camera.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time(SNES)
So, you'll be playing this game and thinking that it's a pretty good port... until you reach level 3 and you find yourself fighting the Rat King. Weird, this level had no boss in the Arcade version! But then, instead of going back in time.... you visit the Technodrome and fight Tohka and Rahzar, as well as an early bout with Shredder, and then, and only then do you go back in time. Yes, sire, this is an expanded version of Turtles in Time. There are a few new enemy types, and the move in which you throw enemies towards the screen can be done at will. Lastly, the game is a bit slower, but it's also less slippery, which makes it feel better to play. It sounds like very small additions and tweaks, but it all adds up to make it a better game, despite not looking AS good. But hey, in the visual department its pretty close as well! It has a bunch of bonus modes, like VS player, as well.
Having played both versions of the game to completion... now I get it, I understand why people prefer this version over the Arcade original.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Hyperstone Heist
Weight and speed of the SNES version, but you can't do the grabs on command. But... what is this? After an intro sequence that is similar, but different, to the one from Turtles in Time, the first stage starts off in the sewers, completely new, then you move up to the streets, Turtles in Time's second stage, but instead of ending on a boss... you move back into the sewers, where you'll meet TiT's Pizza aliens. Eventually you fight Leatherhead, who uses the same sprite as in the SNES version and fights exactly the same way. But afterwards it turns into a different game. New environments, new bosses, similar gameplay. Stage 4 is a bit lame, as it makes you fight every boss you've fought again. I'd say it's superior to the Arcade TiT, but not as fantastic as the SNES port.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters(SNES)
I wrote about this one before as well, it's an absolute gem of a game, it looks way better than the other Tournament Fighters versions, and it plays leagues better as well, with responsive controls and decent gameplay. It's a hell of a game, and I'd say the best game in the collection, although that may vary depending on your tastes.
The Cowabunga Collection is a fantastic collection for any Turtles fan or anyone who played and enjoyed beat'em ups back in the day. There are plenty of bells and whistles to make replaying these oldies more enjoyable, which should be a must, but considering how some collections skimp on the features... yeah, it does everything right, and the games themselves range from mediocre to great, mostly on the latter camp.
9.0
No comments:
Post a Comment