365//365: Day 222 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game (NES)

Being a kid in the late 80′s and early 90′s kicked ass! The arcade scene was booming, offering a myriad of arcade games through various genres, catering to nearly every type of gamer. The arcade scene was also where the beat ‘em up genre became so over saturated, that it’s more than likely you’ll find a Smurfs beat ‘em up arcade game if you look hard enough. The rise and fall of this genre had a predominant role in the arcades, more so than the consoles. One of the most beloved titles from that genre and within the arcade scene was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game. With a cartoon-like facade, four player action and killer soundtrack, TMNT: The Arcade Game remains one of gaming’s finest single or multiplayer experience in an arcade cabinet.

Naturally, a Super Nintendo….scratch that, an NES port was released. With the vastly inferior hardware, a perfect arcade conversion is something that was simply implausible. While it’s not a complete visual replication of the arcade smash hit, the gameplay retains enough semblance of the source material to give the experience enough merit.

TMNT2: The Arcade Game retains a faithful enough look to the arcade version, though the character models look much less imposing.

While the gameplay remains similar to the source material, the execution is slightly altered. With the arcade version, you are able to hack and slack at an enemy until they fall back. With the NES incarnation, there is a slight delay between your attack and when you’re allowed to land a damaging blow once more. The temporary invulnerability onl gets aggravating during boss fights, when you go from mashing away at Bebop until he falls back, to jump kicking him every 2 seconds in order to avoid any unnecessary damage. The feeling of the gameplay is similar, the execution is a bit altered, but in the end as an NES port of a vastly superior title, TMNT2 pulls off the job admirably enough.

The solid soundtrack and fitting thuds, slaps and clanks did not make the ride over as smoothly. While the musical performance tries its best to emulate the original, but ultimately comes short. The 8 bit renditions are above average for its time, though a little more work could have clearly made a difference for the better. The rest of the audio package holds some substandard effects across the board, with some sounds, particularly the attacks that land on a boss, not only seem out of place, but irritating as a whole. How jump kicking a boss produces a sound reminiscent of a laser beam piped through an empty oil drum, no one knows.

Although the look retains enough familiarity to know that this was a port, the character models are much smaller, looking a lot less menacing. The backgrounds look pretty impressive for its time, with mostly everything you can remember from the arcade game appearing, for better or worse. A lot of things have been simplified, but you’ll pretty much accept what is there and be thankful that what is present is there at all.

Konami added two exclusive stages to the NES port in what seems like a kind gesture to the shortcomings TMNT2 suffers. While they are nothing spectacular, the fact that this extends the length of the rather brief title, is something that players should be quite appreciative for. The snow and ice covered landscape of Central Park is a bit more enjoyable to run through than the Japanese themed one later on. There are also a couple of new foot soldier classifications, though they are nothing to write home about. These stages do not alter the original “story” or even add much at all other than extending the length of gameplay, which is positive enough.

The snow covered Central Park stage added intio the NES version is a welcome addition to the game, lengthening the overall experience.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade game is obviously inferior to its arcade counterpart, but the end result is surprisingly more fully fleshed than one would think. Go into this game fully knowing that it’s never going to reach the potential that TMNT: The Arcade Game did and you’ll appreciate what you have more. If you want a solid enough beat ‘em up title on your NES and for some reason have grown bored of the first two Double Dragon games, look no further than TMNT2: The Arcade Game.

Rating: 7.8