Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time

"The Turtles Are Back.....In Time!"

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My Intro
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TMNT IV: Turtles in Time is probably the most popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game of the game franchise of the late '80s and early '90s. It's even my personal favorite of the series.

To this day the TMNT are still popular, as evident by the recent CGI movie and the 2003 cartoon. Even on the day I write this review, TMNT is in the lead on a Gamefaqs poll called "What is your favorite beat'em up series?" However, today is nothing compared to 13-20 years ago. In the late '80s and 'early '90s, Turtle-mania was sweeping the U.S. Even I was a big fan of the franchise back in the day. I even went trick or treating as Raphael one year, although it would have been Michaelangelo if they would had the costume as Mikey was always my favorite.

If you are not old enough to remember those days, you missed out on the extreme height of popularity for the Turtle gang. It might even be comparable to the craze Pokemon was when it first arrived in the U.S. a few years ago. Three live action movies, a cartoon (that I loved second only to The Real Ghostbusters as stated in my TMNT II review), and a big line of action figures. Someone knew what they were doing when the Turles came to be. During this time, several TMNT games were released by Konami based on the '80s cartoon. One such game is this that I'm about to review.

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The Story - 10/10
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The turtles and Splinter are watching April O'Neal reporting a story with the Statue Of Liberty quite visible in the background. As she is talking, Krang suddenly flies in with his body and steals the statue. Shredder then appears on television threatening the turtles.

With the event in mind, the turtles have no choice but to find the Technodrome, challenge Krang and Shredder, and rescue the the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, just as they find Shredder, he sends the turtles through a time warp. Now trapped in time, the turtles must fight their way home to finish the job.

The story is pretty thought out. It goes from a simple "Save the day!" story to you having to find a way home from different time periods. At least the developers didn't go with another ultra-simple "Oh no, [insert name here] has been kidnapped! We gotta save them!" Which isn't bad, but just overused in my opinion.

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Graphics - 10/10
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The graphics are pretty good and reminiscent of the cartoon. The colors and backgrounds are sharp and crisp. The developers didn't get skimpy in this area. Is that ever a bad thing? Nope. There's not really much I can say for this that wouldn't just be repeating myself. Rest easy knowing there's nothing in this game that will make your eyes bleed from horror.

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Enemies - 10/10
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As with the other games, most of the enemies in the game come straight out of the '80s cartoon. There's Shredder, Baxter Stockman (now in his fly form), Beebop and Rocksteady, footsoldiers, Mousers, etc. As usual, the footsoldiers come in different variations unlike in the movie where pretty much the only ones you ever saw were the purple-clad ones.

However, believe it or not, two mutant enemies from the second live action TMNT movie, Rahzor and Tokka, actually make a cameo in the game as bosses in one level. I always thought this was an interesting move with how the game is obviously based on the cartoon and not the movies and Rahzor and Tokka were never in the cartoon. Ah well, I'm not complaining. They make pretty good bosses.

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Music - 10/10
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The music and sounds in the game are excellent as well. Before the start menu, the game even begins with the actual non-lyrical version of the TMNT theme song and opening of the light shooting from the sewer opening from the cartoon. The music sounds pretty "hefty" too and not like it's straining just to be heard.

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Levels - 10/10
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The levels are another good aspect of the game. With the time travel aspect of the storyline, you'll be seeing quite a bit of varying level designs. You'll go from a highrise building being constructed to the Technodrome, prehistoric lands to New York City in the future.

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Replayability - 10/10
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This game just never really dies out with the fun for me. I can play this game time after time and still find it to be very fun. There's even more so if you're a fan of the franchise.

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My Overall Opinion
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TMNT IV: Turtles in Time was a great game. It was fun for my cousin and I back then. It's fun for me today. I think this is definitely a game that has aged well since it was created. If you can ever find this game, I would suggest getting it, especially for any Turtles fan. If you liked the NES titles and/or the arcade game, you are almost bound to enjoy this one.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/21/07