Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time

"The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at their best!"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time is a great game. It was originally on the Arcade (I found that version inferior, however), but it then got ported to the Super Nintendo with a couple of changes. This game is a Beat 'Em Up, and it's really lots of fun. It never gets old, and is always fun to play.


Story: 8/10

When you start the game, you'll see a scene where Shredder appears on the Turtle's screen in their lair. Krang steals the Statue of Liberty, and now the Turtles must stop Shredder and Krang and get the statue back. They must go through a variety of levels and many tough battles until they reach Shredder himself.


Gameplay: 9/10

In this game, you go through many stages as you defeat Shredder's army of Foot Soldiers. There are many Foot Soldiers, and they each use different attacks. Some of them will shoot an arrow or something and then quickly run off the screen. For each soldier you kill, you get a point added to your score. For every 200 points you obtain, you get an extra life. It's also possible to throw an enemy, which is required to win one boss battle in the game. Every time you throw an enemy, you get two points added to your score rather than one. There are other enemies you will fight besides Foot Soldiers, however, such as Mouser Robots. Your life is determined by the bars at the top of the screen. Once you lose all of those bars, you lose a life. You only have a set amount of continues, although it's possible to set them to what you want on each difficulty (only to a certain amount on each one, though). This game takes anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour to beat, depending on how good you are and what difficulty you play on. Each boss in the game has red life bars, and it takes a few hits to take off each one. Shredder, at the end of the game, has the most out of all the bosses. You're able to choose all four Turtles, although there's not really a difference in any of them, so it doesn't matter which one you choose. This game is also possible to play 2-player mode on.

Not only can you play co-op, but you can also duke it out with a partner in the Versus Mode! Choose your favorite Turtle to use and battle it out to the death with your friends. This mode is fun, although it isn't possible to play against a computer opponent, so you have to have a friend or someone to play it with. Overall, this game is long for a Beat 'Em Up, and it's highly enjoyable. Have fun trying to beat this game on the Hard difficulty. It's pretty hard without the help of a friend and without some skill.


Graphics: 8/10

The graphics of the game aren't bad at all, for a Super Nintendo/Arcade game. The background of each level and such looks neat, and the color of the Turtles and enemies looks good as well. The graphics aren't anything bad, and make the game that more enjoyable.


Sound: 9/10

The sound is also good. You'll hear the sound of a Turtle using his weapon, and you'll also hear the Turtle yell "Yaaah!" when you use a kick and such. You'll also hear the sound of an opponent being thrown and such. You'll hear an explosion sound when an enemy dies, and more. The sounds in the game aren't annoying, and are easily tolerable.


Music: 8/10

For a SNES/Arcade game, this game has good music, an example being the final battle with Shredder or just a boss battle in general. Normally I don't really care for the music in TMNT games, but this one is an exception. It has pretty good music overall, and some of the tracks you could listen to over and over.


Replay Value: 9/10

Once you beat the game, you'll find yourself coming back to it again and again. Not only that, but you can also try and beat it on all three difficulties: Easy, Normal, and Hard. Good luck with beating it on Hard, though; it is quite difficult, and I've never done it myself (without cheats, that is). You can also play the game with 2 players, and can even play the Versus Mode to duke it out with your friends. Overall, there's a lot of fun in the game, and it doesn't really ever get boring.


Buy or Rent?

If you are a fan of Beat 'Em Up games, buy. You can't rent Super Nintendo games these days, anyway. You can most likely find this game on eBay, or maybe even in a Pawn Shop or something similar. I highly suggest getting this game as soon as possible if you like Beat 'Em Ups. You won't regret it.


Overall: 9/10

After reviewing this whole game, I give it a score of a nine out of ten. This game is very fun, and is a great game to just pick up and play every once in awhile. I hope you enjoyed this review, and I hope it helped you make a decision on what you should do with this game. Until my next review, everybody!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/31/07

Game Release: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (US, August 1992)