Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time

"Let's Kick Shell!"

Follow me on a trip down memory lane, if you will. When I managed to get a Super Nintendo, Turtlemania was still going strong and I was overjoyed to learn that my beloved half-shelled heroes had made the jump from 8-bit to 16-bit along with me. Having enjoyed TMNT II and III, I fully expected number IV to entertain me as well. I was NOT disappointed, and it was a frequent rental in my house. But as the years moved on, Turtles became passe, Blockbuster emptied it's shelves of older titles as newer and more powerful systems came along, and eliminated SNES titles entirely. I knew then that my happy turtle days were over.

Until a trip to a GameStop store during my freshman year of college lead me to a used copy! Since then, I've introduced my friends to this long-lost gem and have been happily turtleling ever since.

STORY:

Oh yes, there has to be one. Look, it's a side-scroller, the story is about as important as the packaging. Okay, fine. Krang steals the Statue of Liberty, so you have to go kick his butt, he sends you back in time to get rid of you so you have to kick their butts during different time periods. There, that's the story. Like you were playing this for the story.

GAMEPLAY:

This is where it's at. Pick a turtle and use their weapon of choice to mercilessly pummel every Foot Soldier that comes across your path. This time around, though, you've got more than just the power to skewer or whack your opponents with ninja gear. Taking a nod from the street-fighting games of the time, your Turtles can also grab a Foot Soldier by the arm and beat them into the ground several times, a move that also hurts other soldiers stupid enough to to come near you. You also can grab a soldier and, if you're timing is right, toss them right at the screen! There is nothing quite like seeing a hapless Foot Soldier come flying at you. This is actually a vital move, because one of the bosses can only be beaten by hurtling the Foot Soldiers right at him.

Of course, the Foot Soldiers aren't just going to kick back and let you rip their circuitry out. They've come up with all kinds of ways to try and stop you, with a variety of weapons at their disposal. Then you've got a series of bosses, of course, all of whom will look quite familiar if you've watched the show and seen the first two Turtle movies.

In addition to normal levels, there are also two bonus levels where you on a surfboard, once through a sewer, the second in the far future, collecting bonus pizza and beating up other enemies for extra points. Points aren't just for bragging rights-every 200 you collect gets you another life.

But say you want your buddy to get in on some of this turtle action. Have no fear, for there's a two-player cooperative mode for the main storyline, as well as a small fighting game for just beating each other up as turtles.

While the gameplay is straight forward and easy to learn, the challenge picks up quickly, forcing you to be more and more skilled as the enemy prepares still better methods to make turtle soup out of you.

SOUND:

The music track of this game seems to have jumped right off the show, as it is lively while also screaming ''80's!'' at you. Oh well, the 80's weren't all bad. You'll find much of the music getting stuck in your head, but fortunately, they're catchy enough that you won't mind.

As for sound effects, there's a few voice clips, which blew my mind when I was 10 years old and not used to my games speaking to me, even if it was simple phrases such as ''Pizza time!'' and, of course, the requisite ''Cowabunga!'' There's also a certain joy in the sounds of the Foot Soldiers being reduced to scrap as you grab them and slam them into the ground.

REPLAY:

There's a few difficulty levels in this game, so you'll probably play each one at least once. The two-player aspect kicks things up a bit, though, because you can either go at it against each other or kill about an hour running through the storyline. It's not a particularly long game, and there's no save feature, though depending on your difficulty, you get a certain number of continues. I've been playing this one for years, though, so I think there's always a great deal of fun to be had in replaying this game!

BUY OR RENT:

Due to the fact that it can be cheaply acquired and not rented, if you love old-school side-scrollers or are a big Turtle Fan, I can whole-heartedly recommend tracking this title down at a used game store or off of eBay and settling in for several hours of fun and a few childhood memories to boot.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/24/02, Updated 11/24/02