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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an arcade game produced by Konami in 1989. It is a scrolling fighting game based on the popular comic and animated series of the same name. As with all merchandise relating to the Ninja Turtles, the name of this game was altered to Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles in the UK, due to censorship issues involving the word "ninja."
The player chooses from one of the four Ninja Turtles: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael. After Shredder kidnaps the turtles' friend April O'Neil and their mentor Splinter, they must give chase, save their comrades and defeat their nemeses.
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Controls
To perform a special attack, players press the “jump” and “attack” buttons simultaneously. This attack can kill foot soldiers in one hit and cause major damage to other enemies, including bosses. Leonardo, Michelangelo and Donatello all jump in the air and hit the enemy with their weapon, while Raphael rolls along the ground and finishes with a kick, possibly due to his small range.
The throw attack is automatic. The Turtles can only throw foot soldiers by extending their weapons and tossing them overhead killing the soldiers instantly. Donatello can throw a foot soldier easily because his bo staff extends for long distances. Michelangelo takes the most time because his nunchuks are very small.
Difficulty: The machine has Easy, Normal, Hard and Very Hard dipswitches. The number of enemies increase depending on the setting and how many players are currently playing. Very Hard with 4 Players is the maximum amount (There can be possible slowdown however).
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Enemies
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The majority of the enemies the Turtles must face are the Foot soldiers. They wear a different colored uniform depending on what weapon they have. Below is a complete of list of enemies from the arcade version:
Foot soldiers:
Purple: They are the most common enemy in the game. They can either be either unarmed or carry weapons such as spear or a missile. Occasionally, they hide in the background and throw a small stick of dynamite at the Turtles before coming in and fighting them in hand-to-hand combat. Unarmed soldiers usually jump-kick their way onto the screen, and they can punch the Turtles and grab them by the shoulders causing the Turtles to lose their energy. Players must wiggle the joystick and hit the buttons to free themselves. Spear soldiers first appear in the “Parking Garage” level, and are possibly the hardest normal enemy in the game. They attack by either jabbing the Turtles up close or by throwing them at a great distance. They do not throw the spear too often. When a spear soldier throws it, he becomes an unarmed soldier. Unfortunately, there is no way to deflect the spear. The missile soldiers only appear on the Highway level. They carry a missile over their head and aim for the Turtles by throwing them causing major damage. After that, they become unarmed foot soldiers. They also appear from a manhole armed with the manhole cover which they throw as frisbee, this however can be deflected back at the footsoldier, killing him instantly.
White: These soldiers are either armed with knives or a katana. The knife soldiers have an unlimited number of knives and they can either throw them across the screen or stab the Turtles from up close. The knives can be deflected. The katana soldiers either slash the Turtles or perform an aerial attack (jumping up and landing down with a slash). The aerial attack is not used often. Overall, the white soldiers are a common enemy in the game. White foot soldiers also have a blue tone to their clothes.
Orange: These soldiers are either armed with shuriken (ninja stars) or starting in the second part of level 1, a machine gun. The ninja star soldiers are easy to kill and their stars can be deflected. The machine gun soldiers are harder. They shoot a spray of bullets at a good distance. Also, they gun-butt the Turtles from up close. The best away to kill these types of soldiers is to jump-kick or use a special attack. Overall, these soldiers are fairly common.
Yellow: These soldiers are always armed with boomerangs. They throw a boomerang at a long distance and must stand still to catch it. The boomerangs can be deflected like the ninja stars and the knives. They can also use hand-to-hand combat from up close. The frequency of these soldiers is moderate.
Pink: These soldiers always carry a sledgehammer. Even though they are slow, their attack can cause major damage to the Turtles. Luckily, if they miss, they take a second to lift their hammers up and attack again. Attacks such as a throw or one-hit special are effective on them. They do not appear too often in the game. These soldiers mainly appear on the Skateboarding stage (although like the white footsoldier, have a blue tint to their clothes) but they make a tiny cameo in the Warehouse stage. They carry a green machine gun similar to the Orange ones or a fan. The Fan soldiers attack by sending out three waves at the Turtles from a distance. The Turtles should come up close to kill these kinds of soldiers.They are also piloting helicopters that fire machine guns and drop bombs.
Other enemies:
Roadkill Rodney: These enemies appear by drilling themselves up from the ground. They have the same two attacks: laser guns and an electric lasso. The electric lasso stuns them for a short period of time slowly taking away their energy so the Turtles have to hit the buttons and the joystick as fast as possible to let go. They take more hits to be defeated than a foot soldier.
Mousers: The Mousers are created by Baxter Stockman. They appear in the Sewers and Factory levels. They only have one attack: bite the Turtles by latching onto their arms and slowly taking away their energy. The Turtles can let go of an attacking Mouser by pressing the buttons and wiggling the joystick as fast as possible. They can be defeated in one hit. There is also an upgraded version (slightly more powerful) released from a machine driven by Baxter Stockman and they still can be defeated in one hit.
Tubular Transport: An overgrown, mechanical mosquito equipped with a turtle zapping laser gun. They are small and are aero based enemies. They only appear on the Rock Quarry Factory level and emerge from a module in pack of around 15. They are easily killed with the special attack.
Artillery Mechanism: These mechanisms appear in the Factory and Technodrome levels. They move up and down firing a constant barrage of lasers at the Turtles. The Turtles should jump behind the mechanisms and attack it until it turns red (deactivated).
Helicopters: The foot soldiers control these only in the Skateboarding Level. They come in two forms: either by shooting a spray of bullets or dropping bombs from the compartment. The bomb-dropping choppers cause major damage than the machine gun choppers. The Turtles should act fast and use mainly aerial attacks or their special attack.
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Levels
April's Hot Midtown Loft - Boss: Rocksteady
The player starts the game with the Turtles in a burning building. Their objective is to rescue April O'Neil from the fire and bring her to safety. The Turtles encounter Foot Soldiers from both sides of the hallway. Some Purple Foot Soldiers appear by breaking down doors, while others come out from the elevator. The trap that the Turtles must avoid are the big cannon balls that fall down the stairs. They will lose some energy if they get hit. With four players playing, the Turtles must watch out for flames falling from the ceiling (unlike a solo player encountering the cannon ball trap only). At the entrance to April's room, the Turtles fight a few Roadkill Rodneys before entering (the character automatically enters April's room upon hearing her scream). In the room, the Turtles battle some more Foot soldiers including the Orange ones with machine guns and white footsoldiers with katanas. A module (drill like machine) appears in the room, and coming out of the module is Rocksteady. Rocksteady starts by saying “Say your prayers, toitles” and then attacks the Turtles by shooting bullets from his machine gun at them in all directions including the air. He also kicks the Turtles from up close and also body checks the Turtles (that's when he puts away his gun and charges across the room). After Rocksteady is defeated, Shredder appears, kidnaps April and escapes by jumping out of a window laughing. The Turtles follow them.
Times Square - Boss: Bebop
As you start the level purple foot soldiers burst out of the windows while others rush on the screen. This level introduces the yellow boomerang foot soldiers as well. The level only has both Purple and Yellow footsoldiers.
Purple foot soldiers emerge from manholes and throw the cover at you, while yellow foot soldiers hide behind billboards which drop ontop of you. There level also includes Parking Meters which you can slice and send into the direction of enemies as well as Fire Hydrants which take 3 hits before exploding water over your enemies, killing them.
This is the only level with vertical scrolling apart from the Technodrome elevator which has a similer idea.
A TV screen in a TV Shop also appears with April on it who screams "Help Me" which then Shredder appears and says "Tonight I Dine On Turtle Soup".
The boss of the level is Bebop, who arrives by falling ontop of a smashed up yellow car before saying "You're dead, shell-brain!" to which the turtles reply "They ain't getting any prettier!" to which Bebop replies "Watch your mouth, slime ball!".
Bebop attacks with a charge attack which he uses much more than Rocksteady. He also has a ray gun which shoots rings and also has a nasty uppercut. Upon defeating him the turtles jump down a nearby manhole.
SoHo Sewer System - Boss: Baxter Stockman
After jumping down the manhole, the Turtles land in the sewers. Along the level, they can either take the high ground, or lower ground along the sewer water, which foot soldiers often jump out of. About halfway through the level, mousers will break out of the wall and attack the Turtles, while missles will begin shooting out of the water.
After battling through the sewers and reaching a dead end, Baxter Stockman appears in a ship, yelling "Yippee-I-Ay!" and drops mousers on the turtles. The turtles must jump attack to hit Baxter, as he never descends to ground level. Other than dropping mousers, Baxter doesn't have any other methods of attack, though his machine moves quite quickly, making him hard to hit. After he is finished, the turtles jump out of the sewers.
The Snowfield - Boss: Tora
Note: This level is not present in the arcade version.
Vinnie's Valet Parking Garage - Bosses: Rocksteady and Bebop
Now, the turtles find themselves in a parking lot. This level is very short. The turtles can use the surrounding objects (traffic cones, signs, and exploding barrels) to kill the foot soldiers. The purple foot soldiers with spears are introduced in this level. Usually, they jab the Turtles from up close. They don't often throw the spears. The foot soldiers have set up traps for the Turtles. A pair of foot soldiers hide inside the back of a van while a car races out of the parking space trying to flatten the Turtles revealing three orange soldiers with machine guns. At the end, the Turtles face both Bebop and Rocksteady. They use their same atack methods in the previous levels. Sometimes, they charge into each other when attacking the Turtles but they don't take damage. When they are defeated, April is rescued and she and the Turtles drive out of the parking lot.
Rock-A-Fella Expressway (No Boss)
Rock Quarry Factory - Boss: Granitor
The Dojo - Boss: Shogun
Note: This level is not present in the arcade version.
The Technodrome - Bosses: General Traag, Krang's robot, and Shredder and clones
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Ports
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This game was ported to the NES and the Atari ST under the title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game due to the fact that an unrelated game titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had already been released on these systems. These ports of the arcade game included two new levels for the benefit of home players. Most of the original stages from the arcade game are extended as well. Also, at the end of the parking garage stage, instead of fighting the combined duo of both Bebop and Rocksteady, the player must fight the fly form of Baxter Stockman. There are also some altered graphics that include advertisements for Pizza Hut.
The game was also ported to the Commodore 64, the PC, the Amiga, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, and the Amstrad CPC. However, it was the NES version that became extremely popular with game players, and was followed by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project for the NES in 1990 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time for the SNES in 1992. also came out on the SNES as well as NES & Sega Genesis.
The original game was later ported as an unlockable extra in the multiconsole game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus, but with different music and most of the voice clips edited out.
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