93| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time

Released: September 18th, 1991

Definitive Version: SNES; Also on: Arcade

Licensed video games have come a very long way. Today we plently of prominent examples of licensed games getting it right when it comes to handling their properties. The Batman Arkham games look and feel like Batman both in gameplay, atmosphere, and design. The same goes with other games such as South Park: The Stick of Truth and The Walking Dead. However, it wasn't too long ago that licensed games were almost universally terribly. Luckily back in the '90s Konami managed to often break the mold with some of the hottest licenses possible. The most standout of these licenses was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. From the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade game to Tournament Fighters, Konami released many quality turtle titles. However, their magnum opus was definitely Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time. Often hailed as the best beat-em-up ever, the game, like any beat-em-up, has players walking to the right end of the screen beating up baddies as they punch, strike, and smash them into oblivion.

So what makes this game stand out so much compared to the other countless amount of beat-em-ups avaliable during the time period? The fact that it nailed the world of turtles to a tee. From the game looking like the cartoon, to the SFX chip putting in work to sound like the show, to the mauling down enemies in the same way the turtles do every Saturday morning, the game was arguably the first example of feeling like you are truly playing the license the game is based off of. However, the game didn't rest solely on its license, as the actual gameplay and design matched the effort of the presentation.The game played very smooth and felt great as you run around the screen bashing in enemies with the weapon of your choice. Possibly an even bigger feat was the Super Nintendo port. Not only did it have an alternative level that used its Mode 7 capabilities, but it also managed to look graphically close to the arcade version while having zero slowdown. This proves that the Super Nintendo was capable of providing arcade-like experiences, just if it was in the hands of the right developer.

Now to be fair, while this game was the shit twenty five years ago, today it shows a bit of its age. For starters while it is still fun tearing up the foot clan, the combat in the game is no Bayonetta. The game also doesn't save your progress or even have a password system (at least in non-Japanese versions) which can make completing the game a pain. Nevertheless it is still a very entertaining game to play today, and if you want to be hit with waves of '80s Ninja Turtles nostalgia you can't go wrong with this still deifnitive gaming experience of it.