This game has been a part of my childhood. Growing up in Virginia, I would almost always go over to my neighbors house to play this game, eat pizza, and have a good time (Also, we'd laugh at what Turtles in Time acronyms into). Since logging into "Teh Interwebs", I see that many others have had the same childhood experience with this game, so please don't get shell shocked when I say something negative about this game; because A) it's still an amazing game, and B) It's a review, also known as a critique. If I did nothing but praise the game, then its really just another fan gushing about his favorite game.
On with the review, TMNT IV: TIT is the SNES port of the arcade game of the same name. In the late 90's, you could find this game sucking up quarters in every kind of arcade, and there would be four kids using it constantly who never met until they inserted their 2 tokens to play as 1 of the four amazing turtles. It brought people together in ways that only the MMO's of today can, without having to use online game-play as a lure. After a few years of success, they ported it to the home console of the time (SNES), and in the process changed some things (For the better).
For one thing, the graphics are an improvement on the old arcade cabinet. They're brighter and more colorful, and since you play it on your TV, you don't have to worry about some Jackass coming in, and smashing the screen/render the game unplayable. That's actually not a joke btw; half the time my friends and I went down to the arcade, the cabinet would be busted for various reasons. Either someone broke the speaker, screen, or coin acceptor and it wouldn't be repaired until the end of the week (At which point someone would invariably bust it again). Character movements, while not as fluid as other games such as Chrono Trigger, are well animated. Every single throw and hit has the feeling of impact in it, and the enemy's 'hurt' animations convey the impact of the weapons. Aside from the characters, enemies and locations are varied and detailed enough to never be boring, doubly so for bosses.
The music is amazing for the era this game comes from, it's always fitting to the stage it's connected to. You can be brawling in the streets one moment to fighting on a pirate ship the next, and the music will always keep you in the kick-ass mindset. The kick-ass rock music fits the game perfectly, and you'll never get tired of it. Don't believe me, use Youtube to find out for yourself. Just search "TMNT IV opening theme".
TMNT IV is in no way a direct port of the arcade classic, aside from the enhanced graphics, they've added:
- New stages
- Changed stages
- switched around bosses
- changed the techno drome bossfight to incorporate the camera throw
- added bosses
These changes are all for the better, but there are some areas where they should've changed in the game mechanics. For one thing, the game is really difficult. Enemies can grab you, and collision detection is going to screw you over a few times with enemies grabbing you a fair distance away. I honestly think it's intentional however, since as an arcade game, it relies on death to make money. You also have a limited number of lives and continues, but that's completely useless since the SNES isn't coin-operated. Due to the games difficulty, and the limited number of lives/continues, it may be awhile before you face down the final boss, let alone see the end credits.
All in all, this is an amazing game, but the quarter-eater tactics left in just really bug me. It's something that wasn't needed put in for a roadblock for no reason. Also, the gameplay only changes once in awhile, and when it does, it only seems to go from "walk to the right and punch dudes" to "variation of walking to the right and punching dudes." Problems aside though, the game deserves the near perfect score of 9/10 pizza slices. I'm open to constructive criticisms, and let me know if you enjoyed this review below.
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| ID: 544797 | 62 Words
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