Itachi9695 : Ehhh ok review but doesn't need to look all fancy with the color. ut other then that good review.

I think you ment that Mario Brothers 3 came out after this game.

Check out some of the misconceptions about time on the arcade hits. With Turtles and Aliens.

https://www.vizzed.com/playonlinegames/game.php?id=62262#user-screenshots

https://www.vizzed.com/playonlinegames/game.php?id=44393#user-screenshots

These two were made by the same company and likely same people.
Why would an Alien Game come out After a Turtle game and look a little rough???



https://www.vizzed.com/playonlinegames/game.php?id=62262#user-screenshots

Try to keep the details in mind.
Sometimes the date you see on a screen is just a typed up date. And not Accurate.
If I remember correctly I didn't even hear of a Turtle game for the N.E.S. Till after I saw the Turtles game in the Arcade.
Yet Somehow they have the same date.
Try that one.
Back to Mario 3...
I am certain Mario Came out After Turtles.

Anyway...
Good Review.

Good Luck To All.
I'm done. Stick a fork in me.
Peace.

You must have hated this game badly..

Itachi9695 :

It's a fair point that there is a sudden increase in difficulty at the dam level, though given that Vizzed has save states allowing you to easily get past even the lowest-ceiling jumps without any trouble, it is a little disappointing that you were not able to rescue Splinter.  

This is a classic action/adventure game from the people who made Nightshade, another incredible and deep game for the Nintendo.  The Nintendo could have used more inventive, wacky, bizarre, deep and rewarding adventures like this one.  

After beating the dam which is not that hard, the map of level 3 really opens up (similar to the first level) and you have the option of exploring many different buildings and sewers, most of which are not required to beat the game.  Level 4 is equally open with many locations where you have the choice between different paths to reach the end of the level.  This sort of open-level/open-world sandbox feel is a GOOD thing for a game to have back then, and the fact that you can explore level 3 in the turtle van armed with guns and missiles is just plain cool.  This was all ages before even the first grand theft auto came out.  

On a related note, in this game you fight a master mouser and also a Technodrome, both of which look amazing and take up the whole screen, and in the Technodrome's case it spews electricity and foot ninjas and has an animated eyeball and animated tank treads you can climb on.  Long story short, games that feature bosses who either take up the whole screen or, in the case of Beebop and Rocksteady are well animated and alternate between jumping, charging, shooting, and punching do not really deserve the low graphics score you have awarded.  All the mutant enemies are recognizable as what they were intended to be, and the varied areas all look like they should, the graphics are functional and colorful they are just in a different style than the simplified, cartoony style of Mario 3.  

Anyways, it is very understandable and perhaps forgiveable that due to your frustration at being unable to get very far you wrote an unfairly negative review, but I would encourage you to give it a fresh try with determination so you can see how deep and rewarding the game gets and continues to be through the later levels.  Check out some "let's play" videos and let people show you how to make the parts you struggled with look REALLY easy (literally ALL the people who would take the time to make a let's play video of this great game could show you a lot of things to get further into the game than the scope of your review implies you reached), and also you should use the save state and load state buttons liberally to further assist in getting past hard parts that are bothering you (the low-ceiling jumps are admittedly a pain sometimes but they are far from impossible).  

Please consider my words!  Also check out Nightshade, another deep action-adventure experience from Ultra Games that deserves a more patient examination than you were able to give this turtles classic.  Compared to this game, both of its beat-em-up sequels are brainless affairs only made entertaining by the inclusion of the cooperative mode.  

P.S.  In this post I was merely responding to the opinions expressed in the review, I forgot to mention that of course it is very well-written!!  Victor-E just pointed out the review was well-written and I agree.  

orionfoxgibson : Actually, SMB3 was released in Japan in October of '88 while TMNT was released in all countries in '89. Yeah, the Japan release was for the Famicom, but it's the same game. If you're going by North American release, then yes, you are correct that SMB3 was released after this game, but going by original release dates, SMB3 was first.

bsnowotter : Well, I think the main reason I complained about the low level jumps is because I wasn't even thinking about save states because I try not to use them in order to get the "true" experience. You may also be right in the fact that I probably quit the game a little too soon and was way too harsh on it because of my rage at that particular point of the game. I just think the controls were a huge problem. I probably should've beaten the game before reviewing it though, and luckily, with the fact that I plan on doing video reviews on my YouTube channel of the games I review here, I'll actually have the time to try and beat it by the time I start preparing that. It's going to be a few months, but maybe I can finally give this game the review it deserves by then.

Itachi9695 :
Save features on games that are longer than two hours are a must for a standard. (Turtles game is 4-6 hours.)
Noting them in todays current websites is not much of a remedy for the actual design and expectations of performance from the player of the original release.

Playing the thing in its raw form is a good intro into the original experience.

This game deserves all of the disrespect of an incomplete product of the past.

Some games do this and still have great ratings. (Gauntlet Arcade. with its 255 levels of fun.)

Others that are designed for the home console??

Should know better.

Yes, I am still playing through "Nightshade" and I will conquer it.
But that is a personal matter all together.
That was a game of aquired taste that fails miserably due to not having the thing entirely tested.

Similar to The turtles game for the N.E.S.

Thanks for reminding me of American and Japan Release dates.
(You are still too young for either.)

The review is still good and unbiased. I favour completionists to do reviews but people do need a fair warning of a huge waste of time with initial design.

Good Luck To All.
I'm done. Stick a fork in me.
Peace.

orionfoxgibson :

All 3 Ninja Gaiden games came without password features, short action/adventure games that don't have password or save features were the norm.  Even the Mario Bros games did not have save or password features, only hidden warp pipes/jars/whistles.  

In ProtonJonSA's let's play he beat the TMNT game in about 1.5 hours (and it's definitely NOT a speedrun, fyi).  That 6 hour estimate you made up was wildly inaccurate.  Games without password saves are not incomplete if they are short like this one.

bsnowotter :
Ninja Gaiden Was not 5 hours long. If I remember correctly.
Non Password or non Save games Came around allot but after Metroid and Megaman2 and every Castlevania Sequel had a little more cach than others??

That did become a standard.
If a game was longer than 3 hours they often had a password or save feature.

The ones that wanted some money that is.

Good Luck To All.
Peace.

Well, when I saw the name of the review, I knew what you were going to say. But other than that, nice review, seems like you hate the game, hope you find another bad game to review! 

I can get where you are coming from with the low ceiling jumps. But that really was the only thing I agreed with (though the sound effects are true too). I hope you don't take offense to this, as I mean none. But I think a game like this was just not for your generation. I think younger people nowadays are just way too used to checkpoints, save spots, etc. Modern games can be insanely difficult technically, but the whole checkpoint feature is one of the things I think that has made modern games a joke when it comes to difficulty. I think that if a lot of modern games didn't have checkpoints, you might find that you would hate a lot of the games you like right now.

In the 80s and early 90s, people who were video game players thirsted for something that was insanely difficult. It seems to me that the difficulty of this game is what really drove you away from it. For people like me that were around when the game was made, that is exactly what drew us into it. Granted, it took a long time for most of us to manage to finally beat level 3 since there are no hints as to which buildings/sewers to enter. But once you got used to it, the game is actually pretty easy. I got to the point to where I could beat it in about 30-40 minutes on my NES console. I think that if you learn how to master those low jumps, this will be more enjoyable. There is a trick to it, and once you learn it, it is like riding a bike. It becomes second nature.

EDIT: I forgot to mention something. I can make a clarification as tot he difference between each turtle. There are more advantages than just their reach. Leonardo's sword actually has the weakest attack power. But his advantage is that the swipe of his sword can actually kill enemies above you as well as enemies in front of you (even the low crawling ground enemies like those ant looking things in level one). Michelangelo's nunchaku have about the same attack power, but his attack swipe only covers any enemy in front of you. You can hit the tall and the short enemies, but you don't hit those above you (unless you hold the up direction while attacking). The advantage is that his front attack reaches just a little bit farther. Raph's attach is stronger than Leo's and Mike's. However, it is short ranged, and does not have a swiping motion. Donatello's attack does have the longest reach. It also has the strongest attack power. He is a real powerhouse in this game. The main disadvantage he has is that his jabbing motion is really bad for attacking enemies above you or crawling on the floor. He will be most useful against boss fights. So each has their own advantage/disadvantage. It is much more than the mere reach of their weapon.