Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the arcade game is just as I remember playing it in the arcade. Considering the age of the game it still looks okay, sounds okay and plays well. TMNT is your typical arcade style scrolling beat-em-up game in similar style to Streets of Rage, Golden Axe and many other well known arcade/console titles. The main concept of the game is to walk from left to right beating up and killing all of the enemies who come your way. The game supports up to two players teaming up to take on all of Shredder's henchman, although the arcade version supported all four players simultaneously. I guess the limitations of the PC being either the limited number of gamepads or keyboard controls available.
The plot is simple; Shredder has kidnapped April O'Neil and it's up to you, as one of the four fearsome fighting ninja turtles, to rescue her and stop his diabolical plan. Story is kept to a minimum during the game, with each level being introduced by a brief animated sequence that explains the main objective. As this game was originally an arcade title I can understand the developers' need to keep any uneccessary plot out of the game and keep the action flowing.
Once into the throes of action you are bombarded by hordes of enemies intent on bringing an end to your existence by any means. Often unarmed but as you progress through the levels each enemy comes equiped with one of a variety of weapons, including projectile weapons and melee weapons. Missiles often launch up from the bottom of the screen from some unseen enemy below. You just have to do your best to avoid these, they tend to have a limited range so hanging around the top of the screen is the safest bet. The end of each level has a boss fight, usually one of the more important goons from the TV series (Rocksteady and Beebop being the first two). The bosses tend to be tougher then the regular goons but once you work out the pattern of their attacks it is quite easy to beat them.
Graphically the version of the game that I downloaded had some serious flaws, which actually rendered one level practically impossible to see because of all the glitched graphics. I suspect this is just either a compatibility issue with Windows XP or a poor quality rendering of the game. I'm sure that when I played this game in the arcade it certainly didn't have any graphical glitches! Obviously a problem like this has lowered my enjoyment of the game, but as the game is abandonware it should be available from another source and not have the same problems.
Ignoring the graphical problems, the gameplay works as perfectly as scrolling beat-em-ups of the same era. The WASD keys control movement around the level whilst the N key is your action button. Just hammer N to pull off combinations of attacks, dependant on your character. Not obviously pointed out, but discovered as I played, pressing up and the action button at the same time makes you perform a jumping attack. I found this ability crucial for getting out of packed groups of enemies and taking down bosses. There aren't any more complicated controls than that and all the levels use the same gameplay style.
Overall this is a great game to pass a few hours and to relive some memories from your past (if you're an older gamer!). There's not much reply value in the game and the story isn't particularly involving, but considering this was originally an arcade game it's understandable. As the game is now released as abandonware it won't cost you anything to try so it's worth having a go.
You can download the game from AbandonOnline
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