“Turtles in Time” is considered by many gamers to be one of the greatest beat-em-ups of all time, with many going back to it to this day. But is it really as good as nostalgia would have us think?
It’s time to go back to the past and look at “TMNT: Turtles in Time” for the arcade and SNES, along with “TMNT: Hyperstone Heist” for the Sega Genesis.
“Hyperstone Heist” is a revamped version of the arcade game with different levels and some exclusive bosses.
“Turtles in Time” is a sequel to the first TMNT arcade game. “Hyperstone Heist” doesn’t follow continuity and is considered within its own continuity.
The plot of “Turtles in Time” is simple, with the arcade and SNES having the same story.
Shredder and Krang have stolen the Statue of Liberty and held it for ransom, provoking the Turtles to come and get it. It’s up to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to find Shredder, traveling through space and time to stop him.
“Hyperstone Heist” follows the same basic story with the only difference being there no mention of time travel and, in this timeline, Shredder shrunk Manhattan.
The gameplay is enjoyable and feels great to play. In the arcade version, up to four players can join and play the game.
For the SNES and Sega Genesis versions, only two players can play. All four turtles are playable with unique attacks and special traits for each of them.
Leonardo is the balanced one, Raphael is fast but weak, Donatello has long-range attacks, and Michelangelo is strong but slow. There’s a dash attack and two grabs that could either slam enemies to the ground or towards the camera. There’s also a special attack that costs a chunk of health to use.
The animations for the movement and attacks are fluid and well designed for the arcade version. The SNES and Genesis sprites look good but are missing some animations. This doesn’t affect the quality of the game since the developers made exclusive content for both versions.
The sound quality is pretty good for all versions, giving off the right chunk of sound whenever the player hits an enemy. The voice quality is great, with the actors of the 1980’s cartoon reprising their roles.
Each game version has a set of bosses, like Tokka, Rahzar and Super Shredder.
The music is by far one of the best parts of the game, with some songs being bangers to listen, giving off a sense of exciting action.
Just like the sound quality, all version’s soundtracks are amazing, with each one having different sound bits to make each song feel different and headbangingly good.
“Turtles in Time” is one of the best beat-em-ups around. With its co-op gameplay, amazing soundtrack, and fun levels and bosses, it’s no wonder why people come back to this game.
This game receives five out of five stars and I highly recommend you play this game, a masterpiece of arcade and beat-em-up classics.
