Ninja Turtles: Mutant Nightmare... third times the charm?

[Sketch]

I just picked it up at GameStop for 29.99. I wont be able to play it for a little while due to class work that I can't put off that much but the gameplay videos I've seen seemed promising. Turtles in Time is included (arcade version) but it has modifications as usual... But the actual game looks pretty good. It could at least be better than the 2nd game which was by far better than the 1st.

Anyone else pick it up yet? The GameStop I went to was just unpacking them and they only had 3 copies for each system. It seems no one has high expectations... And I can't blame them. I doubt this one will be rentable even.

But most importantly I have assured my title of owner of all TMNT console games is still valid. Don't know if I'll ever get around to getting a DS or the DS game but maybe sometime next year.

There is an added element to this one I've seen. The turtles gain special abilities of a mystic origin. Clearly just to sell toys but it's kinda neat. I hope I can play it with some friends because as we all know TMNT is best played with 1 or more people.

[Simpler Simon]

The third one's out already? :eek: Even that horrible Mutant Melee got more hype than this. At least people bothered to review that one.

The Turtle games (except Melee) I might pick up if I see them severely discounted or used, which I haven't. Is this game based on the season 3 storyline, or season 4?

[Sketch]

Season 3 it seems but maybe a bit of season 4 will sneak in. I do believe it has been reviewed by IGN, GameSpot and the like... I enjoyed Mutant Melee despite it's short comings but this game could fix what problems held back Battle Nexus and in turn be a great TMNT game. But we'll see...

[ZorBrak]

why cant they recapture the magic? :(

[Sketch]

I'd like to blame it on 4kids but I think I'll blame it on Konami staff in this case. They can't make a license game to save their lives anymore. Quite a shame.

[Sketch]

It's official... This is the best TMNT game since Turtles in Time.

The gameplay has greatly improved. The combo system isn't so bothersome and you buy new attacks and skills as you pick up crystals (like coins). You can control the camera and hallelujah, A is the Jump button. The one liners are barely noticable as well. All four turtles are on the screen when you play single player and much like X-Men Legends they are controlled by the CPU and that works pretty well.

The only downside so far is the endless waves of villians can get mundane but so far it's kept things pretty interesting.

If you're a TMNT fan you should pick this one up. It's only 29.99 for GCN, PS2 and Xbox. And maybe you'd like it if you enjoy beat 'em ups in general.

[sdp]

I doubt people are expecting it not to sell, i mean that is why this is the 4th TMNT game out now. I've only played the first one and it was actually a fun beat em up just like the classic ones, the only difference with reviews was reviewers don't give many points to beat em ups anymore. The Cel shading always looked great, I plan on getting all 3 TMNT games whenever i have money (i say 3 because even mutant Melee got lowered than expected reviews).
Can't wait to play turtles in time again too bad its the Arcade version and not the SNES version, other than that hope they dind't change the music in this one.

[Sketch]

I like the arcade version and since I have the SNES game already I'm glad it's the arcade. Especially since it's 4 player. But I've got bad news... they did replace the music and the voices. Would it kill them to pay for the royalties. The game is only 29.99 if they could pay for that original content then I would glady fork over 39.99 or even 49.99 like I did for the 2nd and 1st games respectively.

As a very seasoned TMNT gamer I must say... The first game was a chore to play. It really wasn't fun. 2 player made it tollerable and the VS mode was nice... and yes the graphics were quite fitting but it was so mundane, the controls were jerky and the camera was awful. The 2nd game was instantly better because it had 4 player action and the arcade game (despite it's replaced sound it's still lots of fun to play through), better controls once you up your stats a bit, a slightly better camera and overall better design. However they added in some awful platforming elements that became a real pain when you were playing with all four or even just two turtles... oh and the single life bar for the group was always a drag. The 3rd game has taken the best elements of both, improved the combo system, gotten back to basic brawling without the platform crap (from what I've played anyway), added in a build up system that works much better than the one in. Battle Nexus and made everything easier to navigate. On top of this, the game also seems to be more challenging than the 2nd but not as mind numbingly mudanely hard as the first game. Oh and seperate life bars are back. All and all it's a much nicer package. I wont factor in Mutant Melee because it's not the same kind of game but I enjoy that one despite it's mediocre feel and weak sause character selection... Tournent Fighters 2 it was not... heck it wasn't even much of a Power Stone or SSB clone but it is fun and the one liners will have you rolling.

Out of all the games out thus far I'd say this one is the best since the 90's and while it doesn't quite feel the same, it's the closest yet to the original TMNT 4 player experience. I bought them all in succession but if you haven't bought the first one, then don't. Buy the second one if you want the first arcade game or just another 4 player game for parties... buy Mutant Melee if you want another party game alla SSB (though you'll tire of it sooner - most likely) but without a doubt buy Mutant Nightmare. It's the best of the new series... BELIEVE IT. (oh wait that's another teenage ninja)

[Nin-Nin69]

I'd like to blame it on 4kids but I think I'll blame it on Konami staff in this case. They can't make a license game to save their lives anymore. Quite a shame.
Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit was awsome.

[Sketch]

Frontier Developments designed it. (creators of Roller Coast Tycoon apparently). Konami just released it. Konami of Hawaii designed the TMNT games. Wallace and Gromit wasn't done by that studio. But if I can't blame Konami then who the shell do I blame? Because I know someone is to blame because Konami's inhouse produced licensed games were awesome back on the NES and SNES (though they did have some stinkers I suppose but that certainly didn't outweigh the number of good games from back then).

But anyway... TMNT 3 is awesome. A bit frustraiting at times but very very awesome.

The arcade port though... terrible. To their credit they still have nearly all the sound effects including the one liners like "I just took a shower" and "ouch my toes!" and the music itself is farely well produced. However... the music NEVER suits the level and it's overbearing (it's like watching a 4kids anime dubs). And when you are transported from level to level with the time beam you will hear the most annoying rappid fire clicking sound you have ever heard in your life. On top of this annoyance they sped up the game. Yes you heard me. You can tell by how fast things rotate and how quickly the foes attack as well as how quickly the animated sequences progress. And for whatever reason when you fight Tokka and Razzar on the pirate ship there is an occasion HUGE lighting strike which seems to stay on the screen too long. There could be some kind of problem with the emulation that makes certain things speed up or slow down but whatever the issue is it cleary doesn't run like the arcade game did. All of these little things add up to a VERY unsatisfying exprience. If you don't move you can hardly tell if anything happened because the attack sounds are missing (I believe they were missing from the first arcade games port as well). So if you fall asleep (like I did about... 8 times) out of boredom then you'll just get hacked away at and not even be startled enough to stop dozzing. The original music for this game is very upbeat and drives the action (it's also one of my favorite game OST of all time) but this generic stuff (while not horribly on the ears) is just plain boring and does nothing to increase the enjoyment. It may be fun with at least 2 or 3 or 4 people but honestly playing through the game was the most unsatisfying TMNT gaming exprience I think I've ever had. It was hard, it wasn't all that long, it was just boring and lacked the "feel" of playing the arcade game or even playing it using MAME. I'm terribly dissapointed at this port and long story short DO NOT buy this game to play Turtles in Time. If you want to play it then track down the SNES version or well... you know what else you can do... or buy the cabinet if you have the money or can even find it.

But back to the main game. Pretty great so far. I beat the first episode which consisted of the Triceriton Invasion. The second episode is called Bishop's Gambit. It looks like the across time and space saga will be included and some epic battle with Shredder (but it doesn't seem to be the one from the end of season 3 but it might be, I'll get back to you on that if I can).

[Frank Castle]

I bought it earlier today and I like it. The 4 turtles on a screen is my favorite new aspect.

[Sketch]

Yeah it is neat. You lead the charge if you want or stay back and let them do the dirty work and they occasionally use special attacks and start group attacks. It makes playing single player much more enjoyable than it has been in the past.

[Sketch]

I did play through the arcade game again and it was much more entertaining... Want to know why? I simultaneously controlled 3 turtles by using the 3 wavebird connector I had and setting them to the same signal. It made for a very interesting experience actually. It would probably work better to have 2 people controlling two turtles but as it was I think I could have had a ball controlling all 4 if I had 4 wavebirds. So that's a perk to a GCN owner who has more than 1 wavebird controller.

[PRdude]

I did play through the arcade game again and it was much more entertaining... Want to know why? I simultaneously controlled 3 turtles by using the 3 wavebird connector I had and setting them to the same signal. It made for a very interesting experience actually. It would probably work better to have 2 people controlling two turtles but as it was I think I could have had a ball controlling all 4 if I had 4 wavebirds. So that's a perk to a GCN owner who has more than 1 wavebird controller.
If you bought this game for Gamecube, can you use the control stick while playing Turtles In Time, or do you need to use the cross-key control pad? Same for if you may have gotten it for PS2, except the other way around.

[Sketch]

I got it for Gamecube (of course) and yes you can. Which is another improvement over the last port but overall I like the first port better.

This game just keeps getting better and better and the new techniques and scrolls and what not are great. But I think I'm actually going to burn through it too quickly because I'm already on part 3 of well... 3 parts.

[PRdude]

Well that's good. I didn't like having to reach all the way down for the cross-key controls while playing the arcade game in Battle Nexus.

[Sketch]

Yeah... you'd think it would have been common sense to enable the joystick for moving given that the arcade used a joystick. Well whatever...

I've been playing the main game a lot these past few days and I've gotta say it's delightful. It just keeps getting better and better. The free battle levels are actually fun to play and you can get more great items while playing them. In the end the game may end up being rather short and not very challenging compared to the other two but it does have something the others sorely lacked... Replay value. I can actually enjoy playing the same levels again like I could with old TMNT games and that alone is worth every penny I spent on this game. (once again only 29.99). We've got a winner here folks. Konami has really proven they've still got it.

[Sketch]

SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELL YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH

I've unlocked the Nightmare stages after beating Chapter 3 and taking out Shredder and guess what? Those are levels that are modified from the epsiodes when Ultimate Draco returns and sends the turtles to didn't places beyond space and time. And of course I was delighted to find out that "Same as it Never Was" is included. Leonardo doesn't have a trip to Usagi's world though. Must have been a copyright issue... ah well.

TMNT 3 has turned out to be the best game I've bought this year. Edgying out DDR Mario Mix by a bit.

[Simpler Simon]

And of course I was delighted to find out that "Same as it Never Was" is included. Leonardo doesn't have a trip to Usagi's world though. Must have been a copyright issue... ah well.Gee Sketch, I've got enough games I wanna buy now without adding one more to the list, and you're pushing a really convincing pitch here. A pox on your house Sketch, a POX!

So you've beaten the game...I'm guessing initial speculation was correct and the story here just recaps season 3?

[Frank Castle]

I finally played Turtles in Time and I'm mad. The action was waaay too fast. The foot soldiers kept grabbing me and punching the life outta me before I could get a hit in. It's definately not the SNES version that I'm used to.

[sdp]

well to its defense the arcade game is supposed to be an "extra" so, better a bad port than no extra.

it does really suck about it though....it does make it not as enjoyable with the changes. What makes me wonder is what are they going to do with the next games? they've only ported the arcade games, but those were it, it'd be neat if they also ported the console games, i mean even the console games based off the arcade games had a different feel.
I'll even list most:
TMNT for the NES was very good, very different from the normal TMNT games, but also my favorite with its top down view and side scrolling fights.

TMNT2: The Arcade Game (Nes)sure not as graphically enhanced as the arcade version (its based on the first arcade game) but it has different level designs and more levels. plus in this one they could try to get it right and have the actual music :)

tmnt3:Manhattan Project (NES)- an original beat em up not based on a arcade game, it actually added new ideas and it was a lot of fun, worthy to be an arcade title, it is also kind of hard to get.

TmnT: Turtles in Time: The SNES version is actually better (IMO) than the arcade game, it had more levels, and better placement of enemies, a two player fighter mode. it would also be a chance for them to get the music right

TMNT hyper stone: (genesis) loosely based off Turtles in Time, but they actually made it pretty original and not a straight port (probably due to TiT being SNES exclusive) so for the most part we have a lot of original levels, it feels more like an expansion to TiT or a sequel. its a lot of fun.

TMNT: Tournament Fighters - (SNES, Genesis, NES), a game to cash in on the SF:II popularity was actually a lot of fun and not just another "clone", i beleive all 3 versions have(besides the turtles) different characters and play different from each other, but at least the SNES version is a blast. i'd love to see any of them (or all 3 ;D) again.

TmnT GB: the gameboy had 3 games fall of the footclan, back from the sewers and radical rescue. I only owned fall of the footclan, but i borrowed radical rescue at some point when i was little, both games were actually pretty fun (straight beat em ups) counting they were for GB, i mean if the console TMNT games have "extras" why can't the GBA handheld games have "extras as well?


alright, i know i'm dreaming but hey, i might not be too far off :D

[Sketch]

What do all these fabulous games have in common?

I own every single one of them. (and yes some were quite rare especially TF for the NES, Manhattan Project and Radical Rescue)

They should have ported NES TMNT 1 with the NES Classics Series. Japan got licensed titles so why couldn't we? Or at least on one of the gameboy games or the DS game. Heck they could have ported the arcade games to the GBA no problem.

I don't think they'll have to worry about coming up with extra's actually. If TMNT has a 4th game it wont be on the current consoles. (kinda like how TMNT IV was the SNES while the other 3 were on the NES). And with the next gen systems they could probably just port both the arcade games again or port well... all of them. I rather wish Mutant Melee had a port of one of TF games if not all 3 but maybe they could port those in the future.

I'd want a TMNT collection but 1 I have all the games and 2 most of them wouldn't be able to use the original music wether or not that's Konami's fault it must not be a minor issue if they couldn't even get Turtles in Time's music or simply chose not to. These games simply aren't the same without the original music and honestly... I'd rather they not port them at all if they can't/wont use the original music. Replacing that music is like crapping on my childhood.

[Simpler Simon]

All right, I caved in and bought it. And you know what? It's pretty fun. I'm only like a few missions into the first chapter, but the combat is surprisingly smooth and responsive. This at least matches Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu in terms of brawler gameplay, and if the game doesn't do anything to screw itself over I should be in for a good time.

The presentation also flat-out rocked. I was expecting a new montage of episode clips to form the intro, but instead we get a very cool CG intro that features Bishop, Ultimate Draco, and the huge battlesuit Shredder from "same as it never was." And the use of episode clips to form cutscenes is nice.

Now I'm actually tempted to grab the other two. I'm not expecting much gameplay-wise, but is the cool presentation still there? It might be nice to own the first three seasons of the show in video game form.

[Master Moron]

TmnT: Turtles in Time: The SNES version is actually better (IMO) than the arcade game, it had more levels, and better placement of enemies, a two player fighter mode. it would also be a chance for them to get the music right [b]
[/i]

I disagree. The arcade version was much better. The SNES version took out a lot of the different animations for the characters, like, when Baxter twirls his gun and laughs at you. And the SNES version took out Cement Man. Not too mention there are a lot of special effects missing from the SNES version, like the rain in the ship stage and the lighting effects in the prehistoric stage. And also, most of the voices were taken out of the SNES version. I love hearing Baxter say "Terminate the turtles". Besides, the SNES version took out one of the best parts, the four player mode!

I'd want a TMNT collection but 1 I have all the games and 2 most of them wouldn't be able to use the original music wether or not that's Konami's fault it must not be a minor issue if they couldn't even get Turtles in Time's music or simply chose not to. These games simply aren't the same without the original music and honestly... I'd rather they not port them at all if they can't/wont use the original music. Replacing that music is like crapping on my childhood.

I agree.

[PRdude]

I disagree. The arcade version was much better. The SNES version took out a lot of the different animations for the characters, like, when Baxter twirls his gun and laughs at you. And the SNES version took out Cement Man. Not too mention there are a lot of special effects missing from the SNES version, like the rain in the ship stage and the lighting effects in the prehistoric stage. And also, most of the voices were taken out of the SNES version. I love hearing Baxter say "Terminate the turtles". Besides, the SNES version took out one of the best parts, the four player mode!



Hang on. Cement Man??? In what part of Turtles In Time was that character?

[Sketch]

Yes he was the boss of Prehistoric Turtlesaurus rather than Slash. And it's fun to fight him because he shoots muck at you and the turtles say "awww and I just took a shower".

[Master Moron]

Yes he was the boss of Prehistoric Turtlesaurus rather than Slash. And it's fun to fight him because he shoots muck at you and the turtles say "awww and I just took a shower".

Yeah, and when he appears he says "Cement Man Ruuuuules!" in this blobby voice, actually, it sounds more like "Cement Man Loooooose!" to me, but who knows, all I know is it sounds cool. The SNES version just isn't as same without all the cool voices.