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Classic

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: May 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The original Ninja Turtles was a lot different from its sequels; instead of the arcade action, this was a platform sidescrolling adventure which occassionally transitioned to overhead map views and cruising around in the turtle van.

THE GOOD
It was fun, of course. You got to change your turtle within a mission and select different weapons that you collect along the way. The music was good, especially when considering the time period of this game. Some might this as a burden, but I enjoyed its difficulty. As I've said in my other reviews, this game was made back in the day when NES games kicked your [...] and forced you to defeat it on its own terms. When comparing this to the much easier 2,3, and 4, I enjoyed this much better (but I still like the others for their multiplayer ability, don't get me wrong).

THE BAD
While this was difficult and I enjoyed it, there were some things that do place a detriment to the game. The turtles are uneven in their abilities. Leonardo has a long reach, but is the weakest of the four (why do that to my favorite turtle?!). Mikey is not much better than Leo in terms of weapon power. Raphael is good for his fast attacks despite his up-close range. Donatello pretty much defeats all of them because he is the strongest AND has the farthest reach. You could beat this game on him alone.

If you're a fan of the Old School NES, you will no doubt enjoy this game (or perhaps just a fan of the Ninja Turtles in general). It's a good platform game that is unique in comparison to the sequels that followed. Today's gamers will no doubt turn away from it because of its dated graphics (which aren't bad, especially considering the time period) and its more difficult levels.

"It's too hard!"
Well, I suggest you try harder. This game doesn't spoonfeed you; it's a difficult adventure. So strap on some turtle shells (and even a game genie if you want it) and some weaponry and engage yourself in a classic game.

One of those games impossible to beat without a game-genie

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: July 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game was one of the 2 very first games I got when I first got my NES back in the 17th century. I was never able to get past the 3rd level. I tried for years to advance, but when you lose all your lives you have to restart all over again and I don't think anyone had the patience to do it again... once the SNES came into play this game became a forgotten classic.

Now, 2 million light years since then, I recently found myself playing it again on the PC (emulator + rom) and decided it was a part of my past that was left opened that I had to complete to regain feeling in my left nut again.

I played it for about 5 mins and thought "#### this" so I looked for some Game Genie codes to stay invincible and stuff and I have actually managed to beat this game! So it is possible, and it's even still hard to beat when you are invincible... if you have ever beaten this game without cheating, then my hats off to you and a quick flip off and congratulations.

Looking at it now, It makes me wonder if the game was actually meant to be a TMNT game or if the developers where just keen to cash in on the name and just added the TMNT to a game already being developed. I wonder that because the game really has nothing at all to do with the TMNT's unless it was based off the comics, which I highly doubt. There are some familiar faces like the four turtles, April and Splinter, and the villains, Bebop, Rock steady, Mousers and about a million Rat Kings who wasn't even really a villain in the series. But then there is about 1000 different enemies that are not related to anything ever seen in the series, such as bulldozers, men of fire, walking eyeballs, balloons that drop bombs, weird pink spiders... I guess they could say the forces of Dimension X where at play, but there is no mention of it in the game. Krangs not in it, but there are bad guys that sort of look like that small Chicken walker thing he had.

It just makes me wonder if this game was being developed as something else and then they decided, "hey, lets put the TMNT into this thing" Once you defeat the Techno drome that is one 8th the size of the cartoon one, you can fight off shredder and then reach one of those quick endings that basically say, "well, all that hard work was a waste of time, thanks for playing" in fact the end is a joke, I wont spoil it, give an emulator with game genie codes active a go and see for yourself if you're curious... it was lame, lame, lame... probably lasted 8 seconds.

This might've been where it started, but I prefer the Arcade version over any of them.

A Horribly Designed Game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

As a kid, I actually somewhat enjoyed this game. It came to Nintendo's virtual console, so I decided why not download it for a change? After all, in the late 80's early 90's I really enjoyed this game. It was really something to have. Years later it's apparent of two things: The game was horribly designed, and it CAN'T stand the test of time. The fact that on Nintendo's VC it's also a dollar more than the other NES games is also questioning. It's hard to make a game this bad.

If you were a fan of the Turtles a long time ago back in the early 90's the first thing you'll notice about the game is that it hardly has anything to do with the show at all outside of some of the major characters. Outside of that there are no foot soldiers, and most of the enemies you encounter you never saw in the show in the first place. You will come across Bebop and Rocksteady but none of the other enemies were actually ever in the show in the first place. Kind of daunting.

What really makes the game horrible, however, lies within the gameplay. Firstly, the turtles themselves are unbalanced and put to unfair use. You can switch between any of the turtles at a time, but for the most part, only one of them is of any use to getting you through the adventure. Michaelangelo and Raphael are completely useless, as their weapons lack to the range to actually do anything. Leonardo is alright, but Donatello is the only real useful one here, as he's the only one who can attack downward and at a range. More than likely you'll only want to use the other three to sacrifice so that Donatello can do some beating up on enemies.

The way the levels are designed is also horrendous. You basically walk around an overworld map and go into sewers, warehouses and whatnot. The problem is that you never know where to go next. This non-linear style wouldn't be so bad if there weren't so many blasted dead ends. To make the experience even more grueling, the game is just FULL of enemies that will respawn almost the second you turn around. You could go through a tough warehouse fighting tons of tough enemies, only to find you can't go any further. So now you'll have to backtrack and you may have to fight all those enemies again. So if you don't lose a turtle getting to a dead end, you'll probably lose him getting from it.

The game isn't really difficult, it's just unfair and frustrating. The fact that two of your four players are completely useless tells you something. The later turtles games were far better than this. Skip the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game. It's so unfair that the experience is frustrating. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II and III were far better, and there's still no turtles game that beats the all time best: Turtles IV: Turtles in Time. If you need a classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fix, the first Turtles game on the NES isn't going to do it.

Bad!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I had this game as a kid and I rarely played it, now that I'm older I realize why.

Not only is the game insanely ugly, it's also redicolously hard!
Take Raphael, he can't hit his weapon anywhere, it has a range of a millimeter.
The only turtle that was somewhat usuable was the Leonardo, because his sword actually could reach certain things.
The turtles also jumps insanely high, it's hard to stay out of flying monsters reach.

I remember last time I played it, I had very little health left, so I went into a place to pick up pizza that refilled the health points fully.
When I got back out, I had less than what I went in with.
The game is so hard and annoying.

Boring?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: September 21, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This was a rather boring game, and didn't even look like any of the characters from the TV show! Ofcourse this could have been based on the comic book. It is a very challenging game, with the poor gameplay, such as the fact that when you get hurt by an enemy, there is no recovery time, they can bounce you around and kill you quickly! Its unique in the fact that not only is there a bird's eye view map, but most of the action takes place in a side scrolling adventure. It also seems like there are no real ties to the cartoon plotline, its just like the makers of the game made a game involving the turtles. Another odd thing is the fact that some of the bosses are comical, such as the huge mouser and the really small technodrome that yes you must kill. Not a good game at all.

Sorta fun but really difficult

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: November 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game seems like a fun normal game.Until you get the turtle van.Then it just pumps it up like crazy.I have never beati'n this game and have never known anyone who has beat'n this game.Note this is a ok buy....

Sorta fun but really difficult

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: November 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game seems like a fun normal game.Until you get the turtle van.Then it just pumps it up like crazy.I have never beati'n this game and have never known anyone who has beat'n this game.Note this is a ok buy if its 40 cents through 1.00 dolar

too hard!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: July 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Some games have to be hard to be fun, but this game is too hard, which takes away the fun. There isn't much of a plot, and leo, mike, raf, and don look exactly the same, just with different weopons. This is a bad game with great character's, odn't get it just for it's title. Don't get this game unless u like old classic's with horrible graphics, no plots, and a game that is TOO HARD. If u are loooking for good ninja turtle game's, please buy tmnt 2 and tmnt 3 Manhattan project, u will be like them.

TMNT

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: June 18, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Well back in the 80's and 90's, this game was really hot!
Due to the graphic improvement, the old games look kind of crappy but the game is extremely fun and challenging.

too hard!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: July 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Some games have to be hard to be fun, but this game is too hard, which takes away the fun. There isn't much of a plot. Leo, Mike, Raf, and Don look exactly the same, just with different weopons. This is a bad game with great character's, don't get it just because u like ninja turtles, that is why i got it, and i rarely play it. Don't get this game unless u like the accomplishment of beating an extremely hrad game, or if u like old classic's with horrible graphics, no plots, and a game that is TOO HARD. If u are loooking for good ninja turtle game's, please buy tmnt 2 and tmnt 3 Manhattan project, u will be like them.

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