Luigi Mario

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters

Developer/Publisher: Konami

System: SNES

Genre: Fighting

Introduction:

1993 was a revolutionary time back then, mostly because of all of the fighting games that came out during this era. We can all thank Capcom and Street Fighter II for that, of course. This game was yet another fighter, following the tradition of that very same game. Except, Konami were the ones who took a crack at it, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turules theme was the focus of this. Some gamers had doubts about this game until they picked up the controller and gave it a whirl. After that, a lot of people, even those who weren't Ninja Turtle fans were instantly hooked. It was no Street Fighter II, but it was more than good enough.

Here's the plot.....if you can call it that.....A nationwide tournament, inviting many different fighters from the nation, and the galaxy, has opened up with the prize of the most powerful fighter in the universe, not to mention more money than one can spend in a lifetime, hanging in the balance. Many fighters decide to enter, even Shredder, the Turtles arch-enemy. Due to some motivation from there Master Splinter, the Turtles decide to enter and show off their skills to the universe.....Ok. Not very imaginative...or maybe over-imaginative, of a plot, but at least nobody's yelling out "COWABUNGA DUDE!!!" lol. N-E-way, onto the review we go.

Reviewed by: MattDDR

Graphics: A  

As expected, Konami + Turtles = Absolutely awesome graphics. That's about the only thing you can say for the graphics. Bright, colorful, and fluent as always. They took the idea of a fighter and gave it a run for it's well-deserved buck. The Turtles look a bit more serious than in previous games, which really gave you the idea that this was to be taken more seriously than normal. I just don't like the fact that they're all the same color, unless you pit one Turtles agains their clone. But that's a very small, and under-important, problem I have with it. Everything else is very well done.

Sound: A  

Very nice, I must say. Like any other fighter, the characters yell out the names of their moves and the music is also very good. I really like the music to the Scrapyard stage a lot. There were some tunes to some of the stages, though, that I didn't really think fit the characters. Like the Back Alley stage(That would be Leonardo's stage, BTW), and the Cafeteria Stage(Raphael's Stage). But still, I liked it a lot.

Control: B  

Pretty much like an SNK fighter here. 4 attack buttons. 2 punches and 2 kicks so it'll be easier to do stuff than in Street fighter II. I just gave the control a B because the moves are easy to figure out(Just think Street Fighter moves and experiment for a bit), but sometimes, they don't responed right away. I couldn't pull off Leo's Shining Cutter move at some points, but at very few. If you can stand a snag in the control every once in a great while, this shouldn't be a problem.

Gameplay: B  

This game took just about everything Street Fighter had back then and matched it. It's very fun to play, but it's just about the same as afformentioned game. Well....not EXACTLY the same. First off, there isn't a simgle character who can bounce off the walls(Unless you count Karai, which I really don't) like Chun-Li, or Vega can. Secondly, this game had a bit more of an advancedment, as it was one of the first fighters with a special energy bar. What's that? Well, you see that green meter that looks like a vial of mutagen(Whoever's a fan of the old-school Turtles series'll know what I'm talking about)? When it fills all the way up, push all of the attack buttons at once and your character will do a unique special move, which will REALLY help you if you're ever in a jam. There's one noticable drawback to this, however. You can't use it in story mode. If you play that, you'll basically just be playing a newer rendition of Street Fighter II without the wall-bouncing.

The enemies you'll face in this game'll have a noticable pattern to them. All you have to do is follow it and you'll more than likely win. However, some are so friggin' cheap that you'll throw a fit trying to beat them. Example: The Rat King. If he gets close enough, he'll grab you and do this arieal slam that'll kill off a lot of energy, and he doesn't even have to get that close to you....I recommend someone with a darn good arieal move to counter it(You'll see what I mean if you follow the pattern correctly). The final boss, Karai, is also a major headache. If you play on Tournament mode, you're basically giving her an advantage. How? Because She has this one move where she bounces off the wall and does this rapid punch in mid-air right on you. It not only does a hell of a lot of chip damage, but her energy bar will rise quickly. Meaning, she can pull off her special in a heartbeat. Depending on the level you play, she'll do it over and over again. Be prepared. You can't play against her, though, if you turn the difficulty too low. Sorry. No sandbagging allowed. Man up, people. =D If you play against another player, even in story mode, you'll have the special bar no matter what. But like most fighters, it'll eventually get old. But it's still fun because, at the very least, you don't have to put up with the cheapness of some of the CPU controlled players.

Simply put: B+  

Ok, so basically what we have here is a version af Street Fighter with a TMNT theme, but a very nice one to boot. It was missing some of the elements, but more than made up for it with it's gameplay, graphics, and let's not forget the special bar. It would've gotten an A overall if it was just a tad more unique. but eh well. I still love this game and would play it again within the matter of a second. The only bad part about this? This was, sadly, the very last TMNT themed game for any 16-bit port that Konami rolled out. It personally makes me sad, but still, for what it's worth, this is a great find and a must have for fighting game fans. Pick it up and kick some butt, or if you aren't a TMNT fan, kick some shell. =D