“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time” was a continuation in a series of TMNT games released on the 8-bit Nintendo (NES) system. As this was a 16-bit game, it should improve it’s 2-D scrolling fighting action following how good the arcade one was, and it wouldn’t be stupid to copy the formula of that game. This one takes it’s lead, but with a more intriguing storyline where you end up in different time periods like prehistoric times & the 19th century Wild West thanks to Shredder. The storyline is that Krang steals the statue of Liberty and Shredder then intimidates the turtles by appearing on TV. As the turtles, you go through a construction site, the streets of NY & sewers to get to the Technodrome but Shredder vanquishes you to the past and battle the Foot & Rock soldiers in periods of the past & future to finally face Krang and Super Shredder to get back America’s iconic statue! The levels go like this:
Level 1; New York, 3am Boss: Baxter the Fly
Level 2: Alleycat Blues Boss: Metalhead
Level 3: The Sewers Boss: The Rat King
Level 4: The Technodrome: Let’s Kick Shell! Bosses: Tokka & Rahzar, Shredder
Level 5: Prehistoric Turtlesaurus Boss: Slash
Level 6: Skulls and Crossbones Bosses: Bebop & Rocksteady
Level 7: Bury My Shell at Wounded Knee Boss: Leatherhead
Level 8: Neon Night Riders Boss: Krang
Level 9: Starbase: Where no Turtle has been Before Boss: Krang..again
Level 10: the Technodrome: The Final Shellshock Boss: Super Shredder
GRAPHICS:Very nice to look at, graphic colours are bright. They give the turtles good expressions on their faces when striking someone or getting hit themselves. One feature is that in the options, you can change the style & colour of the turtles between “comic” & “animation”, meaning the way they look in the cartoon or a more comic-book style look, but there’s not much difference in it. One innovational aspect is throw you’re enemy in the viewpoint of towards you’re screen. It’s in-you’re-face 3D-style action! The outline of the characters in the levels are quite blocky, not smooth, so that’s stopping the graphics being a 5/5. GRAPHICS: 4/5
GAMEPLAY:Excellent controls and reaction time is quick. Although, you only use 2 of the 4 buttons on you’re SNES gamepad. There is some depth to it and you don’t need lots of moves in this type of game. 1 button for jumping, 1 for attacking. There’s a special attack for each turtle, all different but when you use it on you’re enemies you lose some life, so use it wisely. There’s also a running charge when you hold onto left or right with its own normal and special attack. One baffling option is the choice of how much rest you can have between moves. Meaning, they’ll be a longer reaction time, which could make the game harder if you want, but it’s like just making the game controls frustrating. But there’s nothing I see frustrating about the default controls. GAMEPLAY: 5/5
SOUND: A strong assortment of sounds. The speech sounds compose of the level titles & the turtles talk like “cowabunga”. The speech sounds are very good but never as clear as in the first arcade game. Same goes for the attack sounds when hitting you’re enemies although a few sounds are bland. SOUND: 4/5
MUSIC: I would say music in all levels are good. The best of the best are: the boss music, both tunes in theTechnodrome level (the general music changes when you enter the elevator after you beat Tokka & Rahzar) the Wild West level “Bury My Shell at Wounded Knee” & the Starbase level(9th level). Also credit to the Pirate level music. MUSIC: 4/5
LONGEVITY: This game is no problem to complete on easy mode. Although, the hard mode is testing and Splinter encourages you to complete on a harder mode with easy or normal, you are less enthusiastic to finish it all over again which is the problem with these fighting scrolling games; trying to maintain interest. And that is what the makers have attempted to do, with a “Time Trial” mode & a “Versus Mode”. Versus mode is for 2 players only, where 2 turtles fight against each other to train as Splinter and the uninvolved 2 other turtles look on. So they delve into Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter territory but using the same moves as in the normal game. It really needs more moves, but it was worth bringing in another style of game. “Time Trial” is going through a small section of one level and defeating all you’re enemies in 30 seconds or less. The times you get in each level get added up when you complete and you can save these scores and try to better them. Of course, you probably will spend less time on these modes than the main story mode. LONGEVITY: 3/5
OVERALL: This has to be considered one of the best TMNT games ever. An involving storyline, getting stuck in different periods in history and future & excellent controls of the turtles. It has progressed and evolved well from the similar gameplay of the original arcade game, although the added extras(Time Trial, Versus Mode) won’t keep you sucked into the game as the story mode does. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES IV: TURTLES IN TIME (SNES) GETS A: 4/5 RATING.
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