Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game Longplay (Arcade) [60 FPS] - jadeusgames.com

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game Longplay (Arcade) [60 FPS]

AL82 Retrogaming Longplays
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Developed and published by Konami in 1989.

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Anyone growing up in the late 80’s or early 90’s is probably familiar with the eponymous heroes in a half-shell. To say that Turtles were a big deal is an understatement; I have memories of my parents being forced to make multiple trips to the nearest Toys ‘R’ Us to get a full set of the action figures for Christmas since the store would only allow customers one figure per sale!

The slew of TMNT merchandise was endless, from lunch boxes, to action figures to video games. Whilst it’s no surprise that an arcade coin-op featuring the turtles exists, TMNT: The Arcade game was a rarity for a number of reasons, not least that it was available in a deluxe and, frankly massive, cabinet that supported four-player simultaneous co-op gameplay! Provided that you had enough friends available and a suitably weighty sack of coins, it was possible to play as your favourite turtle and really sock it to Shredder, Krang and a million Foot Clan goons in this beat ’em up by Konami.

It was a commonly accepted that fact that arcade games with dedicated chips, CPUs and extended banks of memory allowed for gaming experiences that was simply out of reach of home users (SNK’s Neo Geo being a notable exception). TMNT is an especially lavish title featuring graphics, animation and sound that were far in excess of many other arcade titles of the era. Everything from the imposing cabinet, brightly-lit marquee, huge screen and sumptuous graphics was designed to attract punters like moths to a naked flame.

Having played the game, perhaps the innovation of it’s four-player co-op is also the game’s biggest shortcoming. While the first level is manageable by a single player, subsequent levels throw enemies at you in such huge quantities as to practically demand the help from additional players. The enemies are not insignificant in their ability to deal significant damage to your chosen turtle, with many of them carrying weapons that allow them to out-range any of your own attacks. Playing the game alone soon became a lesson in frustration, particularly on the hover-board level where Foot Clan soldiers piloting gyro-copters with machine guns and rockets would reduce you to pile of smouldering ash. A two-player arcade cabinet was also available, but I don’t know whether the actual game was any different to account for the reduced player count.

Despite these frustrations, the game is never less than a visual or audible treat. Whilst the graphics and animation are superb, I think that the quality of the sound and digital effects is really the stand-out feature of the game. The opening theme tune from the cartoon show that plays during the game’s attract mode is of exceptionally high quality for the time; digital effects and speech were nothing new at the time of the game’s release, but this is one of the first that sounded just like it did from the show and not like it was being played from inside a postbox, under water in a distant lake.

The game was ported to the majority of home computers of the day, including the C64, Spectrum and Amiga. Whilst attempts to bring the arcade experience to these machines were admirable, doing so and expecting the end result to be anything like the coin-op seemed like a fools errand. It wouldn’t be until Konami released the subsequent sequel, Turtles in Time, on the SNES that a true arcade experience was available to play at home.

Providing you have friends on hand, TMNT: The Arcade Game remains one of the best beat ’em up experiences around. If you’re playing solo, be prepared for frustration.
#retrogaming

545 Comments

  1. The best ever arcade game for me! They had it on XBOX 360 live store and I downloaded it but they didn’t make it available on XBOX One so I have no way of playing it 😫 anyone know why?

  2. Oh man the memories! I remember, as a kid, I think the furthest I managed to get on this game, on single player, was the level where you fight Rocksteady and Bebop at the same time; and I think that was mainly down to sheer dumb luck.

    I also have this wonderful memory of this cabinet being in Fareham leisure centre and, after my nan took me swimming this particular day, I played this and 3 older kids asked if it was okay to join me and we managed to get to the Technodrome together.

  3. Sad to see him fighting without his brothers.

  4. I remember playing this in the stores good time 🙂

  5. How can i download this game guys please 😪

  6. Out of all the arcade games this has to be the best it has to

  7. Olá tem como instalar esse jogo em celular? Vc tem esse jogo?

  8. If played this as a kid you old as fawk like me

  9. Why they cannot create sequel game that final villain is dregg

  10. Omg. I’m smelling pizza right now at round table with grease on the joysticks. Good times!!!!

  11. I still remember getting so mad that Shredder just wouldn’t die in that final battle haha

  12. Konami was always one of the best arcade developers, in those days.

  13. I loved playing as Donatello and flinging enemies into the wall.

  14. Never realized how hard this game actually is when I was a kid 😯

  15. I remember riding my bike to the Santa Rosa Mall in Fort Walton Beach, Florida & going to Diamond Jim's to play this game and spending all day there after school & during the summer.

  16. Spent half my childhood playing this game. This game brought me and my bro’s so much joy. Great game!!!

  17. Color me ignorant, but what does a "half shell" mean?

  18. How to make shit ai for bosses, this game sucks dick

  19. 60 fps click bait. FPS = for stupid people

  20. Really brings you back.
    These were great and then the Tournament Fighters came out on Super Nintendo. That struck an obsession with how cool they looked.

  21. i kinda rrally liked the classic nes games of teenage mutant ninja turtles 1 n 2 back then

  22. I played this game one time and never played it again… i slept and dream on playing it like for a week straight as a kid🥴

  23. Right now I have the small arcade and it’s really harder

  24. i own this game. and im not talking about the sorta decent NES port either. i mean the full arcade cabinet

  25. the fact you didnt use Don bothers me quite a bit.

  26. Simply fantastic and fabulous … still remember it when saw it for the first time in the late 1980s and 1990s … even now looking really good … Great Memories …

  27. Me and my cousin would go through so many quarters playing this at the skating rink. We wouldn’t even skate, we’d just play this the whole time. They also had rampage right next to it. Along with a robo cop game. Damn I wish I could go back

  28. This game is as old as I am. Amazing that it still holds up! Remember growing up in arcades playing such masterpieces like these 💜

  29. this arcade reminds me so much of being at the bowling alley as a kid, I remember the cover art of the games was more important to me than the actual gameplay

  30. Wow blast from the past, I was always on this arcade machine here in England

  31. This game was one of my all time favorite games as a kid i loved it and i still do

  32. There is a trick that you can use in MAME: You can play with 2 or more turtles at once, if you assign them the same buttons(but different coin/start buttons). They will play together amazingly well. Any other similar game will also allow you to play with multiple players at the same time(ex. Simpsons).

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