Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game crawls into stores

Sharpen your sais. Konami has announced that TMNT: Mutant Melee has arrived in stores for the Xbox, GameCube, and PC. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Hawaii, which also developed the Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix series.

The game is based on the comic book and animated television series created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, which had children thinking reptilian back in the 1980s. The original story had the quartet of testudines--Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Leonardo--mentored by a Yoda-esque mutant rat named Splinter. The turtles adopted martial arts and a hankering for pizza after being exposed to toxic sludge, and they battled the evil Shredder with various weapons including a bo staff, nunchakus, sais, and katanas.

In TMNT: Mutant Melee, the turtles, along with 16 other playable characters, such as Casey Jones and Shredder, engage in party-style minigames and an adventure mode. Subgames include king of the hill, knockout, and last man standing. The game supports up to four players.

TMNT: Mutant Melee is rated T for Teen and has a price tag of $19.99. For more information, head over to GameSpot's previous coverage.