A StreetFighter 2 rip-off, but surprisingly good!

User Rating: 8.5 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Warriors SNES
Tournament Fighters was released for the Snes towards the end of its run as the top console of its day, when the market was awash with 2D beat-em-ups and platformers. This managed to rise above the crop by being both surprisingly good, and utilising the brand recognition of the four titular heroes.

The plot is largely superfluous: the turtles enter a tournament that their nemesis The Shredder has entered to stop him winning. There are 10 characters each with their own movesets, mostly from the comics and the animated series, and fans will be pleased to see The Rat King and Karai among them.

Each playable character has their own super move, a special attack charged by the number of hits landed on your opponent, whether they are blocked or not. Some are outlandish - such as Raphael's fireball wave - while others are spectacular, such as Michelangelo's chain attack that finishes with a kind of nunchuck-Tiger Uppercut.

The game follows the usual format - defeat all the other characters to win - but the challenge can be pretty intense on higher difficulty levels, and the final boss - Karai - can be a long, tactical grind to win. The variety of characters adds replay value, the graphics are bold and colourful and the sound effects are pretty solid too, even as the years have passed the game by.

The two-player battle isn't quite as fun as StreetFighter 2, but it still makes for a good blast.

Although a re-release seems to be strangely lacking, if you still own a Snes, you should try to add this to your collection.