Excellent. But beware of the difficulty (Advice: Play it on an Emulator).
This was supposedly the game that brought Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the video game industry (and also back in the limelight). It was also one of the earliest ones I played on the NES and therefore, one of those games that has stuck with me for life. Even playing it to this date provides me with an entertaining experience.
As is the case with a majority of NES Games, the story is relatively simple. April, the news reader, who also shares a close bond with the Turtles is kidnapped by Shredder, the notorious baddie of the TMNT franchise. And so the turtles are sent to rescue her - only by the time they're done they find Splinter (their master missing). The story does serve as a nice setup for a beat-em-up. Quite obviously, it would be foolish to expect a story in a NES game focusing on the character development.
It's the game play that according to me is the highpoint of the game. As turtles, you play in five areas and navigate in each via sewers. The game has a top-view on the streets but changes to a side-scrolling view within the sewers. One of the high-points of the game play is that instead of playing one turtle and waiting for it to die so that you can select another one, you can switch between all four turtles simultaneously at any time (provided they're alive). This therefore requires that you plan your attacks carefully using the right turtles at the right time. For instance although Leo is really useful at the start, it is Don that becomes much more vital towards the end. The manual also provides some tips on which turtles can be used when.
The graphics are quite impressive for the NES, and both the street and the sewer views are well done. Not to mention here's also a level underwater which can get quite tense. The sound is simply great and although there are quite a few tunes that play in the background (you can literally count them at your fingertips), each one is something which I didn't mind listening to over and over as they looped on. Special mention would go to the music during the boss battles which sets up the mood perfectly.
If there's one thing that is really awful in the game it's the difficulty level, which is what would make even ardent gamers fret (or so I believe). Although it looks relatively simple at the start, the difficulty increases exponentially and by the time you reach the end, you'd either be feeling proud of yourself or be an exasperated lot. Another factor (or rather bug) which contributes to the game's difficulty is that if you kill someone on screen, move backwards and then enter the same screen space again, the bad guy you killed reappears. This means, that while killing the baddies, you have to be careful not to be pushed back "out of the screen" or else the bad guy will re-spawn regardless of whether you kill him or not. Good luck destroying the Technodrome !!
This is already an excellent game but it could have been next to perfect had it not been for its insane difficulty. I'd say this game is best experienced on an Emulator and although I did play this on the NES as well (I own it), this review comes after having played in on the Emulator (although it very well applies with my experience on the NES as well). If you can adapt to the game's difficulty then there is no reason why this should be missed. Worth playing even today !!!