Nostalgia hits Xbox Live Arcade once again, with four player online co-op. This is what we're talking about!
A home version hit the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991 containing extra levels and some mixups with the bosses, but the original was still the favorite among TMNT fans.
Now that it's been released on Xbox Live Arcade, not only can a new generation of gamers get into the oldschool brawler, but old gamers can finally get their hands on a version of the beloved arcade game from years past.
It's not without its flaws however, or rather, bugs. To date, they include:
• Being able to earn achievements for things you didn't do.
• Starting gameplay with zero lives in single player, forcing a player to continue every time they die.
• Every time a player continues (dies) the music starts over.
• Game will sometimes play the wrong "turtle gets grabbed by an enemy" animation. One of Baxter Stockman's Mousers are way too small to grab a turtle from behind, let alone they lack the requisite arms.
In multiplayer, players get twenty lives and zero continues. It seems odd at first, but it keeps things running smoothly and creates a pretty good challenge in the later levels. Solo gamers will find that they have a seemingly unending supply of lives/continues, though in actuality it's somewhere around 10,000.
The game's backdrop, as many other Xbox Live Arcade games have, is just plain ugly. It's readily apparent that there was very little, almost zero thought given to the presentation of the game. Even though it causes distortion, it's very easy to scale the game's screen into a widescreen format, just so players don't have to look at that ugly backdrop.
However, despite the game's flaws, it's totally worth its $5.00 price tag. The opportunity to play this classic game online with friends is too good to pass up, and aside from some of the issues with the port mechanics, it's as faithful a transition as you can get.
Your inner child will be pleased.