How does Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game for NES compare to the original?

Thirty years ago, if you’d asked me if I’d rather play the 1989 arcade version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or its NES port from a year later, I would have probably laughed in your face. The decision seems obvious, with no contest; why would you ever want to play an 8-bit port of an arcade game known for its impressive audio-visual presentation if you had the option to play that original arcade version with no limits?

Today, after having spent some time with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game, as the NES port is known, I can’t give you an easy answer. Because although the arcade version has plenty of its own appeal elements, the NES version offers a distinct enough experience to make it worthwhile in its own right — and that’s why Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection includes both versions for you to enjoy and compare for yourself.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game for NES -- title screen

Back in the days before it was possible to just slap an emulator on a cart or disc and get an arcade-perfect version of a classic video game with minimal effort, developers responsible for bringing arcade games home had to make some tough decisions, particularly when porting to a platform considerably less powerful than the original arcade hardware.

Do you attempt to recreate the arcade experience as closely as possible while bearing in mind the limitations of the new host hardware? Do you deliberately leave out aspects of the experience in favour of making it work better in its home incarnation? Do you add anything? Do you allow players the virtual equivalent of infinite credits to make their way through the game? And how do you deal with the longevity issue, given that your average arcade game is about twenty minutes long from start to finish?

With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game, Konami made a number of sensible decisions, and the result is a really solid game in its own right that is still worth playing today. Moreover, I’d argue that it actually has significantly more longevity than the arcade version, particularly if you’re playing solo — though when playing with friends, the arcade version still arguably provides the best “social” experience if you just want to have some fun together.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game for NES -- gameplay

Structurally, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game is similar, though not identical, to the arcade original. Many of the stages have been increased in length, and two brand new stages have been added. There are two new bosses, and some of the existing elements of the game have been mixed around a bit for added variety. As such, even veterans of the arcade game will find new things to discover in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game.

Mechanically, again, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game is similar, though not identical, to its source material. Notably, the characters lack the ability to grab and toss enemies around, which actually makes the overall combat feel like it packs a bit more of a punch — quite literally, since rather than accidentally flinging foes around, you’ll have to actually beat them down in order to defeat them.

Owing to the more limited graphics hardware of the NES, the sprites are a bit smaller — though still impressively large for the platform — and the animation isn’t quite as pronounced. This is most notable when playing as Donatello; while his bo staff attack in the arcade gave him a huge advantage in terms of range, in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game for NES, his basic attack feels comparable to most of his peers.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game for NES -- gameplay

These differences aside, the overall feel of fighting in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game is impressively solid. Hitstun is well implemented, allowing for combo attacks with satisfying knockback, and the bosses follow attack patterns authentic to their arcade counterparts, often requiring somewhat different strategies to what you might be accustomed to in post-Final Fight beat ’em ups. Turtles — in both its arcade and NES incarnations — tends to be more about sneaking in for a single hit, then getting back out of the way again to avoid a counterattack, and this makes for battles with an interesting sense of pace and dynamism.

One very key difference that inexperienced players will quickly note is that the continue system is implemented very differently. Rather than being able to “insert coins” to add lives as in the arcade version, running out of lives in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game for NES results in a hard game over and a limit of just three continues. On top of that, using a continue doesn’t let you just pick up where you left off; you go right back to the start of the entire level you were on.

This penalty can be mitigated by making use of the save state and rewind features on offer in the Cowabunga Collection, but if you want to play this port as originally intended, you’ll deal with the consequences of failure — and find yourself enjoying the game for much longer as a result, assuming you have the patience to practice and really “get good”.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game - cutscene

In essence, what has happened with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game for NES is that Konami has turned the game from a great arcade game — i.e. one that gets people wanting to repeatedly insert coins until they reach the grand finale — into a great game for the home. There’s a sense of achievement and satisfaction when you manage to get a bit further in the NES version, and the game feels like it has a bit more “meaning” as a result, from a modern game design perspective, at least.

Ultimately, a lot of this is a matter of preference. If you simply want to play through the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game in order to experience the lovely audio-visual experience that it is, then by all means go credit-feed your way through the arcade version and don’t worry about high scores or how many “coins” it took you. But if you want a game that demands a certain amount of skill and dedication, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game for NES arguably offers a superior experience.

And if you’re in the mood for both at different times? Well, the Cowabunga Collection has you covered — so just go nuts with whichever one you fancy at the time.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game for NES - gameplay

The important thing to note is that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game shouldn’t be written off just because it’s an NES port of a technically superior arcade game. Rather, it should be looked upon as a distinct experience that has its own value — and plenty of enjoyment to offer, even for a modern audience.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection is available now for PC via Steamphysically and digitally for Switch, physically and digitally for PS5, physically and digitally for PS4, and physically and digitally for Xbox One/Series blahdepoop.

Join The Discussion

Rice Digital Discord
Rice Digital Twitter
Rice Digital Facebook

Or write us a letter for the Rice Digital Friday Letters Page by clicking here!

Disclosure: Some links in this article may be affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on them. This is at no additional cost to you and helps support Rice Digital!

Pete Davison
Spread the love!

Related post

This will close in 0 seconds