Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Platform:	NES
Year:	1989
Developer:	Konami Industry Co. Ltd.
Buy:	Amazon

For other games in the series, see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a platform action game that features the characters from the first season of the TMNT cartoon series. It was developed by Konami, and it was published by their label Ultra Games, as to bypass Nintendo of America's rule of a publisher releasing up to five games a year. Although the game sold very well thanks to the popularity of the cartoon, it is a rather awful game. The primary complaint is due to the game's extreme difficulty. The controls are a little unresponsive for slower turtles like Donatello and there are several sections in the game where you are faced with annoying jumps that, if you fail, force you to redo a large section of the map. The game also features a great deal of monsters which are interesting, but have nothing to do with the game. In addition, the game has a water level that most players see past. In addition, even for those who brave the water level, the rest of the game is brutally difficult, and not for all the right reasons. This is especially true in the final stage, where you must go through caves to find the Technodrome. Even if you happen to find it, beating it is another story! The graphics and music are really top notch for the time the game came out, but it's not enough to make this game anything less than a chore to play.

This particular game was ported to Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64, and DOS. In addition, Konami would go on to produce two more NES games based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise; one based on the arcade game (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game (NES)) and a unique third game (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project (NES)). Many players consider these to be far superior to this game.

Screenshots

The title screen.

Don't get crushed!

Go into some sewers!

Enjoying a scenic sewer tour.

Meet Bebop And Rocksteady.

Time for some pizza.

Music

VGMPF Album Art

TMNT's NES music is iconic because the game was so popular and most gamers from the early nineties remember it well. The title music makes great use of the electric guitar that was popular in other Konami NES games. The music adds a dynamic touch in the underwater section, speeding up as the timer runs down. The title music was most likely inspired by Queen's Stone Cold Crazy.

The game lacks credits, but Jun Funahashi has confirmed that he composed half of the game's soundtrack. He said other composers were involved, but because it has been such a long time, he doesn't remember who. However, he does remember that Hidenori Maezawa, who didn't compose any game's music, was responsible for sound programming, .

The computer adaptations of the game use the same music.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Download
01	Title	Jun Funahashi	Hidenori Maezawa	1:17	Download
02	Overworld	Unknown	Hidenori Maezawa	0:40	Download
03	Sewers	Unknown	Hidenori Maezawa	1:03	Download
04	Buildings	Unknown	Hidenori Maezawa	0:55	Download
05	Underwater	Jun Funahashi	Hidenori Maezawa	1:16	Download
06	Underwater - Hurry!	Jun Funahashi	Hidenori Maezawa	0:19	Download
07	Underwater - PANIC!	Jun Funahashi	Hidenori Maezawa	0:17	Download
08	Night Time	Jun Funahashi	Hidenori Maezawa	1:13	Download
09	Caverns	Jun Funahashi	Hidenori Maezawa	1:34	Download
10	Boss	Jun Funahashi	Hidenori Maezawa	0:49	Download
11	Boss Defeated	Jun Funahashi	Hidenori Maezawa	0:02	Download
12	Big Boss	Unknown	Hidenori Maezawa	0:37	Download
13	Area Clear	Jun Funahashi	Hidenori Maezawa	0:07	Download
14	Turtle Caught	Jun Funahashi	Hidenori Maezawa	0:03	Download
15	Game Over	Jun Funahashi	Hidenori Maezawa	0:03	Download
16	Ending	Unknown	Hidenori Maezawa	0:36	Download

Credits

Ripper: Chris Moeller
Recorder: TheAlmightyGuru
Game Credits:
- Not Credited Composer: Jun Funahashi
- Not Credited Arranger: Hidenori Maezawa

(Source: Verification from Jun Funahashi; Game lacks credits.)

The game does not contain credits, but we have received verification from Jun Funahashi that he composed some music to the game. He listed which songs in particular were his. Unfortunately, he could not remember the other sound designers involved due to the passing years.

Konami released the game design document to the Japanese version, which lists the staff on the cover page. While there is no sound designer credited here, there is a Hagiwara (萩原) credited under the Support credits for Programming. This could be Yoshiyuki Hagiwara, though his first credit in a video game was in 1990 for Mission Impossible (NES). If Hagiwara was involved, he should be contacted as to which songs he worked on.