Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters
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| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters | |
|---|---|
   Each version features a different turtle as the cover character. Since there were only three versions of the game and four turtles, Michelangelo was left out from such a role. |
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| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES and Mega Drive/Genesis |
| Release date | SNES version NA December 1993 JP December 3, 1993 Genesis version NA December 1993 JP December 8, 1993 NES version NA February 1994 |
| Genre(s) | fighting |
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters, is a 1993 fighting game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES and Genesis by Konami. While all three versions share the same title, each game is unique to its console. Like many competitive fighting games of the era, Tournament Fighters borrowed heavily from elements contained in the Street Fighter II video game. The Tournament Fighters games were the last Ninja Turtles games released based on the original 1987 TV series. A respective turtle was selected to be the cover character of each version released in North America and the PAL region; as there were three games and four ninja turtles, Michelangelo was the one left out for such a role.
In Japan, whereas the Mega Drive version retained the North American title, the Super Famicom version was retitled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Warriors, disambiguating the two games. The NES version was not released in Japan.
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[edit] NES version
The turtles (Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo) have been challenged by Shredder, but in order to confront him, they decided to have a tournament between themselves in order to see who is fit for the encounter. There are seven characters. The four turtles, Casey Jones, Hothead (a samurai dragon from the original toy line, based on the Warrior Dragon character from the Archie comics) and Shredder. This is the only game in the series where the turtles do not wield their characteristic weapons in battle.
Tournament Fighters was the final NES game released by Konami in North America and in the PAL region. It is also one of the very few competitive fighting games made for the NES. The cover character for the NES version was Leonardo, who is fighting Hothead on the cover artwork.
While the NES version allows the player to pit a character against his own clone in Versus Mode, the game does not allow this with Hothead under normal circumstances. The in-universe explanation given by the manual states that "the dragon spirit will not allow such a battle to take place". However, one can use a glitch in the game that allows the player to select Hothead and fight against a CPU-controlled Hothead in the 1-Player Exhibition mode. The second Hothead will be colored differently, indicating that the programmers did originally intend to allow Hothead vs. Hothead matches, but the game will also flicker with the two characters on-screen.
[edit] Super NES version
A tournament has been organized and many fighters have entered, Shredder being one of them. The turtles decide to participate in order to stop their nemesis as well as proving their strength in the tournament.
This game, instead of following a 6-button attack control like most of Capcom's fighters, uses a 4-button scheme (weak and strong attacks) like most SNK fighting games. A particular feature is the possibility to use a super special attack. In order to achieve this, the player must fill a green bar under the life bar, by hitting their opponents. Once full, the player must press the two strong attack buttons simultaneously.
There is also the option of enhancing the speed of the game, making the fights more intense but also harder to follow.
In addition to the main and versus modes, there is a story mode in which the turtles must rescue April O'Neil and Splinter. Only the four of them can be playable whereas the other characters (as well as a turtle clone) are the bosses. There is also a watch mode, which basically makes the computer control the characters.
There are ten characters available, and two bosses. Aside from the turtles and Shredder (who goes under the name of CyberShredder in this game), these characters are also available:
- War - A monstrous purple creature with big claws, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as seen in the TMNT comics published by Archie comics. However he is said to be an alien in the game.
- Aska - A female ninja who enters the tournament to win money to open her own dojo. Other than this game, she has not appeared in anything TMNT related.
- Wingnut - A humanoid, alien bat who appeared in several Archie comics and once in the cartoon. Absent from the game was his perennial partner Screwloose.
- Chrome Dome - An android from the cartoon series, he was initially created by Shredder to destroy the turtles.
- Armaggon - A mutant shark from the future. Also from the Archie comics version like War.
The bosses are:
- Rat King - A deranged man who cast away his humanity and considers himself a rat even though he has not been mutated. In the original Mirage comics it was unclear exactly what he was, possibly a spirit along the lines of Death. In the original animated series, he is a pied piper-esque being, and in the 2003 cartoon, he was a robotic duplicate of Agent Bishop of the EPF.
- Karai - Ex-leader of the Foot Clan Elite who, at the time, only appeared in the Mirage Comics. Because she remained unknown to fans of the animated series and due to the facial design of her sprites in the game, some considered Karai to be a male character. This speculation could also be attributed, perhaps, to her rather unisex style of clothing. Official promotional art for the game portrays her as a lot less androgynous, however, and more obviously female.
The cover character for the SNES version is Donatello, who can be seen fighting Armaggon on the cover artwork.
[edit] Genesis version
Splinter is kidnapped by four purple turtles. When the real turtles learn this, Krang appears before them and says that he keeps Splinter with him and that the only way to get him back is that the turtles must go to Dimension X and meet Krang. The player must fight the clones of all the playable characters (see below) as well as the bosses: Triceraton, Krang and Karai. Besides the turtles, the player can also choose between April O'Neil, Casey Jones, Ray Fillet, and Sisyphus. This is the only version of the game to feature April as a playable fighter, although her design is much closer to the original character Aska from SNES version than the April O'Neil from the animated series.
The Genesis version uses a three button control system. Two of these buttons are assigned for standard attacks (in order to do a stronger attack, they have to be pressed along with the d-pad). The game also features (somewhat) destructible environments on a couple of stages where one can fall through the floor.
The cover character for this version is Raphael, who can be seen fighting Triceraton on the cover artwork.
[edit] External links
- Opinionated commentary on SNES version of the Game
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters at MobyGames
