Minor Introduction
Now we’re talking! Welcome to the ninth review of this TMNT marathon, courtesy of the cowabunga collection! For this review, we’re checking out the second TMNT game on the gameboy, which happens to be in the same vein of the first game: a platformer. The first game was rather basic, but still an ok time that I didn’t regret, so it should be easy for this game to build upon that and improve. So did it do just that or is it worse somehow? Let’s find out!
First Impressions
Ok wow this is leaps better than the first game. It really makes the first gameboy game look like an unfinished prototype game and this instead is the final product. Basically every single aspect sees a drastic improvement, making for a game that is very good from start to finish…mostly.
Gameplay
The controls remain the same: a jump, an attack and movement, with the same jump attack combo, but they feel a bit faster here. The real highlight is how everything AROUND it has been improved. The level design is significantly better, with more unique environmental hazards each stage and a focus on verticality for the platforming, as well as generally varied design, from simple left to right, to vertical platforming, to jumping over boulders, it is surprisingly great stuff and I really enjoyed the levels here. The bosses are also significantly improved, as they pose an actual challenge here, while still having understandable patterns that make it really good to learn them and beat them. You now also have the option to pick a new turtle each stage, allowing you some element of strategy to conserve health for everyone else, and the minigame to get them back is also more challenging. The difficulty in general is back to how it’s supposed to be and i’m really glad for that, while naturally increasing so the challenge remains consistently tense throughout. The enemy variety is also a lot more distinct. There are flaws, but the sheer amount of improvements on the gameplay front in comparison to the first gameboy game is nothing to scoff at. This is what understanding the hardware and actual effort looks like.
Story
Someone at Konami actually cared to make a fucking opening cutscene for this game and holy shit I’m impressed they even pulled this off, considering it is gameboy. Though this could also serve as a compensation for the fact they don’t even really tell you what the plot is. However, judging by the progression and environments, it is probably the same old plot that merely serves as an excuse for this game’s existence. The fact they decided to not even mention what it is in-game should probably say a lot, so let’s just move on.
Presentation
The game looks sooo much better in every regard in comparison to the first gameboy game. I feel I need to mention again, but it has a goddamn opening cutscene that also LOOKS GOOD. The character sprites and animation look very good for that gameboy era (the animations in particular being a highlight, as there is a lot of them and makes the game so much more expressive than the “robotic at times”-feeling original), the backgrounds also look great and the skateboard level even makes use of the scrolling effect, which also looks good! The music is also good and the game runs at a mostly consistent framerate. It just is very good presentation work all around, especially when you put into context how impressive it looks for GAMEBOY!
Negatives
The game ain’t without its negatives. While I did mention the difficulty is more natural and also progresses smoothly, what I didn’t mention is how it unfortunately maintains the cheapness that plagued NES TMNT games. It’s still not near the original arcade game level of bullshit, but it becomes more noticeable in the final two levels. It also doesn’t help that the enemies respawn infinitely, so that becomes annoying too. They are less intrusive cuz the unlimited continues are here and they get you back to where you were, as opposed to starting all the way from the beginning, but this is still a glaring flaw worth mentioning and a big reason for the score.
Final Thoughts
Despite the inconsistent difficulty complaint, I still really enjoyed my time through this game. It takes the blueprint of the first gameboy game and actually turns it into a final product, where every single aspect of it has been improved to a ridiculous degree for a game that is very fun to go through from start to finish. Never would have thought I would be sitting here and tell you this game is better than the actual original arcade game and its NES port, yet here we are. Final Rating: 7.5/10.
Now we’re talking! Welcome to the ninth review of this TMNT marathon, courtesy of the cowabunga collection! For this review, we’re checking out the second TMNT game on the gameboy, which happens to be in the same vein of the first game: a platformer. The first game was rather basic, but still an ok time that I didn’t regret, so it should be easy for this game to build upon that and improve. So did it do just that or is it worse somehow? Let’s find out!
First Impressions
Ok wow this is leaps better than the first game. It really makes the first gameboy game look like an unfinished prototype game and this instead is the final product. Basically every single aspect sees a drastic improvement, making for a game that is very good from start to finish…mostly.
Gameplay
The controls remain the same: a jump, an attack and movement, with the same jump attack combo, but they feel a bit faster here. The real highlight is how everything AROUND it has been improved. The level design is significantly better, with more unique environmental hazards each stage and a focus on verticality for the platforming, as well as generally varied design, from simple left to right, to vertical platforming, to jumping over boulders, it is surprisingly great stuff and I really enjoyed the levels here. The bosses are also significantly improved, as they pose an actual challenge here, while still having understandable patterns that make it really good to learn them and beat them. You now also have the option to pick a new turtle each stage, allowing you some element of strategy to conserve health for everyone else, and the minigame to get them back is also more challenging. The difficulty in general is back to how it’s supposed to be and i’m really glad for that, while naturally increasing so the challenge remains consistently tense throughout. The enemy variety is also a lot more distinct. There are flaws, but the sheer amount of improvements on the gameplay front in comparison to the first gameboy game is nothing to scoff at. This is what understanding the hardware and actual effort looks like.
Story
Someone at Konami actually cared to make a fucking opening cutscene for this game and holy shit I’m impressed they even pulled this off, considering it is gameboy. Though this could also serve as a compensation for the fact they don’t even really tell you what the plot is. However, judging by the progression and environments, it is probably the same old plot that merely serves as an excuse for this game’s existence. The fact they decided to not even mention what it is in-game should probably say a lot, so let’s just move on.
Presentation
The game looks sooo much better in every regard in comparison to the first gameboy game. I feel I need to mention again, but it has a goddamn opening cutscene that also LOOKS GOOD. The character sprites and animation look very good for that gameboy era (the animations in particular being a highlight, as there is a lot of them and makes the game so much more expressive than the “robotic at times”-feeling original), the backgrounds also look great and the skateboard level even makes use of the scrolling effect, which also looks good! The music is also good and the game runs at a mostly consistent framerate. It just is very good presentation work all around, especially when you put into context how impressive it looks for GAMEBOY!
Negatives
The game ain’t without its negatives. While I did mention the difficulty is more natural and also progresses smoothly, what I didn’t mention is how it unfortunately maintains the cheapness that plagued NES TMNT games. It’s still not near the original arcade game level of bullshit, but it becomes more noticeable in the final two levels. It also doesn’t help that the enemies respawn infinitely, so that becomes annoying too. They are less intrusive cuz the unlimited continues are here and they get you back to where you were, as opposed to starting all the way from the beginning, but this is still a glaring flaw worth mentioning and a big reason for the score.
Final Thoughts
Despite the inconsistent difficulty complaint, I still really enjoyed my time through this game. It takes the blueprint of the first gameboy game and actually turns it into a final product, where every single aspect of it has been improved to a ridiculous degree for a game that is very fun to go through from start to finish. Never would have thought I would be sitting here and tell you this game is better than the actual original arcade game and its NES port, yet here we are. Final Rating: 7.5/10.