The Best Beat’em Up on the SNES, TMNT IV: Turtles in Time

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time has nothing to do with the movie and is based on one of Konami’s arcade games. While I have never played the arcade game, I have some memories of the SNES game. This was one of the games I was introduced to while collecting retro games in the late ’90s.

For some reason, my friend Drew and I really got into Beat’em Ups for a summer. This was around the time that I discovered this game. I’m unsure when I picked it up, but I’m glad I did.

I like Hyperstone Heist a little more than this game. Both are spectacular games worth playing today, but I like Hyperstone Heist a bit more. Turtles in Time is an excellent Beat’em Up and probably my favorite on the system.

TLDR: This is my favorite Beat’em Up on the SNES so far.

Narrative

While thwarting one of Shredder’s evil schemes, the TMNTs are sent through time. The story is similar to Hyperstone Heist, and some of the levels from this game were reused for that game. It feels like the plot for a season of cartoons.

I could’ve seen this story play out in the cartoon series from the late 1980s. There are some cutscenes that progress the story. These take place between some of the stages.

It isn’t an elaborate story but doesn’t need to be. This is a port of an arcade game, and you don’t want to bog down an arcade game with a lot of story. The company is trying to get quarters, not tell the player a story.

Gameplay

This is a standard arcade beat’em up. You’ll know what to do if you’ve played other TMNT beat’em ups. You have four playable characters, and you can play with another person. I know that sounds strange to point out, but there are many single-player-only beat’em ups on both the Genesis and the SNES.

Two modes were added to the game. There is a fighting game mode and a time trial mode. I didn’t play these, but it is cool that they’re there.

The game takes between one and two hours to beat. There are ten stages in the game that take place in different time periods. It is one of the longer beat’em ups from the ’90s and one of the better ones.

There are multiple attacks you can do in the game. You need to learn how to do them to beat the game. There is some strategy to the game, and you can’t simply walk up and punch the enemies.

It is important to watch the boss’s patterns to discover their weak points. None of the boss battles are overly challenging, but a few might be tricky. Once you figure them out, it becomes an easier game.

This is a solid beat’em up. The gameplay is terrific, and I enjoy playing the game. I didn’t think it was too difficult, and while it can be a little cheap at times, this isn’t any different from other beat’em ups.

Visuals

This game looks really good! The turtles, enemies, and bosses are awesome! There are a few differences between the SNES and Arcade games.

The SNES version is missing some animations, and it uses Mode 7. In the console version, some stages were changed to bonus levels, and a few new levels were added to the game.

While there are the standard multicolored Foot Clan ninjas, some other enemies pop up. You have the mousers and other annoying robots that were the bane of my existence when I played the game. The bosses look great.

There are a bunch of bosses in the game. They’ve been taken from the comics, cartoon, and the movies. I was more excited than I should’ve been to see Tokka and Rahzar in the game!

The stages look great. There is quite a bit of variety so it doesn’t feel like you’re going through the same stage repeatably. It is a beautiful-looking game.

Overall, I love the way the game looks. It isn’t as good-looking as the arcade game, but it doesn’t need to be. I’ve yet to see one of these TMNT games with bad graphics.

9/10. This is a great beat’em up! The graphics, gameplay, and controls are awesome! It is a port of an excellent arcade game, but it has the same limitations as other arcade game ports.

Pros

• Great Graphics
• Great Gameplay
• A very good port of an arcade game

Cons

• Repetitive
• Relatively Short Game

Conclusion

This is a fantastic beat’em up! It is also one of my favorite games on the SNES. I wish I had a chance to play the arcade game, but I never saw it in any places where I would play it.

I still like Hyperstone Heist a bit more than this game. However, this is a fantastic game. It is the best beat’em up I’ve played on the SNES so far.

This is a fun game to go back and revisit from time to time. Playing it for this review was great. It brought up some fond memories of playing it with my friends, and I’m glad that I decided to go back and review this game.