TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan is one of the few Game Boy games I owned back in the 1990s. I remember it being a lot of fun, but not all that difficult. It is one of the early games for the Game Boy, so it isn’t as deep as some of the other games on the handheld.
Konami did a good job with this, even if it is just a few steps above a Tiger Electronics game. It is a simple side scrolling game, but it is a pretty good one for what it is. It really isn’t all that different from Contra: The Alien Wars for me. A simple but fun game that works well on the Game Boy.
I don’t have as many memories of this game. It was in my rotation when I was younger, but I don’t think it was something that I played all the time. While it isn’t as good as the NES, SNES, or Genesis games, this is a fun Game Boy game. Let’s check it out and see what it has to offer.
TLDR: Good Graphics and Gameplay make for a solid Game Boy game.
Narrative for TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan
TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan has the same story as most of the other TMNT games from the early 1990s. At least that is how it felt to me. It isn’t a bad story, and the game is set up so that you don’t really need to know what the goal is.
April O’Neil has been kidnapped by Shredder, and you have to get her back. That is really about it. There is probably some grander plot for world domination, or some nonsense like that. You do get a little of the story as you complete each stage, but there really isn’t too much to it. The story is in the manual, which helps to get the backstory since the game doesn’t really give you that (Link).
Overall, the story is perfectly fine. Games like this don’t really need to have something complex. It tells you who the bad guys are, and why you have to deal with them. That is, if you didn’t know what you were getting into with a TMNT game. I’m sure there was some kid who had no idea what the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were before getting this game.
Gameplay
There isn’t too much to this game, but there really doesn’t need to be. TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan has good controls, simple gameplay, and is fairly basic as far as side scrolling action games go. The levels and stages are fairly short, and there aren’t too many of them.
This game has simple controls. One button jumps and the other attacks. That is all you really need for a game like this. It is easy to change directions and deal with the enemies. If you duck and attack, then you have a ranged weapon. It isn’t useful all the time, but it is kind of cool to have.
The gameplay is very simple. You move left to right and take out enemies as they appear on the screen. Sometimes they jump onto the screen, and other times they just wander aimlessly at you. There aren’t too many enemies coming at you, mostly because of the limits of the hardware.
There aren’t too many power-ups in this game. They’re limited to health items, which come in the form of pizza. A whole pizza gives you full health, and a slice gives you two health points back. You do have a pretty big health bar, which is nice to see.
There are five stages, and each of them has a few levels. They do get more complex as you go through the game, but aren’t too complicated to get through. The game does throw more enemies at you, quite literally at times.
Overall, the gameplay is good for what this is. TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan isn’t too difficult of a game, but it is a lot of fun. It is a simple game that doesn’t take too long to get through. It delivered on what I was expecting from an early black-and-white Game Boy game.
Visuals
This is really where the game shines for me. TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan has very good graphics. It is a black-and-white game, but there is a lot of detail in the character sprites and stages.
The sprites are fairly large for a game like this. Each of the turtles looks the same, aside from the weapon they’re carrying. This is a product of the game being in black-and-white. Konami did get a lot of detail in them, though.
Enemy and Boss character sprites are quite good. The bosses are much bigger and look pretty good. The graphics here look a little better than the NES game, but not by much. It is easy to see them, and the game gives you enough time to react to them on the screen.
The stages look good, but are a little repetitive. You go through the same level a few times; at least that is how it felt to me as I played this again. Each stage looks quite good for what it is. Level design isn’t all that inspired, but I can forgive that because of when the game was released and the limitations of the hardware.
Overall, this is a good looking game. The graphics don’t interfere with the gameplay, but things can get a little harder as the game goes on. As far as early Game Boy games go, this is a very good looking one.
7.5/10. This is a fun Game Boy game, but it isn’t the best TMNT game on the Game Boy. TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan has solid graphics and controls. The story is fairly standard for a game like this.
Pros
- Great Graphics
- Good Controls
- Fun Gameplay
Cons
- A little short
- Maybe too easy for some people
- Average story
Conclusion
There isn’t enough for me to put the reviews into their own section. When this game was released, it did receive good reviews. The scores did drop off over time, but that was really the only direction they could go as better Game Boy games in the genre were released.
While this isn’t going to make it into a list of my favorite Game Boy games, it is one that I have some fond memories of. It is an easy game to pick up and play, and it looks very good. Konami’s Game Boy games look excellent when compared to those from other third-party companies.
There are quite a few Game Boy games that I haven’t covered, or want to go back and redo. Many of my older posts about these games weren’t very good, and I want to update them with this format. This is a system that doesn’t always get the attention that it deserves. There are plenty of great games on it, and it has a very large library.
If you like this post, check out some of my others on Konami’s Game Boy Games. Such as Castlevania: The Adventure or Contra: The Alien Wars.