I played this mainly as a tie in to the film "Oppenheimer" considering the atomic bomb connections in the title and it was an excuse to bust out the Cowabunga Collection again. Honestly a pretty okay beat 'em up with my issues mainly stemming from the difficulty (they had to sell rentals to Blockbuster after all). I really liked a lot of the mechanics but when I learned you can spam Super attacks at the bosses it did feel kind of unsatisfying in ways. Jump kicking in the air is incredible feeling (just like the original arcade game) and idk why the other 2012 series beat 'em up game didn't have them. Cool soundtrack, fun bosses and a kind of bonkers plot made it worth playing. I should have turned on the unlimited lives feature in the enhancements menu beforehand whoops. The achievement for beating the game is a play on the destroyer of worlds quote lmfao.
7/10

Minor Introduction
Well this review took a lot longer to drop, but here we are! Welcome to the fifth installment of this marathon, courtesy of the cowabunga collection! And finally, we are here, the final mainline NES TMNT game! Let’s see what this has to offer.

First Impressions
It’s the best NES game hands down, no questions asked. Taking the good elements of the previous NES installments, ironing out the kinks and making it a more faithful formula to the arcade beat’em’ups, The Manhattan Project ends up achieving the NES TMNT game I would gladly recommend. There are still issues present, but it’s one of the better tmmt games…it just doesn’t compare to hyperstone heist and turtles in time (reviews coming soon wink wink)

Gameplay
The combat is about what you would expect from an NES TMNT game…pretty basic lol. While it remains basic, it does a good job at keeping itself as a consistent fun loop, thanks to good enemy design that is more fair than previous NES TMNT games, varied locations for the levels (they even experiment a bit with some of the designs, there is a surfing level, a level with holes that you can hang on to and then surprise ambush, a sewer level with high and low ground, with each level also having different environmental obstacles to contend with, and it makes for a nice change of pace and good level design, despite remaining the same battle grounds at their core) and the special attacks for the turtles. They’re particularly a great introduction here, offering a “high risk, high reward” aspect to the gameplay, where you can choose to deal high damage to enemies at the cost of your hp, with each one also being distinct for each turtle and having their own specific attribute outside of just high damage. It can break bosses if used right, but due to the risk element, the tension and difficulty of the bosses is never removed. Speaking of, the bosses are designed well…for the most part, with understandable patterns and more tolerable with their counterattacks.

Story
Yet again there isn’t much to say in this section, but I do respect how the developers tried to make the story a little more exciting. Once again, Shredder interrupts an April broadcast and kidnaps her, except now he decides to…and I kid you not…turn the entirety of Manhattan into a floating island for himself! Now it’s up to the turtles to save April and Manhattan by beating Shredder to kingdom come again. It’s a fun concept that progresses as you would expect from a TMNT plot, but the road to get there is rather fun. There are also intermission cutscenes and “text cards” between levels to progress the story and they’re appreciated.

Presentation
It is the best looking NES TMNT game, simple as that. It looks as you would expect from a late NES game (hardware that the devs understand to its full capabilities). The game delivers some good spritework for characters and animation, but the highlight has gotta be the background and scrolling work, they look great! The scrolling effect looks particularly great during the surfing level. The artstyle is also a lot more colorful, detailed and popping, with a smooth framerate on top of it, and it’s all backed by the usual great music that you would expect from a TMNT game.

Negatives
The game is obviously without its flaws. The difficulty still remains rather inconsistent at times, in large part to a noticeable lack of pizzas across levels and also the presence of the usual cheap hit traps scattered around. Two bosses were rather mediocre and two levels overstayed their welcome in terms of length, especially since they weren’t even at the end of the game, where the length is more justified.

Final Thoughts
Overall, I still enjoyed my time with this game. It is the best NES TMNT game and I can totally see why it’s praised a lot. The game is still flawed at this point, but with each game slowly becoming better and better, i’m glad that the franchise ended its stint in the NES with a game I can definitely recommend wholeheartedly. This was quite a rollercoaster ride through the NES trilogy, for better and for worse. Final rating: 8/10

easily the best tmnt game on the nes, and had it not been for turtles in time (arcade version came before this), this would have been the best tmnt game at the time of release
only real issue is the difficulty, some of the bosses were some real bs and even with rewind this game proved to be a challenge towards the end

also despite being on the cover, there is no triceraton boss and thats bothering me
i get that they (for some BAFFLING reason) weren't in the 80s cartoon at that point but come on

Replayed on the Cowabunga Collection.

TMNT 3: The Manhattan Project is a mostly okay beat-em-up for the NES that still suffers from a lot of the problems TMNT 2: The Arcade Game did. Except it has a banger soundtrack and it looks a lot less ugly.

My main issue with The Arcade Game was the inability to pull off satisfying combos given how quickly enemies recovered, as well as the abysmal reach and slow speed of each of the turtles. Manhattan Project mildly improves on these problems. Combos are more fluid and the Turtles have a much more varied moveset (at least by NES beat-em-up standards), but they still move about the screen at a glacial pace, allowing more wily members of the Foot to maintain distance and make screens more annoying to clear than they ought to be.

Any time you lose a life you're now given the option to change what Turtle you're playing as, which is another welcome change, as each Turtle is more well defined than before, making some more suitable for certain bosses and levels than others. You're also able to initiate a special move unique to each Turtle at the cost of a few pips of life, which is a carryover from the arcade games. In general, Manhattan Project feels like a much more faithful realization of the arcade Turtles than TMNT 2, even if it may still be a marked downgrade.

I want to touch on the visual design of the game as well. Graphically, this looks about as good as you'd expect from a late NES title. Sprites are much more readable, the animation quality has been vastly improved, and there's more varied scenery in each level, which is especially appreciated as they still drag on as long as they did in the previous game. I wish they toned it down with how many enemies you have to beat to clear a screen and reduce the amount of times you're only able to walk five feet before the screen locks again. That said, each level is much more engaging than any one in TMNT 2.

Manhattan Project is as good as it gets for the Ninja Turtles on the NES, which is to say it's very middling game that makes large improvements while also leaving too much of the previous game intact.

Do you ever think that Kevin Eastman or Peter Laird regret creating the Ninja Turtles? Probably not, because they made a lot of money from it and made a product that is adored by millions to this day, but ignoring all that, do you think they regret creating the series, or even what it eventually became? Do you think that one day, the two of them just look back at shit like the Micheal Bay movies, TMNT III, or that one live-action show that got made, and they just think to themselves “My god… look at how they massacred my boys…”... I would probably feel that way if I was in a similar situation, but then I would look back on all the positive things to come out of the franchise as well, and then I would realize it would’ve all been worthwhile……………. none of that has anything to do with this review, I just needed an intro: it’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project!

After going through the first NES game, the arcade game, and then skipping over to the infinitely superior TMNT IV, we have now finally arrived at the final TMNT game that was released for the NES before jumping straight to the next generation of systems (aside from the port of Tournament Fighters, but… you know…). Much like all of the other TMNT games for the system, I haven’t played this one before now, but I had seen it a little bit before, and it looked about as standard as these games could get: just being another typical beat-’em-up that lets you play as your favorite turtle and kick plenty of ass. So, it was no surprise then that, when I got around to actually playing it, that was pretty much exactly what I got, but that doesn’t make it bad by any means. It is still a pretty good game, definitely the best TMNT NES game and one of the best beat-’em-ups on the system, but it does have one or two things holding it back from me absolutely loving it.

The story is a little more extreme for a TMNT game, where while the turtles are vacationing in Florida (already off to a fantastic start), Shredder takes over Manhattan, raising it up into the sky like it’s Angel Island, and kidnaps April O’Neal in the process, so it is up to the turtles to end their vacation early and go save the day once again, which is pretty crazy for a TMNT plot, but it is still a very basic “Shredder’s a dick, go beat him up” story, so it isn’t that great. The graphics are pretty good, being the best looking TMNT game available on the NES, and there are plenty of varied environments, enemies, and bosses to see, but it is nothing too spectacular, the music is good, giving off the same vibe as plenty of other soundtracks from this series, but nothing really stuck out as too memorable for me, and the control/gameplay is pretty good for what we got here, keeping the gameplay generally similar to what we have seen before, while refining it enough to where it is the best that the series has seen… at least, at this point in time.

The game is an old-school beat-’em-up, where you take control of one of the four Ninja Turtles, or if you are me, you pick Leonardo and nobody else, because you are a basic bitch, go through a set of eight different levels that range from the scummy, insane depths of Florida to the far reaches of space, defeat many different enemies that come your way using whatever moves that you have at your disposal, pick up pizzas to heal yourself whenever you get the chance to do so (which is only like three to four times in the entire game), and take on plenty of familiar faces in boss fights, ranging from regulars you would find from the comics and animated series, to others that come from the TMNT movies. It is your standard TMNT affair in almost every way, but that doesn’t make it bad in any way, as you can still have plenty of fun with it, and if you got a friend who can join you on your journey, that would definitely be the best way to play through it. Just, you know, make sure to turn off friendly fire (seriously, why is that even an option?).

There’s really not much else I can say about this game that I haven’t already talked about in plenty of other TMNT reviews at this point. You walk around, you beat people up, you grab pizza when you can, you fall into a sewer hole like a dumbass and feel bad about yourself, you all know how this goes by now. There is nothing new here to change up the gameplay whatsoever from what we have seen before, because it’s a TMNT game, and they didn’t need to try to do anything new or exciting, because it will sell anyway. But what I will say is that, as a whole, the game still plays pretty well. The moves are still fun enough to pull off, the specials are pretty helpful to use, and while the bosses are pretty tough, it is satisfying to beat them down and take them out. The only real part about the gameplay that I wasn’t a fan of was how slow your movement speed is, which I guess makes sense, seeing as you are playing as a turtle, but he is also a NINJA, and last time I checked, they go so fast that you would be dead before you knew they were there.

If I had to name off any major problems I had with the game, aside from the slow movement and the lack of changes, it would be based on how fucking LONG this game is. The game itself doesn’t have that much content, only having about eight stages, which is pretty standard for an NES game, but I swear, these stages drag on for an eternity, as you are constantly beating up bad guys and taking on minorly challenging platforming. Not to mention, some of the stages have multiple bosses, which only makes them take even longer to get through, and because of all of this, it took me over two hours to beat the game, which isn’t that bad, but for a game like this, you would expect something a lot quicker and snappier to help the pacing. Maybe it would’ve gone faster if I had played with another person, but either way, I still think the stages should’ve been shrunken down a little bit, especially for a game that has no password feature and limited continues.

Overall, despite a lack of change, your slow movement, and how the game drags on at points, this game is still a pretty good beat-’em-up for the NES, being the best of the original TMNT trilogy, and being a pretty good time all on its own, and I am sure big fans of this franchise would be able to properly enjoy themselves with this game all the same. I would recommend it for those who are big TMNT fans, as well as those who are big fans of beat-’em-ups in general, because while there are definitely better options out there now, this still does the job well enough, and you should be able to enjoy it all the same. Now, if you will excuse me, I am gonna go find out how exactly a turtle can live a full life while living on a pizza-only diet. See you all next time!

Game #535

It doesn't beath Turtles in Time, but to me it is the best TMNT game on the NES. It is hard, but still well balanced and I played it (and finished it) so many times when I was a kid.

You have 3 lifes and 3 continues to beat the game and the first time you'll play, you'll probably restart against Beebop in the third stage and when you'll understand how to play better, your next death will probably be against the crocodile in the sewer's fifth stage.

Of course, you'll get frustrated to restart the whole game, but it is so much fun to play (especially with a friend).

The only flaw of the game is that when you play with two players, you can hurt your comrade. Another point is that the game doesn't change it's difficulty if you play alone. You might as well play with a friend.

As someone who had never played TMNT 3: The Manhattan Project, I was honestly expecting it to be just like TMNT 2: The Arcade and I was kinda wrong. This game showed me something I've had wrong for years. I thought that TMNT Turtles in Time was the game most the future TMNT games would draw inspiration from, but that's not the case. Much of TMNT 3 lives on in future installations and I think the game that shows it the most was TMNT Shredder's Revenge, so much of that game paid homage to this one.

Also, it seems like the developers looked at Back to the Sewers and decided to reuse some of those assets but update them and do them right. The animations and different amount of enemies were great. Back when I played turtles in Time, I made a comment that the game feels a bit button mashy with no real tactical skill, this game fixed that in spades. You may not find yourself running into a bunch of different enemies at once, but each type of enemy has a sort of mechanic to them of what to do and not to do to avoid getting destroyed, so it wins out over all the past games.

The music was also very well done, much of it was original with a few remixes here and there, though I am starting to notice Konami used a lot of the same sound effects not just between the TMNT game but some of these sounds were even in Super C.

The difficulty of this game is definitely where it's at. It's not a push over in any way shape or form and forces you to learn patterns and adjust so it's never a dull moment be it bosses or enemies. Yeah, it does have a cheap moment every once in a while, but nothing to get frustrated over due to it happening very infrequently.

This game is definitely the best of the NES and possibly Game Boy games and shows how much the series grew, before TMNT 4 Turtles in Time took it to new heights it would never reach again.

Не знаю как проходил это в детстве, но сейчас игра ощущается очень деревянной. Набор приемов у черепах неплохой, но в этой игре почти все пытается вызвать у тебя горение: враги встречают каждый твой прыжок апперкотом, почти каждый из них обязательно ударит тебя первым, рандомно схватит тебя, а твои спецприемы отнимут у жизни (в том же стрит оф рейдж хп можно было восстановить), а у боссов анимации ударов быстрее твоих раз в 5. Ощущение, что я играю в аркадный автомат и с меня хотят заполучить как можно больше дополнительных жетонов. А самое печальное, что враги на каждых уровнях одни и те же, меняется только задник. К концу игры просто устал.

Alex's Cowabunga Collection Marathon, Pt. 12 of 13

HOLY GEEZ THIS GAME OWNS

What an incredible brawler! I played a lot of the NES port of The Arcade Game when I was a kid, so playing this for the first time felt like suddenly discovering Super Mario Bros. 3 if you had only ever played the original 1985 game. Previous TMNT games feel like a rough draft compared to this, every aspect of it is absolutely delightful!

These Foot soldiers, man. They’re popping onto the screen in every wacky way they can think of! We’ve got trios of them somersaulting across the screen, synchronized swimmers leaping out of the ocean, Foot posing as statues in the park, we’ve even got Foot soldiers being assembled and immediately stepping off the factory line to kick you in the face! I love how much charm Konami packed into the animations. The variety of levels and locations is possibly the best in the whole series, very little of the game was in your standard "City Street or Perhaps a Sewer" aesthetic. Also, Age of Ultron totally ripped off Shredder's plan here.

This also feels a bit less brutal than the previous NES games, though I might just be getting a bit better after playing through so many TMNT beat ‘em ups in the past two weeks. In any case, it did feel more balanced and fair, and I was able to wipe out screens of enemies without taking any damage quite frequently. That is, unless I did damage to myself.

Yeah, the A+B “recoil damage” moves are back. I was disappointed for the first half of the game. Like in HyperStone Heist, you can do a stronger attack by pushing both buttons simultaneously, but it hurts your Turtle every time. However, it actually ends up working a lot better in Manhattan Project, and I ended up using it fairly frequently. On the Genesis, the move seemed to just be twice as strong as a standard hit. But here, it works as a OHKO on everyone who’s not a boss! This provided a more interesting element of risk and reward. If a group of extra-strong enemies like Rock Soldiers show up, you can try to slowly whittle their health down without taking any damage, or you can burn one bar of HP to take them out immediately. This ends up being a great mechanic to have at your disposal, though I do feel like it might have been better to have a Special meter that you could charge up by getting a certain amounts of hits in a row so you could use these moves while preserving your limited number of lives.

There’s only one game left to go in my Cowabunga Collection playthrough. I’ve been going through each series of games in the order they released, though jumping around between platforms and release order to keep things fresh. What has most impressed me is how each game improves on what came before it. With the numbered home console games, TMNT III – The Manhattan Project is better than TMNT II – The Arcade Game, which was better than the first entry. We’ll see tonight if TMNT IV: Turtles in Time keeps this momentum going!

HUGE improvement over the previous NES outing. Actual differences between the turtles, all attack options are more viable and have a chance to be put to good use, and much improved boss fights with actual strategy to employ against them outside of Jump Kick spam. This about the best the NES can do for a beat em up. The main problems are like the last game some levels and bosses can drag for too long making it feel a little repetitive. It's also remarkably stingy with healing items for a console beat 'em up, with half the levels not having any at all. With the more generous system for extra lives though, this is hardly a problem. Check it out if you're a huge Turtles fan and lover of NES action games.