Minor Introduction
And here we are, the final GB game and the one I was most interested to check out for one singular reason: it’s a metroid clone (not really metroidvania, since this came out before sotn). Yup! A TMNT metroid clone, so this should be fun. Welcome to my tenth review of the marathon, courtesy of the cowabunga collection and let’s jump immediately into it, cuz i’m very curious if they were able to pull it off or not.
First Impressions
Yep. They pulled it off. This is my favourite of all the GB games and it’s honestly amongst the most memorable of all the TMNT games, purely for having the balls to break out of the bubble and have its own take on a metroid game. Since this is still a clone of the metroid game formula during its developing stages (before it would reach a sort of pinnacle with Super Metroid), there are flaws here and there, especially on gameboy hardware, but they did a very good job with it and I loved my way through this game, start to finish.
Gameplay
The BASIC controls remain the same: jump, attack, movement and a jump attack combo. Where it differs is that this is used in a metroid formula, where the priority is the overall maze level and powerups you acquire through the level. For story reasons, you start as Michelangelo, who has one unique ability: Glide. It’s exactly what it sounds, it lets you glide after jumping. Over the course of the game, you’ll unlock three more powerups: drilling over certain terrain with Leonardo, this game’s equivalent of the morph ball to enter small spaces with Raphael and climbing walls with Donatello, each one of them with their own uses. The maze design does a good job of making each of them useful and progression feel quite natural, even while being nonlinear. I do feel Raphael’s unique power is more underutilized than the others (which is quite funny, since it’s the only one to copy the most iconic move from the metroid games), but it makes up by also making you almost invincible to enemy attacks, which becomes quite useful in sections where you want to descend super quickly. Outside of that, the rest are very useful throughout the game, whenever used as intended or used as shortcut or speedrunning options. The general design of the maze is also very solid for a metroid clone, each with their obstacles, methods of getting through, enemy placement and the whole package and it’s fun traversing them and finding quicker routes through the newly acquired powers. The enemy variety is also solid, but the bosses have to be a highlight. They’re probably some of the best that all the games have offered, with understandable attacks and patters, but with an added level of unpredictability to them, which adds to their challenge and tense feeling throughout the bosses (if you do happen to lose, the game has both continues and a password system to get you back in no time). They also replenish your health when you beat them, so they serve as great resources of health outside of pizza. Speaking of, the game also has its own hp bar increase collectibles, similar to metroid games, which are usually hidden in off-the-beaten-track paths that normally you would ignore, serving as neat little rewards for exploring and experimenting with the environment and your moveset. Simply put, I quite enjoyed the gameplay here a lot more than I was expecting, I thought they were gonna do a lazy man’s metroid with no effort, but I was proven wrong.
Story
Once again, the story merely serves as an excuse for the setting and why this game exists, but the initial concept and presentation of it is definitely better. This time Cyber Shredder kidnaps all the turtles, april and splinter…except for Michelangelo, who gets challenged from him instead to save all of them. The story progression after the fact is straightforward, but I appreciate that they present it better, with cutscenes and even dialogue boxes after each save for some turtle interaction, neat touches.
Presentation
And of course, this is the best looking TMNT game on the gameboy. The presentation jump isn’t as noticeable as going from first game to second, but it is still noticeable in its own way. The game runs smoothly as you would expect, the character sprites look very good and are an improvement over the second’s, the animation is also really good, as is the music. The backgrounds and environment work is also well-done. Generally well-done presentation work yet again.
Negatives
My flaws are related to this being a metroid format game on a limited hardware like gameboy, which leads to the classic “where the fuck do I go” problems and a map that doesn’t really help you, outside of showing how many total rooms there are, your location and which rooms hold important stuff…but the game never tells you what those important stuff are and where are the entrances, so you have to gamble a lot to figure out the ideal route….or alternatively look up a better detailed map (which the strategy guide on the cowabunga collection thankfully provides). While the difficulty of this game is actually perfect for the most part, there are still spots where the game likes to throw unavoidable attacks from offscreen just to chip a bit at your health, and the bat enemy ends up becoming quite annoying to deal with…there is also a boss rush at the very end, which was thankfully a bit more manageable cuz the game always replenishes your health to max when you finish a boss. These really are my only complaints.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this was a great send-off to the ninja turtles’s stint on the gameboy, with the most interesting installment in the series, one that experiments with a very unlikely formula and succeeds 80% of the way through. As long as you have a detailed map with you, you’ll have a great time with this game, I highly recommend you check it out. Final verdict: 8/10.
And here we are, the final GB game and the one I was most interested to check out for one singular reason: it’s a metroid clone (not really metroidvania, since this came out before sotn). Yup! A TMNT metroid clone, so this should be fun. Welcome to my tenth review of the marathon, courtesy of the cowabunga collection and let’s jump immediately into it, cuz i’m very curious if they were able to pull it off or not.
First Impressions
Yep. They pulled it off. This is my favourite of all the GB games and it’s honestly amongst the most memorable of all the TMNT games, purely for having the balls to break out of the bubble and have its own take on a metroid game. Since this is still a clone of the metroid game formula during its developing stages (before it would reach a sort of pinnacle with Super Metroid), there are flaws here and there, especially on gameboy hardware, but they did a very good job with it and I loved my way through this game, start to finish.
Gameplay
The BASIC controls remain the same: jump, attack, movement and a jump attack combo. Where it differs is that this is used in a metroid formula, where the priority is the overall maze level and powerups you acquire through the level. For story reasons, you start as Michelangelo, who has one unique ability: Glide. It’s exactly what it sounds, it lets you glide after jumping. Over the course of the game, you’ll unlock three more powerups: drilling over certain terrain with Leonardo, this game’s equivalent of the morph ball to enter small spaces with Raphael and climbing walls with Donatello, each one of them with their own uses. The maze design does a good job of making each of them useful and progression feel quite natural, even while being nonlinear. I do feel Raphael’s unique power is more underutilized than the others (which is quite funny, since it’s the only one to copy the most iconic move from the metroid games), but it makes up by also making you almost invincible to enemy attacks, which becomes quite useful in sections where you want to descend super quickly. Outside of that, the rest are very useful throughout the game, whenever used as intended or used as shortcut or speedrunning options. The general design of the maze is also very solid for a metroid clone, each with their obstacles, methods of getting through, enemy placement and the whole package and it’s fun traversing them and finding quicker routes through the newly acquired powers. The enemy variety is also solid, but the bosses have to be a highlight. They’re probably some of the best that all the games have offered, with understandable attacks and patters, but with an added level of unpredictability to them, which adds to their challenge and tense feeling throughout the bosses (if you do happen to lose, the game has both continues and a password system to get you back in no time). They also replenish your health when you beat them, so they serve as great resources of health outside of pizza. Speaking of, the game also has its own hp bar increase collectibles, similar to metroid games, which are usually hidden in off-the-beaten-track paths that normally you would ignore, serving as neat little rewards for exploring and experimenting with the environment and your moveset. Simply put, I quite enjoyed the gameplay here a lot more than I was expecting, I thought they were gonna do a lazy man’s metroid with no effort, but I was proven wrong.
Story
Once again, the story merely serves as an excuse for the setting and why this game exists, but the initial concept and presentation of it is definitely better. This time Cyber Shredder kidnaps all the turtles, april and splinter…except for Michelangelo, who gets challenged from him instead to save all of them. The story progression after the fact is straightforward, but I appreciate that they present it better, with cutscenes and even dialogue boxes after each save for some turtle interaction, neat touches.
Presentation
And of course, this is the best looking TMNT game on the gameboy. The presentation jump isn’t as noticeable as going from first game to second, but it is still noticeable in its own way. The game runs smoothly as you would expect, the character sprites look very good and are an improvement over the second’s, the animation is also really good, as is the music. The backgrounds and environment work is also well-done. Generally well-done presentation work yet again.
Negatives
My flaws are related to this being a metroid format game on a limited hardware like gameboy, which leads to the classic “where the fuck do I go” problems and a map that doesn’t really help you, outside of showing how many total rooms there are, your location and which rooms hold important stuff…but the game never tells you what those important stuff are and where are the entrances, so you have to gamble a lot to figure out the ideal route….or alternatively look up a better detailed map (which the strategy guide on the cowabunga collection thankfully provides). While the difficulty of this game is actually perfect for the most part, there are still spots where the game likes to throw unavoidable attacks from offscreen just to chip a bit at your health, and the bat enemy ends up becoming quite annoying to deal with…there is also a boss rush at the very end, which was thankfully a bit more manageable cuz the game always replenishes your health to max when you finish a boss. These really are my only complaints.
Final Thoughts
Overall, this was a great send-off to the ninja turtles’s stint on the gameboy, with the most interesting installment in the series, one that experiments with a very unlikely formula and succeeds 80% of the way through. As long as you have a detailed map with you, you’ll have a great time with this game, I highly recommend you check it out. Final verdict: 8/10.