"The metroidvania one."

So what do we really have here? You start off as Mikey. You're trying to find and rescue your brothers scattered throughout a large continuous environment. Each turtle has a unique ability that allows you to progress deeper through the labyrinth.

You get a complete map at the beginning of the game with areas of interest marked with a nondescript dot. Unlike Castlevania, you don't see doors marked on the map.

The player is left to make educated guesses about where to press forward, and this is my favourite design element. The maze is fairly simple to actually explore but seems vast from the map. Navigating without a guide is not difficult.

What is difficult, is the bosses. They move too fast. They are too big. They have too many i-frames. As you learn their movements and improve your reaction time, they are beatable but it's not enjoyable.

The turtles themselves are fun to control. You have an air kick, and a generic attack. As best I can tell the hit boxes are the same for all turtles. You aren't able to spam attacks, they have about a half second cool down period, so you need to be precise with your strikes like with a Ninja Gaiden.

Music is good. Enemies lack variety. It's no Metroid II but it's interesting and competently put together.

I love this broke-ass game. That you can exploit the mechanics and one punch man your way through the most difficult battles is a strength, not a weakness. I love how each class has its own growth mechanics. I love all the bizarre effects your equipment can have.

Uematsu is in fine form, wringing out memorable melodies from the GB sound chip. The art design is strong. Everything reads really clearly and the enemies have fun, cute designs.

Overall it's a really impressive release for year one of the Game Boy. Mechanically I like this better than Final Fantasy I and II. Kawazu is a mad genius.