Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time

aka: TMNT 4, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles IV: Turtles in Time, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
Moby ID: 6655
Arcade Specs
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Description official descriptions

Doesn't this Shredder dude ever take a break? Now he's gone and "kidnapped" the Statue of Liberty itself, and just as the Ninja Turtles were about to kick his butt, he tore open some kinda time portal thingy and flung them back into the past!

Now Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michaelangelo have to fight their way through time and tons of Foot Soldiers, mutant wackos, and more in order to bring liberty back and slam Shredder's butt all the way to Dimension X! Go, Turtles! Kick some shell and save us!

Spellings

  • ティーンエージ ミュータント ニンジャ タートルズ/タートルズ イン タイム - Japanese katakana spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Arcade version)

13 People (9 developers, 4 thanks)

Director
Game Programmer
Character Design
Graphic Design
Visual Design
Sound Designer
Music Composer
Hardware Design
Special Thanks
Produced by
  • Konami

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 80% (based on 21 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 92 ratings with 5 reviews)

The BEST TMNT game!

The Good
Lot's of new features have been improved in this port of this game such as the VS. mode, the time attack mode and added a new level. The graphics are close to the 1987 cartoon. They added in newer bosses. It's look's like Konami put lots of effort in this game.

The Bad
The animation isn't smooth as the arcade version. The levels can be long for some people. You can only play a 2-player co-op. You need to play the hard mode to see the ending, so I do recommend a Game Genie.

The Bottom Line
This game is one of the few popular arcade games from the 90's by Konami that's been ported to the Super Nintendo. Aside no port of The Simpsons or X-Men. If you like streets of rage or final fight then you will love this game. You might want to get on the XBLA or the PSN right now.

SNES · by Mario Duenaz (19) · 2009

More, much more of the same! But improved.

The Good
The four ninja turtles named after renascentist artists were back for their last, and arguably best, side-scrolling game on a Nintendo console. A Tournament Fighters version (in which the turtles and other creatures fought each other in a Street Fighter styled game) released in 1993 for NES, Super NES and Sega Genesis was not as successful. And the Sega Genesis version (Hyperstone Heist) is very similar to the SNES one.

The game is a faithful conversion of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles 2: Turtles In Time for Arcade (the first Arcade TMNT was released for NES only as TMNT 2: The Arcade Game).

The story is always the same: Shredder has done something wrong and Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Raphael have to fight an infinite number of Foot Clan soldiers and other creatures to defeat the big boss. It may sound repetitive, but Double Dragon and Final Fight also are. The news here is that the turtles travel in time, to the past and then to the future.

The graphics are very good. The sprites (moving objects) are beautifully designed, detailed, colorful and cartoon-like. And they also have personality. The bosses are big, just like in the Arcade version. Konami made an ample use of SNES zoom capabilities, as Foot Clan soldiers are thrown towards the screen by the turtles. The backgrounds are nice, but don't quite match the sprites.

The sound is astonishing, featuring the old traditional turtles song (the same from the cartoon) and very good special effects (including digitalised voices, something really rare for the SNES).

The gameplay is one of the nicest ever, following the Arcade versions. The sprites move very quickly (not as much as in the Arcade) and the enemies fill the screen, what may cause some slow motion. The controls are simple and each turtle has a variety of over 20 different moves (some unique ones), all of them very easy to perform. All these elements contribute to make a great game, one which you could finish thousand of times without getting bored.

There's also two different game modes: Time Trial and Versus. In Time Trial, you try to finish the stages as quick as possible, which doesn't add much to the game. Versus mode is a turtle fight in the same way as Street Fighter. The success of this option originated the following turtle game, Tournament Fighter.

It's hard to say if Turtles In Time is the best Ninja Turtles game ever, but it's certainly the best 16-bit console turtle game, since Tournament Fighter (for SNES and Genesis) feels weird and Hyperstone Heist (Genesis version) lacks such quality in graphics, color and gameplay.

The Bad
The game is not perfect, though, and probably concentrates more problems than its two predecessors. Well, I'm not going to blame the game for some slow motion scenes, as it is a result of the SNES relatively slow processor.

First, the game is short. It is probably a consequence of the rapid action, but it is a fact that it takes much less to finish than the two previous games.

Second, the game is too easy. It could be an advantage for the beginners, but people who had already played a bunch of turtles games deserved a little more challenge. Luckily, it is not the kind of game that you put aside once it's finished. You keep playing it because it always provides lots of fun.

Third, some Manhattan backgrounds could be more elaborated and less mechanically designed.

The Bottom Line
TRUE CLASSIC. The best 16-bit TMTN game rivals, and probably beats, Final Fight in the dispute for best fighting side-scrolling for SNES.

SNES · by Mumm-Ra (393) · 2003

Awesome 16-bit Turtle Power!

The Good
The original TMNT arcade game perfected the art of turtle power! It did so by building on the play mechanics of Double Dragon and Final Fight, while also adding its own, uniquely "cowabunga", comic book style.

The sequel did likewise, and I'm happy to report that this 16-adaption of the turtles second arcade game is equally praiseworthy.

Our fabulous, funky, kick-butt ninjas look and sound awesome. Game play mechanics are easy to learn, responsive and the ability to toss bad guys into the background was a cool feature.

The turtles battle the forces of evil in some beautifully designed levels, which once again highlighted the hardware advantages found in the Super Nintendo.

The 16-bit war between Nintendo and Sega were furious in the 1990s, and this is one of those early titles that showed just what the SNES could do.

The Bad
The damsel in distress storyline is a bit overdrawn in the video game franchise. April is a smart, streetwise reporter.

However. The number of times she has been captured does make you wonder if she developed some sort of unhealthy attachment to Shredder or Krang. Ok, maybe she would not be the best ninja warrior, but does she have to keep being the helpless lady?

Lastly, the hack 'n slash format is certainly not going to win any points for originality. It is wonderfully designed and executed in this game, but you are still basically moving left to right in order to hack at familiar enemies and bosses.

The Bottom Line
The turtles first leap into the 16-bit gaming world is an awesome one. It is a familiar sort of fast paced, hack 'n action, complete with a damsel in distress. If you can get a hold of this game, you will be glad that you did. Turtle Power!

SNES · by ETJB (428) · 2014

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Trivia

Level design

Turtles in Time contains much of the same level design from the Genesis game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist, but with the addition of completely unique Time Travel levels.

SNES version

Though very close to the original arcade version, the SNES game has undergone several important modifications. For example, the turtles now are warped into the prehistoric period after visiting the Technodrome instead of the sewers, and the Technodrome now is the fourth level. Some bosses have been swapped, the stage set in the future now uses the Mode 7 feature, and so on.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Satoshi Kunsai.

Arcade added by The cranky hermit.

Additional contributors: Shoddyan, Mumm-Ra, Alaka, lights out party, François-Patrick Arteau, RetroArchives.fr.

Game added June 14, 2002. Last modified March 3, 2024.