Why the hell was the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for NES so damn hard?

Roufuss

Roufuss

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Honestly... I saw a vide on Youtube where the guy asked this same question, I mean, the game was marketed towards TMNT fans, most TMNT fans were children, but I swear this game was made from the pits of hell.

90% of the game dosen't even to do with the Ninja Turtles... I never fucking beat this game as a kid, not only was it hard as hell but this game was just designed like shit. TMNT 2 and 3 were awesome, so was Turtles in Time, I hate this damn game so much. All this anger stems from the fact I just tried to play it and it just got shittier with time.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjUz8IT0CYg[/media]

You want to know what the real kicker is? This game was hard as hell, but Shredder is so easy to beat it's like the developers didn't even bother programming ANY A.I into him at all because they KNEW no kid would EVER GET THIS FAR INTO THE GAME.

[media] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_AycBr4GWE [/media]
 
Haha, that second video was hilarious. Yeah there are alot of NES games that were FAR too hard to be any fun for me.
 
[quote name='danito']Haha, that second video was hilarious. Yeah there are alot of NES games that were FAR too hard to be any fun for me.[/QUOTE]

But here's what I don't get... it was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Sure, there were alot of shitty games, but what the fuck happened with this first game?

Who approved this shit? Who playtested this game and thought "Yea, children are going to love this, its just like the show!!".

Whoever made this first game had to have gotten fired, because every TMNT after this during that era was fucking awesome. The furthest I ever in this game was to the damn technodrome, I never even knew what the hell to do.

This game almost made me hate the Ninja Turtles when I was a kid.
 
Two more good examples: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Friday the 13th. Maybe I just suck but jesus those were terrible games... but then again Friday the 13th wasn't really aimed at kids. Little Nemo, on the other hand, was the perfect game made after a movie.
 
[quote name='danito']Two more good examples: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Friday the 13th. Maybe I just suck but jesus those were terrible games... but then again Friday the 13th wasn't really aimed at kids. Little Nemo, on the other hand, was the perfect game made after a movie.[/QUOTE]

But see, the difference is that to make a shitty game patterened off the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, you actually have to try hard. I mean, cmon, the gameplay just writes itself, but I mean, you really have to want to just totally fuck everything up to make a bad game involving the Ninja Turtles.

Sometimes I'm wondering if this wasn't an entirely different game and Konami just decided to plaster TMNT all over it when they got the license... that makes a hell of alot more sense than someone actually made this piece of shit from scratch with the TMNT in mind.

I'm actually playing this shit, and it's like, the fucking electric coral on stage 2 that you have to be some kind of crazy master to get through is just insane. I always lose all my damn turtles before I can even get to the hell that is level 3.
 
All I know is that, as a kid, I couldn't get past a certain part, no matter how hard I tried. It was with the conveyor belts - I'd always fall off into the spikes.

So one day I was at a friend's house, and he miraculously had both this game and a Game Genie.

Instantly, I imagined myself in full invincibility, battling my way through the game in a display of pure disdain, brute forcing inch by inch with dramatic fashion, a big middle finger to the twisted developers.

But no.

I got to the exact same part, and what the fuck happened?

I fell off the damn conveyor belt.

I smirked, knowing my retribution was at hand, my turtle armed with the protection of 8bit hack gods.

But no.

When you hit the fucking spikes, it crashed the game.

I stared in disbelief, unable to move.

So I did the only thing I thought would make me feel better - play through it again and get to the same area.

Another hour later, the same events played out, I hurled the controller into the wall and stormed out of the room.

fuck you Ultra Games. Konami. Whatever.
 
I always enjoyed the sickening difficulty in NES games as a child, but then again you can say I'm a little touched in the head. And yeah, TMNT was far too difficult for its own good and probably pissed off a lot of people but, to be fair, those were the days where you bought a game and, hey, you're stuck with it unless you trade it with a friend or threw it out.

I bet Ultra/Konami got plenty of money out of that one.
 
Maybe it was one of those rush jobs. They were getting close to the deadline and someone typed a 9 value for AI difficulty instead of a 4 value or something. But yes that game was hard. It was hard but didn't piss me off as much as contra difficulty.
 
I actually played through the Commodore Amiga 500 version of this game as a kid, since I didn't own a Nintendo. I wonder how the level of difficulty compared? The Rocksteady trick never seemed to work on the Amiga version, but on the other hand the Shredder fight had an even easier exploit. That second platform was lower, so if you stood on top Shredder would try to walk through it for the whole fight... you could just aim down and hit him until he died.

Man I still have painful memories of wandering through level 4, trying to find "Sewer 19."
 
I actually kinda enjoyed the first one. I mean, I loved the sequals, because I was/am a fan of beat 'em ups, but something about the first one made me come back to it. I guess I just always wanted to finish it. A few months ago, I got it out, thinking I would be able to beat it now. And I got a lot farther than I ever had as a kid. (Foot Soldier base?) Maybe someday I'll finish the game!
 
I loved this fucking game. It was hard as hell, sure, but I remember playing the shit outta it. Watching the videos makes me want to play it again. Sure, the later games in the series were much better, but this one is still great.

I lost it when he said "Why does this jump have to be so close to the ceiling?" and "You can fucking walk over it?!"

I love this guy.
 
I have to wonder if this game was first put together as some other game, they got the approval to use TMNT characters, and then slapped them in to the already finished game. As others have stated, including those videos, it seems so very weird. I hated that game. Had an PC version of it back in the day, it was just as awful there as on the NES. Never completed the rooftop area. Rarely even got there, though.
 
All original 8-bit games is maddening hard. In fact there is even a book on it.
It's all about reaction time. The time it takes for you to react to the X while avioding Y.

Like Zelda II where you could just plow threw most badies with a well placed slash without even taking one hit or dying. The same could be said for games like Dragon Quest where it is impossible to die unless you have no stratergy.

Then again it might just be old age. Like the General in that toy movie said.
 
I can't believe all of you didn't like this game; I loved me the shit outta this game.

This game had more in common with Ninja Gaiden than the beat-'em-ups that followed it. Even as a kid where I couldn't get past the dam stage (the second level), I still loved it. I wish my final fight with Shredder was that easy - I was already down to Michaelangelo. You had to play this game with Leonardo first because he could reach almost every enemy that Donatello could without being encumbered, including the enemies you have to hit thru the ceiling.

In that part where he tried to climb up the ladder and couldn't because of the chainsaw guy - all he had to do was leave the area and the enemies would change. C'mon, I figured that out as a kid. He's really nitpicking here. The sewers where you had to time your jumps or get washed away was a bitch, though.
 
I share the pain of this game as well. I'm not sure if you remember, but this game was delayed over a year past its original announced release date. I remember checking stores weekly during the entire delay... then one day when I wasn't looking for it, there it was! And when I started playing it, I thought to myself "I've waited over a year for this??!! Why the hell was it even delayed??!!".

Fortunately all of the follow-ups you mentioned redeemed the franchise and prevented it from being added to the list of "Best License - Worst Game" list that is heavily populated by most of the Batman games.
 
I managed to beat that game. And I beat shredder the hardway too. I could only do it once though. Same with Double Dragon 3. Another bad game, but it did have some cool features like the bad ass ninja.
 
I remember playing tha game a whole lot and getting stuck all the time too. I need to admit, sometimes I miss the challenge of some of those old games.
 
I really liked the original TMNT, but yeah, it was way too hard. Fortuantely with a child's attention span, I got bored of it by the time I finished the rooftops area, where the game really starts to get difficult. As far as I'm concerned, that's as far as the game goes.

The concept was good, and had some good ideas to make it more than just a brawler. It was more innovative than the arcade games, for sure, with the items, switching characters with their own lifebars/weapons, the overworld map that played so much differently. Raphael was worthless in that game, though.

[quote name='camoor']Battletoads was worse.

Especially because battletoads was a game that had some good ideas wrecked by insane difficulty.[/QUOTE]

So true. Anyone who says that videogames ruin a kid's attention span has never watched an 8 year old try to memorize that damn bike track level to avoid the walls.
 
[quote name='camoor']Battletoads was worse.

Especially because battletoads was a game that had some good ideas wrecked by insane difficulty.[/QUOTE]
Could the jetski level even be beaten in that game? Seriously, I must have gotten there 4 dozen times, never got past it without a Game Genie.
 
[quote name='camoor']Battletoads was worse.

Especially because battletoads was a game that had some good ideas wrecked by insane difficulty.[/QUOTE]
But it wasn't broken.
 
[quote name='Brak']But it wasn't broken.[/quote]

Well - I meant that the game experience was wrecked for me because I found it too difficult, but yeah it only had a few glitches.

I could do the Jetski level, but I the snakes level was just too much for me.
 
Add TMNT to the games I just gave up on. I never got past the Turtle van part. I think the Internet wasn't out yet so I couldn't look it up like today. TMNT just reminds me that in reality 90% of the NES games released where shit.
 
I liked the first TMNT game. I never beat it, I watched my friend beat it at least once I remember.

I can't even count the number of times I beat TMNT 2, 3, 4, and HyperStone Heist.
 
i have nightmares of that one jump area in the sewer where you have to get to the second half of that level. I got so pissed each time I died too.
 
[quote name='Ikohn4ever']i have nightmares of that one jump area in the sewer where you have to get to the second half of that level. I got so pissed each time I died too.[/QUOTE]

That's where I got stuck too. In the sewer, I can see the ladder to get up to the surface but the jump system is so fucked.
 
It almost seemed like the original TMNT game was a completely different game altogether that was adapted to be TMNT to ride the wave of popularity... kinda like how they took that Dinosaur Planet game, added the Starfox cast, and called it Starfox Adventures.
 
I'm with the ones that loved this game. I did find something really interesting though with the Game Genie. I know it did it with the actual thing and NES, but when you input the invincibility code it, it would end up crapping out in the Technodrome. Now I found about a year ago that if you enter the code in in an emulator at say the dam level or if you want the 3rd level, you'd be completly invincible all the way till the end. And god, save states are a god send for it sometimes...
 
I never understood why so many people say this game is too hard. The first two levels were challenging but once you got to the swimming part, the game was a cakewalk.

That kid bitching about the game seriously needs to call the WAHHHHHmbulance.
 
[quote name='RegalSin2020']All original 8-bit games is maddening hard. In fact there is even a book on it.
It's all about reaction time. The time it takes for you to react to the X while avioding Y.

Like Zelda II where you could just plow threw most badies with a well placed slash without even taking one hit or dying. The same could be said for games like Dragon Quest where it is impossible to die unless you have no stratergy.

Then again it might just be old age. Like the General in that toy movie said.[/QUOTE]
Post more. Please.
 
[quote name='zewone']Post more. Please.[/QUOTE]
It's all about the stratergy.
 
[quote name='Michaellvortega']That's where I got stuck too. In the sewer, I can see the ladder to get up to the surface but the jump system is so fucked.[/QUOTE]The Amiga version was based on a single-button joystick, so you had to press the button quickly to do an attack, and hold it down for like half a second to jump. You can only imagine how frustrating that got.

But on the other hand, I think Donatello was even more overpowered. He could kill those foot soldiers with a single hit (didn't it take him at least two hits, like everyone else, on the NES version?)?
 
That Nintendo Nerd has bad taste in beer and gimmicks. Yech!

This game was maddeningly hard, and the OP's comments seem to make me wonder if this game wasn't something that was 60% done and then suddenly rewritten to be a TMNT game. The turtles became immensely popular very quick, IIRC, and Ultra could have taken a nobody game, slapped the TMNT license on it, and that would be fine. Some of the enemies seem out of place; some of the locales seem strange, and the game just doesn't "feel" like a TMNT game.

I suppose I'll have to go back and play through it again. I thought I beat it before, but I don't remember anything beyond getting to the Thunderdrome (or whatever the hell it's called).
 
Sorry, but this guy has a pretty weak gimmick. That guy might be entertaining if he was correct about half the stuff he whined about. My non-hardcore gamer brother came into the room while I was watching it, got a laugh or two since he remembered the game as well, but after the first 60 seconds it just becomes grating and he commented how stupid it was. The shot of him drinking the beer was especially stupid. "I DRINK ROLLING ROCK!" Some of the stuff he bitched about wasn't even correct ("you never hear the theme" - you do hear a variation of the theme when you beat a boss).

The game wasn't nearly as hard as he's making it out to be. The very end was next to impossible, but stuff like the jumps he couldn't make were pretty pathetic. I'm not even that good, but I had no problem with half the stuff he showed.

Speaking of the very end (corridors with the jetpackers)...one day - after countless failed attempts - I finally made it through, and had enough scrolls to wipe out Shredder without too much trouble (that AI glitch he showed with Shredder only works if you're that character). Looking back, I'm shocked I'd play a game that many times over again after being frustrated so many times. I seriously doubt I'd do the same for a game now.

...about a week later, we went on vacation to Toronto. While in Canada I "smuggled" a Game Genie in on the way back (this was when Nintendo was still trying to block it in the US). Finished it many times after that, but was glad to see that I made it without cheating at least once.
 
I beat the dam like once or twice only to be raped by the turrets on the road instantly.

I was not pleased.
 
Wow...brings back memories. My dad and I used to play it for hours every weekend, trying to beat it. We could never get past the last level. fucking brutal. It wasn't until I got the Game Genie that I beat the game. I seriously played this game to death, probably more so then any other game in my life.

I think it's very possible that this game was unfinished and they rebuild it as a TMNT game. I believe this game came out before the cartoon and movie, so it wasn't 100% "kiddy" yet, but I cant explain some of those bad guys in the game.

EDIT: That's it. I gotta break out the NES and replay this game again.
 
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