During 1984, two radical writers Laird and Eastman released their first Ninja Turtles’ comic book and their empire took off with more comic books, television shows, three movies, action figures, videogames and so much more. We have seen works of genius throughout the years with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) until their last show was cancelled in 1997. We all thought that would be the end of the Turtles until Fox produced a new TMNT show based on the original comic book strip. It was definitely a “cowabunga” turn of events! Konami capitalized on the new show by making a console version and GBA version. It has been about ten years since the last TMNT videogame; and the question is whether this fourth Game Boy TMNT game is a good time or a “shell shock” bad time.

The fourth installment of the TMNT GB game is based on Fox’s new show developed from the original comic book strip. Also, the cartoon is in its first season so the game and show do not have all the villains and heroes who appeared later in the series. The game has no characters from the original cartoon so sorry, no Technodrome, Krang, Rocksteady or Bebop; but new characters like Hun and Purple Dragon gang appear. Cut scenes between levels tell the story of the game, but the problem is that cut scenes are too long and wordy. Each turtle has his own levels except the last level where a player can chose whatever turtle he wants for the last battle. Raphael’s story involves Casey Jones, Michelangelo fights off monsters in the sewers, Donatello’s story is based on the mystery of two invisible foot soldiers, and Leonardo battles the mousers.
TMNT plays like any action game. It is necessary to defeat all the enemies until a level is complete. The game contains four levels of difficulty. Each turtle has his own four unique levels and there is a final level where a player can pick any turtle. One of those four levels for each turtle is a mini-game level giving the game more variety. The fourth level for every turtle is his boss battle. The bosses are simple to defeat once their pattern is learned. There are crystals hidden in each level that a gamer might want to go back and find at later time. A weakness in the game is that there are no multiplayer features at all in this game. The developers included a battery save feature and secret codes to unlock goodies in the Game Cube version.

Each turtle has his own weapon but none of the turtles have secondary weapons like ninja stars. The movement in the game seems choppy and limited in range in certain levels. There is no way to crouch to your knees and block enemy attacks. Also, the levels and bosses are not varied and not as entertaining compared to other TMNT games like Turtles in Time SNES.

Each turtle has basic attacking moves. There is an attack to get out of tough times but it uses up the turtle’s energy, jump attack, and running attack. Further, each turtle can charge up energy and release a more deadly attack on his enemies. The turtles have a double jump except Donatello who has a special slide jump that goes a longer distance than the other turtles. Raphael uses his Sais as a climbing device in one of his levels. Michelangelo can stick onto walls so he can jump from wall to wall until he reaches the top. Each turtle has his own unique mini-game; for example, Raphael races Casey Jones on a shell cycle and Michelangelo skateboards in a sewer.

TMNT GBA graphics are vivid in color and are respectful to the colors of the turtles, foot soldiers, and Purple Dragon characters. The backgrounds are mediocre but they do have some realistic graphics for the adventure settings such as a city or sewer. The characters are small compared to TMNT: Turtles in Time SNES. The enemies are also true to the show with characters like mousers, Purple Dragon gang, foot clan, and bosses. The developers added animation allowing each gamer to know where a cliff ends and animation when a turtle becomes idle. The only characters that are bigger than the turtle are some monsters in the Michelangelo’s levels and Leonardo’s boss. Still, these characters are not as big compared to other GBA action games but it is to be expected since the series is in its first season. TMNT GBA can get away with just a few animated characters because the game was developed during the first season of the cartoon.

The game starts with a very short version of the new theme song which is a nice addition but it is no way near to what Full Fat Productions’ mp3 audio engine can accomplish. The game just has generic music that varies throughout the game. The game features enemy and hero grunting noises when the characters attack and get hit. There is nothing that really stands out in the audio department besides a brief version of the new theme song, but the audio gets the job done.

It has been several years since the TMNT videogame. Mirage Studios and Konami made TMNT GBA with a few flaws that are will shorten game life. It is not as fun as the other TMNT videogames products and it is not the best action GBA on the market today. The game is varied for the most part and forces the gamer to play until all the turtles beat the game. It is a fun game for a crazy new TMNT fan, but older TMNT fans will be disappointed by the exclusion of the original cartoon characters. This game is not perfect; however, fans of the new show will find it a good time while it lasts.