Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters" is one of those oddball '90s games - it's technically about the Ninja Turtles, but it feels strangely disconnected from the vibrant lore of our favorite green heroes. Sure, it has fighting, familiar characters, and even a vague hint of a plot, but at its core, this game is a straight-up fighting game.

The story is laughably simple - the villain Shredder hosts a tournament and somehow drags the Turtles into it. Why? For some epic beatdowns, of course. The winner is supposed to get something important, apparently, but no one really explains what or why. It's just fighting for the sake of fighting.

The weirdest part? The Turtles seem to have completely forgotten about their awesome weapons. Where are Mikey's nunchucks? Leo's swords? Donnie's bo staff? Raph's sai? Nowhere to be found. Instead, they all fight with their fists and feet, which honestly makes them feel like palette-swapped versions of each other. Their only real differences are the color of their bandanas and their special moves. Not cool.

The character roster doesn't impress either. Besides the four Turtles, we've got Casey Jones (the hockey-stick-wielding vigilante), Shredder (the classic bad guy), and a weird character named Hothead - some kind of dragon or crocodile, I honestly couldn't tell when I was a kid. It's quirky, sure, but a game based on TMNT deserves way more heroes and villains from the universe.

That said, the graphics were pretty decent for the time. The characters are recognizable, the animations are solid, and the backgrounds are simple but stylish. The sound design holds up too - catchy tunes and punchy effects give the fights a good vibe.

As for the actual combat... well, it's nothing special. The characters fight in a clunky, basic way. There's not much depth here - just a straightforward fighter that gets boring fast when played solo. But with friends? That's where it shines a bit. Back in the day, it was perfect for some good old couch brawling without worrying about graphics or balance.

In the end, "Tournament Fighters" is a pretty average game. Not bad, not great. After the three previous TMNT games on the same platform - with their levels, stories, and variety - this one feels more like a side dish. You play a bit, brawl a bit, laugh a bit with friends, and move on. And honestly? I don't really regret it.

6 out of 10.

This is another of my favorite TMNT games though it's one that is probably on the lower end of the list as it's one of my least favorite but also is another part of my series "Under the Radar" gems.

It made sense that the TMNT franchise would get themselves into the fighting genre, it is a martial arts franchise after all, and the fighting genre was one of the genres in video games the ruled the 90's. Though it was also Konami's attempt in getting into the genre as this company doesn't have that much in the fighting game genre.

Sad to say the ploy didn't work, not to say this game was overlooked it was a hit but not as big as they wanted it to be as this game was a bit of a victim of bad timing from "Turtle Mania" was coming to an end and the fighting game genre was already overbooked with competition that this game didn't stand a chance. Though as time went on this game became somewhat of a sleeper cult gem and is one of the games included in fighting game tournaments.

There were three versions of this game, the SNES version is the best and only one to go for in my book anyway. Though on a sidenote I was a little surprised that Konami didn't make "TMNT Tournament Fighters" into an arcade game first, which would have been cool. Really like the graphical presentation which is like the one from the "Street Fighter" franchise in the 90's but that's fine as I wouldn't want it any other way. Really like the animation of the backgrounds, however it's the character animation that I like the most. Here the Turtles and some of the characters don't look so much like the ones from the 80's cartoon but almost a little more from the original comic series it's derived from. Which is cool as it really gives the game the right feel as most fighting games were known for being tough and gritty and of course the original comic series was known for being that as well, so it makes sense.

Music is pretty good I wouldn't say it's one of the best tracks from fighting games and "TMNT" games I've ever heard but good enough that is sings out Turtles and Tournament fighting. I really like the sound effects that really make it feel like your moves you deliver are really making an impact, yeah sounds a bit like any of the other fighting games from the 90's but cool all the same.

There are a good range of options to play this game like a story mode which was a bit rare for fighting games at the time, not to say the characters each didn't have a story of their own, but it was never an ongoing plotline. Sidenote with this mode you can only pick one of the Turtles as they are the main heroes after all. The story plotline in this game is decent but nothing memorable even by "TMNT" standards, by its nature it's just a clothesline for the fighting which is what were all in this game for anyway; still it was nice that they were trying to make a storyline anyway.

The other mode to pick of course is tournament and versus which is where the game is really at as with both modes you have the freedom to choose as any of the characters from the roster good or bad depends on your preference. Control is solid, everything is responsive you have you four button combo, light and heavy swings along with light and heavy punch or kick. Each of your characters has the moves and special moves to utilize. There is a good amount of characters in the roster to chose from some of them are actually original characters that were never part of TMNT lore. I don't mind this liberty as this was a way to insert a bit of originality in the game to keep it interesting.

Like in all fighting games, each of the characters are fun to play as they all have their strengths and weaknesses; like I said before depends on your preference as to who you feel most comfortable playing as. Personally, I like playing as Leonardo and Donatello. Both feel more balanced to me and have some cool moves. With Leonardo there is the double slice bolt which is obviously a rip on Guile's sonic boom move; and my favorite is when he does the katana twister. Donatello there is the multiple rapid fire thrusts which is a rip on Chun Li's rapid fire sidekick move; and my favorite the bo single hand quick twirl which I always found cool in martial arts.

The only miswing of this game which is a fundamental problem with most fighting games are the difficulty of the game can feel a little uneven as sometimes your opponent can be cheaply difficult as your opponent becomes sometimes ridiculously powerful or even pull too many sucker punches at you without the chance to recover and get up. Not to say their unbeatable or the game itself is, and I know that in fighting games as you progress the stakes tend to get higher but at least keep it fair, so you have a fighting chance.

It would be cool if there was some sort of sequel, after the recent "Shreader's Revenge" it's possible, let alone protentional for improvement. The graphical presentation you can do it the same two-dimensional SNES style though personally I'd like more the modern style making it a mix of both two and three dimension. The roster will and should get bigger, I'd love to see plenty of other characters from the classic and current comic series along with all the animated shows, like Jekka, Venus, Slash, Tokka, Razor, and plenty of others from the TMNT roster and lore that were never in the Tournament Fighters game (SNES version to be exact). It's a thought to consider anyway.

Overall, it's a solid fighting game it's not one of my favorites as it's another B lister in my book, but nothing wrong with that. If you're a fan of Turtles or even just the fighting game genre in general, then this game is worth a swing.

Rating: 3 stars.