Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time

The introductory cut scene of the game details the game's plot. It begins with the Turtles watching a TV newscast on a Sunday evening, with April O'Neil reporting from Liberty Island. Super Krang flies in and steals the Statue of Liberty, moments before Shredder hijacks the airwaves to laugh at the Turtles. The Turtles jump into action in downtown New York and pursue the Foot to the streets and the city sewers (then to the Technodrome in the Super NES version ==Gameplay==

Like its predecessor, Turtles in Time was available for the arcades in two- and four-player versions. In the two-player versions, each player gets to choose which of the four turtles they wish to control, whereas in the four-player versions the characters are assigned to the control panel from left to right in the following order: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. Each playable character has his own strengths and weaknesses. New features include the ability to execute a power attack by hitting an enemy several times in a row, and the ability to slam foot soldiers into surrounding enemies. ==Development==

The original music of the game's soundtrack was composed by Mutsuhiko Izumi, a TMNT veteran who also composed the music for the previous arcade game in the series. It was arranged for the Super NES version by Kazuhiko Uehara and Harumi Ueko, both of whom went on to produce several Konami games, including the following TMNT game, Tournament Fighters. During development, the game's working title was "something like TMNT Time Travelers", according to Konami USA's Steve Kaufman in early 1991. In addition to an original musical score, the attract mode of the arcade game is noted for featuring the song "Pizza Power", which was taken from the TMNT live concert, known as the Coming Out of Their Shells Tour. The game's music was released as part of the compilation album Konami All-Stars 1993 ~ Music Station of Dreams, published by King Records in 1992. The 2005 version of the game included in Mutant Nightmare features new music and voices updated to match the 2003 TMNT series. This was also the case for Turtles in Time: Re-Shelled. ==Releases==

Arcade Like the original Turtles arcade game, Turtles in Time was released for the arcades as a dedicated 4-player cabinet, as well as a 2-player conversion kit. Unlike the first game, Turtles in Time was not distributed for the arcades in Japan. Super NES The Super NES version was retitled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time in North America and Australia and Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles IV: Turtles in Time in Europe in order to continue the numbering from the first three Turtles games on the NES (despite the fact that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project was never released in the PAL region). However, the Super Famicom version in Japan retained the original unnumbered title. Much like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game for the NES (a conversion of the first arcade game), the Super NES version of Turtles in Time has some notable differences in presentation. ==Reception==

Following its release, Turtles in Time became Konami's best-selling arcade title. In the United States, the home console conversion was the top-selling Super NES game in September 1992. Reviews The arcade game received positive reviews. Although critics found that the second game was largely similar to the previous arcade game, they felt that it was a net improvement over its predecessor on all points, including graphics, music and gameplay. The Super NES game was lauded in Allgame for its visuals, which replicate the cartoon's art style. Entertainment Weekly wrote that "The Turtles may have peaked on the big screen, but in video-game land they're just reaching their potential." Game Zero magazine's four reviewers gave the game a combined review score of 84.5 out of 100, they praised the graphics and the option to switch between the animation and comic book style graphics and gave praise to the game's music, improved moveset and voice acting. The only criticism given was the game being too easy even when played on hard mode. Super Gamer gave an overall review score of 90% calling the game “Highly impressive cartoon platform beat-em-up.” Accolades Nintendo Power ranked the game 7th in their "Top 10 in 1992" praising the characters being well animated concluding: "the popularity of Konami's TMNT series with players and the new theme of time travel put this one into our year end top 10." IGN ranked the game 39th in their "Top 100 SNES Games of All Time", praising the bright graphics that captures the look and personality of the classic cartoon and praising the utilization of mode 7 when throwing enemies into the screen. GamesRadar ranked the game #24 in their "Best SNES Games of All Time", they praised the game music and commenting that Turtles in Time improved everything the original Turtles game did and made it better and felt the game was "one of the best action games on the SNES" In 2013, Arcade Sushi ranked Turtles in Time 10th on their "10 Best Retro Beat 'Em Ups." They praised the game's aesthetics staying true to the franchise's cartoon series. In 2018, Complex listed the game 9th in its "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time." In 2023, Time Extension included the Super NES version on their top 25 "Best Beat 'Em Ups of All Time" list. They called it the best game in the series. ==Remake==

The 2009 remake, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, features new graphics and sounds. The graphics were remade in 3D, with players moving in and out of a true 3D camera. The opening and closing cinematics were remade with a stylized 2D look. The vocal quips of the arcade version return, re-recorded by the cast of the 2003 cartoon. The music was also re-done. Re-Shelled was based on the original arcade machine, rather than on the Super NES version. As a result, the extra stages and enemy characters from the earlier home version were excluded. The gameplay remained similar, except that players can attack in eight directions. The game can also be played online with up to four players. This version also features a Survival mode, Quickplay mode, multiple difficulties and Achievements/Trophy support. ==References==