Ax

Happy 37th birthday to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Nintendo game, released for Famicom in Japan on May 12, 1989! 🥳 It came to the US for NES in June of 89. I recently got the May/June 1990 issue of Nintendo Power smiled coming across an article where TMNT received their equivalent of Game of the Year for 1989! The game, released by Konami’s subsidiary Ultra, alternates top-down and side-scrolling perspectives as the player guides all 4 turtles to rescue April and defeat Shredder at the Technodrome. There are staple enemies throughout the 5 game levels, like the Foot Clan, but also bizarre fire men and alien-like “roof leapers.” It’s notoriously difficult, with few continues and an infamous dam level that makes me anxious to this day. It gets far worse after the dam level, but I think we can collectively agree how stressful it is between brutal currents, sappy seaweed, and lasers! It was where anxiety for many of us began! 🤭 This is the same complete copy of TMNT I had as a child. I never have beat it, and my dad still teases me for having to listen to the defeat music so frequently! Still, it’s an important part of my childhood (I loved TMNT and still have a little booklet I made from 1st grade 😆). I’m determined to beat it someday! Also, my last few TMNT posts received comments asking where my April O’Neil cosplay was, so I thought this would be fun! 💚