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Player Two Start!: A Salute to TMNT: Turtles In Time

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Today, we’re going to look back at the 1991 Konami arcade video game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Turtles in Time.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, released as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: Turtles in Time in Europe, is an arcade video game produced by Konami. A sequel to the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) arcade game, it is a scrolling beat ’em up type game based mainly on the 1987 TMNT animated series. Originally an arcade game, Turtles in Time was ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992, whereupon it was retitled to serve as a sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project. That same year, a game that borrowed many elements, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist was released for the Mega Drive/Sega Genesis. Here’s the game’s intro:


My first ever exposure to Turtles in Time was when I saw it in the arcade at The Center at Salisbury, Maryland (The Center is the name of the main mall there). I saw it there, but I wouldn’t actually play the game until my younger brother Chaz (aka, CJP on The Otaku Gamer Spot) rented and later purchased the home version of the game for the SNES. He was a major TMNT fan at the time, while I myself was mostly a casual fan. being a child of the ancient 1970s, I was 18 when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles debuted in syndication in 1987, so most of what I knew about TMNT, I knew from Chaz. Apart from the TMNT arcade game, which was never released to any home consoles, I’ve played Turtles in Time more than any other TMNT title. I’ve only played TMNT III: The Manhattan Project once when Chaz borrowed the game from a friend of his, and we rented The Hyperstone Heist of couple of times from Blockbuster Video (remember when Blockbuster stores were around?).

TMNT: Turtles in Time is probably the closest you’ll ever get to playing the arcade classic. Like the arcade game, you can play as all 4 Turtles (Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo). Of course, in the SNES version, you only get 2 controllers, so you can only play as 2 Turtles at a time, but Chaz later streamed a PC version of the game where all 3 of us could play at once. Both Damon and myself have played as Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo, but neither of us has ever played as Donatello. Donatello was always Chaz’s favorite Turtle, and still is to this very day, so whenever we would play Turtles in Time, Chaz would always play as Donatello, no matter what, and we respected that.

Anyway, the story of the game is pretty basic: Shredder kidnaps April and the Turtles go to her rescue. After the first couple of levels which are very reminiscent of the arcade game, Shredder sends the Turtles “…through a time portal from which you will never return!”, and the Turtles play through different periods of history as levels before the final confrontation with Krang and then with Shredder (at least until the next game) in the Technodrome. The time levels were an interesting mix; ranging from prehistoric times, the old West and not 1 but 2 future levels. The background music for “Bury My Shell at Wounded Knee” and “Neon Night Riders” is, in my opinion, the best music in the game. I have both tracks on my mp3 player.
Give a listen:


My only complaint is that there were some other time periods that I would have liked to have seen used in the game. a Medieval Europe level, an ancient Rome level or a Colonial America level would have been nice to see.

I’ve played through Turtles in Time many times. If you know the cheat code which gives your characters 99 lives, you can easily go through the game without having to continue. What I liked most about Turtles in Time is the afternoons that I’ve spent playing the game with my brothers. It was actually a bonding experience for us and it helped me and my kid brother become closer as people.

Yeah, I know it’s corny, but too bad. This is how I’m ending this. Here’s to you, TMNT: Turtles in Time.

SAAAAAA-LUUTE!

What Your Name Is?!!?

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Undoubtedly you’ve noticed that the name of our blog has changed once again, and more than likely you’re asking yourselves…

Well, here’s the deal: Two years ago, when we wanted to change from the blog’s original name Astral City (a name which we’re never going back to, btw), we wanted to name it Twinsanity. However, when we changed the address, we discovered that there was already a twinsanity.blogspot.com. This was our reaction:

We tried to use a variation of the name. We thought of Twin-sanity, but that name was taken also. We tried to contact the authors of both blogs to try to persuade them to relinquish their addresses to us (since neither blog is currently active; the former hasn’t been active since 2012, while the latter hasn’t been used at all), but were unable to contact either. In a panic, we went with the address twinsanitypop.blogspot.com, an address that meant nothing and one that neither of us are particularly fond of, but we tried to press on as best we could. We even considered buying the domain name twinsanity.com, but everywhere we went the name was taken, plus some of those domain sites aren’t exactly in the cheap zone; we’re not making Nostalgia Critic money just yet. Eventually, though, we just decided that we didn’t want to continue using an address that we don’t like and it just wasn’t worth our running around jumping through hoops trying to secure the name Twinsanity since apparently so many other people wanted a piece of it, so we decided to go with one of our alternate choices. This brings us to today. As of this writing, the new name of our site will be The Twin Factor, and our new address will be thetwin-factor.blogspot.com (don’t forget to type the dash between the words “twin” and “factor” because there’s already a “The Twin Factor” on Blogger). This is the last time that we’ll be changing the blog’s name. we promise.

Things Only A FOOL Would Wait For

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Today is April Fool’s Day, the day for pranks and nonsense. So in honor of this, we thought that it might be fun to list some Things Only A Fool Would Wait For:

Before we begin, please keep in mind that this is an April Fool’s Day bit. It’s all meant to be in good fun and is done with the intent to be humorous and nothing more. Before anyone gets their proverbial feathers ruffled over anything that’s listed here, please remind yourself…

That said, let’s begin:
THINGS ONLY A FOOL WOULD WAIT FOR:

  • One universal TV channel that airs cartoons from every animation studio.
  • An HD feed for Nicktoons channel.
  • Warner Brothers Animation to produce a new cartoon show for a Hanna-Barbera property besides Scooby-Doo or Tom & Jerry.
  • Cartoon Network to revert to its’ original 24/7 format.
  • Viacom to share their profits and in-house properties with another network.
  • For Disney cartoons and movies starring the trademark characters like Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Belle, Jamsine, etc. to air on Cartoon Network or Boomerang.
  • Aaron MacGruder to produce a series for kids’ TV.
  • A complete DVD series release of Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies.
  • Any MTV or Comedy Central cartoon (Beavis & Butt-Head, Daria, Celebrity Deathmatch, South Park, Drawn Together, Ugly Americans) to come to Adult Swim.
  • The resurrection of syndicated weekday cartoon blocks like Fox Kids and Kids’ WB!.
  • A new Sega video game console.
  • Toonami to return to weekday afternoons.
  • A Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat crossover game.
  • A DC/Marvel crossover game.
  • For The Hub to acquire The Whitest Kids U’Know.
  • A Nickelodeon animated comedy series which contains no fart jokes.
  • A Star Trek/Star Wars crossover.
  • A sequel to Dragonball: Evolution.
  • For any network to turn Lauren Faust’s Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls into a series.
  • Cartoon Network to launch a CN Girls block.
  • An X-Men series that doesn’t feature Wolverine.
  • A sequel to M. Night Shaymalan’s The Last Airbender.
  • A Bugs & Mickey cartoon show.

The Retro Bin: Fred and Barney Meet The Thing (1979)

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It’s time for another segment of The Retro Bin. Saturday mornings in the 1970s has brought us some pretty way out concepts. Marvel Comics owned the rights to several Hanna-Barbera franchises at the time and was publishing comic books based on them, including The Flintstones. This in turn lead to one of the What-the-what-est titles in animation history, Hanna-Barbera’s Fred and Barney Meet The Thing.

Fred and Barney Meet The Thing was a 60 minute Saturday morning cartoon which ran on NBC from September 8th to December 1st, 1979. The show’s title was misleading, as there was no episode in which Fred and Barney actually meet The Thing. In fact, the characters never appeared on screen together except in the shows’ opening title sequence and the wraparounds which aired between shorts. The former of which can be seen here. Apologies in advance for the poor video quality:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2w8xj5_fred-barney-meet-the-thing-intro_fun
I’m not going to talk much about the Fred and Barney part of the show, primarily because it’s nothing that everyone doesn’t already know. It was basically The New Fred and Barney Show,which ran on NBC a few months earlier. Yep, it’s The Flintstones. The modern Stone Age shtick. Fred schemes. Barney does the sidekick thing. Yadda, yadda, yadda. You know the drill. The Thing segments are more noteworthy because of how nutty the shows’ concept was. Initially, I thought, “Hey. Hanna-Barbera is making a cartoon starring The Thing. That could be good.” Was it a new series about the Fantastic Four? Nope. Was it a television version of Marvel’s Two-in-One comic book series in which Ben Grimm teams up with a different Marvel character every issue? Nope. It’s a series which featured the ever lovin’ blue eyed powerhouse surviving high school shenanigans!

Loki WTF

 
 
 
OK, here’s the setup: Test pilot Ben Grimm seeks the help of his scientist friend Dr. Harkness to find a way to restore him to his human form. The scientist experiments on Ben and does turn him human, but not in his test pilot form, but rather in the body of a skinny, scrawny American teenager called “Benjy” Grimm. However, Benjy does now have the ability to switch back and forth from human to rock form at will courtesy of a “Thing Ring” (actually 2 rings, one on each hand) which Benjy would clasp together and chant “Thing Ring, do your thing!” Interestingly, Benji lost his Jimmy Durante style mode of speaking while in human form.
 
Peter Parker…whoops, I mean, Benjy attended Centerville High School getting into Archie-style misadventures along with his school chums. The popular and somewhat shallow girl Betty, her wealthy boyfriend Ronald Radford, who was just as snooty and uppity as he was rich, Betty’s kid sister Kelly (whom I must admit to kind of liking. She was very cute) who was also the only other person besides her father, the aforementioned Dr. Harkness who knew his secret, The Yancy Street Gang (Spike, the diminutive leader with a Napoleon complex, tall, skinny, gangly, sunglasses wearing Stretch and Turkey, the big dumb guy who resembled a modern day version of Zonk from the Bronto Bunch. Perhaps he’s Zonk’s descendant), here reduced to being a 3 member Bronto Bunch instead of being a dangerous street gang, and their scatterbrained, giggling teacher Ms. Twilly.

Yeah, this is precisely what comes to mind when I think of The Thing from Marvel Comics.

 
You’re probably wondering what happened to Reed Richards, Susan Storm-Richards and Johnny Storm. Well, you’ll have to keep on wondering because we never found out. The Fantastic Four never appeared on the series, nor did Ben ever mention being part of a team. You have to wonder why H-B felt the need to change so much. Did they think that if the show resembled the comics too much that kids wouldn’t take it seriously?
 
Between segments were wraparounds in which the characters would indulge in telling bad jokes. As previously stated, this was the only part of the show aside from the opening titles in which the Flintstones cast would interact with the Thing cast. Some examples of these would be:
 
The Thing: Hey, Fred. Is it true that you have trouble making up your mind?
 
Fred: Well, yes and no.
 
or
 
Turkey: Hey, Spike. How come you won’t let Stretch an’ me go to the zoo wit’ you’s?
 
Spike: No way! If they want you, they can come an’ get you!
 
or
 
Barney: Hey, Ms. Twilly, how come you’re standing outside with your purse open?
 
Ms. Twilly: I heard that there was going to be a change in the weather!
 

“Don’t quit your day job, Bubbula!”

 For the 1979-1980 season, the show was expanded to 90 minutes with recycled episodes of HB’s The New Shmoo added to the lineup and the shows’ title changed to Fred and Barney Meet The Shmoo, although the Thing segments were still part of the show. The Shmoo would return in the “Bedrock Cops” segments of The Flintstone Comedy Show (1980).
 
shmoo
 
“Hanna-Barbera really thought that I would fit in living in Bedrock with the cast of The Flintstones? What were those guys smoking?”
 
Fred and Barney Meet The Thing was one of the strangest SatAM series to come down the pike, but at least we know that no network executive would ever try to mess with popular a comic book super hero character in this fashion nowadays.
 
SeniorBusiness-Executive1
 
“Actually, I’ve been toying with this idea for a new series where Ben Grimm travels around the country solving mysteries along with 2 kids and a dog…”
 

 

 

“IT’S CLOBBERIN’ TIME!!!”

What follows are the sound effects of a network executive being beaten senseless by an orange rock monster. You don’t want to see this. It isn’t pretty.

A Superman Video Game That Wouldn’t Suck

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A few days ago, a member of the Toonzone Forums created a thread asking the question “Should Rocksteady make a Superman video game?”

“How about it, Rocksteady? Where’s my game? There are, like, 20 Batman games and only, like, 3 Superman games! What’s the deal? Do you have to wear a long pointy eared cowl and drive a cool car to star in a Rocksteady game?”

Without a doubt, the most common statement that I’ve heard from people saying why a Superman video game wouldn’t work is this one:
“The problem with Superman is that he’s almost invincible and all of the foes he would have to fight would need to be at boss-level since regular henchmen would be nearly useless against the man of steel.”
or
“Superman is boring and lame because he has a ton of super powers and he can beat anybody, but Batman is awesome because he has no powers and he can beat everybody!”
Sense no make. Sense no make.
Seriously? Superman boring and lame because he has powers? Son Goku (from Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z) is very similar to Superman in terms of powers and abilities, and yet I never hear anyone saying that Goku is too powerful to star in a video game. Heck, there are literally dozens of DBZ games out there currently. Samus Aran from Metroid has powers, but no one says that those games suffer because of that. Having super powers is part of what makes Superman cool. Come on! Supes can friggin’ fly! Flying is cool! That alone is reason why Rocksteady should make a Superman video game. Thus begins my proposal. I believe that a Superman video can work, and that Big Blue is capable of doing more than just flying through floating golden rings and beating up a tornado.
These “issues” with Superman are minor and could easily be dealt with with a certain degree of thought and creativity. For example, Superman can be hurt by someone in his strength class and is vulnerable to magic. The issue of Superman’s powers can easily be rectified in any one of the following ways:
1. Have Superman start out with only a limited amount of strength and powers, so that he would gain more abilities and become stronger as the game progresses.
2. Emphasize Superman’s other abilities besides fighting. Give Superman a series of missions, such as stopping a speeding locomotive from falling off of a damaged bridge or finding several bombs hidden in various parts of Metropolis or saving several citizens from an erupting volcano. Also, the missions could be timed so that Supes only has a limited amount of time to succeed in the missions or else he loses a life or something. Every level of the game doesn’t have to have Supes going a few rounds with a villain.
3. Have the game focus on a younger Superman who is relatively new to the super hero scene and as such, Clark’s powers wouldn’t be fully developed yet. Again, Supes’ strength could increase and he could gain more super powers as he progresses through the game.
4. Have Superman’s more devastating powers, such as heat vision and ice breath, reserved as special moves which can be used, but using them would lower his life bar, so the player won’t be able to just use them all of the time, and should mostly save them for extreme situations.
5. Give Superman a Super Meter, which would gradually build up whenever Supes punches or kicks an opponent. Once the Super Meter if full, Supes would be able to unleash a devastating super power, but the Super Meter would empty as he’s doing it. Also, Supes would have to start each new level with an empty Super Meter.

I’d play a game like that. How about you?